Ways of Offender Profiling Flashcards
(12 cards)
Define ‘offender profiling’.
An investigative tool employed by the police when solving crimes. It is used to help focus the investigation and narrow the list of likely suspects.
Identify the 3 ways of offender profiling.
Top-down approach, bottom-up approach, and geographical profiling.
Outline the top-down approach to offender profiling.
The top-down approach was developed from the work of the FBI who found, based on their interviews with serial killers, that there are two types of offenders: organised and disorganised. An organised offender shows evidence of planning, leaves little evidence behind, and has a type of victim, whereas a disorganised offender shows little evidence of planning, leaves a lot of evidence, and the victim is random. These signature ways of working are associated with their social and psychological characteristics. The top-down approach therefore begins with the profiler identifying whether the offender is organised or disorganised by analysing the crime scene, the victim, and location. From this, they predict the offender’s social and psychological characteristics.
Give a strength of the top-down approach to offender profiling.
A strength of the top-down approach is that it was developed through in-depth interviews with serial offenders, meaning it is grounded in real-life case studies. This gives it some ecological validity, as it reflects patterns observed in actual criminal behaviour.
Give a limitation of the top-down approach to offender profiling.
A limitation of the top-down approach is that it is subjective. This is because it relies on the profiler’s judgement when deciding whether a crime scene suggests an organised or disorganised offender. This makes it unscientific and potentially prone to bias.
Outline the bottom-up approach to offender profiling.
The bottom-up approach is a British, data-driven approach to offender profiling. One form is investigative psychology, which involves analysing evidence from the crime scene and comparing it to statistical data from similar crimes. It also helps determine whether multiple unsolved offences may be linked by identifying behavioural patterns. The approach assumes offenders are consistent in their behaviour across crimes, allowing data to be compared meaningfully.
Give a strength of the bottom-up approach to offender profiling.
A strength of the bottom-up approach is that it is objective. This is because it is a data-driven method that uses statistical analysis and historical data, making it more scientific than the top-down approach.
Give a limitation of the bottom-up approach to offender profiling.
A limitation of the bottom-up approach is that it relies on offender consistency. This means it assumes the offender behaves in a similar way across crimes. However, criminals may adapt or change their methods depending on circumstances.
Outline geographical profiling.
Geographical profiling involves analysing the locations of a series of crimes to identify where an offender may live, work, or socialise. It is based on the assumption that serial offenders commit crimes in areas familiar to them. This often results in a pattern of offences forming a circle around the offender’s base, which becomes clearer with more crimes.
Give a strength of geographical profiling.
A strength of geographical profiling is that it is scientific and objective. It uses data from police databases and crime locations to make predictions, rather than relying on intuition.
Give a limitation of geographical profiling.
A limitation of geographical profiling is that it assumes offenders are consistent in the locations they choose to commit crimes. However, some offenders travel long distances and vary their locations.
Compare the three ways of offender profiling.
The bottom-up approach and geographical profiling are more scientific and objective than the top-down approach, as they rely on data and statistics from police databases. In contrast, the top-down approach relies on the subjective judgement of the profiler. All three methods assume consistency in offender behaviour, whether that’s in their planning (top-down), their crime scene actions (bottom-up), or the location of their crimes (geographical).
