top down approach

• originated in 1970s USA by fbi
• fbi gathered data from in depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers
• offender profiles will match what is known about the crime and the offender to a pre existing template that the fbi developed
• organised offenders

  show evidence of having planned the crime in advance
• organised offenders

  victim deliberately planned and targeted

  • reflects the fact that the killer has a ‘type’
• organised offenders

  they maintain a high degree of control and many operate with almost surgical precision
• organised offenders

  tend to be of above average intelligence
• organised offenders 


  in a professional occupation and socially and sexually competent
• disorganised offenders 


  show little evidence of having planned the crime in advance
• disorganised offenders

  victim may have been a spontaneous attack
• disorganised offenders 


  crime scene often reflects the impulsive nature of the attacker
• disorganised offenders

  tend to be of lower level IQ
• disorganised offenders

  history of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships
• disorganised offenders 


  tend to live alone and often close to where the offence took place
• constructing a fbi profile 


  1. data assimilation - profiler reviews the evidence

  2. classification of crime scene - organised or disorganised

  3. crime reconstruction - hypothesis of the sequence of events, behaviour of the victim etc

  4. profile generation - hypothesis related to the likely offender, demographic background etc
• X reductionist - classification system of organised and disorganised is too simple

  • offenders may have organised and disorganised features in their crimes
  • eg. starting off being organised and becoming disorganised as they develop their modes operadi (MO)
• X doesn’t apply to common offences like burglary or destruction of property
• X can only be applied to sexually motivated serial killers as the original sample that they interviewed was sexually motivated serial killers
• X outdated - allison et al

  typology approach is informed by old fashioned models of personality that see behaviour as being driven by stable dispositional traits rather than external factors that may be constantly changing
• ✔️gives investigators a criteria to narrow down murder suspects