Top down approach

• the top down approach

  • American
  • developed by Ressler and the FBI
  • classifies offenders into organised and disorganised
• Douglas, Ressler & Hazelwood

  conducted unstructured interviews with 36 sexually motivated murderers including Ted Bundy and Charles Mansen
• features of organised typology (offender)

  • intelligent
  • controlled mood
  • skilled occupation
  • no behaviour change post crime
• features of organised typology (crime scene/victims)

  • planned
  • targeted stranger
  • restraints used
  • body hidden or moved
• features of disorganised typology (offender)

  • less intelligent
  • Immature
  • Unskilled
  • Behaviour change post crime
• features of disorganised typology (crime scene/victims)

  • spontaneous
  • target someone they know
  • limited use of restraints
  • leave body at scene
• 4 stages of FBI profiling

  • data assimilation - all evidence is reviewed
  • crime scene classification - the crime is classified as organised or disorganised
  • crime reconstruction - hypotheses are formed of what possibly happened during the crime
  • profile generation - a rough sketch of the likely offender is made
• strengths of the top down approach

  • supporting evidence - Copson et al questioned 184 US police officers, 82% it was useful, 90% said they would use it again
  • supporting evidence - Canter et al - looked at 39 aspects of 100 murders using statistical analysis and found that there was a subset of features the murderers had in common that matched the typology
  • application to other crimes - Meketa developed 4 typologies: organised, disorganised, interpersonal and opportunistic, use of these led to an 85% rise in solved burglaries
• Weaknesses of the top down approach

  • based on evidence that isn’t scientific - typologies were based off an opportunity sample of criminals who had been caught and may lie or manipulate the interviewer - unstructured interviews made results hard to compare
  • The Barnum effect - ambiguous descriptions were assumed to fit any situation - police may think they have a good match but the profile isn’t entirely accurate
  • Godwin suggests a continuum is better than types as it is difficult to classify murders