Outline Profiling Systems
Top-Down Profiling
Developed in 1970s in the USA through interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers
Bottom-Up Profiling
Created by David Canter in the early 1990s and adopted by the United Kingdom to create criminal profiles based on crime scene evidence
Define Top-Down Profiling
Data Assimilation - Collection of evidence
Crime Classification - Classify the criminal between organised and disorganised
Organised crimes are planned and the victim is often targeted
Disorganised crimes are unplanned and the victim is chosen at random
Crime Reconstruction - Crime is reconstructed to develop predictions of motive and behaviour
Profile Generation - A profile is developed based on predictions
Evaluate Top-Down Profiling
Generalisability; Because of the nature of the original sample, top-down profiling can only really be used to profile serial killers and rapists, but not more common crimes such as burglary
Unreliable sample; derived from 36 serial killers who may not be cooperative with police or too mentally incoherent
Barnum Effect; The profiles are broad enough for criminals to fit into, the same tactics as horoscopes as claimed by Snook
Define Bottom-Up Profiling
Generates a profile of an offender through analysis of the crime scene.
Investigative psychology compares new crimes with a pre-existing database of crimes (smallest scale analysis) to predict behaviour
Outline Canterâs Psychological Theories
Interpersonal Coherence: The way an offender interacts with the victim could reflect everyday behaviour
Forensic Awareness: Behaviour at crime scene could suggest the offender has a criminal record
Time and Place: Could indicate where the the offender is through geographic profiling
Define Geographic Profiling
Incorporates Canter and Larkinâs âCircle Theoryâ that claims that offenders have a spatial mindset wherein they commit their crimes, which can be predicted to create a jeopardy surface
Marauder Model: Offender operates in proximity to their home
Commuter Model: Offender travels from their residence to another familiar location
Evaluate Bottom-Up Profiling
Canter and Heritage identified clear behavioural patterns between 66 sexual assault cases
Godwin and Canter found 85% of offenders lived in a circle that geographical profiling provided
Copson found that bottom-up profiling was useful 84% of the time, but only helped solve 14% of cases and help catch offenders 3% of the time
Empirical (smallest scale analysis) and wider application than top-down approach
Outline Biological Explanations
Atavistic Explanation
Genetic Explanations
Neural Explanations
Define the Atavistic Explanation
In the 1870s, Cesar Lombroso claimed that criminals were âgenetic throwbacksâ and had physical features present in primates and early humans, which made people unfit for modern civilisation and forced them into crime
Prominent Cheekbones
High Cheekbones
Facial Asymmetry
Dark Skin
Evaluate the Atavistic Explanation
Goring found there was no evidence of distinct unusual facial and cranial features between 3000 criminals and 3000 non-criminals
Social sensitivity; Certain atavist features are more found in African Americans, which means that
Determinism; Claims that innate physical characteristics can indicate criminality
Outline Genetic Explanations
Twin Studies: Raine found concordance rates for violence at 52% for MZ twins and 21% for DZ twins
Candidate Genes: Tihonen found the MAOA gene to be linked with violent behaviour and the CDH13 gene to be linked with substance abuse
Evaluate the Genetic Explanations
Tiihonen found that prisoners who committed two or more violent crimes were more likely to possess more instances of low-activity MAOA
Other factors; Christiansen found concordance rates for offending behaviour to be higher in male twins than female twins
Biological reductionism; Does not take into account social factors; Roseâs levels of explanation
Outline Neural Explanations
Suggest differences in the brains of criminals and non-criminals, as many criminals have APD, characterised by low emotion and lack of empathy
Raine found abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex and limbic system (amygdala), which are linked with aggression and violent behaviour
Prefrontal cortex: Moral and emotional regulation
Amygdala: Identifies signs of fear and stress
Davidson found violent criminals had lower serotonin levels compared to non-violent criminals
Evaluate Neural Explanations
Causation; brain abnormalities may be due to biological factors or by early abuse
Mednick found that convictions for adoptees were at 13.5% when biological parents had no conviction, but 20% when parents had convictions and 24.5% when both biological and adopted parents had convictions
Biological reductionism; lowest level of explanation
Define Eysenckâs Theory
The criminal personality was innate and developmentally immature since children were not taught socialisation processes to be acceptable. The criminal personality was outlined into high levels of three features
Extroversion: Low activation in CNS and ANS make extroverts thrill-seekers
Neuroticism: High reactivity in ANS make neurotics more emotional
Psychoticism: High testosterone make psychotics more aggressive and anti-social
Evaluate Eysenckâs Theory
Holism; Eysenck considers the personality to be innate, but that insufficient upbringing was responsible for the personality in adulthood
Both Farrington and Hollin found in separate studies that, while offenders tested high N and P scores, E scores were inconsistent
Identifying traits in young people can help intervene and treat young people to control themselves
Define Kohlbergâs Cognitive Explanation
Kohlberg interviewed 72 Chicago boys on dilemmas, then conducted interviews with 58 for twenty years, and found different types of morality based on reasons behind decisions in the dilemmas.
