The top down approach Flashcards
where does this approach come from
the FBI in the US
What are the 6 main stages
- profiling inputs. 2. decision process models. 3. crime assessment. 4. criminal profile. 5. crime assessment. 6. apprehension.
what is profiling inputs?
data collected at first stage includes description of crime scene, info about the victim, details of the crime. all info has to be considered with no bias to possible suspects
what is decision process models?
data organised into meaningful patterns. such as the murder type, time factors, and location factors
what is the first stage of the crime assessment
crime is classified as organised or disorganised, presuming their is a correspondence between the offences and offenders
what is the criminal profile
profile carted with hypothesis around their background. used to create a strategy to help catch the offender
what is second stage of crime assessment
written report given to investigative agency, people matching profile are evaluated. if there is no new evidence or no suspect identified it goes back to first stage if the crime assessment (stage 2)
what is apprehension
if a suspect is apprehended, entire process is reviewed to check conclusions made at each stage were legitimate
what was copson (1995)
184 police officers questioned, 82% said this approach was useful, 90% would use again. supports the usefulness of this approach
why might the basis of the top down approach be flawed
data came from 36 of the most dangerous murderers in the US, used to identify key characteristics which would help police officers read a Crime scene. may not be as reliable as a result
what was Brent snook et al (2008)
argues that profilers do little more then psychics, has no scientific proof behind it. this can be dangerous because profilers can mislead investigations if they are wrong. means its important for police and courts not to believe it just because its a good match
how can u measure the accuracy of this approach?
at the end of the case, consider how close the profile created is to the actual characteristics of the offender.
Alison et al could show judgements aren’t reliable as study police officers were given a profile, with one of those being the offenders and one being fake . only 50% rated the profiles given as accurate, despite one being fake showing it can lead to unreliable judgements of its usefulness
why might having only 2 categories for offenders not be the best approach
in David canter et al, 39 aspects of serial killings were studied from 100 serial killers, revealing no clear division between organised and disorganised offenders
