Bottom up approach

  • Aims to generate a picture of the offender e.g. characteristics, routine behaviour and social background through systematic analysis of evidence at the crime scene

  • Does not begin with fixed typologies

Investigative psychology:

  • Applies statistical procedures alongside psychological theory and analysis of crime scene evidence

  • To establish patterns of behaviour that are likely to occur/co-exist across crime scenes

  • A statistical database is developed which is used as a baseline for comparison

  • Specific details of an offence can be matched against the database to reveal important details about the offender e.g. personal history

  • Can also determine whether a series of offences are linked

  • Interpersonal coherence - the way an offender behaves at the scene

  • The significance of time and place is also a key variable - geographical profiling.

  • Forensic awareness describes those individuals have been the subject of police interrogation before so their behaviour may denote how mindful they are of covering their tracks

Geographical profiling:

  • Uses information to do with the location of linked crime scenes to make inferences about the likely home or operational base of the offender (crime mapping)

  • Can be used alongside psychological theory to create hypotheses about how the offender is thinking as well as their modus operandi

  • The assumption is that serial offenders will restrict their work to geographical areas they are familiar with, and so understanding the spatial pattern of their behaviour provides investigators with a ‘centre of gravity’ which is likely to include the offender’s base. It also may help investigators make educated guesses about where the offender is likely to strike next - ‘jeopardy surface’

Canter’s circle theory:

  • The marauder - who operates in close proximity to their home base.

  • The commuter - who is likely to have travelled a distance away from their usual residence

  • Pattern of offending is likely to form a circle around their usual residence. Such spatial decision making can offer the investigative team important insight into the nature of the offence - whether the crime was planned or opportunistic, mode of transport, employment status

The bottom up approach is more scientific because it uses statistical analysis of object.

AO3

  • T : Profiles can be useful, but police must be careful not to be blinded to other possibilities by them. Occasionally criminals do not fit the profile. Overuse could lead to miscarriages of justice.

    E.g. Paul Britton’s misleading profile