Offender profiling: Top Down Approach Flashcards
What is the aim of the top down approach?
To narrow the field of enquiry, usually among high profile cases
What do methods typically include?
Scrutiny of the crime scene and analysis of evidence in order to generate hypotheses about the offender including gender, age, background and education
Where did the approach originate?
United States
How many were used in the original sample by the FBI’s Behavioural science unit?
36 sexually motivated serial killers
What do profilers match?
What is known about the crime and the offenders pre-existing template that the FBI developed
What can murderers and rapists be categorised as?
Either organised or disorganised
What are some characteristics of organised criminals?
Leave no evidence at the crime scene Planned attack Victim is targeted Above average intelligence, skilled, professional Sexually competent Usually married May have children
What are some characteristics of disorganised criminals?
Spontaneous offences Evidence left at crime scenes Little planning Lower than average IQ Semi-skilled/unskilled occupations Sexual dysfunction Live alone and close to where the offence takes place
What are the 4 main stages in creating a profile?
Data assimilation - profiling reviewing the evidence
Crime scene classification - either organised or disorganised
Crime reconstruction - hypotheses in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of the victim
Profile generation - hypotheses related to the likely offender
Does the typology approach apply to all crimes?
No, the profiling is suited to those crimes such as murder, rape, arson etc, as there is a lot left about the offender at the scene.
Not suitable for theft or vandalism
What is the key assumption of the typology approach? Why is this a limitation?
That all offenders have patterns of behaviour and motivations which remain consistent across all situations and contexts.
This is based on an outdated model so it has poor validity when it comes to identifying possible suspects and predicting their next move
What did Alison et al (2002) say?
The approach is naive and is informed by old fashioned models of personality
What did Canter et al (2004) find?
Using smallest space analysed data from 100 murders in the USA.
Each case examined with characteristics thought to be either organised or disorganised killers
Findings suggest an organised type but none for disorganised type
Is the typology approach supported?
Yes it has widespread support, used by professional profilers everywhere
What is a limitation of the classification method?
It is too simplistic
The two categories are not mutually exclusive
