offender profiling : ‘top-down’ approach

Question 1

what is the ‘top-down’ approach?

Answer 1

• american method
• evidence collected first and then a category is determined the ‘best fit’
• build picture of traits make distinction between organised and disorganised crime

Question 2

how do you develop a profile?

Answer 2

1. data assimilation (analyse evidence)
2. crime scene classification (organised or disorganised)
3. crime reconstruction (hypothesises made about sequence of events)
4. profile generation (hypothesises about characteristics of the offender are made)

Question 3

what are the characteristics of an organised crime?

Answer 3

behaviour/personality - intelligent, socially competent, skilful job, married with children(usually)
features of crime committed - plan, ‘type’ of victim, self-control, little evidence

Question 4

what are the characteristics of a disorganised crime?

Answer 4

behaviour/personality - lower IQ, unemployed/unskilful job, lives alone
features of crime committed - spontaneous, lots of clues, little self control

Question 5

strength of the ‘top-down’ approach (research support)

Answer 5

ault and keese - evidence from rape cases used ‘top-down’ approach to identify offender and narrowed down to 40 in 3 days
- further analysis lead to arrest

Question 6

limitation of ‘top-down’ approach (not fit)

Answer 6

may not fit neatly into one category
- douglas added third category (‘mixed’ offender)

Question 7

limitation of ‘top-down’ approach (personality)

Answer 7

assumes personality determines criminality
- ignores external factors
- situation may influence behaviour
- not a full picture

Question 8

limitation of ‘top-down’ approach (interviews)

Answer 8

interviews founded this approach are criticised
- small sample (36) and done on one crime so not generalisable
- opportunity sampling
- low validity