Offender profiling: bottom up app

• What are the features of the bottom-up approach?

  • Investigative psychology
  • Geographical profiling
• What is the aim of the bottom-up approach

  • To generate a picture of the offender, likely characteristics, routine behaviour and social background
  • Uses systematic analysis of evidence to determine this
  • Does not begin with fixed typologies like top-down
  • Profile is data driven and emerges through scrutiny of offence
• What is Geographical profiling?


  • Based on the principle of spatial consistency
  • An offender's operational base and future offences are revealed by the geographical location of their previous crimes
• What 2 models did Canter's circle theory propose?

  The marauder

  The commuter
• What is investigative psychology?

  • Details from crime scene are matched with a statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns
  • Can be used to established patterns which can be expected/predictive from previous findings
• What processes are involved in investigative psychology?

  • Creation of a database, information on crimes can be collected and cross-referenced
  • As a result allows the group of aspects from multiple offences to be connected to the same offender
  • Focuses on interpersonal coherence -> where aspects of controlling behaviour such as inflicting humiliation or being apologetic enable an inisght to how an offender regards their victims
• What processes are involved in geographical profiling?

  • Crime mapping -> using information linked to scene location to generate inferences about criminal's likely home and operational base
  • Assumes serial offenders restrict work to areas they're familiar with
  • Centre of gravity -> understanding the spatial pattern of behaviour and whereabouts the offender resides and operates
  • Investigators are able to make educated guesses where the next offence may be, the jeopardy surface
• STRENGTH RESEARCH SUPPORT (AO3) investi. psych

  • CANTER AND HERITAGE
  • Conducted content analysis of 66 sexual assault cases
  • Data examined using small space analysis
  • FOUND: several characteristics were identified as common such as a lack of a reaction
  • Leads to an understanding of how offenders behaviour ay change over a series of offences
  • Supports how statistical techniques can be effectively used to establish characteristics of an offender
• SUPPORT FOR GEO PROFILING

  • LUNDGRIGAN AND CARTER
  • Smallest space analysis on 120 murder cases
  • FOUND: body disposal sites tended to indicate a centre of gravity
  • Offender would travel away in diff directions from base, creating a circular pattern
  • More pronounced in marauders who didn't travel far
  • SUGGESTS: Canter's circle theory may have high external validity in highlighting how spatial information is a key factor in determing the base of offender, predictive value
• GEO PROFILING LIMITATION

  • Insufficient information
  • Details gathered by police may lack accuracy due to EWT issues
  • Crime surveys suggest only 75% of crimes aren't reported to police in which may limit supporting evidence on efficacy of bottom up techniques
  • Limitation as many similar offences that may indicate strong predictive valye arent reported or may lack reliabilittty due to differing interpretations across police forces