top down approach

• offender profiling is a systematic approach
• the aim of offender profiling is to narrow the list off likely suspects
• they analyse the crime scene and other evidence to generate hypotheses about characteristics of the offender (e.g, age, gender, occuption, background)
• approach made by american FBI
• the FBI interviewed 36 sexually motivated murders and used this data to calculate characteristics about their crimes into 2 categories( disorganised and organised)
• organised offenders

  • plan their crime
  • high degree of control
  • above average IQ
  • usually married
  • good job
• disorganised offenders

  • little evidence of planning
  • impausive
  • below average IQ
  • failed relationships
  • may be sexually dysfunctional
• what is FBI profile construction:

  • data assimilation
  • crime scene classification
  • crime reconstruction
  • profile generation
• data assimilation-review of the evidence
• crime scene classification-organised or disorganised
• crime reconstruction-generation of hypotheses about their behaviour and events
• profile generation-generation of hyopthesis about offender (age, gender, occuption etc)
• What is the research support for the top-down approach?

  > Support for distinct organised category of offender.

  > Canter et al conducted analysis of 100 US murders committed each by a different serial killers.

  > Smallest Space Analysis used (identifies correlation between different samples)

  > Used to assess co-occurrence of 39 aspects of serial killings - e.g. if there was torture or restraint or attempt to conceal the body.

  >Revealed there appeared to be subset of features of serial killings that matched the typology for organised offenders = high validity of the FBI's typology.
• What is the counterpoint to this research?

  >Some studies suggest organised/disorganised types are not mutually exclusive (may happen at the same time)

  > Godwin argues that it is difficult to classify killers as one or the other type.

  > A killer may have multiple contrasting characteristics e.g. high intelligence but may commit a spontaneous murder leaving the body at a crime scene.

  > Suggests the organised/disorganised typology may be a continuum

  therefore may be too simplistic
• typology is reductionist

  • ignores the fact the criminals can be organised in one crime and disorganised in another
  • or they may combine both typologies in one crime
  • they also assume that typology is stable but human behaviour can flucuate all the time i.e people do not always act the same
  • therefore breaking down behaviour into too simplistic variables making it reductionist
• ethical considerations

  researchers should be aware when publishing research about criminals and how well or not well they completed their crime

  these findings can be viewed and treated by agencies, insitutions

  also not gloryifying this behaviour who may have caused harm to others and causing more harm than good

  therefore this shows that their could be ethical implications for society