Forensics

• What is offender profiling?

  • investigative tool employed by police when solving crimes. It narrows likely suspects and creates an analysis of crime scene evidence and characteristics
• What is the top-down approach?


  • FBI drew upon data from 36 sexually motivated murderers and concluded that the data could be catergorised into organised/disorganised offenders
  • If the data from a crime scene matched some of the characteristics of one catergory, it could predict the other ones
• What is an organised offender?


  • planned crime in advance
  • high intelligence
  • victim is deliberately targeted and has a type of victim
  • offender maintains a high degree of control and operate with surgical precision
  • professional occupation
  • little evidence/clues left behind
  • socially/sexually competent
  • married with kids
• What is a disorganised offender?


  • little evidence of planning, offences are spontaneous and spur of the moment acts
  • crime scene reflects impulsive nature of act
  • little control of victim
  • low IQ
  • Unemployed
  • history of sexual dysfunction
  • Live alone
• How is a FBI profile constructed?


  1. Data Assimilation - profiler reviews evidence of crime
  2. Crime scene classification - organised or disorganised
  3. Crime reconstruction - sequence of events, behaviour of victim
  4. Profile generation - hypotheses related to offender (background, offender, victim)
• Evaluation of top down approach -


  • RESEARCH SUPPORT - Canter et al conducted an analysis of 100 US murders commited by serial killers. Used 'smallest space analysis' to assess the co-occurence of 39 aspects of serial killers. Revealed a distinctive organised offender.
  • COUNTERPOINT - The two types are not mutually exclusive and an offender can have a variety of combinations that occur at a murder scene.
  • APPLICATION - Can be adapted to other crimes such as burgulary. Meteka reports that top down profiling has been applied to 80% of burglaries in USA
• Evaluation of top-down approach -

  • FLAWED EVIDENCE - Canter et al argues that the sample was too small, poor and did not include different kinds of offender. There was no standard sets of question so each interview was different. Suggests top down profiling does not have a scientific basis.
  • LIMITATION - Situational psychologists argue that criminal's behaviour is much more driven by situation they are in rather than personality.
• What is the bottom up approach?


  • used to generate a picture of the offender and their likely characteristics, behaviour and social background.
  • Profile is data-driven and emerges as the investigator emerges in more details of offence
• What is investigative psych in the bottom up approach?


  • an attempt to apply statistical procedures alongside psychological theory to analyse the crime scene evidence. This establishes patterns of behaviour likely to occur and can develop a statistical database
  • This reveals specific details of an offence which can be matched against a database to reveal specific details (background, history)
• How is investigative psych used in the bottom up approach?


  • INTERPERSONAL COHERENCE - the way an offender behaves at a scene may be reflect their behaviour in everyday situations
  • SIGNIFICANCE OF TIME + SPACE - may indicate where the offender is living
  • FORENSIC AWARENESS - individuals who have been subject to police before can cover their tracks
• How is geographical profiling used in the bottom up approach?


  • uses information about the location of linked crime scenes to make inferences about the likely base of the offender
  • assumption is that serial offenders will restrict their work in geographical areas they are familiar with which provides investigators with a 'centre of gravity' which can include the base of an offender
• What is Canter's circle theory?


  • pattern of offending forms a circle around the offender's home base. Offender can be:
  • Marauder - operates in close proximity to home base
  • Commuter - travelled a distance away from residence
  • Such spatial distance can offer the investigative team insight into nature of an offence if it was planned or opportunistic.
  • Can reveal factors such as employment status, age or nature of an offence
• Evaluation of bottom up approach -


  • RESEARCH SUPPORT - Canter conducted an analysis of 66 sexual assault cases. The data was examined using the 'smallest space analysis' and several behaviours were identified as common in different offenders. Can be used to establish whether two or more offences are committed by the same person.
  • EVIDENCE - Canter collated info from 120 murder cases involving serial killers in the US. Smallest space analysis revealed spatial consistency in behaviour of killers. Offender's base was located in the centre of the pattern. This supports geographical profiling.
• Evaluation of bottom up approach -


  • LIMITATION - GP may not be sufficient on its own. The success of GP relies on the quality of the data the police can provide. But, the reporting of crimes is not always accurate, since 75% of crime is not even reported to the police in the first place. This questions the accuracy of GP
  • MIXED RESULTS - Copson surveyed 48 police departments and found 83% found bottom up approach useful but only solved 3% of cases
• What is an atavistic form?


  • a biological approach to offending that attributes criminal activity to the fact that offenders are genetic throwbacks that cannot conform to the rules of society
• What is the historical approach to crime?


  • offenders were seen as lacking evolutionary development and their savage nature meant it was impossible to adjust to the demands of society and turn to crime.
  • Lombroso saw offending as rooted in the genes and behaviour was innate
• What is the atavistic form?


  • offender could be identified as being in possession of 'psychological markers' that were biologically determined
  • these atavistic characteristics made them different from the rest of us
• What are the atavistic characteristics?


  1. Narrow sloping brow, strong prominent jaw, high cheekbones and facial asymmetry
  2. Dark skin, extra toes, nipples or fingers
  3. Insensitivity to pain, slang, tattoos or unemployment
• What was Lombroso's research?


