Lesson 2 – Bottom-Up Approach to Offender Profiling Flashcards
What is the bottom up approach?
Bottom-up approach- generate picture of offender- including likely characteristics, routine behaviour, AND social background
Achieved through systematic analysis of evidence left at crime scene BUT ✖️ begin with fixed typologies (like top-down approach)- instead profile is data-driven and emerges as profiler engages in rigorous scrutiny of
details of offence
Where was the bottom up approach developed and where is it used mainly?
🇬🇧
What is investigative psychology?
Aims to establish 🏃♂️ likely to occur at certain crime scenes- done to create statistical database (acts as baseline for comparison)
Specific details of offence matched against database to reveal statistically probable details about offender e.g. personal history, family background etc- helps determine whether multiple offences linked and likely to have been committed by same individual
What are the key variables to investigative psychology?
1) Interpersonal coherence
2) Significance of ⏰ and place
3) Forensic awareness
What is significance of time and place and how does it relate to investigative psychology?
🔑 variable- may indicate where the offender lives
What is Forensic awareness and how does it relate to investigative psychology?
Describes individuals who have made attempt to ‘cover their tracks’ (i.e. hide body/murder 🔪🔫 or clean crime scene)
Their 🏃♂️ may indicate that they have been subject of police interrogation in past, or even that 🚨👮♀️ already have their DNA or fingerprints on file
What is geographic profiling?
Study of spatial 🏃♂️ in relation to crime and offenders- focuses on location of crime as clue to where offender lives, works and socialises
Relevant data includes crime scene, local crime statistics, local transport 🚎 🚗 and geographical spread of similar crimes
Assumption that serious offender restrict criminal activities to area they’re familiar with and … offender’s base will be in middle of spatial pattern of crime scenes- form circle around their 🏠- becomes ⬆️ apparent the ⬆️ offences that are committed
Earlier crimes likely to be closer to offender’s base than later crimes- as offender becomes ⬆️ confident- will travel further from comfort zone
Who proposed 2 models of offender behaviour?
Canter and Larkin (1993)
What were the 2 models that Canter and Larkin proposed?
1) Marauder- operates close to their 🏠
2) Commuter- travelled distance away from 🏠
What does the spatial pattern tell the police?
Tells 🚨👮♀️ whether crime planned or opportunistic AND offenders mode of transport, employment status, approximate age etc
What are the evaluation points of the bottom-up approach?
👍- Canter- argues bottom-up profiling ⬆️ scientific 🧪 than top-down profiling because ⬆️ grounded in evidence (⬆️ supported) and psychological theory and less driven by speculation and hunches than top-down profiling
👎- significant failures when using bottom-up profiling- 1992- 21 year old Rachel Nickell stabbed 🔪 47 times and sexually assaulted in frenzied attack on Wimbledon Common
In 2008- after examining forensic evidence- Robert Napper convicted of murder 🔫- ruled out early on in initial investigation because was several inches taller than profile had claimed offender would be
👍- applied to a wide variety of offences unlike top down e.g. burglary and theft, as well as murder 🔫 and rape
👎- Kocsis et al. (2002)- found chemistry students produced a ⬆️ accurate offender profile than experienced senior detectives- implies that bottom-up approach little more than common sense and guess work
What is interpersonal coherence and how does it relate to investigative psychology?
Interpersonal coherence- central to investigative psychology- way in which offender behaves at crime scene (including interaction with victim- may reflect 🏃♂️ in everyday situations e.g. some rapists want to control and humiliate their victim and others apologetic- tells 🚨👮♀️ how offender relates to 👩 ⬆️ generally
