top down approach

• offender profiling - behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminals
• origin of the top down approach

  fbi behavioural science unit drew upon data gathered from in depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers

  profilers who use this method will match what is known about the crime and the offender to a pre-existing template that the fbi developed

  murderers or rapists are classified in one of two categories based on evidence, and this informs the police investigation
• organised offenders

  an offender who shows evidence of planning, targets the victim and tends to be socially and sexually competent with higher than average intelligence

  victim is deliberately targeted and will often reflect they have a 'type'

  high degree of control and may operate with almost detached surgical precision - little evidence left

  above average intelligence, skilled/professional occupation and are socially and sexually competent

  usually married and may even have children
• disorganised offenders

  an offender who shows little evidence of planning, leaves clues and tends to be socially and sexually incompetent with lower than average intelligence

  little evidence of planning- suggests spontaneous act

  crime scene tends to reflect impulsive nature of the attack

  body is usually still at the scene and appears to be very little control

  lower than average IQ, unskilled work or unemployed, often have history of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships

  tend to live alone and relatively close to where the crime took place
• constructing a profile

  data assimilation - profiler reviews the evidence (crime scene photos, pathology reports etc)

  crime scene classification - either organised or disorganised

  crime reconstruction - hypotheses inbound terms of sequence of events, victims behaviour etc

  profile generation - hypotheses related to the likely offender e.g. demographic background, physical characteristics, behaviour etc
• +research support

  copson - surveyed 184 US officers, finding that 82% reported it 'useful', 90% said they would use it again but only 14% said it assessed in solving the case
• +opens up investigation

  scherer and jarvis argue that even if it doesn't directly lead to identification of the perpetrator, it opens up other avenues for investigation and perspectives which may not have been considered
• -only works for serious crimes

  e.g. rape and murder - not useful for crimes such as burglary or destruction of property because they dont reveal anything about the offenders characteristics
• -based on outdated models of personality

  classification system assumes that offenders have patterns of behaviour and motivations that remain consistent across situations and contexts

  old fashioned models of personality that see behaviours as being driven by stable dispositional traits rather than external factors that may be constantly changing

  = 'static' models of personality create poor validity as basis for identifying possible suspects
• -oversimplification

  behaviours for organised and disorganised types are not mutually exclusive

  variety of combinations could be present in any given murder scene

  e.g. how they would classify a killer with high intelligence and sexual competence who commits a spontaneous murder and leaves the body at the scene

  other models - holmes - 4 types of serial killer: visionary, mission, hedonistic and power/control

  = suggests that it is limited - only 2 types is reductionist in comparison to other theories