Top down approach (offender profiling)

Question 1

Top down approach
start and how it advanced
application

Answer 1

starts with big picture then fills in detail
American- FBI
Predetermined categories of organised or disorganised and then fit in to these

Ressler, Burgess and Douglas interviewed 36 sexually motivated murderers with questions related to factors like early warning signs or possible triggers.
From data gathered from crime scene, interviews and details of crime they created a typology/category of criminal

Hazelwood and Douglas then advanced this and created ‘lust murderer’ theory, suggesting lust murderers can be categories as organised or disorganised

from data gathered from crime scene, can then identify characteristics of offender to decide who to look for

more useful for extreme crimes like murder and rape where more personal details are left than property based crime

Question 2

organised offender crime scene

Answer 2

crime scene:
planned,
element of control (restraints brought etc),
aggression before death,
person moved before/after death,
no DNA evidence

Question 3

organised offender personality

Answer 3

Personality:
Married with family, controlled emotion, skilled employment (possibly travel), socially + sexually competent, inconsistent discipline from parent/father as a child, use of alcohol, no change of behaviour afterwards, return to crime + offer information

Question 4

disorganised offender crime scene

Answer 4

crime scene:
Spontanious, victim known in some capacity, little control, sexual/sadistic acts before death, facial destruction, body not hidden, some evidence i.e DNA present

Question 5

disorganised offender personality

Answer 5

personality:
Live alone, unskilled work closer to home/unemployed, low iq, uncontrolled emotional response, live + work near crime scene, lonely, socially + sexually incompetent,
harsh discipline as a child, no alcohol during crime, major behavioural change afterwards, keep souvenir or reminder of crime

Question 6

FBI Profiling needs

Answer 6

needs: PNMMIB
colour photos of scene, data of neighbourhood, medical report, map of victims travel on day, complete investigatory report, background details of victim

Question 7

FBI stages of Profiling

Answer 7

1. data assimilation- gather all sources and info together
2. Classify crime scene- organised or disorganised
3. crime reconstruction- hypothesis about crime eg what happened
4. profile generation- sketch, physical, behavioural

Question 8

Strength top down approach (evidence)

Answer 8

canter- looked at 100 US serial killers using smallest space analysis and found subset of features matching FBI typology for organised offenders

evidence supporting idea of offender profile

Question 9

strength top down approach (application)

Answer 9

Meketa- top-down profiling has recently been applied to burglary leading to an 85% rise in solved cases in three US states

further adds 2 categories- opportunistic and interpersonal

Question 10

Limitation top down approach (difficulty)

Answer 10

Godwin- argues that, in reality, it is difficult to classify killers as one or the other type. A killer may have multiple contrasting characteristics, such as high intelligence, and sexual competence, but commits a spontaneous murder leaving the body at the crime scene

Question 11

limitation top down approach (limited)

Answer 11

critics claim TDA can only be used for certain crimes like sexually motivated murder
however Meketa

other limit- doesnt account for starting as D and becoming O