Offender profiling: The top-down approach

whats the top-down approach?

An analysis of previous crimes creates a profile of a likely offender. A profiler uses this knowledge to narrow the field of possible suspects. Unlike the bottom-up approach, the top-down approach relies on the intuition and beliefs of the profiler.

what is the top-down approach also known as?

crime scene analysis

whats offender profiling?

A method of working out the characteristics of an offender by examining the characteristics of the crime and crime scene.

whats a disorganised offender?

The crime scene is left with many clues such as fingerprints, there is little evidence of engagement with the victim, and the offender has lower intelligence and competence.

what is an organised type of offender?

This type of offender commits a planned crime and may engage in violent fantasies with the victim and is high in intelligence and socially competent.

what are the 6 steps of the top-down approach?

1. profiling inputs

2. decision process models

3. crime assessment

4. criminal profile

5. crime assessment

6. apprehension

why was the top down approach developed?

first developed as a way of trying to solve some of the most bizarre and extreme murder cases and designed to produce a profile of the most likely offender.

who developed the top-down approach?

the FBI

what is profiling inputs?

• The data collected at this stage includes a description of the crime scene, background information about the victim and details of the crime itself

• All information, even if it appears trivial, should be included. Possible suspects should not be considered, as this may bias the information collected.

what is meant by description of crime scene?

photographs and sketches

what is meant by background info on the victim?

employment, habits and relationships

what is meant by details of the crime itself

the weapon used and the cause of death autopsy report

what is the decision process models?

The profiler starts to make decisions about the data and organises it into meaningful patterns.

what are the patterns considered in the decision process model?

• murder type

• time factors

• location factors

whats involved in murder type?

mass, spree or serial murders

what’s a mass murder?

a mass murder is one incident with no significant time interval,

whats a spree killing?

spree killing involves more than one person being killed over a short period of time,

whats a serial murder?

serial murder involves more than one person over an extended period of time,

what is. involved in time factors?

did the crime take a short or long time, and was it at night or during the day?

whats involved in location factors?

was the crime scene (e.g. where a person was kidnapped) the same as the murder scene?

what is a crime assessment?

Based on data collected, the crime is classified as organised or disorganised.

what are offender categories into with a crime assessment?

disorganised or organised

what’s a criminal profile?

A profile is now constructed of the offender which includes hypotheses about their likely background, habits and beliefs of the offender. This description is used to work out a strategy for the investigation to help catch the offender.

why is it important to have a criminal profile?

It is important to anticipate how this person will respond to various investigative efforts, including how the offender might be interviewed if he was caught.

what’s a crime assessment?

A written report is given to the investigating agency (e.g. the police) and persons matching the profile are evaluated.

what happens if new evidence is generated or if no suspect is identified?

then the process goes back to decision process models

what does apprehension involve?

If a suspect is apprehended, the entire profile-generating process is reviewed to check that at each stage the conclusions made were legitimate, i.e. valid, and consider how the process may be revised for future cases.

How many people did Copson question on the usefulness of the top-down approach?

questioned 184 US police officers

what were Copsons findings?

82% said the technique was operationally useful and over 90% said they would use it again.

what was the conclusion from Copsons study?

the top down approach makes potential contributions beyond the identification of the offender. For example, the approach offers investigators a different perspective, opens up new avenues for investigation and may prevent wrongful conviction.

why is the basis of the top down approach flawed?

• The data came from interviews with 36 of the most dangerous and sexually motivated murderers, including Ted Bundy and Charles Manson.

• The data was used to identify the key characteristics that would help police read' a crime scene. This in itself is dubious, as such individuals (who are highly manipulative) are not likely to be the best source of reliable information. In addition, their approach and rationale may be quite different to more ‘typical’ offenders.

what did Snook argue?

argue that profilers actually do little more than psychics who, it could be argued, often have a wealth of experience in reading behaviour. The process of top-down analysis has no basis in any science or theory

whats the barnum effect?

whereby individuals give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically to them, yet which are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people.

whats a major limiatation of the top-down approach?

profiling has the potential to cause harm because profiles may mislead investigations if they are wrong, suggest that smart offenders can read about how profiles are constructed and deliberately mislead profilers by providing misleading clues.

what did Alison show?

that such judgements (top-down approach) are not reliable.

what was Alisons study?

police officers were given a profile along with one of two versions of the offender's actual characteristics (one of these versions was real).

what were the results of alisons study?

Over 50% of the officers rated the profile they were given as generally or very accurate, even though half of them were given a fake version.

what did Turvey suggest?

that the dichotomy between organised and disorganised is false as it is more likely to be a continuum rather than two distinct categories.

what did Canter find in relation to disorganised and organised offenders?

provided evidence that the classification has little basis in reality.

what was Canters procedure?

They analysed 39 aspects of serial killings in murders committed by 100 US serial killers.

what was Canters findings?

Their analysis revealed no clear division between organised and disorganised types of offender. Instead they found a number of subsets of organised type crimes and little evidence for disorganised types.