Offender profiling

Question 1

Offender profiling

Answer 1

Collection of empirical data in order to build up a picture of the characteristics of those involved in a certain type of crime

Question 2

The primary aim of offender profiling

Answer 2

Assist investigative practice and provide advice to the police to help solve the crime and identify offenders

Question 3

Ebiske (2008)

Answer 3

Profiling involves using an understanding of human behaviour. motivation and pathology = characteristics of the perpetrator

Question 4

Top-down approach

Answer 4

• Crime-scene analysis
• Evidence from the crime scene is compared to patterns from previous crimes in order to make a prediction about more crimes and the likelihood of when and where they will occur.
• Starts with the big picture and then fills in the details

Question 5

4 key stages of crime-scene profiling

Answer 5

1. Data assimilation
2. Crime classification
3. Crime reconstruction
4. Profile generation

Question 6

Data assimilation

Answer 6

• Police reports
• Crime scene
• Photographs
• Pathology reports

Question 7

Crime scene classification

Answer 7

• Organised

- Disorganised

Question 8

Crime reconstruction

Answer 8

Hypotheses;

• Victim behaviour
• Crime sequence

Question 9

Profile generation

Answer 9

Present hypotheses;

• Demography
• Physical characteristics
• Behavioural habits

Question 10

Organized offender

Answer 10

• Psychopathic - kills after critical life event
• Highly organized in most facets of life
• Cleans up the crime scene and removes or covers up evidence
• Planned, controlled and targetted victim

Question 11

Disorganized offender

Answer 11

• Psychotic - emotionally aroused
• Disorganized and chaotic lifestyle
• Little or no attempt to tidy up the crime scene
• Little evidence of planning and random victim

Question 12

SPOT burglary styles

Answer 12

• Opportunistic
• Organized
• Disorganized
• Interpersonal

Question 13

Opportunistic

Answer 13

Offence description

• Unlawful entry - entry left open
• No preparation or tools
• Unoccupied residence
• Low-value items stolen
• Little evidence left behind

Offender description

• Young
• Adolescent onset
• Short criminal career
• Low offending frequency
• Don’t know the victim
• Mostly male
• Don’t have a car
• Versatility, prior petty theft/ shoplifting arrests

Question 14

Organized

Answer 14

Offence description

• Clean but forced entry
• Tools brought to the scene
• No evidence left behind
• High-value items stolen

Offender description

• Older
• Adolescent onset
• High offending frequency
• Limited versatility - prior arrests for theft/burglary
• Often have a car
• Lives with someone/partner
• May have met victim

Question 15

Disorganized

Answer 15

Offence description

• Forced entry
• Scene left untidy
• Tools/ evidence left
• Low-value or no items stolen

Offender description

• Young
• Early-onset
• Long criminal career
• High offending frequency
• Versatility - past arrest for drugs offences
• Don’t know victim

Question 16

Interpersonal

Answer 16

Offence description

• Occupied residence
• Victim targeted
• Attempted, threatened or committed violence at scene
• Personal items stolen

Offender description

• Adult
• Late criminal onset
• Solo offender
• Have a car
• Single/ not cohabiting
• No record/ arrested for violence
• Female victims
• Know of victims

Question 17

Bottum-up approach

Answer 17

Developed in the UK that uses statistical databases to look for consistencies in an offender’s pattern of behaviour when committing a crime.
- Starts with details and creates a bigger picture

Question 18

Investigative psychology

Answer 18

• Statistically based attempts to identify patterns in different crime characteristics + consideration of geographical factors in undertaking crime
• Analyse behaviour and social interactions between offender and victim

Question 19

Canter and Larkin (1993)

Answer 19

Two types of offending;

• Marauder - doesn’t stray far from their home base
• Commuter - move well away from it to commit their crime

Question 20

Key psychological principles

Answer 20

1. Interpersonal coherence
2. Time and place significance
3. Criminal characteristics
4. Criminal career
5. Forensic awareness

Question 21

Interpersonal coherence

Answer 21

• Actions of the offender will be the norm to them

eg/ type of victim may reflect the subgroup the offender belongs to

Question 22

Time and place significance

Answer 22

• Offender needs to be in control so they will choose a specific place

eg/ Marauders or Commuters

Question 23

Criminal characteristics

Answer 23

• Analysis of crimes/ offenders assists classifying and identifying behaviour patterns

Question 24

Criminal career

Answer 24

• Number of times crime repeated + with growing confidence may increase

Question 25

Forensic awareness

Answer 25

- Previous contact with police may assist criminal in covering their tracks

Question 26

Features that help identify if crimes are committed by the same offender

Answer 26

1. If offender has behaved in the same way each time they commit a crime - OFFENDER CONSISTENCY HYPOTHESIS 2. Evidence of 'behavioural distinctiveness' sometimes known as the criminals 'signature'

Question 27

Canter and Heritage (1990)

Answer 27

- Interested in whether there were particular pattens of behaviour occurring across similar crimes. - Detailed qualitative content analysis - 66 sexual offences committed by 27 offenders. - Reports from a range of police forces in the UK = less likely to be ethnocentrically biased. - Smallest-space analysis = support research methodology. = 5 key variables relevant to all 66 cases 5 factor theory; - No reactions to the victim - Impersonal language - Surprise attack - Vaginal intercourse - Victims clothing disturbed The general underlying pattern of behaviour = attacks was impersonal, sudden + victim's response irrelevant to the offender.

Question 28

Large sample size

Answer 28

- Increased representativeness of the findings | - Generalizability of findings