Forensic Psychology-Offender Profiling Flashcards
What is the top-down approach?
- Based on qualitative data, favoured in USA
- Developed as way to solve extreme and bizarre murder/rape cases
- Relies on intuition and beliefs of profiler and theories about offender types
Method of top-down approach?
- Profiler starts with pre-established typology
- They work downwards in order to assign offenders to either type
- Once data entered into data-base, compared continually against other entries on basis of certain aspects of crime
- Purpose of this is to detect aspects of crime and similar ways of crime
Positives of Top-Down Approach:
- Been used for 40 years by FBI; Copson (1995) 82% officers interviewed said it was useful and 90% said they would use it again
- Used by many police forces across the world
- Influential as first systematic approach to offender profiling
Negatives of Top-Down Approach:
- Lacks validity
- Top-Down not based on scientific methodology
- Only applies to certain unusual types of crime
- Based on outdated personality models
What is Organised crime?
Crime is planned, victim targeted, body transported from scene, limited/no forensic evidence, weapon hidden
What is Disorganised crime?
Crime is unplanned, victim randomly selected, forensic clues; blood, fingerprints, weapons
What do organised offenders tend to have?
Organised offenders tend to have average/high intelligence whereas disorganised offenders are likely to have low intelligence and may suffer from psychology disturbance, work is likely to be unskilled
What is the Bottom-Up Approach?
- Begins with evidence from the crime scene
- Then scientific and statistical predictions based on the evidence from this scene and other crimes in contrast to top-down approach which is vice-versa
What is investigative psychology?
- Use of computer analysis
- Statistical analysis of data
- Generates patterns in data
- Enables hypothesis to be formed about the offender
What is geographical profiling?
- People reveal themselves in the location they choose as much as their behaviour
- Offenders are more likely to commit a crime near to where they live or travel as it involves the least effort
- Locations of connected crimes are analysed to see where crimes were committed and relationships between crime scenes
What is Copson (1975)?
-Surveyed 48 UK police forces, 75% said profilers advice had been useful but only 3% said it actually helped catch correct offender but profiles useful for narrowing down suspects and focusing police resources
Canter and Larkin (1993)
- Proposed offenders commit their crimes within an imagined circle and that there are two types of offenders
- Marauder is an offender whose home is within the area the crimes were committed
- Commuter is an offender who travels to another area to commit crime in a defined space
- When investigators were looking at disappearance and murder of 4 young girls from different and seemingly unrelated areas of Britain in 1980s, dumping of bodies in laybys next to major A roads led to break through as it was realised his likely occupation was delivery driver, giving access to van/lorry for transportation and led to him ‘commuting’ all over country
Positives of Bottom-Up Approach?
- Scientific method of profiling
- Uses statistics
- Generates hypothesis about who offender might be
- Applied to wide range of offences
Negatives of Bottom-Up Approach?
- Suggests may not be as useful and valid as Canter suggested
- Copson study; only 3% said led to offender but 75% said was useful suggesting it could save police time and money looking for right person or narrowing down the potential offender
