Assumptions and characteristics of the criminal from the crime they commit
Modus Operandi
Crime is not random, having distinctive ways to commit crime
Top-Down Approach
Profilers created pre-existing categories of offender types
Organised or Disorganised
Profiler
Own personal experience and intuition to fit the offender into one of these types, using crime scene evidence
Organised Offender
Plan their crimes, preparing by bringing weapons and restraints, taking care in tidying the crime scene and hiding the body, reflecting an average or higher than average intelligence
Disorganised Offender
Dont plan crime in advance, using weapons at the crime, leaving messy crime scenes and leave the body, reflecting a lower than average intelligence
(+) A03: Ressler (1986)
Created definitions of organised and disorganised offenders using interviews of real serial offenders
Oragnised = 24 criminals
Disorganised = 12 criminals
Suggesting distinct types of offenders
(-) A03: Ressler's Sample
Restricted sample size of 36 serial sex offenders, so results may not be generalisable to the population
(-) A03: Canter (2004)
Reviewed 100 US serial killers, finding disorganised features were rare and didnt form a distinct type suggesting false dichotomy between the types
Douglas (2006)
Constructing an FBI Profile:
Data Assimilation - review evidence
Crime Scene Classification - organised vs disorganised
