FORENSICS

• What is the main aim of offender profiling?

  To narrow the list of likely suspects
• Who employs professional profilers in criminal cases?

  Police, especially in high-profile murder cases
• What is analyzed to generate hypotheses about an offender's characteristics?

  The crime scene and other evidence
• What two categories did the FBI create based on interviews with murderers?

  Organised and disorganised
• What does matching crime scene data to offender categories allow us to predict?

  Other likely characteristics of the offender
• What is the basis for the organised and disorganised distinction in offenders?

  Signature 'ways of working' of offenders
• What characterizes organised offenders?

  Evidence of planning and higher IQ
• What is a common trait of disorganised offenders?

  Little evidence of planning and impulsiveness
• What are the four main stages in the construction of an FBI profile?

  Data assimilation, classification, reconstruction, generation
• How does the British bottom-up approach differ from the US top-down approach?

  It is data-driven and does not use fixed typologies
• What does statistical analysis of crime-scene evidence aim to detect?

  Patterns of behavior likely to occur across crime scenes
• What is interpersonal coherence in the context of offender behavior?

  How an offender's behavior reflects their everyday interactions
• What does geographical profiling infer about an offender?

  The likely home or operational base of the offender
• What are the two models of offender behavior proposed by Canter and Larkin?

  Marauder and commuter
• What does the circle theory suggest about offending locations?

  They form a circle around the offender's residence
• Who proposed the atavistic form in criminal profiling?

  Lombroso
• What did Lombroso believe about criminals?

  They were 'genetic throwbacks' biologically different
• What did Lombroso argue about offenders' evolutionary development?

  They lacked evolutionary development and were savage
• What are some physical characteristics associated with the atavistic form?

  Narrow brow, strong jaw, high cheekbones
• How did Lombroso link physical characteristics to types of crime?

  Specific markers were linked to specific crimes
• What did Christiansen's study on twins suggest about offending behavior?

  Genes predispose individuals to crime
• What did Crowe's study find about adopted children and criminal records?

  Children with criminal mothers had a 50% risk
• What two genes did Tiihonen et al. associate with violent crime?

  MADA and CDH13
• What does the diathesis-stress model suggest about offending behavior?

  It results from genetic predisposition and environmental triggers
• What is antisocial personality disorder (APD) associated with?

  A lack of empathy and reduced emotional responses
• What did Raine et al. find about the prefrontal cortex in individuals with APD?

  Reduced activity and volume of grey matter
• What did Keysers find about empathy in offenders with APD?

  They show empathy only when prompted
• What does Kohlberg's theory of moral development suggest?

  Judgements about right and wrong become more sophisticated
• At what level do offenders tend to reason according to Kohlberg?

  At the pre-conventional level
• What characterizes the pre-conventional level of moral reasoning?

  A need to avoid punishment and gain rewards
• How do offenders typically display their social perspective-taking skills?

  They are often egocentric and self-centered
• What are cognitive distortions in the context of offending behavior?

  Errors or biases in information processing
• What is hostile attribution bias?

  Perceiving ambiguous expressions as angry and hostile
• How do offenders misread non-aggressive cues?

  They judge them as threatening and respond violently
• What is minimalisation in the context of offending behavior?

  Downplaying the significance of the crime
• How do burglars often minimize their sense of guilt?

  By using euphemisms for their actions
• What does Sutherland's differential association theory explain?

  How individuals learn values and techniques for offending
• What are the two factors that lead to offending according to Sutherland?

  Learned attitudes and specific offending acts
• How does Sutherland's theory account for reoffending after prison?

  Inmates are exposed to pro-crime attitudes and techniques
• What does Freud's psychodynamic approach suggest about the Superego?

  It guides moral behavior and feelings of guilt