The Bottom Up Approach Flashcards
What is the bottom up approach
The bottom up approach is a data driven approach where statistical techniques are used to produce predictions about the likely characteristics of an offender.
What does the bottom up approach include
investigative psychology and geographical psychology.
Who was investigative psychology developed by
David Canter - a psychologist who proposed that profiling can and should be based on psychological theory and research.
How many main features are there in investigative psychology
3
What are the main features of investigative psychology
- Interpersonal coherence.
- Forensic awareness
- Smallest space analysis
What is interpersonal coherence
when people are consistent in their behaviour and therefore there will be correlations with elements of the crime and how people behave in everyday life. At the same time peoples behaviour changes overtime, and therefore looking at the differences in crimes over a four year period might offer further clues.
What is forensic awareness
when certain behaviours may reveal an awareness of particular police techniques and past experience.
What is smallest space analysis
a statistical technique. Data about many crime scenes and offender characteristics are correlated so that most common connections can be identified.
What is geographical psychology
analysis the locations of a connected series of crimes and consideres where the crimes were committed, the spatial relationships between different crime scenes and how they might relate to an offenders place of residence
What does the circle theory suggest
that a criminals base may have be identifiable by looking at the spatial distribution of crime scenes. If crimes that are similar in nature are plotted on a map it may be possible to join the plot points together to form a circle. The criminals base would be the centre of this circle.
What is an example of the circle theory
Ted bundy case
Evaluation of the bottom up approach
- Cantar and heritage (1990) supports the usefulness of investigative psychology
- support for smallest space analysis
- Ethe bottom up approach is less limited than top down
Evaluation: Cantar and heritage (1990) supports the usefulness of investigative psychology
Canter and Heritage (1990) conducted a content analysis of 66 sexual assault cases. The data was examined using smallest-space analysis and several characteristics were identified as common in most cases such as the use of impersonal language and lack of reaction to the victim. These characteristics will occur in different patterns in different individuals. This can lead to an understanding of how an offender’s behaviour may change over a series of offences or in establishing whether two or more offences were committed by the same person. This supports the usefulness of investigative psychology as it shows how statistical techniques can be applied.
evaluation: support for smallest space analysis
Lundrigan and Canter (2001) collated information from 120 murder cases involving serial killers in the USA. Smallest space analysis revealed spatial consistency in the behaviour of the killers. The location of each body disposal site was in a different direction from the previous, creating a ‘centre of gravity’; the offender’s base was invariably located in the centre of the pattern. The effect was more noticable for offenders who travelled short distances (marauders). This supports Canter’s claim that spatial information is a key factor in determining the base of an offender.
Evaluation: the bottom up approach is less limited than top down
The Bottom-up approach can be applied to a wider range of offences in comparison to the Top-down approach. Techniques such as smallest space analysis and the principle of spatial consistency can be used in the investigation of crimes such as burglary and theft as well as more serious offences such as murder and rape. Therefore the bottom-up approach could be argued to be a stronger method for offender profiling.
