FORENSICS

• OFFENDER PROFILING

  What is offender profiling based on?

  Offender profiling is based on the idea that the characteristics of an offender cab be deduced from the characteristics of the offence and the particulars of the crime scene. The work of offender peofilwrs has often been the subject of TV dramas like Criminal Minds and has also been depicted in films such as Silence of the Lambs.
• What are the two different methods of offender profiling?

  The Top Down Approach and The Bottom Up approach
• What is the definition of offender profiling?

  . A method of working out the characteristics of an offender by examining the characteristics of an offender by examining the characteristics of the crime and crime scene.
• What is the definition of the top down approach?

  . Also called crime scene analysis

  . An analysis of previous crimes create a profile of a likely offender

  . A profiler uses this knowledge to narrow the field of possible suspects.

  . Unlike the bottom-up approach the TDA relies on the institution and believe of the profiler.
• What are facts about the top down approach?


  The top down approach originates with the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) in the US.

  
  

  This method was 1st developed as a way of trying to some some of the most bizarre and extreme murder cases and designed to produce a profile of the most likely offender.

  
  

  In contrast to the Bottom up approach, the top down approach is regarded as a more intuitive application of a profiler's prior knowledge- the profiler has a 'feel' for the kind of person who committed the crime.
• What are the four main stages in the top-down process/construction of an FBI profile?

  1. Data assimilation

  2. Crime scene classification

  3. Crime reconstruction

  4. Profile generation
• What are the details about the 4 stages of the top down process?

  1. Data assimilation

  Review of the data collected such as description of the crime scene (photos/sketches), background information about the victim (job,habits,relationships), details of the crime itself (weapon,cause of murder,murder type), pathology reports.

  
  

  2. Crime scene classification

  Based on the data collected, the crime scene/offender us classified as organised or disorganised.

  Organised= crime planned/victim specifically targeted/certain type. Body transported from another scene. High degree of control. Weapon hidden. Violent/aggressive fantasies acted out on victim. With a partner. Car in good working order. Follow their crimes in the media. Behaviour doesn't change after crime.

  Disorganised= unplanned crime/spur of the moment. Random selection of victim. Offender engages very little with victim and sexual acts performed after death on body.

  
  

  3. Crime reconstruction

  Hypothesis veneration about offenders behaviour and events during crime.

  
  

  4. Profile generation

  Generation
• hypotheses about the offender, e.g. their background, physical characteristics,habits,beliefs.
• What is the evaluation of the top down approach?

  + Is the method useful?

  Police who have used FBI methods believe it is useful

  Copson (1995)

  . Questioned 184 US police officers, of who 82% said the technique was operationally useful and over 90% said they would use it again.

  The technique may not result in an actual identification of the offender but Scherer and Jarvis (2014) defend the use of the top-down process by looking at other potential contributions beyond the identification of the offender. E.g. the approach offers investigators a different perspective, opens new avenues for investigation and may prevent wrongful conviction.

  
  

  -Based on outdated models of personality

  The typology classification system is based on the assumption that offenders have patterns of behaviour and motivations that remain consist across situations and contexts.

  
  

  Alison et al 2002 have suggested that this approach is naïve and is informed by old fashioned models of personality that see behavuour as beinf driven by stable personality traits rather
• than external factors that may be constantly changing.

  
  

  This means that the top down process which is based on 'static' models of personality, is likely to have poor validity when it comes to identifying possible suspects and/or trying to predict their next move.

  
  

  -It only applies to particular crimes

  Top down profiling is best suited to crime scenes that reveal important details about the suspect, (e.g. rape,arson,murder,sadistic torture)

  
  

  Common offences (e.g. burglary, destruction of property) do not lend themselves to profiling because the crime reveals little about the offender.

  
  

  This means that at best, it is a limited approach to identifying an offender.

  
  

  -The basis of the method is flawed

  . A small, unrepresentative sample- interviews with 36 of the most dangerous and sexually motivated murder era. Including Ted Bundy & Charles Manson.

  . A small unrepresentative sample

  . Such individuals are highly manipulative and not likely to be the best source of reliable information
• . Their rationale may be different to more 'typical offenders'.

  . Questions the validity of the whole top down approach.

  
  

  -Distinguishing between organised and disorganised types of offender

  Turvey (1999) suggests that having 2 separate categories is not correct and that offending types are likely to be based on a continuum rather than distinct categories.

