Forensic

• What is offender profiling?

  A tool to predict characteristics of unknown offenders

  
• What is the aim of offender profiling?

  To narrow the list of likely suspects
• What does compiling a profile involve?

  Scrutiny of the crime scene and evidence
• When did the top-down approach to profiling originate?

  In the 1970s
• What is another name for the top-down approach?

  Typology approach
• What data did the FBI’s behavioral science unit use?

  Interviews with 36 sexually-motivated murderers
• How did the FBI categorize the data from interviews?

  Into organised or disorganised crimes
• Why is it useful that organised and disorganised offenders have distinct characteristics?

  It helps predict other characteristics of offenders
• What are the characteristics of organised offenders?

  • Planned crime in advance
  • Deliberately targeted victims
  • High degree of control
  • Little evidence left behind
  • Above average intelligence
  • Skilled, professional occupation
  • Socially and sexually competent
  • Often married with children
• What are the characteristics of disorganised offenders?

  • Little evidence of planning
  • Spontaneous offences
  • Impulsive crime scene
  • Body usually at the scene
  • Little control during the crime
  • Lower than average IQ
  • Unskilled work or unemployed
  • History of sexual dysfunction
• What are the four main stages in constructing an FBI profile?

  Data assimilation, classification, reconstruction, generation
• What does data assimilation involve?

  Reviewing evidence like crime scene and reports
• What is crime scene classification?

  Classifying the scene as organised or disorganised
• What is crime reconstruction?

  Hypothesizing about sequence of events
• What is profile generation?

  Hypothesizing about the likely offender's characteristics
• What did Canter et al (2004) analyze?

  100 US murders by different serial killers
• What technique did Canter et al use in their analysis?

  Smallest space analysis
• What did the analysis by Canter et al reveal?

  Features matching the FBI’s typology for organised offenders
• Why is the existence of an organised category a strength?

  It suggests validity in the FBI typology approach
• What is a counterpoint to the organised-disorganised typology?

  They are not mutually exclusive categories
• What does Godwin (2002) argue about killers?

  They may have multiple characteristics
• Why is the organised-disorganised typology a limitation?

  It suggests a continuum rather than distinct types
• What limitation exists regarding the evidence for top-down profiling?

  It was based on a non-random sample
• Why is the lack of standardization a limitation?

  It affects the reliability and validity of results
• What is a strength of top-down profiling?

  It can be applied to other crimes like burglary
• What did Meketa (2017) report about top-down profiling?

  It led to an 85% rise in solved burglaries
• What are interpersonal and opportunistic in burglary?

  Interpersonal involves knowing the victim; opportunistic is inexperienced
• Why is the bottom-up approach different from the top-down approach?

  It does not start with pre-established typologies
• What does the bottom-up approach rely on?

  Evidence collected from the crime scene
• What is investigative psychology?

  Applying statistical procedures to crime scene analysis
• What does investigative psychology aim to establish?

  Patterns of behaviour across crime scenes
• What is the purpose of a statistical database in investigative psychology?

  To compare specific details of offences
• What does interpersonal coherence refer to?

  Behaviour at the scene reflects everyday interactions
• What does significance of time and place indicate?

  It may indicate where the offender lives
• What does forensic awareness describe?

  Mindfulness of covering tracks during crimes
• What is geographical profiling?

  Using crime scene locations to infer offender's base
• What principle is geographical profiling based on?

  Spatial consistency in crime locations
• Why is geographical profiling useful?

  It helps create hypotheses about the offender
• What does Canter’s circle theory describe?

  Offending patterns form a circle around home base
• What are the two types of offenders in geographical profiling?

  Marauder and commuter