offender profiling
what is offender profiling
an investigation tool used with other policing methods for solving crime.
what is top down profiling
it is when an analysis of previous crime is used to create a profile of a likely offender
what are the four stages for a top down approach
Data assimilation- information is collected from many sources
Crime scene classification- crime scenes are classified as organised or disorganised
Crime reconstruction- hypotheses are generated about the crime sequence of events
Profile generation- a profile is now developed about the offender
Evaluation for top down
s- Pinizzotto found that td profiling is useful 83% of the time. Trager and Brewster found that td profilling helped 62% with interrogation of suspect then 53% However, td is based on hunches and intuitions reduces credibility.
w- it is hard to make a distinguish between organised and disorganised. Turvery said that crime scene classification is false and distinct categories. furthermore, david canter analysed 39 aspects. no distiniction between organised and disorganised.
however, arthur shawcross was found using td but this is a case study and cannot be generalised.
what is bottom up profilling
when it builds a picture of the criminal from facts collected from previous crimes so there is no intuition used
what is investigative psychology
the apply psychological theories to the analysis of crime scenes
what are four principles for investigative psychology
interpersonal coherence- behaviour is consistent across all situations
time and place- gives clues to where the culprit lives
criminal characteristics- placing the culprit into categories
forensice awareness- if they have have been involves with the police in the past
what is geographical profilling
centred about where crimes are committed and considered the spatial relationship between crimes. Offenders are most likely to commit crime where they live or where the routinely travel to
what is the circle theory
offenders have a spatial mindset and they commit crimes in an imagened circle
marauder-crimes are committed near their homes
commuter-travel to commit crimes
evaluation for bottom up approach
s-investigative psychology works as canter found the railway rapist by using it
w-geographical profilling is oversimplified as it does not look at behaviour
s-it is more objective and scientific than the top down approach as it uses statistical techniques adds reliability however some info may be innacurate
what are the three biological explanations
atavistic, egentic and neural
what is the historical approach- atavistic
Lombrosso suggested thst criminals have specific features and cannot fit in within society in 1870's they were seen as lacking evolutionary development. e.g heavy brow, large jaw and large ears
eval for atavistic
w- facial features does not link to offending behaviour as it is is due to social factors. Kaplans self-derogation theory.
w- lombrossos study was unrepresentative as his sample contained people with learning disabilities
genetic explanation
criminals are born with a gene that makes them criminals such as brunner analysed the DNA of 28 male of a dutch familly that has a history of crimes. all had a gene that led to a low production of a cheminal called MAOA
Eval for genetics
w- genetic science is still in its infancy and there is not much understanding of how behaviour leads to crime
w- brunners sample is androcentric and only consists of a family that has commited specifc crimes
neural explanations
biochemicals in the brain can lead to crime such as high noradrenaline low serotonin and high dopamine
and also how in criminals their brains develops abnormally
eval for neural
w-most biochemistry studies has been on animals so you cannot generalised however Higley found that male primates have low serotonin
w- offender cannot be blamed for brain development as they have no control over it so it disgarees with the legal system however they use scientific methods such as brain scans so it is not bias and evidence is objective