  Douglas et al (1992) proposed there should be a 3rd category called the 'mixed offender', but this would seem to lessen the usefulness of the classification because there is now a kind of dustbin category for those who can't fit anywhere else

  
  

  David Canter et al (2004)

  . Provided evidence that the classification has very little basis in reality. They analysed 39 aspects of serial killing in murders committed by 100 US serial killers. Their analysis revealed no clear division between organised and disorganised types of offender. Instead they found a number of subsets or organised type crime.
• THE BOTTOM-UP APPROACH

  What is investigative psychology?

  A form of bottom-up profiling that matches details from the crime scene with statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour offer a based on a psychological theory.
• What are the three main features of the bottom up approach?

  Interpersonal coherence

  . The way an offender behaves at the crime scene (including how they interact with the victim) may reflect their behaviour in everyday situations.

  . People are consistent in their behaviour and therefore there will be links (correlations) with elements of the crime and how people behave in everyday life.

  
  

  Forensic awareness

  . Certain behaviours may reveal an awareness of particular police technique and past experiences

  . Forensic awareness may indicate the offender had previous encounters with the criminal justice system and may be familiar with police procedures

  
  

  Statistical analysis of crime scene evidence

  . Statistical procedures detect patterns of behaviour that are likely to occur (or coexist) across crime scenes.

  . This is done to develop a statistical database which then acts as a baseline for comparison

  . Features if an offence can be matched against this database to suggest potentially important details about the offender, their personal history,
• family background etc.
• What is the definition of geographical profiling?

  . A form of bottom-up profiling 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.
• What is geographical profiling?


  . The locations of crime scenes are used to infer the likely home or operational base of an offender-known as crime mapping

  . Location can also be used alongside psychological theory to create hypotheses about the offender and their modus operandi (habitual way of working)

  . Geographical profiling analyses the locations of a connected series of crimes and considers where the crimes were committed, the spatial relationships between the different crime scenes and how they might relate to an offender's place of residence.
• What is the circle theory in geographical profiling?

  . Canter & Larkin (1993) suggest that the pattern of offending locations is likely to form a circle around the offender's usual residence, and this becomes more apparent the more offences there are.

  . The offender's spatial decision making can provide insight into the nature of the offence (planned/opportunistic, mode of transport, employment stays etc.)
• What is the marauder and commuter types of crime in geographical profiling?

  . The assumption is that serial offenders restrict their 'work' to areas they are familiar with. Canter and Larkin (1993) proposed 2 models of offender behaviour.

  . The Marauder: operates close to their home base.

  . The Commuter: likely to have traveled a distance away from their usual residence when committing a crime.
• What is the evaluation of the bottom-up approach?

  +ve Evidence supports investigative psychology

  Canter and Heritage (1990) conducted a content analysis of 66 sexual assault cases. The data was examined using the statistical technique 'smallest space analysis' to look for correlations. Several characteristics were identified as common in most cases. Such as the use of impersonal language and lack of reaction to the victim. These characteristics will occur in different patterns in different individuals. This can lead to an understanding of how an offender's behaviour may change over a series of offences, or in establishing whether 2 or more offences were committed by the sane person. This supports the usefulness of investigative psychology because it shows how statistical techniques can be applied.

  
  

  +ve Evidence supports geographical profiling

  Lundrigan and Canter (2001)

  . Collated information from 120 murder cases involving serial killers in the USA.

  . Smallest space analysis revealed spatial consistency in the behaviour of the
• killers.

  . The location of each body disposal site was in a different location from the previous creating a 'centre of gravity', the offenders base was invariably located in the centre of the pattern. This supports Canter's claim that spatial information is a key factor in determining the base of an offender.

  
  

  +ve Scientific basis of the bottom-up approach

  Canter argues the bottom up approach is more objective and scientific than the top down. Investigators can use geographical, biographical and psychological data to assist the investigation. Investigative psychology

  has also expanded to include areas like suspect interviewing and examination of material in court-this supports its use in the judicial process.

  
  

  -ve Mixed results for profiling

  Despite many successes of the bottom up approach, there have been significant failures and studies examining its effectiveness have found mixed results:

  Copson (1995)

  . Surveyed 48 UK police forces-advice provided by a profiler was judged as
• useful' in 83% of cases, but led to accurate identification of an offender in just 3% of cases.

  . This evidence questions the effectiveness of the bottom up approach

  
  

  -ve Is circle theory useful?

