Forensics

Question 1

What are the ways of measuring crime?

Answer 1

Official statistics, Victim surveys and Offender surveys

Question 2

Official Statistics

Answer 2

Produced by Home Office (incidents reported to or by the police) and National Crime Reporting Standard (reports any incident)

Question 3

Victim Surveys

Answer 3

Crime Survey for England and Wales - 50,000 houses interviewed - randomly selected

Question 4

Offender Survey

Answer 4

Conducted for 4 years with same 5,000 people

Question 5

Measuring Crime Evaluation

Answer 5

OS - 58% crime goes unreported
VS - May be reluctant to report everything, sampling may be biased (only 75% respond)
OF - Offenders may not be honest about criminal behaviour

Question 6

Offender Profiling

Answer 6

A method of working out the characteristics of an offender by examining the characteristics of the crime scene

Question 7

Top-down approach

Answer 7

An analysis of previous crimes creates a profile of a likely offender - a profiler uses this knowledge to narrow the field of possible suspects

Question 8

Top-down Approach Evaluation

Answer 8

82% said it was useful
Flawed basis - dishonest information in interviews
Potential harm - mislead investigators
Measuring accuracy in terms of closeness of profile isn’t accurate or reliable
Hard to distinguish between organized and disorganized

Question 9

Oraganised Offender

Answer 9

Commits a planned crime and may engage in violent fantasies with victim, highly intelligent and socially competent

Question 10

Unorganised Offender

Answer 10

Unplanned crime, random selection of victim, unlikely to engage with victim and sexual acts are performed after the death of victim.

Question 11

Bottom-up Approach

Answer 11

A data-driven approach where statistical techniques are used to produce predictions about the likely characteristics of the offender

Question 12

Geographical Profiling

Answer 12

Based on the pattern shown by the location(s) of the crimes and how they might relate to the location of the offender

Question 13

Circle Theory

Answer 13

Canter ad Larkin (1993) - offender have a spatial mindset, tend to commit crimes within an imagined circle
Marauder - around home
Commuter - not near home but still in a circle

Question 14

Criminal Geographic Targeting

Answer 14

Rossmo - produces a 3D map displaying spatial data related to time, distance and movement to and from crime scenes

Question 15

Bottom-up Approach Evaluation

Answer 15

Computer programs may be incorrect
75% of officers thought its useful
Can help prioritise house-to-house searches but not much better than traditional maps