forensics

Offender profiling

Assumptions about characteristics of an offender by careful analysis of the offense they commit

Top down approach

Profilers create pre-existing categories of offender types organised and disorganised offenders

Organised defenders plan their crime and prepare by Bringing weapons and restraints they take care to tidy. The crime scene will hide the body. This reflects an average or higher IQ.

Disorganised defenders don’t plan their crime in advance and leave messy crime scenes they don’t try to hide the body which reflects below average intelligence

Evaluate the top down approach

RESSLER created definitions of organised disorganised defenders using interviews with real cereal offenders classified 24 hours organised 12 disorganised suggesting distinct types of offender eating apprehension

However, there is only a restricted sample of 36 serial sex offenders so the results may not be generalisable to the wider population

The effectiveness of offender profiling is difficult to assess because it is never used in isolation other forensic techniques are used and so it can be difficult to identify how much your profile contributed to solving a particular case

Bottom up approach

An evidence based approach using statistical analysis of data collected at the crime scene and information such as choice of victim and location also referred to as investigative psychology

The five factor model consist of interpersonal coherence, time and place significance, criminal characteristics, criminal career and forensic awareness

Geographical profiling is a branch of investigative psychology focused on where an offender is likely to be based not personal characteristics

Least effort principle is the closest suitable crime seemed to homebase picked

The circle hypothesis is crimes radiate out from their homebase creating a circle (marauderers) commuters travel away

Evaluate the bottom up approach

Canter Larkin found 87% of 45 British serial sexual assaults with the order is supports the circle hypothesis and the idea that choice of the place of the crime is a significant factor in behaviour

However, it is difficult to know a crime is a marauder or commuter before being apprehended

Bottom up makes inferences based on statistical analysis from published research. It is seen as more scientific than touchdown on the intuition.

Historical approach

Older explanations of Criminal news about often religious suggesting criminals were possessed by Demons

Lombroso attempted to produce a scientific theory of the activistic form in the criminal man

Atavistic form is one criminal genetically a more primitive stage of human evolution than non-criminals so a throwback mean criminal is innate so criminals born not made

Evaluate the historical approach

Lombroso work was conducted a careful measurements paving away for more scientific approaches to criminal research. It rejects free well in favour of biological determinism causes outside of the criminals control.

However, his research was flawed as no control group was used

Genetic and neural explanations

Genetic explanations are inherited genotype making a display of criminal behaviour. More likely this is supported by family studies were biological related criminals and more to be criminals and the diathesis stress model where some genes are only expressed due to an interaction with the environment such as child abuse

Neuro explanations are biological processes and neural structure in the brain that lead to criminal behaviour. Neurotransmitter imbalance can be linked to offending such as no adrenaline leading to aggression and serotonin leading to impulsivity. Likewise and underdeveloped frontal cortex can lead to poor impulse control

Evaluate the genetic and neural explanations

RHEE studied 51 twin adoption studies in a large matter analysis where he found 41% of the variance in social behaviour was due to genetics and the environment affects 59%

However, there is biological determinism as it’s socially sensitive

There is also a reductionism as there a valid understanding would also consider drug abuse and any mental ill illnesses from childhood

EYSENCK‘s theory

Personality type has a biological basis criminal personality is due to the type of nervous system we inherit

Arousal is how easily the stimulus response to stimulus influencing behaviour and leading to NA offending behaviour

There are three personality dimensions within the theory of the criminal personality

Extrovert a chronically under aroused nervous, nervous systems and attention seeking for stimulation

Neurotic easy to upset and overly anxious due to a nervous system easily triggered by threats

Psycho ism is measured on a scale of light high in psychotic emotionally cold and do not feel compassion. Most people score low psychoticism but even numbers of people on either side of the other two measurements.

The criminal personality is high on extrovert, neurotic and psychism measures

Evaluate EYSENCK’ Theory

McGurk and McDougall supports his next personality theory as he gave the personality questionnaire to 100 convicted inmates and 100 trade based students a higher number of people with extra neurotic and psychotic personality types were in the delinquent

Digman‘s five factor model includes other important dimensions of personality like conscientiousness and agreeableness. Those may be more important in criminal as not all ENP personality types become criminals. This suggests criminal is based on the type of nervous system and heart raises the issues of biological determinism.

Cognitive explanations

Suggest that there are ways of thinking internal mental processes about the world and moral decisions that lead to offending behaviour

Differential association theory

Everyone is socialised differently as we all have a unique set of people around us

Pro criminal attitude is when criminals are socialised by people with deviant norms and values. These criminal behaviours are reinforced by material rewards and expectations and approval of people we associate with offending techniques are passed to the next generation or in peer groups

Evaluate differential association

It explains why certain crimes are performed by certain social groups of people. Different pair groups would have different opinions on what types of crime are acceptable

Practical application don’t put first time offenders in the same prison as an experienced criminal may reinforce program and attitudes and pass on techniques

How is Rick? Can’t explain why younger males are far more likely to commit crimes than older males as older males would have had more exposure to pro criminal opinions or why most crime is committed by male

Evidence for differential association theory is correlation and can be explained by genetic inheritance in families

Psychodynamic explanations

Role of the parent child relationship and develop developing criminal personality and unconscious mental processes

Superego explanation formed in the fall stage by identifying the same-sex parents super ego attempts to regulate behaviour by giving feelings of guilt and pride under developed. Super ego means weak due to non-identification the same-sex parents over developed super ego means too strong due to over identification trying to sat I need to punish selfdeviant. Superego means normal identification but parent is a criminal behaviour imitated a criminal

Custodial sentencing

Holding criminals in a secure facility.

Its aims is deterrent and to stop criminals reoffending. Incantation protects society from the criminals actions behaviour was in prison. Retribution provides the victim and Society as sense criminals have paid for crime. Rehabilitation changes behaviour by learning new skills and behaviour

Psychological effects do include depression institutionalisation and D individualisation

Recidivism is one an offender reoffend after released due to institutionalisation or developing pro criminal attitude

Baby modification

Based on the behaviourist idea that desirable behaviours can be learnt

Op condition is when principles of reinforcement and punishment are applied in present to economy systems

Token economy is when offenders are systematically reported with tokens for predefined desired target behaviours

Secondary reinforces is when tokens can be exchanged later for primary reinforces such as chocolate

Negative punishment is when bad behaviour may result in token being taken away

anger management

Aggressive emotional responses are cognitive processes and can be controlled with a form of cognitive behavioural therapy

Stage one cognitive preparation. Offenders learn how to assess their own thoughts for triggers or irrational aggressive emotion.

Stage two skills acquisition. Ways to control anger are developed from calming relaxation exercises to improving communication skills to avoid conflict.

Stage three application practice. Therapist and offender play out role-play scenarios that would’ve caused an aggressive response. Offender uses the skills developed in stage two

Restorative justice

Rehabilitate the offender by getting them to cognitively understand the effect that crime is had on the victims and society this could be direct reconciliation with the victim or in the paying back the victim or wider society this process restores what the offender harmed

Meeting. Victim and offender take part in a meeting supervised by a train mediator. This meeting is collaborative and the victim is given the opportunity to explain the criminal. The offenders encouraged to take responsibility.

Reparation. The offender demonstrates acceptance of responsibility by in someway repaying. This could be a cash payment or it could be a form of community service.