forensic psychology

• People are not born criminals, but learn to be criminals.
• Freud had a theory about criminality.
• Offender profiling is the process of understanding the psychology behind offenders.
• Offender profiling can be used to identify the characteristics of an offender based on a careful analysis of the offense they commit.
• Offender profiling is effective when searching for a serial offender.
• Offender profiling is not as common as you may think.
• There are two different ways of offender profiling: top down and bottom up.
• Top down offender profiling, also known as criminal investigative analysis, was developed by the FBI in America and uses pre-existing categories of offenders called organized or disorganized.
• The profiler uses the crime scene evidence to match the offender to one of those categories based on their own professional experience and effectively their intuition.
• Bottom-up offender profiling, also known as investigative psychology, uses statistical analysis on the data collected at the crime scene.
• This approach uses large data sets collected from other similar crimes and from that we can make assumptions such as how far the offender traveled to commit their crime.
• Top-down theories suggest perception starts with the concepts that are pre-existing in the mind and we then compare this with sensory data.
• Bottom-up models suggest that the brain's perception starts with the sensory data.
• Much of what we know about offenders is based on those who have been caught.
• The bottom-up approach to evaluating offender profiling is demonstrated by Canter, who found that 87% of a sample of 45 British serial assaulters fitted the marauding definition.
• The results of a study by Allison suggest that offender profiling may not be effective due to the barnum effect, where the statements are so general and vague that they could apply to almost anyone.
• Criminals often use what they know about their environment and their crimes to radiate out.
• The circle hypothesis is the idea that if you draw a circle with the two furthest offenses on the circumference line, then the offender's home base was likely to be within the circle.
• The least effort principle suggests that if the criminal has a choice between two equally attractive locations, they're going to choose the one closest to their base.
• Geographic profiling is an aspect of investigative psychology used to focus resources by narrowing down search areas based on the assumption that the location of the crime isn't a random choice.
• Distance decay is the assumption that the further you get from the home base, the fewer crimes will be.
• Forensic techniques can lead to the effective hiding of evidence, suggesting that the individual has been arrested for previous crimes and forensic evidence was used against them.
• Any attempt at offender profiling is likely to fail when trying to catch a statistically abnormal offender, as their behavior just won't match previous data or the expectations of an experienced profiler.
• Offender profiling is often used in combination with other forensic techniques, making it difficult to identify exactly what factor led to a case being solved.
• There is often a lot of evidence left at the crime scene and the victim may not have been restrained.
• Organized offenders are more likely to have a criminal history, while disorganized offenders are more likely to be first-time offenders.
• Crimes are often committed in the heat of the moment with no planning, using whatever objects were around as a weapon.
• Organized offenders are likely to have a higher level of intelligence and are more likely to be following the media coverage of their crime.
• Organized offenders are more likely to be white, while disorganized offenders are more likely to be black.
• Organized offenders are more likely to have a criminal record, while disorganized offenders are more likely to have a clean record.
• Organized offenders are more likely to have a history of mental health issues, while disorganized offenders are more likely to have a history of physical health issues.
• Organized offenders are more likely to have a job, while disorganized offenders are more likely to be unemployed.
• Organized offenders are more likely to have a history of being involved in child pornography, while disorganized offenders are more likely to have a history of being involved in child pornography.
• Organized offenders are likely to follow the media coverage of their crime, while disorganized offenders are unlikely to do so.
• Organized offenders are more likely to have a history of being involved in gangs, while disorganized offenders are more likely to have a history of being involved in gangs.
• Organized offenders are more likely to have a history of being involved in terrorism, while disorganized offenders are more likely to have a history of being involved in terrorism.
• Organized offenders are more likely to have a history of being involved in cybercrime, while disorganized offenders are more likely
• Organized offenders are more likely to have a history of being involved in organized crime, while disorganized offenders are more likely to have a history of being involved in organized crime.
• Organized offenders are more likely to have a history of being involved in human trafficking, while disorganized offenders are more likely to have a history of being involved in human trafficking.
• Offenders can have average or higher than average intelligence and follow the report of the crime in the media with a disorganized offender.