FOR 01: Offender profiling- top down approach

Explain the American / top- down approach to offender profiling (5)

* In-depth interviews with 36 serial killers...

* ... led to development of organised & disorganised typologies.

* Investigator comes to crime scene with these typologies in mind and classifies it.

* Offenders are assigned to categories...

* ... based on witness accounts and evidence from the crime scene.

Identify the differences between organised and disorganised offenders (2x4)

Organised offender

* Evidence of planning

* Targets victim

* Tends to be socially and sexually competent...

* .... with higher-than-average intelligence.

Disorganised offender

* Little evidence of planning

* Leaves clues

* Tends to be socially and sexually incompetent...

* ....with lower-than-average intelligence.

Explain what Canter's (2004) analysis shows about the use of top- down processing in offender profiling (3)

* Smallest space analysis of 100 US murders

* 'Organised offenders' appears to be a valid category

* i.e., there are a set of features that cluster together

Explain what Meketa's analysis of burglars shows about the use of top- down processing in offender profiling (2)

* Organised / disorganised distinction applicable (with some modification) to burglars

* Has led to 85% increase in solved cases in US

Explain limitations of the evidence used in developing the organised / disorganised typology (4)

* Small, unrepresentative sample of killers...

* ...biased towards serial killers

* Variable data collection techniques used between offenders...

* ...no standardisation of questions