  Canter and Larkin (1993) studied 45 sexual assaults and showed support for their model by distinguishing between marauders and commuters. However, 91% of the offenders were classified as marauders-if almost all offenders are marauders, then the classification doesn't seem particularly useful.

  
  

  -ve Patherick (2006)

  Pointed to a number of flaws with the model. E.G. if a person's home base is not actually at the centre of the circle, this means that police may look in the wrong place. Also representing ranges in terms of circles is over simplistic.
• BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR

  What is the atavistic form/historical approach?

  . In 1876 Cesrae Lombroso wrote a book called L'Huomo Delinquente within which he suggested that offenders possessed similar characteristics to lower primates and this could explain their criminality-criminals were 'genetic throwbacks'-a sub-species who were biologically different to non-criminals.

  . He produced 4 further editions of his book,revising his views each time. He formulated his ideas when Charles Darwin had recently introduced the theory of evolution and based on this theory came up with the idea that criminals are 'throwbacks to an earlier species'. Atavistic means a tendency to revert to an ancestral type.

  . Lombroso saw offenders as savage with an unarmed nature and as such they would find it impossible to adjust to the demands of a civilised society and would inevitably turn to crime. Lombroso therefore saw criminal behaviour as a natural tendency, rooted in genealogy of those who engage in it.

  . Lombroso argued, the criminal sub-type could be identified as being in
• possession of certain physiological 'markers' that were linked to particular types of crime. These are biologically determined 'atavistic' characteristics, mainly features of the face and head-they make criminals physically different from the rest of us.
• What are the cranial characteristics of criminals?

  . Narrow,sloping brow

  . Strong prominent jaw

  . High cheekbones

  . Facial asymmetry
• What are the characteristics of murderers?

  . Bloodshot eyes

  . Curly hair

  . Long ears
• What are the characteristics of sexual deviants?

  . Glinting eyes

  . Swollen,fleshy lips

  . Projecting ears
• What are the other physical characteristics of criminals?

  . Dark skin

  . Extra toes

  . Extra nipples

  . Extra fingers
• What is the empirical evidence for Lombroso's theory?

  . Lombroso based his theory on his own research. He examined the facial and cranial features of 383 dead convicts and 3839 living ones.

  . He concluded that 40% of criminal acts could be accounted for by people with atavistic characteristics.
• What are the environmental influences on criminality?

  - Lombroso later recognised that it was unlikely that only 1 factor would be the cause of criminality. He proposed that inherited atavistic form interacted with a person's environment. This led Lombroso to distinguish between 3 types of criminals, moving away from the atavistic form as the only explanation for criminality:

  . Born criminals- The atavistic 'throwbacks' identifiable from their physical characteristics.

  . Insane criminals-suffering from a mental illness.

  . Criminaloids- a general class of offenders whose mental characteristics predisposed them to criminal behaviour under the right circumstances.
• How can body type indicate types of criminals?

  - One other historical approach to criminality was proposed by Ernst Kretschmer (1921) who suggested body type could indicate types of criminals-he studied over 4000 criminals to come up with his ideas:

  . Leptosome or asthenic= talk and thin=petty thieves

  . Athletic= tall and muscular=crimes of violence

  . Pyknic-short and fat=crimes of deception and/or violence.

  . Dysplastic/mixed= more than 1 type=crimes against morality (e.g. prostitution)
• What is the evaluation of the biological approach?

  + Contribution to criminology

  . Lombroso has been hailed as the 'father of modern criminology'.

  . He is credited for shifting the emphasis in crime research away from a moralistic to scientific.

  . Lombroso's suggestions that certain people are more likely to commit certain crimes heralded the beginning of criminal profiling.

  . Therefore Lombroso made a major contribution to the science of criminology.

  
  

  -Lombroso's methods are poorly controlled

  . Lombroso didn't compose his offended sample with a control group and therefore failed to control confounding variables.

  . E.G. modern research shows that social conditions e.g. poverty are associated with offending behaviour,which would explain some of Lombroso's links.

  . This suggests that Lombroso's research does not meet modern scientific standards.

  
  

  -Gender bias

  . Lombroso with his daughter also write the book 'La Donna Delinquente' setting out his ideas about female criminality.

  . He had some outlandish and androcentric ideas about women
• which were even more inexcusable because he didn't actually study women directly.

