Week 5.4 Flashcards
Pathology report
The pathologist report states that the young lady was killed between 6pm and 8.30pm the previous Friday. The cause of death has been identified as strangulation. As a result of the pattern of the bruises around the neck it seems to have been a large chain of some form. Also it is noted that there are defense wounds where the victim had attempted to struggle free. Further to this there is a slight bruising to the top of her thighs suggesting an attempted sexual assault; however, no bodily fluids were found and a tampon was still in place
Eyewitness report
Two local residents have reported that they saw a man aged between 25 and 40 looking confused and disorientated walking from the short-cut to the housing estate around 6.45pm on the Friday. The man was carrying a carrier bag and walked towards a tower block within the estate.
Police analysis of the crime scene
The police reported there appeared to be little planning/preparation [disorganized crime scene], there was little attempt to hide evidence at the crime scene, there was minimum use of constraint, and the attack appeared random [one of opportunity].Officers searching the scene of the crime have found several items of interest:
A piece of chain approximately 1.5m long thrown in bushes around 300m away from the crime scene. It appears that this chain was taken from a building sites store only 25m from the crime scene.
An open, but unused condom and wrapper were found within 5m of the crime scene.
A receipt for 20 Cigarettes and a bottle of cider from a local 24-hour store was also found in very close proximity to the crime scene.
Who was convicted (suspect A, B or C)?
Suspect A was the person that was convicted
One example of unsuccessful offender profiling
Washington DC [Beltway] sniper
Washington DC [Beltway] sniper
- Over three weeks in October 2002, a cross section of ordinary people were slaughtered by an assault rifle while they were going about their everyday lives
- All shootings just off the Beltway [or ring road that circles Washington DC
What was the final victim count?
Final count - 13 dead, 5 wounded
What was the first problem?
First problem, no evidence [other than single bullet from the same rifle] at each crime scene
Profile given by various professionals [none given by FBI] for Beltway Sniper (10)
- Lone gunman
- White male
- Late 20’s early 30’s
- Military training
- Lives close to the Beltway
- Angry, disgruntled employee
- Strong leader, but cold, calculating
- Driving van [to conceal sniper shot]
- Possible terrorist link
- Would die in a blaze of glory
How successful was the profiling?
Using inductive reasoning, got all of the profile incorrect
Actual profile of Beltway Sniper (10)
- Two people, a driver, a shooter
- Both African-American
- One 41 years, other 17 years
- No military training
- Homeless, vehicle interstate plates
- Both unemployed
- No drive, no motivation
- No terrorism link
- No resistance when arrested
Problem with this type of profiling (2)
- Not enough information [crime scene evidence] to produce a profile - relied on comparison to previous serial killers/mass shooters
- Real [professional] profilers actually declined requests to present “profile” at any stage - good lesson
Negative consequences to poor profiles (3)
- Type 1 error [false positives] - police and general public focussing on and stressing white males, aged 30, living in Washington DC, who are ambitious workers etc
- Type 2 errors [false negatives] - police and general public were interacting with two dangerous killers and ignored any “suspicious” behaviours
- As a consequence of the wrong profile, suspects passed through 10 road blocks [immediately after crime] and one “stop” at a rest stop but no searches because “they did not fit the profile” - certainly added to the body count
Example of successful offender profiling
Mad bomber of New York
Mad bomber of New York
- For 16 years [1940-1956], a “mad” bomber planted/detonated more than 30 bombs in New York city- all the bombs were deliberately built not to kill people