  • examined 383 dead convicts and 3839 live cranial and facial features. Found that there was an atavistic form for key indicators of criminality
  • 40% of criminals had these characteristics
• Evaluation of historical approach -

  • LOMBROSO'S LEGACY - Has changed the study of crime as he has been hailed the 'father of modern criminology' and has shifted the emphasis from a moralistic discourse towards a scientific and credible position. Also, because of the characteristics has led to the origin of offender profiling
  • COUNTERPOINT - Attention has been drawn to the racist undertone of the approach. Many of the features identified (curly hair, dark skin) are those of african descent and fit with the 19th century 'eugenic' attitudes so his theory might be more subjective than objective
• Evaluation of historical approach -


  • CONTRADICTORY EVIDENCE - Goring conducted a comparison between 3000 offenders and 3000 non offenders. Found no evidence that offenders have distinct facial and cranial features.
  • POOR CONTROL - Lombroso did not compare his sample to a non offenders group which could have controlled for confounding variables (poverty, poor education). This means this approach does not meet modern, scientific standards
  • Nature or nurture - facial and cranial features may have been affected by environmental factors
• What is the genetic explanation of offending?


  • suggests that offenders inherit a gene/combination that predisposes them to commit crimes
• What did twin studies find about the role of genetics?


  • Christiansen - studied over 3500 twins in Denmark and found concordance rates of offending of 35% (MZ) and 13% (DZ). Indicates that behaviour might be inherited and underlying predisposing traits
  • Crowe - found that adopted children whose biological mother had a criminal record had a 50% risk of having a criminal record as compared to 5% risk of non mothers
• What is the role of candidate genes in offending?


  • Tiihonen - genetic analysis of 800 finnish offender and found MAOA genes and CDH13 genes associated with violent crimes.
  • MAOA - regulates serotonin in the brain and linked to aggression
  • CDH13 - substance abuse and ADHD
  • found 5-10% of violent crimes was attributed to these genes
• What is the role of the diathesis-stress model in explaining offending?


  • a tendency towards offending behaviour may come through the combination of genetic predisposition and bio/psych triggers
• What are the neural explanations to offending?


  • PREFRONTAL CORTEX - Raine reported that there are lots of brain imaging studies demonstrating individuals with antisocial personalities have reduced activity in prefrontal cortex (regulates emotional behaviour)
  • Raine and his colleagues found an 11% reduction in grey matter with those with APD as compared to a control group
• What are the neural explanations of offending?

  • MIRROR NEURONS - Psychologist found that when offenders were asked to empathise, their empathy reactions (controlled by mirror neurons) activated
  • Suggests that APD individuals are not totally without empathy, but have a neural switch that can on/off
• Evaluation of genetic explanation -


  • RESEARCH SUPPORT - Mednick et al conducted a study with 13,00 Danish adoptees. When neither of the bio or adoptive parents had convictions, 13.5% were likely to offend. Rose to 20% (bio), 24.5% (both). Shows support for the diathesis-stress model
  • LIMITATION - using twin studies as genetic evidence assumes that environmental factors assumes that twins share a 'shared environment'. This links to a high CR in MZ twins may be because they are treated more similarly than DZ
• Evaluation of neural explanation -


  • BRAIN EVIDENCE - Freed et al reviewed evidence of frontal lobe damage and anti-social behaviour. People with such damage tend to show impulsive behaviours and emotional instability.
  • Farrington et al - studied a group of males who scored high on psychopathy and these had experienced risk factors during childhood. These experiences could cause APD and some neural differences - reduced activity in lobe due to trauma
  • BIOLOGICALLY DETERMINISTIC - a person should not be held responsible for crime but environment can risk
• What is Eysenck's psychological explanation?


  • Eysenck proposed that behaviour could be represented along two dimensions - intraversion-extraversion, neuroticism-stability and psychoticism-sociability
• How are Eysenck's personality traits biological in basis?


  • All personality types have an innate, biological basis and come about through the type of nervous system we inherit
• What is Eysenck's criminal personality theory?


  1. EXTRAVERTS - underactive NS which means they seek excitement, stimulation and likely to engage in risks. They tend not to condition easily and not learn from mistakes
  2. NEUROTICS - have a high level of reactivity in their sympathetic nervous system and respond quickly to situations of threat. Tend to be nervous, jumpy and overanxious
  3. PSYCHOTIC - higher levels of testosterone, unemotional and prone to aggression
• What is Eysenck's criminal personality?


  • neurotic-extravert-psychotic
  • Neurotics - unstable and prone to overreact in situations of threat
  • Extraverts - seek more arousal and engage in danger
  • Psychotics - aggressive and lack empathy
• What is the role of socialisation in offending behaviour?


  • offending behaviour is developmentally immature (selfish) and concerned with immediate gratification
  • People with high E/N scores had NS that were difficult to condition. As a result, less likely to learn anxiety responses to antisocial impulses and act antisocially in situations
  • The process of socialisation is when children are taught deferred gratification and more socially orientated
• How is criminal personality measured?


  • developed Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) which locates respondents along the PEN dimensions to determine their personality
  • enabled him to conduct research relating personality traits
• Evaluation of Eysenck's theory -

  • RESEARCH SUPPORT - Eysenck compared 2070 male prisoners scores on EPQ with 2422 male controls. On PEN - across all age groups, prisoners recorded higher average scores. This agrees with the predictions of Eysenck's theory
  • COUNTERPOINT - Farrington et al conducted a meta analysis and reported all offenders tend to score high on measures of psychoticism, not E/N. Also inconsistent evidence of diff in EEG measures between E/I
  • Measuring personality cannot be reducible to a score as it is too complex to be quantified
• Evaluation of Eysenck's theory -


  • TOO SIMPLISTIC - Psychologist argued that personality traits alone were a poor predictor of offending behaviour. She considered persistent offending to be a result of personality traits and environmental reactions. More complex picture than Eysenck
  • CULTURAL FACTORS - Psychologists studied hispanic and african-american offenders. Found that all six groups were less extravert than a non offender control group but Eysenck would expect them to be more extravert. Suggest that the sample he used was culturally different and makes it a culturally relative concept