offender profiling: top down approach

Question 1

is the top down approach american or english

Answer 1

American

Question 2

where did the top down approach come about from

Answer 2

the work of the FBI in the 1970’s - their behavioural science unit drew upon data gathered from in depth interviews of 36 sexually motivated murderers including Ted Bundy and Charley Manson. Concluded that data should be categorised into disorganised/organised offenders

Question 3

what is the key component of the top down approach

Answer 3

organised and disorganised offenders

Question 4

what is the fancy word for offenders having a signiture way of working

Answer 4

modus operandi

Question 5

what are the characteristics of organised offenders

Answer 5

• plan the crime in advance
• victim is deliberatley targeted- have a ‘type’ of victim.
• have a high degree of control
• little evidence or clues left at crime scene
• above average intelligence
• in a skilled, proffessional occupation
• socially and sexually competent
• usually married and may even have children.

Question 6

what are characteristics of disorganised offenders

Answer 6

• little evidence of planning
• offence often spontaneous, spur of the moment
• crime scene reflects impulsive nature, body usually left at scene. Very little control
• lover than average IQ
• in unskilled work or have no job
• have a history of failed relationships and sexual dysfunction.

Question 7

how is an FBI profile conducted

Answer 7

• Data assimilation
• crime scene classification
• crime reconstruction
• profile generation.

Question 8

what are the strengths to this approach

Answer 8

• research support: Canter et al. (2004). analysis of 100 US murders committed by different killers. Smallest space technique was used which identified correlations. Assessed co-occurence of 39 aspects of serial killings. Found that there does seem to be features of many serial killings that match FBI typology. Increased validity.
• wide applications: used to help with crimes like burglary. Meketa (2017). Let to 85% rise in cases solved in 3 US states

Question 9

what are the limitations to this approach?

Answer 9

• there are suggestions that the types of organised/disorganised are not mutually exclusive. Godwin (2002) argues that in reality it is hard to classify killers as one or the other type. A killer may have multiple contrasting characteristics. Suggests that organised/disorganised is more of a continuum.
• there is flawed evidence: FBI profiling was developed using interviews of 36 murderers in the US. 25 were serial killers, 11 were single or double murderers. At the end of the process 24 were classified as organised offenders and 12 were classified as disorganised. Canter et al argued that the sample was poor- the FBI agents did not select a random or even large sample and did not include different kinds of offender. No standard set of questions so each interview was different and couldn’t be compared. Suggests it doesn’t have a sound, scientific basis.