offenter profiling : ‘bottom-up’ approach

Question 1

what is the ‘bottom-up’ approach?

Answer 1

• british approach
• deeper analysis of fine details
• build image of suspect based on systematic analysis of evidence

Question 2

what are two techniques to the ‘bottom-up’ approach?

Answer 2

1. investigative psychology
2. geographical profiling

Question 3

what is investigative psychology?

Answer 3

• psychological theories and statistical procedures to profile offenders
• patterns
• statistical records exist as comparison
• details can be matched against statistaical record to identify characteristics

Question 4

what three principles are investigative psychology based on?

Answer 4

1. interpersonal coherence
   - how offender communicates with victim is consistent with how they communicate with others in everyday life
2. time and place
   - when and where the crime took place
3. forensic awareness
   - crime scene suggests they have been in trouble already

Question 5

what is geographical profiling?

Answer 5

• assists ‘time and place’ element
• infer where offender works or lives

Question 6

what did canter and larkin say about geographical profiling and what theory did they come up with from this?

Answer 6

• draw a circle with the crimes inside
• ‘base’ is somewhere in the circle
• ‘circle theory’

Question 7

what two descriptions of offenders did this lead to?

Answer 7

1. the marauder
   - operates in a close proximity to their ‘bases’
2. the commuter
   - travel away from ‘base’ to commit crime

Question 8

limitation of the ‘bottom-up’ approach (assumes all)

Answer 8

• assume all cases can be linked
• not solved cases are not on the database
• not all crimes can be linked to hard to build a profile

Question 9

strength of ‘bottom-up’ approach (effective)

Answer 9

canter + heritage - analysed 66 sexual assaults and the 60 criminals would match on at least two characteristics
- john duffy (railway rapist)
- canter made a profile using case data and matched him

Question 10

strength of ‘bottom-up’ approach (support GP)

Answer 10

canter + lundrigan - data from 120 murder cases collected and analysis revealed spatial consistence from killers
- location of bodies created a center of gravity around offenders home

Question 11

limitation of ‘bottom-up’ approach (practical)

Answer 11

• geographical profiling relies on accurate information to create map
• 75% of crimes aren’t reported so aren’t plotted