Top-down Approach Flashcards
Who made the top-down approach?
-USA FBI
What is the top-down approach?
- Intuitive approach where profiler gets a ‘feel’ for person who committed the crime
- Uses intuition and application of previous knowledge
What are the 6 stages of the top-down approach?
1) Profiling inputs
2) Decision process models
3) Crime assessment
4) Criminal profile
5) Crime assessment
6) Apprehension
What is profiling inputs?
-Data collected on description of crime scene and background of victim
What is a decision process model?
- Data organised into patterns
- e.g. murder type, time and location of crime
What is a crime assessment?
-Is the crime organised or disorganised?
What is a criminal profile?
- Used to work out strategy
- Hypothesis on offender background, habits and beliefs
What is a crime assessment?
-People matching the hypothesis are evaluated
What is apprehension?
-If suspect is caught, process is reviews to ensure conclusions are valid
P: Opens up new avenues for investigation
E: Copson questioned 184 US officers, 82% said it was useful.
Uses intuitive application of previous knowledge to offer new perspectives
L: Prevent wrong conviction
P: Based on data from interviews with 37 dangerous sexual killers
E: Can be manipulative and unreliable. Used to identify key characteristics to read at crime scene
L: Different approach to ‘typical’ killers, can’t generalise
P: Could mislead investigation
E: Not based on scientific evidence. Uses ambiguous descriptions that could fit many
L: Cautious when drawing conclusions
P: Accuracy is questionable
E: Profile should match offenders characteristics closely
I: Allison: police officers rated profile as equally accurate to real offender and to a fabricated one
L: Leads to unreliable judgments
