FPSYC3400: Offender Profiling

Lecture 5

Crime Scene Information → (blank) to Offender Characteristics

prediction

OP is blank and based on blank

speculative; criminal shadows

The rationale of OP relies on the uniqueness of blank & different blank types which presumably will be reflected in offending behaviour

experience; personality

OP - The assumption is that the blank  reflects key characteristics of the offender’s blank

crime scene; personality

OP - What do we assume about the offenders personality?

will not change (much)

OP - What do we assume about the way crimes are committed?

will not change (too much)

OP - What do we assume about the frequency of when offenders commit crimes?

do not commit crimes at random

Role of OP

• Assist in the evaluation of evidence

• Summary of a case

• Reduces the pool of suspects

• Link similar crimes through unique indicators & behaviour pattern

• Target intervention or resources on suspects/areas

• Assist in developing interview strategies

• Help gain insight into offender motivation

• Assess the potential for escalation in crime seriousness and frequency

• Provide investigators with potential leads and approaches

Canter suggests that OP is created for?

unknown persons

Where is OP in the investigative cycle?

Inferring a person’s characteristics from their actions, cognitions or motives dates as far back as the blank

Middle Age

Dr Thomas Bond (pathologist/coroner) inferred characteristics of blank

Jack the Ripper

James A. Brussel profiling the characteristics of the blank

Mad Bomber

The specific application of such inferences to criminal investigations gained interest as the FBI started publicizing their techniques in the blank

1970s

What are underlying assumptions of OP?

• behavioural consistency 

• homology

2 Components of Behavioural Consistency

• implies that an offender will show similar behaviours across their offences

• but their actions will be different enough from other offenders that they can be differentiated

Where does support for behavioural consistency comes from?

the areas of case linkage, comparative case analysis, or linkage analysis

• Research supports this assumption within a variety of crime types

  • Sexual assault

  • Homicide

  • Burglary

  • Robbery

  • arson

Behavioural Consistency - “blank”

necessary

Homology Assumption - “blank”

sufficient

Which assumption of OP has less conclusive support?

homology

What does homology assumption have some support in?

bivariate relationships

• Examples: stranger rape & domestic burglaries

 Behavioural consistency is not blank upon the assumption of homology being met or of it being valid

dependent

behavioural consistency is blank for offender profiling to work, the offender’s actions have to remain consistent for similarities to be found between their personal characteristics and behaviour.

necessary

the assumption of behavioural consistency would be blank if the assumption of homology is found to be valid

valid

Approaches to OP

• criminal investigative

• clinical

• statistical 

The Criminal Investigative Approach involves which approaches?

• pragmatic

• theory-led

 FBI 1970s – led by the work of Howard Teten; joined by Patrick Mullany, Robert Ressler, John Douglas, Alan Burgess

•  Founders of modern-day profiling

•  Frustrations that forensic evidence (i.e., blood, fingerprints) is only valuable when you have a suspect

•  FBI provides behavioural-based investigative and operational support through the National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crime’s (NCAVC) Behavioural Analysis Unit (BAU)

Slide 17 delete

Done

Stages of Profile Generation (Slide 17)

Done

Slide 18

• how it differed offenders from the general population

Done

Slide 21

Done

Criminal Investigative Approach - Criticisms

• More of an art vs science

• Lack of psychological training

• Based heavily on criminal investigative experience/intuition

• Issues surrounding reliability, validity, & generalizability of methods & findings

Criminal Investigative Approach - Strengths

• Origins – first systematic approach to profiling

• Origins – first-ever quantitative study

• In-depth study of sexual murderers

• Later approaches started to incorporate theory (i.e., theories of aggression) and submit their work to be peer-reviewed

• Now we see a mixture of science and experience

• Pragmatic – most definitely

• Scientific? It’s improving

blank was the 1st systematic approach to profiling and first-ever quantitative study

Criminal Investigative Approach 

The Clinical Approach includes which approach?

individualistic

Clinical Systematic Approach - Principles

• custom made

  • specific to that case

• interactive

  • pitch the advice to their level of sophistication

• reflexive 

  • “knock on” effect

  • evolving 

  • reconsideration about new information

    • need to see how it effects other factors 

Clinical Systematic Approach - Dangers

• Desire to please

• Influence

• Un-kept records

  • supposed to write everything down and collect information

• Misinterpretation

10 Step Procedural Model

Done

4 Types of Sexual Murders

• sexually motivated

• sexually triggered

• grievance motivated

• neuropsychological dysfunction sexual 

Clinical Approach - Criticisms

• idiosyncratic

• Based on knowledge & experience

• Little guidance as to HOW to produce a profile; inferences are intuition driven

• Ambiguous nature of statements made in the profile

• Confirmation bias; Barnum (Forer) effect

• Pragmatic usefulness/relevance of some inferences?

Clinical Approach - Strengths

• Deep understanding and training in human behaviour

• Positioned well to help with multi-aspects of the case

• Can educate others without psychological background

The Statistical (Academic) Approach - 5 Main Factors

1. Residential location

2. Criminal biography

3. Domestic/social characteristics

4. Personal characteristics

5. Occupational/educational history

The Statistical (Academic) Approach is often called blank

Statistical Profiling

Investigative Problems

•  Salience of behaviours

•  Consistency

•  Distinguishing between offenders (Differentiation)

• Inferring characteristics

• Linking offences

Statistical Profiling Process

there is none (lol)

• outline relevant information

  • why you’re doing this

• what is being asked for

• keep detailed records of what you have done and how you have done it

• make it specific to the case

• evaluate risk of offender

  • how risky their offence is 

• make investigative 

  • look into previous research

• plug in statistical analyses 

• make inferences 

Radex of Criminal Behaviour - Differentiation

•  Victim as Object

•  Victim as Vehicle

•  Victim as Person

Radex of Criminal Behaviour – Salience & Differentiation: Level of Violation/Severity/Intensity

• Personal

• Physical

• Sexual

Slide 33

• uses SSA

• measured as a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ 

• victim is treated as an object

Done

Statistical Approach - Criticisms

• Statistics alone do not predict the future

• Use of stats does not mean the inferences will be valid or reliable

• Question over the use of MDS as replication using similar variables has not been successful

• Differences between recorded and reported crime

• Sources of data

• Investigative use?

Statistical Approach - Strengths

• Rooted in the scientific method

• Models are based on theory

• Dimensional understanding of offending behaviour

  • rather than continuum or categorical

  • (meant to be) Pragmatically useful

• More than just profiling (links with the 10 operational questions)

Slide 35

Done

Concerns Regarding Profiling in General

• Not always scientific

• Used in different ways

• Not always of investigative use

• Different techniques

• Used when police have no motive or understanding of the offender

• No standardized way to write profiles

  • ‘Professional organizations’ popping up

    • Little or no credentials besides ‘say so’

• Interpretation of profiles can be biased

  • Should be based on Scientific principles

    • Falsifiable, Evidence, Competence, Scientific

• Cultural differences and research sources