Forensic Psychology

Offender Profiling

an investigative tool used to narrow down the list of likely suspects

Offender Profiling Approaches

• top down approach

• bottom up approach

Top-Down Approach

• the American Approach

• Organised Offenders

• Disorganised Offenders

• Constructing an FBI profile

The American Approach

• the top down approach originated in the US

• the FBI drew upon data from in depth interviews of criminals and concluded data could be organised into organised or disorganised crimes

• each category had certain characteristics which would help find the offender

• offender profilers who use the top down method will collect data about a murder and then decide the category that fits best

Organised Offenders

• show evidence of having planned the crime in advance

• the victim is deliberately targeted

• the offender maintains a high degree of control during the crime and detached surgical precision

• there is little evidence or clues left behind

• tend to be above average intelligence, in a skilled professional occupation, and socially and sexually competent

Disorganised Offenders

• show little evidence of planning suggesting their offences may be spontaneous acts

• crime scene tends to reflect the impulsive nature of the attack - body still present and little control

• tend to have lower than average IQ, be in unskilled work or unemployed, and have a history of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships

Constructing an FBI Profile

1. data assimilation = the profiler reviews the evidence

2. crime scene classification = as either organised or disorganised

3. crime reconstruction = hypotheses in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of victim etc.

4. profile generation = hypotheses related to the likely offender

Offender Profiling - Top Down Approach AO3

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Bottom Up Approach

the aim is to generate a picture of the offender - their likely characteristics, routine behaviour and social background - through systematic analysis of evidence at the crime scene

• investigative psychology

• geographical profiling

Investigative Psychology

• this is an attempt to apply statistical procedures and psychological theory to the analysis of crime scene evidence

• the aim is to establish patterns of behaviour that are likely to occur across crime scenes

• this is to develop a statistical database which then acts as a baseline for comparison

• specific details of an offence can be matched against this database to reveal important details about the offender

• interpersonal coherence = the way an offender behaves at the scene and with the victim may reflect behaviour in everyday life

• key variables also include time and place, geographical profiling

• forensic awareness = describes those individuals who have been subject of police interrogation before - their behaviour may denoted how mindful they are of covering their tracks

Geographical Profiling

• uses information about the location of linked crime scenes to make inferences about the likely home or operation base of an offender

• this is known as crime mapping and is based on the principle of spatial consistency

• it can be used with psychology therapy to creates hypotheses about how the offender is thinking and their modus operandi

• the assumption is that serial offenders with restrict their work to geographical areas they are familiar either

• understanding the spatial pattern of their behaviour provides investigators with a centre of gravity which is likely to include the offenders base

• this is the basis of the Canter’s circle theory

Canter’s Circle Theory

• the pattern of offending forms a circle around the offender’s home base

• the distribution of offences leads us to describe an offender in 2 ways

  • marauder = who operates in close proximity to their home base

  • commuter = who is likely to have trvelled a distance away from their usual residence

• such spatial decision making can offer the investigators insight into the nature of the offence

Offender Profiling - Bottom Up Approach AO3

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Biological Explanation

• a historically approach

• genetic and neural

Historical Approach

Lombroso’s theory of the atavistic form suggested that criminals were a primitive subspecies who were biologically different from non criminals

• biological approach

• atavistic form

• offender types

• lombroso’s research

Biological Approach

• Lombroso saw offenders as lacking evolutionary development who would find it impossible to adjust to the demands of a civilised society and inevitably turn to crime

• saw offending behaviour as a natural tendency, rooted in genes

• therefore, offending behaviour is innate and the offender cannot be blamed for their actions

Atavistic Form

• argued that offender subtype could be identified as being in possession of physiological markers that were linked to types of offence

• these are biologically determined atavistic characteristics, mainly features of face and head that make offenders physically different from the rest of us

• the atavistic form of the skull included a narrow, prominent jaw, high cheekbones, facial asymmetry, dark skin, extra toes

• other aspects include insensitivity to pain, use of slang, tattoos

Offender Types

• categorised in terms of physical and facial characteristics

• murders were described as having bloodshot eyes, curly hair, long ears

• sexual deviants had glinting eyes, swollen, fleshy lips, projecting ears

Lombroso’s Research

examined the skulls of 383 dead convicts and 3839 living convicts and concluded that 40% of criminal acts are committed by people with atavistic characteristics

