Offender Profiling

Question 1

What is offender profiling?

Answer 1

-behavioural + analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict the characteristics of unknown offenders

Question 2

What is the top-down approach?

Answer 2

-profilers start with a pre-established typology and work down to lower levels in order to assign offenders to one of 2 categories based on evidence

Question 3

What is an organised offender?

Answer 3

-shows evidence of having planned the crime in advance

Question 4

What is disorganised offender?

Answer 4

-shows little evidence of planning

Question 5

What are the key characteristics of an organised offender?

Answer 5

-has a ‘type’ of victim
-maintains high degree of control
-little or no clues left
-above average IQ
-professional qualification

Question 6

What are the key characteristics of a disorganised offender?

Answer 6

-shows little evidence of planning
-may be spontaneous act
-scene reflects impulsive nature of attack
-lower than average IQ
-unskilled or unemployed
-history of failed relationship

Question 7

What are the 4 parts to an FBI profile?

Answer 7

1. data assimilation
2. crime scene classification
3. crime reconstruction
4. profile generation

Question 8

What is supporting evidence to the top down approach?

Answer 8

-works best with certain types of crimes
-eg. rape, arson, dissection of bodies or cult killings

Question 9

What is a criticism of the top down approach?

Answer 9

-Alison
-typology classification system is based on assumption that offenders patterns and behaviours haven’t changed
-it is based on static models of personality
-poor validity when it comes to identifying possible suspects and for trying to predict their next move

Question 10

What is a limitation of the top down approach?

Answer 10

-evidence doesn’t support the ‘disorganised offender’
-Godwin - asks how police investigators would classify a killer with high IQ + sexual competence who commits a spontaneous murder where the victims body is left at scene
-has caused others to create a more detailed typological models
-Holmes suggest there are 4 types of serial killers

Question 11

What is the bottom up approach?

Answer 11

-profilers work up from evidence collected to develop hypotheses about the likely characteristics of the offender

Question 12

What is investigative psychology?

Answer 12

-matches details from the crime scene with statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns

Question 13

How is investigative psychology helpful?

Answer 13

-can establish patterns of behaviour likely to occur
-develop a statistical database = allows comparison
-can determine if a series of offences are linked

Question 14

What are the 3 parts to investigative psychology?

Answer 14

1. interpersonal coherence
2. significance of time and place
3. forensic awareness

Question 15

What is interpersonal coherence?

Answer 15

-way an offender behaves at the scene, may reflect everyday behaviour

Question 16

What is forensic awareness?

Answer 16

-those who have been the subject of interrogation before

Question 17

What is geographical profiling?

Answer 17

-offenders operational base are revealed by location of previous crimes

Question 18

What is geographical profiling based of?

Answer 18

-spatial consistency
-can be used in conjunction with psychological theory to create hypotheses

Question 19

What is spatial consistency?

Answer 19

-people commit crimes within a limited geographical space

Question 20

What is the assumption of geographical profiling?

Answer 20

-that serial offenders will strict their work to area they are familiar with
-understanding the spatial pattern of their behaviour provides a centre of gravity
-which is likely to include the offenders base

Question 21

What is the basis of Canter’s circle theory?

Answer 21

-pattern of offending forms a circle around the offenders home base
-leads to 2 descriptions of offenders

Question 22

What is the marauder?

Answer 22

-operatives in close proximity to their home base

Question 23

What is the commuter?

Answer 23

-travelled distance away from usual residence

Question 24

Why is spatial decision making helpful?

Answer 24

-insight into the nature of offence
-if it was opportunistic or planned
-mental maps
-mode of transport
-employment status
-approximate age

Question 25

Briefly explain one limitation of a method of offender profiling

Answer 25

-it is based on assumption that offenders patterns and behaviours haven’t changed
-poor validity when it comes to identifying possible suspects and for trying to predict their next move

Question 26

What support did Rossmo find in relation to geographical profiling?

Answer 26

-offenders have a ‘hunting pattern’
-through examining locations and their spatial relationship to each other
-know more about where the criminal is located

Question 27

Explain the bottom up approach to offender profiling

Answer 27

-profilers work up from evidence collected to develop hypotheses about the likely characteristics of the offender
-investigative - matches details from the crime scene with statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns
-can establish patterns of behaviour that is likely to occur
-geographical - offender operational base are revealed by location of previous crimes based on spatial consistency

Question 28

What is support to investigative psychology?

Answer 28

-there is evidence to support its use
-Canter + Heritage conducted an analysis of 66 sexual assault cases
-data was examined using smallest space analysis
-several behaviours were identified as common in different samples of behaviour
-each individual displayed a characteristic pattern of such behaviour
-this helps establish whether 2 or more offences were committed by the same person
-supports basic principle of investigative psych

Question 29

What is support to geographical psychology?

Answer 29

-Lundrigan + Canter collated info from 120 murder cases involving serial killers in the US
-smallest space analysis revealed spatial consistency in the behaviour of the killers
-the location of each body disposal site created a centre of gravity
-create a circular effect around home base
-effect was more noticeable for offenders who travelled short distances
-supports the view that geographical info can be used to identify an offender

Question 30

What is a limitation to geographical profiling?

Answer 30

-may not be sufficient on its own
-the success of geographical is reliant on the quality of data that the police can provide
-recording of crimes isn’t always accurate and can vary between police forces
-75% of crimes aren’t reported to police in the first place
-calls into question the utility of an approach that relies of the accuracy of data
-even if info is correct - critics claim that other factors are just as important when creating a profile
-suggest geographical alone may not always lead to the successful capture of an offender