the top down approach EVALUATION

Question 1

it only applies to particular crimes

Answer 1

• Top-down profiling is best suited to crime scenes that reveal important details about the suspect e.g. rape, murder
• Common offences such as burglary reveal little about the offender

Question 2

poor sample

Answer 2

• Top down approach was based on interviews conducted with 36 murderers = classified as either organised or disorganised
• Unrepresentative
• Not random or large
• No standard questions = no comparison
• Doesn’t have a scientific basis
• Lacks validity

Question 3

too simplistic - Godwin 2002

Answer 3

Godwin 2002 = difficult to classify killers as one or the other type
- Could have multiple contrasting characteristics
- High intelligence and sexual competence, but commit a spontaneous murder, leaving the body at the crime scene
- Typology is more of a continuum, rather than one or the other

Question 4

based on outdated models

Answer 4

• It assumes that offenders’ patterns of behaviour and motivations are consistent across situations and contexts
• Alison (2002) argues that this approach is based on outdated theories of personalities being stable
• External, situational factors can be a major influence on offending and they are constantly changing
• It lacks validity when it comes to identifying possible suspects