The Top Down Approach to Offender Profiling Flashcards
What is meant by offender profiling?
This is a method of working out the characteristics of of an offender by examining the characteristics of the crime.
What are the two types of offender profiling?
Top down and Bottom up.
What is meant by modus operandi?
The offender’s actions while committing the crime and the characteristics of their victims.
Outline the top down approach.
-Profiler uses categories of ‘organised’ and ‘disorganised’.
-Qualitative approach.
-Suitable for more extreme crimes.
-Based of profiler’s experiences.
What are the 7 stages of the top down approach.
Stage 1 - murder type
Stage 2 - primary intent
Stage 3 - victim risk
Stage 4 - offender risk
Stage 5 - escalation
Stage 6 - time factors
Stage 7 - location factors
What happens during stage 1 of the top down approach?
Murder type
This stage asks whether the murder was an isolated incident.
What happens during stage 2 of the top down approach?
Primary intent
This stage identifies whether the killing was deliberate, premeditated or not.
What happens during stage 3 of the top down approach?
Victim risk
This stage identifies victims that are high risk and those that are low risk.
What happens during stage 4 of the top down approach?
Offender risk
This stage identifies the amount of risk the criminal took in committing the crime.
What happens during stage 5 of the top down approach?
Escalation
This stage identifies the extent to which this crime has escalated from the offender’s previous offences.
What happens during stage 7 of the top down approach?
Location factors
This stage informs the profiler about the offender’s environment, source of transport and possibly where they live.
List the characteristics of an ‘organised’ offender
1- Shows evidence of planning.
2- Socially and sexually competent.
3- Average above average intelligence.
4- Hides body.
5- Follows the news of the crime.
List the characteristics of a ‘disorganised offender’.
1- Little evidence of planning.
2- Body left in plain sight.
3- Below average intelligence.
4- Clues such as weapons left behind at crime scene.
5- Minimal interest in the news.
What are two strengths of the top down approach?
-Approach can be adapted to other crimes (Meketa - burglary)
-Approach has been shown to be effective (Copson - police officers)
What are 2 weaknesses of the top down approach?
-Definitions of ‘organised’ and ‘disorganised’ based on research with poor methodology (Ressler - unstandardised interviews with 36 killers)
-Approach is solely based on the intuition of the profiler.
