Top down approach to offender profiling Flashcards
Aim?
Narrow the list of likely suspects
Who do professional profilers work alongside?
Police - especially in high -profile murder cases
What is generated when scene & other evidence is analysed?
Hypotheses about the probable characteristics of the offender (age, occupation)
How many sexually motivated murders did the FBI interview, together with their data and characteristics to create 2 categories?
36
What can we predict if some characteristics of an offender match 1 category?
Other characteristics that would be likely
What are the 2 categories based on?
Idea that offenders have certain, signature “ways of working” - correlate to a particular set of social & psychological characteristics that relate to the individual
Characteristics of an organised criminal?
- Evidence of planning the crime, victim = deliberately targeted & offender may have a “type”
- High degree of control during crime & little evidence left behind
- Above average IQ, in skilled profession
- Usually married & have children
Characteristics of an disorganised criminal?
- Little evidence of planning, suggests offence may be spontaneous
- Crime scene reflects impulsive nature of act, e.g. body still at scene
- Below average IQ, unskilled work or unemployed
- History of failed relationships & living alone, possible history of sexual dysfunction
4 staged in Construction of an FBI profile?
- Data assimilation
- Crime scene classification
- Crime reconstruction
- Profile generation
What is Data Assimilation (FBI profile)?
Review of evidence (e.g. photographs)
What is crime scene classification (FBI profile)?
Organised/disorganised
What is Crime reconstruction (FBI profile)?
Generation of hypotheses about the behaviour and events
What is Profile Generation (FBI profile)?
Generation of hypotheses about the offender (e.g. physical characteristics)
Strength: research support for an organised category
Canter et al looked at 100 US serial killings. Smallest space analysis was used to assess the co-occurence of 39 aspects in the serial killings. This analysis revealed a subset of behaviours of many serial killings which match the FBI’s typology for organised offenders. Suggests that a key component of the FBI typology approach has some validity.
COUNTERPOINT: strength: research support for an organised category
Godwin argues that in reality most killers have multiple contrasting characteristics & don’t fit into one “type”. Suggests organised/disorganised typology is probably more of a continuum.