Top-Down approach

Question 1

What is the Top-Down approach?

Answer 1

An American approach to offender profiling which works its way from the data of the scene to make a profile of the offender

Question 2

Who proposed the top-down approach and how?

Answer 2

FBI’s behavioural unit gathered data from 36 in-depth interviews from sexually motivated male killers and found two typologies of offenders: organised and disorganised

Question 3

What is the process of constructing an FBI profile in the top-down approach?

Answer 3

1. Data assimilation from the crime scene etc
2. Classification into either organised or disorganised
3. Crime reconstruction is the hypothesis of order of events etc
4. Profile generation is linking the hypothesis to the possible profile

Question 4

What is offender profiling?

Answer 4

A behavioural & analytical tool which outlines the type of individual likely to have committed the crime

methods of examination: crime scene examination, probable characteristics

Question 5

What is a strength of the top down approach?

Answer 5

+ Real life application for common behaviours to murder sense and classification, helps identify common groups & prosecute them

+ Qualitative data from in depth interviews, gained deep insight for reasons of offending

Question 6

What are weaknesses of the research into the top down approach?

Answer 6

• Bias bc based on androcentric, culture bias, limited research (sexually motivated)
• Reductionist bc groups criminals into 2, x account for those in both e.g. TB = more complex

C: Canter analysed 100 murders to 39 characteristics and found characteristics associated w disorganised