Forensics Flashcards
(255 cards)
What is offender profiling?
A technique that uses information about a crime, a crime scene and a victim in order to compose a profile of the unknown perpetrator
What can be taken from a crime scene?
Hard evidence such as saliva blood stains, semen
According to offender profiling what can be other clues at the crime scene?
The location, the choice of victim, the nature of the assault, the time, what was said to the victim, the weapon used and the wound
What does offender profiling explore?
The links between what goes on at the crime scene and the type of person that commits a crime
Why was offender profiling devised?
To help narrow down the search for serial offenders
What does offender profiling allow police to do?
to interview suspects with the profile before other suspects
What is the bottom up approach?
An approach that attempts to generate a picture of the offender, such as what they could look like, regular behaviour, social background by collecting detailed analysis of crime scene
What are the two parts to the bottom up approach?
Investigative psychology and geographical profiling
What is investigative psychology?
The process of applying statistical procedures alongside psychological theory to analyse the chrome scene evidence
What is the aim in investigative psychology?
To establish patterns of behaviour that are likely to occur across crime scenes in order to help develop a statistical database which can then be used as a comparison
Why is the database useful?
As when offence occurs the details can be matched against the database which allows investigators to go directly to the nearest match and catch them sooner preventing more crime
What are the key features of the bottom up approach?
1) the way that an offender behaves at the crime scene can reflect how the offender behaves in every day life
2) The evidence taken away or left (finger prints) can imply if the offender has previously committed crimes
3)
Who conducted a study to support investigative psychology?
Canter and Heritage
What was Canter and Heritage’s study aim?
To study patterns of behaviour in serial offenders
What was Canter and Heritages procedure?
They conducted a meta analysis of 66 sexual assault cases. The computer program identified correlation across patterns of behaviour.
What was Canter and Heritage’s results?
Particular behaviour was seen as common in most cases such as impersonal language and lack of reaction to the victim
What was Canter and Heritage’s conclusion?
The patterns of these behaviours can be specific to individuals and help identity whether offences were committed by the same person
What is geographical profiling?
the Study of spatial behaviour and relation to crime and offenders that involves generalising from the locations of linked criminal scenes which can give clues to the likely home or base of the offender
What does offender profiling assume?
The offenders choose to operate in areas they know well
What are marauders?
Individuals who commit crimes in their own area
What are commuters?
Individuals who travel to commit their crimes
What is the geographical approach based on?
Bartlett’s schema theory
What is Barlett’s schema theory assume?
That people stole mental schemes which organised units of knowledge which creates a mental map of an area - persons mental map is unique and reflects their own experiences
How do mental maps benefit psychologists?
They can learn about the criminal from the individual map, and the pattern of offending is likely to form a circle around their usual residence