Offender Profiling - Forenzics

What is Offender profiling?

Set of investigative techniques used by police to try and identify perpetrators

What are the 2 different types of offender profiling

Top down approach

Bottom Up approach

What is the top down approach?

Looks carefully at the crime scene and drawing conclusions from the evidence found there about offenders,

profiler look at other cases to point a picture of typical offender profiles

used for extreme crimes

Study for Top down approach? Hazelwood + Douglas

Aim: identify major personality characteristics of serious offenders and how they differed from non-offenders

36 convicted serial killers in american prisons, crimes were sexual

Method: lengthy unstructured interview with info collected about the crime scene,

info from the crime scene revealed that crimes were either premeditated and planned, or sudden and unrehearsed

Conclusion: crime scene could be used in the same way as fingerprint to identify murderer. Reveal clear evidence of whether offences had been committed by organised + disorganised offenders

What is a disorganised offenders?

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

What is an organised offender?

Showed evidence of having planned crime in advance, victim is targeted, offender has a “type” high degree of control during crime, may operate with almost detached surgical precision, little evidence or clues left behind

above average intelligence, in a skilled professional occupation, socially and sexually competent, usually married and have children

What are the 4 stages of constructing a top-down profile?

1. Data assimilation - reviewing evidence from crime scene

2. crime scene classification - organised or disorganised?

3. crime reconstruction, predictions about sequence of events, behaviour of offender and victim any pre planning that may have occurred

4. Profile generation - predictions about offender, e.g. demographic background, physical characteristics, behaviour, based on classification of crime and pre-established profile for that classification