Biological Explanations: Historical Approach AO3

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Genetic Explanation

• twin studies

• adoption studies

• candidate genes

• diathesis stress model

Twin Studies

• Christiansen (1977) studied the concordance rate for offending behaviour in over 3500 twin pairs in Denmark

• for identical twins a 35% concordance rate was found

• for non identical twins a 13% concordance rate was found

• this indicates that it is not just the behaviour that might be inherited but the underlying predisposing trait

Adoption Studies

• Crowe (1972) found that adopted children with a biological mother with a criminal record had a 50% risk of having criminal record by the age of 18

• adopted children with a mother without a criminal record had only a 5% risk showing genetics is significant

Psychological Explanations

• eysenck’s theory

• cognitive

Esenck’s Theory of Criminal Personality

• personality theory

• biological basis

• criminal personality

• role of socialisation

• measuring criminal personality

Personality Theory

• Eysenck (1947) proposed that behaviour could be represented alone 3 dimensions

  • introversion-extraversion (E)

  • neuroticism-stability (N)

  • psychotism-sociability

• these dimensions combine to form a variety of personality characteristics

Biological Basis

Eysenck said our personality traits/types have an innate biological basis

• extraverts

  • have an underactive nervous system

  • this means they constantly seek excitement, stimulation and are likkey to engage in risk taking behaviour

  • thye tend not to conditin easily and do not learn from thei mistakes

• neurotic

  • individuals have a high level of reactivity in the sympathetic nervous system

  • they respond quickly to situations of threste

  • this means they tend to be nervous, jumpy and overanxious, and their general instability means their behaviour is often difficult to predict

• psychotic

  • individuals are suggested to have higher levels of testosterone and are unemotional and prone to aggression

Criminal Personality

• the criminal personality type is a neurotic-extravert-psychotic

• neurotics are unstable and prone to overreact to situations of threat

• extraverts seek more arousal and engage in dangerous activities

• psychotics are aggressive and lack empathy

Role of Socialisation

• Eysenck saw offending behaviour is developmentally immature in that it is selfish and concerned with immediate gratification - offenders are impatient

• the process of socialisation is one in which children are taught to become more able to delay gratification and more socially oriented

• Eysenck believed that people with high E and N scores had nervous systems that made then difficult to condition

• as a result, they are less likely to learn anxiety responses to antisocial impulses and they would be more likely to act antisocially in situations where the opportunity presented itself

Measuring the Criminal Personality

• Eysenck developed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire

• a form of psychological test which locates respondents along the E, N and P dimensions to determine their personality type

Psychological Explanations: Eysenck’ Theory AO3

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Cognitive

• level of moral reasoning

• cognitive distortions

Level of Moral Reasoning

• moral development

• link with criminality

Moral Development

• Kohlberg (1968) proposed that people’s decisions snd judgements on issues of right and wrong can be summarise in a stage theory of moral reasoning

• the higher the stage, the more sophisticated the reasoning

• Kohlberg (1973) using moral dilemmas, found a group of violent youths had lower levels of moral development that non violent youths

Link with Criminality

• non offenders generally progress to conventional level

• offenders are more likely to be classified at the pre-conventional level

  • characterised by a need to avoid punishment, gain rewards and childlike reasoning

  • so they may commit a crime if they can get away with it or gain rewards

• offenders are often more egocentric and display poorer social perspective taking skills

Cognitive Distortions

these are faulty, biased and irrational ways of thinking that mean we perceive things inaccurately

• hostile attribution bias

• minimalisation

Hostile Attribution Bias

• suggests that a propensity for violence is often associated with a tendency to misinterpret the actions of people

• offenders may misread non aggressive cues triggering a disproportionate response

• Schönenberg and Jusyte (2014) presented 55 violent offenders with images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions

• when compared with non aggressive control group, violent offenders were more likely to perceive the images as angry and hostille

• the roots of this behaviour may be in childhood

• Dodge and Frame (q982) showed children a video of an ambiguous provocation

• children who had been identified as aggressive and rejected prior to the study interpreted the situation as hostile

Minimalisation

• an attempt to deny the seriousness of an offence - an application of a euphemistic label for behaviour

• studies suggest that individuals who commit sexual offences are prone to minimalisation

• Barbaree (1991) found among 26 incarcerated rapists, 54% denied they had committed an offence at all and 40% minimised the harm they had caused

Psychological Explanations: Cognitive AO3

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