Bottom-up Approach

• The Bottom-up Approach is the British approach developed by David Canter
• The Bottom-up approach is where profilers work up from the evidence collected from crime scene to develop a hypothesis about the likely characteristics/motivations/social background of the offender
• Investigative psychology is a form of the bottom-up approach where details from the crime scene are matched with statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns based on psychological theory
• Interpersonal Coherence is where an offender's behaviour at the crime scene may reflect their everyday behaviour
• Forensic Awareness is where individuals who have been subject to previous police interrogation may reflect this in their behaviour/techniques
• Investigative psychology has validity from research support e.g. Canter & Heritage
• Canter & Heritage conducted small-space analysis on 66 sexual assault cases and identified several behaviours common in different samples of behaviour e.g. impersonal language
• A limitation of investigative psychology is that the database only consists of solved crimes so may only reflect more straightforward cases
• Geographical Profiling is a form of the bottom-up approach based on the principle of spacial consistency and uses crime mapping to make inferences about the home/operational base of the offender
• Geographical Profiling is based off of Canter's circle theory
• The Marauder operates in close proximity to their home base
• The Commuter likely travels a distance from their usual residence
• There is research to support geographical profiling e.g. Canter & Lundrigan
• Canter & Lundrigan used small-space analysis on 120 murder cases which revealed spacial consistency and a 'centre of gravity' in the circle of body disposal sites
• Geographical Profiling may not be sufficient on its own as recording of crime is not always accurate (estimated 75% of crimes not reported)
• The Bottom-up Approach is more reliable as it uses data and evidence, unlike interviews and self-reports in the Top-down Approach
• The Bottom-up Approach is more reliable as it uses data and evidence, unlike interviews and self-reports in the Top-down Approach