offender profiling

what is offender profiling (off-p)

• analytical tool used to help predict characteristics

• narrows down list of suspects

what is investigative psychology

• statistical methods + psychological theory to analyse the evidence

• uses behaviour patterns across crime scenes to produce a data base which can be used for comparisons

• interpersonal coherence

  • how they treat victims may reflect their behaviour in an everyday situation

geographical profiling

• spatial consistency

  • operational base and location of future crimes are revealed by the location of the last crime

evaluation of geographical profiling

• analyse 66 sexual assult cases with the smallest space analogy

• showed several common behaviours

top down (features)

• FBI

• interviews with convicted criminals

• crime scenes analysed and offenders are either organised or disorganised

• organised

  • high intelligence

  • socially competent

  • planned crime

  • evidence concealed

• disorganised

  • low intelligence

  • socially inadequate

  • spontaneous crime

  • little attempt to hide evidence

top down evaluation

• strengths

  • easy to use and apply

  • influential in real investigations

• weaknesses

  • too simple - many don’t fit into just one category

  • based on small biased samples - american male serial killers

  • lacks scientific validity - relies on subjective jusdgement

bottom up (definition)

• british - david canter

• builds a profile from the crime itself using statistical analysis of patterns across crimes

top down (definition)

• fbi approach

• uses pre-existing typologies to categorise offenders and predict their characteristics based on the crime scene

bottom up (features)

• uses databases of past crimes

• focuses on behavioural consistency

• no predefined categories

• 2 key concepts

  • interpersonal coherence

    • offenders behave similarly in everyday life and crimes

  • forensic awareness

    • attempts to hide evidence suggest prior experience with the police

bottom up (evaluation)

• strengths

  • more scientific and data driven

  • supported by research

  • flexible (no categories for offenders to fit into)

• limitations

  • time-consuming

  • depends on the quality of the data

  • less useful for one-off crimes