Bottum-up

• Investigative psychology:


  Attempt to apply statistical procedures, alongside psychological theory, to the analysis of crime scene evidence.

  • Aim is to establish patterns of behaviour that are likely to occur across crime scenes
  • This is in order to develop a statistical database which then acts as a baseline for comparison
  • Specific details of an offence can then be matched against this database to reveal important details about the offender, their personal history
  • Can determine whether a series of offences are linked in that they are likely to have been committed by the same person
• Investigative psychology:


  Central to the approach is the concept of interpersonal coherence - that the way an offender behaves at the scene, including how they 'interact' with the victim, may reflect their behaviour in more everyday situations

  • IE whilst some rapists want to maintain maximum control and humiliate their victims, others are more apologetic (Dwyer)
  • This might tell police something about how the offender relates to women generally

  The significance of time and place is also a key variable and, as in geographical profiling, may indicate where the offender is living
• Geographical profiling


  uses information about the location of linked crime scenes to make inferences about the likely home of an offender - known as crime mapping and based on the principle of spatial consistency (that people commit crimes within a limited geographical space)

  • It can be used in conjunction with psychological theory to create hypotheses about how the offender is thinking as well as their procedure
• Geographical profiling


  Assumption is that serial offenders will restrict their 'work' to geographical areas they are familiar with, and so understanding the spatial pattern of their behaviour provides investigators with an area which is likely to include the offender's base (often in the middle of the spatial pattern)

  Basis of Canter's circle theory because the pattern of offending forms a circle around the offender's home base

  • The marauder - who operates in close proximity to their home base.
  • The commuter - who is likely to have travelled a distance away from their usual residence
• Geographical profiling:

  Such spatial decision-making can offer the investigative team important insight into the nature of the offence, i.e. whether it was planned or opportunistic, as well as revealing other important factors about the offender, such as their 'mental maps, mode of transport, employment status, approximate age, etc.