  . Lombroso believed women were less evolved than men. They were naturally jealous and insensitive to pain but they were also passive,low in intelligence and had a maternal instinct-all of which neutralised their negative traits and meant they were less likely to be criminals.

  . Those women who did become criminals,according to Lombroso, had masculine characteristics which were beneficial in a man but in a woman created a 'monster'.

  
  

  -Evidence contradicts the link between atavism and crime

  Charles Goring (1913)

  . Compared 3000 criminals and 3000 non-criminals-concluded there was no evidence that criminals are a distinct group with unusual facial/cranial characteristic.

  . Did conclude that people who commit crime have lower than average intelligence (offering limited support for his theory).

  . This challenges the idea that offenders can be distinguished from the rest of the population,therefore they are
• unlikely to be a subspecies.

  
  

  -Nature or nurture?

  . The atavistic form suggests that crime has a biological cause,it is genetically determined.

  . However,facial and cranial differences may be influenced by other factors,such as poverty or poor diet rather than inherited.

  . Suggests that the idea of an innate atavistic form as a predisposing factor for criminality is meaningless.
• BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR

  What is the definition of genetic explanations?

  . Genes consist of DNA strands. DNA produces 'instructions' for general (e.g. height) and specific physical features (e.g. brain structures). These may impact on psychological features (e.g. intelligence). Genes are transmitted from parents to offspring i.e. inherited.
• What is the definition of neural explanations?

  . Any explanation of behaviour (and it's disorders) in terms of function/dysfunction of the brain and nervous system. This includes the activity of brain structures such as the hypothalamus and neurotransmitters such as serotonin & dopamine.
• What are the two studies into genetic explanations of offending behaviour?

  . Twin adoption studies

  -Christiansen (1977) studied over 3500 pairs of twins in Denmark, finding a concordance for offender behaviour of 35% for MZ males and 13% DZ males.

  . Crowe (1972) found that adopted children with a biological mother with a criminal record had a 50% risk of having a criminal record by age 18. Those adopted whose biological mother did not have a criminal record only had a 5% risk.

  
  

  . Candidate genes

  -Jari Tilhoen et al (2014) completed a genetic analysis of almost 800 offenders and found abnormalities on 2 genes that may be associated with violent crime:

  -MAOA gene (which regulates serotonin and has been linked to aggressive behaviour)

  -CDH13 (that has been linked to substance abuse and ADD). Within the Finnish sample, individuals with this high risk combination were 13 times more likely to have a history of violent behaviour.
• What are the problems with these 2 studies?

  1. Small sample size

  2. Similar environments-confounding variables
• What is the Diathesis stress model as a genetic explanation of offending behaviour?

  . If genetics have some influence on offending, it seems likely that this is at least partly moderated by the effects of the environment.

  . A tendency for criminal behaviour may come about through the combination of genetic predisposition/biological factors and/or environmental triggers.

  . Caspi et at (2002) used data from the longitudinal Dunedin study (in New Zealand) that has followed about 1000 people from when they were babies in the 1970's. Caspi et al assessed anti-social behaviour at age 26 and found that 12% of those men with low MAOA genes had experienced maltreatment when they were babies but were responsible for 44% of violent convictions.
• NEURAL EXPLANATIONS

  What are the regions of the brain associated with crime?

  * Prefrontal Cortex

  Raine (2004)

  . Scanned the brains of individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) and found reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain that regulates emotion)compared to control.

  . Alongside this it was also found there was an 11% reduction in grey matter in the prefrontal cortex of those with APD compared with controls.

  . Many convicted offenders have a diagnosis of APD.

  
  

  * Limbic system

  -This is a set of subcortical structures,such as the thalamus and amygdala,that are linked to emotion and motivation.

  Raine et al (1997)

  . Studied murderers who were found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI).

  . Compared with matched controls, they found abnormal asymmetries in the limbic system of murderers,especially in the amygdala.

  . There was reduced activity on the left and increased activity on the right.
• How are neurotransmitters as a neural explanation associated with offending behaviour?

  Serotonin-Seo et al,2008 suggests that low levels of Serotonin may predispose individuals to impulsive aggression and criminal behaviour, partly because this neurotransmitter normal inhibits the prefrontal cortex.

  Noradrenaline-both very high and very low levels have been associated with aggression,violence and criminality.

  High levels are associated with activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the fight-or-flight response and therefore are linked to aggression. Noradrenaline also helps people react to perceived threats; low levels would reduce this ability.