Bottom-up Approach

• Bottom-up approach


  Builds a picture of the potential offender from facts and figures collected from previous crimes of the same type
• Bottom-up approach


  • Closely associated with the work of Professor David Canter
• Investigative psychology


  One form of the bottom-up approach
• Key psychological assumptions in investigative psychology

  • Interpersonal coherence
  • Time and place significance
  • Forensic awareness
• Interpersonal coherence


  Behaviour is consistent across situations, so how an offender behaves at the crime scene may reflect their everyday behaviour
• Time and place significance

  The time and place of the crime may give clues as to where the offender lives or works
• Forensic awareness


  Offenders who show an awareness of forensic investigation have probably committed a crime before
• Geographical profiling


  Another form of the bottom-up approach that aims to establish how the location of the crime can provide clues about the offender
• Geographical profiling


  • Assumes serial offenders will restrict their 'work' to geographical areas they are familiar with
  • Based on circle theory, which suggests the pattern of offending often forms a circle around the offender's home base
  • Can identify the offender as either a 'marauder' who operates in close proximity to their home base or a 'commuter' who has travelled a distance away from their home base