Offender Profiling

Question 1

What are the two approaches to profiling?

Answer 1

Top-down: This starts with theories about the type of offender, and then these theories are applied to the crime scene

Bottom up: Starts with evidence from the crime scene, and then scientific and statistical predictions are made based on the evidence from this crime scene and other crimes

Question 2

What are the 4 stages in the top-down approach (DCCP)

Answer 2

1) Data assimilation: data is collected from the scene
2) Crime scene classification: profiler starts to make decisions and organise information e.g type of offender, murder type, time, location
3) Crime reconstruction: a profile is constructed with hypotheses about what happened during the crime, strategy to catch the offender is also devised
4) Written profile is made, including match profile against existing data held, and sketch of offender

Question 3

Types of offender (two types)

Answer 3

There are two types of offender: organised and disorganised

Question 4

Types of offenders (organised)

Answer 4

Characteristics of offence:
- Planned
- Show’s self-control
- Lack of evidence at the scene
- Weapon hidden
- Targeted victim

Characteristics of offender:
- Above average IQ
- Socially and sexually competent
- Anger or depression at the time of the event
- Skilled occupation

Post-offence behaviour:
- Returns to crime scene
- Volunteers information

Question 5

Types of offenders (disorganised)

Answer 5

Characteristics of offence:
- Unplanned
- Likely to leave evidence behind
- Victim randomly selected
- Minimum use of contract
- Disorganised behaviour

Characteristics of offender:
- Lives alone, near the crime scene
- Socially and sexually inadequate
- Physically or sexually abused in childhood
- Frightened/ confused at the time of the offence
- Low intelligence/no occupation

Post-offence behaviour:
- Returns to the crime scene to relive the offence
- Keep diary
- Keep news articles of the event

Question 6

Canter et al (2004)- research support and against top down approach

Answer 6

• He analysed data from 100 murders in the USA
• The details of each case were studied with reference to 39 characteristics that are apparent in organised or disorganised offenders
• The findings did suggest evidence of a distinct organised type, however this was not the case for disorganised, which seems to undermine the classification system as a whole

Question 7

Evaluation of top-down approach

Answer 7

• Classification is too simplistic: the behaviours that describe the types of offender are not mutually exclusive, meaning a variety of combinations could occur at any given crime scene e.g an intelligent and sexually competent person leaving the body at the crime scene
• Effective for police officers: Copson (1995) found that 80% police officers interviewed said that it was useful, and 90% said they would it again

Question 8

Origins of the types of offenders

Answer 8

• FBI investigators initially carried out structured interviews with 36 serial sex murderers, including Ted Bundy covering what led them to offending, what the early warning sings were, what encouraged or inhibited the offences
• From the interviews, plus an analysis of the details of their crimes, they could categorise offenders of serious crimes (murder or rape) into organised or disorganised

Question 9

What are the 2 key elements in bottom-up approach

Answer 9

• Investigative psychology: this is a process where each crime is recorded onto a database. Statistical analysis detects patterns of behaviour. Details of each new crime are matched with this database in order to develop hypotheses about the likely characteristics of offenders. People are consistent in their behaviour and therefore will be links between how someone behaves when offending and behaviour in everyday life
• Geographical profiling: this is used to make assumptions about where an offender is likely to live. Offenders are more likely to commit a crime near to where they live. The locations of connected crimes are analysed to see where the crimes are committed and the relationships between the crime scenes

Question 10

Geographical profiling identifies 2 types of offenders

Answer 10

• Marauder: offender whose home is within the area the crimes were committed
• Commuter: offender who travels to another area to commit crime

Question 11

Evaluation of bottom-up approach

Answer 11

• Copson stated that 75% found it useful at narrowing down suspects
• More holistic than the bottom-up approach
• Increased validity
• Statistical basis makes it more reliable
• Can be applied to a wide range of offenders

Question 12

Copson et al (1995)- mixed results for profiling

Answer 12

• He surveyed 48 police forces and found that the advice provided by the profiler was judged to be useful by 75% of cases, but in only 3% did it lead to accurate identification of the offender