Pre-Conventional Morality
Conventional Morality
Post-Conventional Morality
Outline Pre-Conventional Morality
Kohlberg associated offenders with a more immature level of moral reasoning characterised with the idea of reward-punishment.
Obedience/Punishment: The individual avoids punishment and gains awards
Instrumental Orientation: If the reward is sufficient enough, then the punishment is negligble
Evaluate Moral Reasoning Theory
Gudjonsson and Sigurdsson found 38% of juvenile offenders did not consider consequences while 36% did not believe they would get caught
Gender bias; Gilligan argued that females focused on how actions affected others while males focused on justice
Outline Cognitive Distortions
Hostile Attribution
The tendency to misinterpret the actions of others and blame them for own offending behaviour
Minimalisation
The tendency to downplay or deny the seriousness of an offence committed
Evaluate Cognitive Distortions
Schonenberg and Justye found violent offenders were more likely to label neutral expressions as hostile than a control group
Hasmall found 36% of child molesters claimed victims gave consent while 35% denied sexual misconduct
Outline the Psychodynamic Explanations
The Superego
Defence Mechanisms
Outline the Superego
The superego is the âmorality principleâ of the tripartite personality, and so Blackburn argued three faulty superegos to be the cause of offending behaviour
Weak Superego: The same-sex parent is absent and so the child does not internalise values, becoming dominated by Id impulses
Deviant Superego: Internalises immoral values from same-sex parent
Critical Superego: Internalises criticism and so does crime to be punished and satisfy the superego
Define Defence Mechanisms
Displacement: âDisplacesâ anger and stress to the victim
Denial: Justifies negative behaviour as actually being more rational and acceptable
Evaluate Psychodynamic Explanations
Barbaree found 98% of criminals exhibited denial
54% of rapists had complete denial
66% of child sex criminals had complete denial
Gender Bias; Because Freud believed women have incomplete superegos, they should commit more crime, but stats show otherwise (51% vs 5%)
Psychic Determinism; If criminals have no control over their actions and behaviour is shaped during childhood, then offenders canât be responsible
Define Differential Association Theory
Sutherland proposed that criminal behaviour was learnt through interactions with others, where a child will associate with pro-crime attitudes and become deviant.
Evaluate Differential Association Theory
Osbourne and West found 40% of sons of criminal parents had a conviction by adulthood, compared to 13% of non-criminal sons
Highest level of explanation; can explain crime that requires skill to learn the techniques of
Environment Determinism; Does not acknowledge why people do not commit crime even if influenced
Define Custodial Sentencing
Involves the placement of an offender in a closed institution such as a prison or asylum
Deterrence
General deterrence
Individual deterrence
Incapacitation
Rehabilitation
Retribution
Evaluate Custodial Sentencing
While in prison, criminals cannot interact or commit crime in regular society
Ofsted found 2/3rd of institutions showed poor management and half were either inadequate or requiring improvement
House of Commons found a decline in education quality and the number of prisoners in education or work training
Outline Psychological Effects of Prisons
Stress: Suicide and self mutilation rates are higher in prison
Institutionalism: Offenders become dependent on prison norms and routines
Brutalisation: The reinforcement of criminal tenants within prison that are unacceptable in society
Labeling: Identifying with being a criminal, as well as the loss of social contracts and employability
Evaluate Psychological Effects of Prisons
Crighton and Towl found the risk of suicide was highest during the first thirty days of prison
Coid found that offenders who received mental health treatment in prisons were 60% less likely to re-offend than untreated offenders
Hollin claimed that prison could be a âhomeâ as the conditions inside could be preferable to outside
Prison has been described as a school for criminal activity, and so arguments that petty criminals should be punished differently have been made
Outline Recidivism
Adult: 45.5%
Juvenile: 70%
<12 Month Sentences: 60%
Define Behaviour Modification
Desirable behaviour is identified and positively reinforced with tokens which can be exchanged for a reward
Evaluate Behaviour Modification
Hobbs and Holt found positive improvement in juvenile criminals when a token economy is used
Cannot be used outside of the prison
Temporary; After treatment ends, offenders may revert to former behaviour without rewards
Define Anger Management
Rather than prevent anger, managements aims to identify and control responses through a form of CBT
Cognitive Preparation - Reflects on past experience and identifies triggers to anger
Skill Acquisition - Learns skills to reduce feelings of anger
Application Practice - Opportunities to practice anger management
Evaluate Anger Management
Blackburn argues that there is no evidence to support anger management as a long-term solution
Holism; anger management identifies all possible triggers to anger and tries to alleviate them through appropriate responses
While practicing skills in a role-play setting may seem helpful, a real life situation would often feel much more intense and so offenders may revert
Define Restorative Justice Programmes
Allow the victims to meet with offenders in a controlled environment, where the offender sees the consequences of their actions on the âsurvivorâ
Evaluate Restorative Justice Programmes
Latimer found high satisfaction between both the survivor and offender, as well as lower recidivism
Restorative justice can adapt according to the needs of the survivor and offender, but there are high drop out rates
May not be appropriate for serious offence crimes such as rape or murder