Offender profiling

• Offender profiling


  An investigative technique by which to identify the major personality and behavioural characteristics of the offender based upon an analysis of the crimes he or she has committed
• Offender profiling began in the USA


  1960s/1970s
• FBI specialists were trained to infer personality and behavioural traits of an offender by detailed analysis of the way he or she committed the crime</b>
• Types of offenders

  • Organised
  • Disorganised
• Offender profiling

  • Includes geographical profiling
  • Includes investigative psychology
• Top Down Approach (also known as the Typology Approach)

  1. Early work on offender profiling by the FBI indicated a broad distinction between organised and disorganised offenders

  2. This distinction was based on interviews and case details of 36 serial sex offenders who volunteered to be interviewed about their crimes
• According to the Crime Classification Manual (Douglas et al. 1992), the organised/disorganised typology can be applied to all sexually motivated murders and some cases of arson
• Mixed offender


  A third category suggested by Douglas (1952) to accommodate those offenders who cannot easily be categorised as either organised or disorganised
• Types of data assimilation (stage 1)

  • Police reports
  • Crime scene photos
  • Pathology reports
• Profile generation (stage 3)

  Determine demography, physical characteristics, behavioural habits
• Crime scene classification (stage 2)


  Organised/disorganised
• Crime reconstruction (stage 4)


  Hypothesis victim behaviour, crime sequence
• Disorganised offender


  • Likely to have poor personal hygiene, lack of planning, leaves evidence at the scene
• Bottom up Approach


  Also known as the Geographical Approach
• Geographical approach


  Generalising from the locations of linked crime scenes to the likely home or operational base of the offender
• Geographical approach


  • Offenders prefer to operate in areas they know well, close to either home or places visited regularly
  • Many offenders have been found to have a crime range of as little as 2 miles
• Geographical profiling


  Analyzing the location of a connected series of crimes, and looking at factors such as the spatial relationship between the different crime scenes and what this reveals in relation to the perpetrator
• Examining the locations of crime scenes and their spatial relationship to each other


  We can know more about where the criminal is located
• Circle Theory


  Proposes two modes of offender behaviour: "marauder" and "commuter"
• Marauder Model


  • Assumes that an offender will go from their home base to commit their crimes nearby
• Commuter Model


  • Assumes that an offender will travel a distance from their home base before committing the crime
• Categories of killers


  • The hunter-stalks & kills on own turf
  • The poacher-chooses away from home turf while travelling/on the road
  • The trailer-acts impulsively, kills whenever
  • The trapper-lures and traps victims in a specific location
• Geographical profiling


  Analyzing the locations of crimes to infer information about the offender, such as where they live or work
• Case of Peter Sutcliffe (the Yorkshire Ripper)


  • Investigators were able to determine roughly where Sutcliffe lived by studying the locations of his crimes
• Centre of gravity


  A location that is inferred to be the offender's base or area of activity, based on the locations of their crimes
• Mental map


  An organised set of information about spatial information that is stored in a person's memory, reflecting their personal experience of the environment
• The location of crime scenes can be used to infer not only where an offender is based, but also other aspects of their experiences, such as interests, employment and relationships
• Analysis of 215 house burglaries


  • Geographical information was more useful than information about timing of the offence, crime scene information and characteristics of the dwelling for linking cases that had been committed by a single burglar
• Geographical data should be combined with psychological data
• Investigative psychology


  An attempt to apply statistical procedures, alongside psychological theory, to the analysis of crime scene evidence
• Aim of offender profiling

  • To establish patterns of behaviour that are likely to occur, or co-exist, across crime scenes
  • To develop a statistical database which then acts as a baseline for comparison
• Offender profiling process


  1. Specific details of offence, or related offences, can be matched against the statistical database

  2. This may reveal important details about the offender, their personal history, family background, etc.

  3. Determine whether a series of offences are linked and likely to have been committed by the same person
• Interpersonal coherence


  The way an offender behaves at the scene, including how they interact with the victim, may reflect their behaviour in more everyday situations
• Rapist behaviour


  • Some want to maintain maximum control and humiliate their victims
  • Others are more apologetic
• Significance of time and place


  • May indicate where the offending is occurring
• Forensic awareness


  Describes individuals who have been the subject of police interrogation before, and their behaviour may denote how mindful they are of 'covering their tracks'
• Offender profiling has proved useful for police, but they must be careful not to be blinded to other possibilities by it
• Occasionally criminals do not fit the profile, and over-use could lead to miscarriages of justice
• Bottom-up profiling


  Has wider application compared to top-down profiling, as it can be applied to a wide range of offences such as burglary and theft as well as more serious crimes such as murder and rape