Offender Profiling

What is offender profiling?

Set of investigative techniques used by the police to identify criminals of serious crimes.

What are the 2 Main Approaches to offender profiling?

Top-down approach

Bottom-up

What is the Top-down approach?

Looking carefully at the crime scene and drawing conclusions from evidence found there about offender

profiler also looks at other cases of criminals such as interviews, to build a picture of typical offender profiles

Used for more extreme crimes such as murder or rape

Study to support Top down approach? Hazelwood + Douglas (1970)

Aim: identify major personality characteristics of serious offenders + how the differed from non-offenders

36 convicted serial killers in American prisons whose crimes had sexual orientation

Method: lengthy unstructured interviews with info collected about the crime scene

Results: info from crime scene revealed crimes were either premeditated and planned or sudden and unrehearsed

Conclusion: Crime scene could be used in same way as fingerprint to identify murder. Crime scenes reveals clear evidence of whether offences were committed by organised or disorganised offenders

What is a disorganised offender?

More likely to have committed crime in moment of passion, no evidence of premeditation, more likely to leave evidence behind, thought to be less socially competent, unemployed, low IQ and lives alone

What is an organised offender?

Evidence of having planned crime in advance, victim is deliberately targeted, often reflect fact that offender has a "type”, maintain high degree of control during crime, high precision, little evidence left behind, tend to be above average intelligence, in a skilled, professional occupation, socially and sexually competent, usually married and may have children

What are the 4 stages in the construction of a top down profile

Data assimilation - reviewing evidence from crime scene

crime scene classification - organised or disorganised crime?

crime reconstruction - make predictions such as sequence of events, behaviour of offender and victim any preplanning that might have incurred and required actions

profile generation - making predictions about offender based on the classification of crime and pre-established profile for that classification

what is the bottom-up approach

No initial assumptions are made about the offender and the approach relies heavily on objective research

bases on its ideology on the belief that the little details that are often overlooked. can be crucial to the success of a case

rather than being built on qualitative data, based on statistical procedures + psychological theories

no premade categories, starting from the bottom and vuilding up to a profile

What are the 2 types of Bottom Up profiling?

Investigative Psychology

Geographical Profiling

What is investigative psychology?

Evidence from previous crimes and new crimes and offenders are added to a database, then used to identify patterns and trends about offender behaviour. When crime is committed, as much detail from the crime scene is gathers and compared against patterns in database

profile is generated by utilising assumptions made from database and 5 factor model

What is meant by “interpersonal coherence” in investigative psychology?

An offender’s interaction with a victim reflects their general relationship style in life, revealing consistency between everyday behaviour and crime-scene actions.

What is forensic awareness?

Clues showing the offender knows how to avoid evidence (e.g. wearing gloves, cleaning). Suggests prior experience with police or previous convictions.

What is Geographical Profiling?

The analysis of crime-location patterns to estimate the offender’s base and predict where they might strike next. It relies on spatial consistency in offences.

What are the two offender types in Circle Theory?

Marauders commit crimes within their home area;

Commuters travel from elsewhere to offend. Both tend to operate within a predictable circle around an anchor point.

What did Lundrigan and Canter (2001) find?

They studied 120 serial murder cases and found each offender had spatial consistency — their crimes formed a circular pattern around their home base, supporting Canter’s Circle Theory.

What is meant by a crime pattern?

The consistent spatial, temporal, and behavioural features of an offender’s series of crimes, showing how they select and approach victims.

What is the purpose of offender profiling overall?

To narrow down the field of suspects, predict future offences, and provide insight into the offender’s personality and habits, supporting police investigations.

What key British case demonstrated the use of profiling?

The Railway Rapist (John Duffy) case, where David Canter’s profile accurately predicted the offender’s occupation, marital status, and area of residence, helping lead to his arrest.

What type of evidence does profiling rely on?

Crime-scene details, victim information, and forensic evidence, combined with knowledge of human behaviour to identify patterns across offences.

How does the Bottom-Up approach differ from the Top-Down approach?

Top-Down uses fixed FBI typologies; Bottom-Up is empirical and data-led, relying on statistical analysis rather than intuition, and adaptable to all types of crime.