Top down approach A03

    Cards (24)

    • What is one strength of the top-down approach in offender profiling?
      There is support for a distinct organised category of offender.
    • What statistical technique did David Canter et al. use in their analysis of US murders?
      Smallest space analysis.
    • How many US murders were analyzed by David Canter et al. in their study?
      100 murders.
    • What was the purpose of the analysis conducted by David Canter et al.?
      To assess the co-occurrence of 39 aspects of serial killings.
    • What aspects of serial killings were included in the analysis by David Canter et al.?
      Aspects included torture, restraint, concealment of the body, murder weapon, and cause of death.
    • What did the analysis by David Canter et al. reveal about serial killings?
      There seems to be a subset of features that matched the FBI's typology for organised offenders.
    • What does the finding of a subset of features in serial killings suggest about the FBI typology approach?
      It suggests that a key component of the FBI typology approach has some validity.
    • However, many studies suggest that the organised and disorganised types are not mutually exclusive.
    • There are a variety of combinations that occur at any given murder scene. For instance, Maurice Godwin (2002) argues that, in reality, it is difficult to classify killers as one or the other type.
    • A killer may have multiple contrasting characteristics, such as high intelligence and sexual competence, but commits a spontaneous murder leaving the victim's body at the crime scene.
    • This suggests that the organised-disorganised typology is probably more of a continuum
    • What is a strength of top-down profiling in relation to other types of crime?
      It can be adapted to other kinds of crime, such as burglary.
    • What criticism do opponents of top-down profiling have regarding its applicability?
      They claim it only applies to a limited number of crimes, such as sexually-motivated murder.
    • According to Meketa (2017), what was the impact of applying top-down profiling to burglary in three US states?
      It led to an 85% rise in solved cases.
    • What are the two new categories added to the organised-disorganised distinction in top-down profiling?
      • Interpersonal: Offender usually knows their victim and steals something of significance.
      • Opportunistic: Generally inexperienced young offender.
    • What does the application of top-down profiling to burglary suggest about its overall utility?
      It suggests that top-down profiling has wider application than was originally assumed.
    • What is one limitation of top-down profiling?
      The evidence on which it is based.
    • How was FBI profiling developed?
      Through interviews with 36 murderers in the US.
    • How many murderers were interviewed to develop FBI profiling?
      36 murderers.
    • How many of the interviewed murderers were classified as organized offenders?
      24 individuals.
    • What was the classification of the remaining interviewed murderers who were not organized offenders?
      12 were classified as disorganized offenders.
    • What criticism did Canter et al have regarding the sample used by the FBI agents?
      The sample was poor and not randomly selected.
    • What was a significant flaw in the interview process conducted by the FBI agents?
      There was no standard set of questions, making interviews different and not comparable.
    • What does the lack of a sound scientific basis suggest about top-down profiling?
      It may not be a reliable method for profiling offenders.