Unit 5 Flashcards
(20 cards)
Investigative psychology
1) Profiling is not restricted to serious crimes.
2) It is directed to unsolved crimes, in which the perpetrators soon become known.
3) Predicting multiple murder is almost impossible.
4) Predicting the next target of a serial killer is more likely.
Investigative psychology definition
1) Refers to the application of psychological research and principles to the investigation of criminal behaviour.
Profiling tries to answer three questions:
1)What are the important behavioural features of the crimes that may help identify a successfully prosecute the perpetrator?
2) What inferences can be made about the characteristics of the offender that may help you identify him/her?
3) Are there any other crimes that are likely to have been committed by the same person
Forms of profiling
1) Psychological profiling
2) Suspect-based profiling
3) Geographical profiling
4) Crime scene profiling
5) Equivocal death analysis
Clinical approach
1) Profiling based on experience and gut feelings rather than on research and statical data
Actuarial profiling:
1) A procedure that employs statistical group data based on prior offenders to identify an individual offender who committed similar crimes
Psychological profiling
1) Is an assessment practice designed to help in the identification and prediction of behaviour in known individuals?
2) It is not limited to negative characteristics.
3) It may be used to predict positive characteristics in candidates for law enforcement or even public offence.
Consists out of 2 basic approaches
1) Threat assessment
2) Risk assessment
Threat assessment
1) The process of determining the validity and seriousness of a threat being carried out by a person or group of persons.
Risk assessment
1) Comes into play even if no direct threat has been made.
2) Risk assessment is a process to evaluate individuals who have violated social norms or displayed bizarre behaviour.
3) The primary risk assessment involves elaborate psychological profiling
Suspect-based profiling
1) Prospective profiling
2) Refers to identifying the psychological and behavioural features of persons who may commit a particular crime, such as school violence.
3) Suspect based profiling is built on the systematic collection of behavioural, personality, cognitive, and demographic data on previous offender who committed similar crimes.
4) It is actuarial based because it uses statistical method rather than clinical skills to arrive at conclusions about who is likely to commit crime.
5) Is often used at airports and border crossings to interdict drugs and out of concern for terrorist activities.
Geographical profiling
1) A technique that can help locate where a serial offender resides, or other geographical locations that serve as a base of operations of a serial offender.
2) CGT – criminal geographic targeting program
3) The objective of the programme is to pinpoint the location of the offender’s residence
4) Geographical profiling can help in the search for property offenders
Crime scene profiling and UNITS
1) Offender profiling, criminal profiling, crime scene analysis
2) Behavioural science unit of the FBI
3) National centre for the analysis of violent crime (NCAVC)
4) Behavioural analysis unit (BAU)
5) Violent criminal apprehension program (ViCAP)
Staging:
1) The intentional alteration of a crime scene prior to the arrival of the police, and its sometimes done by someone other done the perpetrator
Staging happens for 2 reasons:
1) Redirect the investigation away from the logical suspect.
2) To protect the victim or the victim’s family
Autoeroticism :
1) Refers to self-arousal and self-gratification of sexual desire without a partner.
2) In some instances, the method of autoeroticism may result in the death of the individual, such as by self-strangulation or hanging
3) Family members may dress the naked victim so that they look more presentable.
4) They may even stage a criminal homicide like messing up a room to give it the appearance a burglary gone wrong.
Organized definition :
1) Those who are said to have higher intelligence, more socially and sexually competent, and even of a higher birth order.
Organized crime scene :
1) Indicates planning and premeditation on the part of the offender.
2) This crime scene shows signs that the offender-maintained control of himself and the victim.
3) The victim is usually taken to another location that is more secluded.
Disorganised crime scene
1) The person did not plan the crime beforehand, often committed out of range, impulse, or controlled excitement
Mixed crime scene
1) Indicates that the nature of the crime demonstrates both organized and disorganized behaviour
