Offender profiling: Top-down approach

Question 1

What is offender profiling?

Answer 1

A technique used to identify and understand the characteristics of an offender based on the detail of their crimes

Question 2

Top-down approach

Answer 2

• A top-down approach (TDA) is used when pre-determined theories or ideas are applied to data
• Made by USA FBI in 1970s
• Based on interviews conducted with 36 violent offenders, which included some notorious serial killers (e.g. Charles Manson and Ted Bundy) some of whom had committed sexually motivated murders
• It identifies two typologies of murderer: organised and disorganised

Question 3

What are organised offenders?

Answer 3

• Socially and sexually competent
• Shows evidence of planning the crime in advance
• Less likely to leave clues at scene
• Tend to have a specific type of victim
• Appear to carry out attack in a surgical manner
• Above average intelligence

Question 4

What are disorganised offenders?

Answer 4

• History of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships
• Shows little evidence of planning
• Clues and body left behind
• Random attacks with no specific targets
• Likely to occur close to home
• Lower IQ

Question 5

How to construct a FBI profile

Answer 5

1. Data assimilation > profiler reviews the evidence
2. Crime scene classification > either organised/disorganised
3. Crime reconstruction > hypotheses in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of the victim, etc
4. Profile generation > hypotheses related to the likely offender

Question 6

Strength: research support

Answer 6

• David Canter conducted an analysis of 100 US murders each committed by a different serial killer
• Analysis revealed that there does seem to be a subset of features that many serial killers that matched the FBI’s typology
• A key component of the typology has some validity

Question 7

Weakness: not mutually exclusive

Answer 7

• Godwin found most killers have contrasting characteristics
• Variety of combinations such as high intelligence and sexual competence, but leaves victim’s body at scene
• Doesn’t fit into one type

Question 8

Strength: wider application

Answer 8

• Can be adapted to other types of crime such as burglary
• Meteka (2017) reports that top down has recently been applied to burglary, leading to an 85% rise in solved cases in 3 US states
• Has wider application than was originally assumed

Question 9

Weakness: flawed evidence

Answer 9

• Developed using interviews with 36 murderers in the US
• Canter argued that the sample was poor, agents didn’t select a random or a large sample, did not include different kinds of offender
• No standards set, each interview was different so not comparable
• Lacks a scientific basis