The bottom-up approach

• The bottom-up approach to offender profiling is data-driven and aims to develop hypotheses about the likely characteristics, motivations and social background of the offender through statistical analysis rather than relying on pre-existing templates (like the top-down approach).

  • This approach was developed in the UK by David Canter and is more scientific and objective than the FBI’s top-down method.
• The bottom-up approach uses investigative psychology and geographical profiling.
• Investigative psychology is a form of the bottom-up approach that matches details from the crime scene with statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns based on psychological theory.
• Features of Investigative Psychology

  • Applies statistical techniques to crime scene data to establish patterns of behaviour.
  • Looks at how offenders interact with victims and how their behaviour changes across crimes.
  • Includes concepts like interpersonal coherence (how an offender’s behaviour reflects their everyday personality).
• Geographical profiling is a form of the bottom-up approach that is based on the principle of spatial consistency: that an offender's operational base and possible future offences are revealed by the geographical location of their previous crimes.
• Features of Geographical Profiling

  • Developed by Canter and Larkin (1993).
  • Analyses the location of crimes to find patterns and predict where an offender is likely to live.
  • The Circle Theory suggests offenders tend to operate in a geographical area around their home base:
  • Marauders commit crimes close to home.
  • Commuters travel away from home to commit crimes.
• The assumption of geographical profiling is that serial offenders will restrict their 'work' to familiar areas, and so understanding the spatial patterns of their behaviour provides investigators with a 'centre of gravity' which is likely to include their home base (often in the middle of the spatial pattern).