Week 8: Investigations and Profiling

What is profiling?

A crime scene analysis that assists in detection, apprehension and conviction of offenders by drawing inferences about them from crime scene information. Provides likely descriptions on social lifestyle, psychological, physical and geographic characteristics of offender.

What are key features of the Clinical Practitioner Approach?

Judgements based on clinical experience, can be subjective and includes psychological characteristics and has a popular media portrayal.

What is the Psychoanalytic Theory?

Crime is the result of unresolved psychic tensions. Can include oedipal complex (in love with mother), overdeveloped superego (high guilt), unregulated ‘id’ (lacks self-control), developmentally fixated. Can also make contradictory predicitons.

What is noted about the Clinical Practitioner Approach?

It is individualistic and subjective, diffiicult to validate and it is assumed a cross situational consistency of behaviour. Descriptions are often vague and general.

What are two main parts of Criminal Investigative Approach and how do they work?

Top Down = US approach, starts with big picture and relies on analysis of previous similar cases, fits cases to existing typology.

Bottom Up = UK approach, starts with smaller details to build big picture, there is no initial assumptions and is actuarial (uses data bases and scientific analysis).

What is Stage 1 of Criminal Investigative Approach?

Data Assimilation, gather time of death, police reports, witness statements, pathology report, photos of crime scene.

What is Stage 2 of Criminal Investigative Approach?

Crime Scene Classification, top-down approach, fit to typology with two broad categories: organised and disorganised.

What is Stage 3 of Criminal Investigative Approach?

Crime Scene Reconstruction, based on collected evidence, hypothesis about what has occurred, sequences of events, behaviour of offender and victim.

What is Stage 4 of Criminal Investigative Approach?

Profile generation, a hypothesis about profile of offender include demographic information, lifestyle, behavioural and personality.

What is noted about Criminal Investigative Approach?

Absence of evaluative research can make profiles too broad, incorrect profiles may divert.

What is the Scientific Statistical Approach?

The bottom-up approach has actuarial methods, links evidence from crime scene to characteristics of offender, analyses large data sets to uncover patterns.

What is the Research Based Approach?

Examines crime scene records of past cases to identify significant features, establishes frequency and occurrence of crime features and used statistical analysis.

What is noted about the Scientific Statistical Approach?

Has stronger evidence base and accuracy but still has modest results. Fundamental problems of predicting based on individual characteristics.

What is the Geographic Approach?

Similar to statistical approach but extends crime pattern theory to analyse movement patterns of individual offenders. Based on assumption ffender operate within awareness space.

Rational Choice Perspective Theory

Idea that individual make rational decisions. People perform cost-benefit. Includes less-effort principle, criminal act on the easiest option.

Routine Activity Theory

Result of everyday opportunities includes a motivated offender, suitable opportunity in the absence of capable guardian.

Crime Pattern Theory

Awareness Space, Anchor point (home), Nodes = location individuals use regularly. Target backcloth = availability of potential targets and space.