quizlet

• What are the 2 types of offender profiling?

  > The top-down approach

  > The bottom-up approach
• What is offender profiling?

  > A behavioural and analytical tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminals (helps create an hypotheses)
• What is the basis of the top-down approach?

  > American

  > Start with pre-established typology, work down to lower levels to assign offenders to 2 categories based on witness accounts and evidence from crime scene.

  > Each category has specific characteristics meaning in the future we can predict other characteristics that the offender is likely to have.
• What are the two different types of offender?


  > Based on idea that serious offenders have a way of working, their 'modus operandi' which correlate with a set of characteristics.

  > Organised (planned crime, deliberate target suggests they have a 'type', high degree of control, high intelligence, skilled profession, married)

  > Disorganised (Spontaneous attack, body still at scene, in unskilled work/unemployed, live alone)
• What are the four main stages of constructing an FBI profile?

  1. Data Assimilation - profiler gathers evidence including crime scene photos, witness reports etc.

  2. Crime Scene classification - Organised/disorganised

  3. Crime reconstruction - hypotheses in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of the victims

  4. Profile generation - hypotheses related to the likely offender eg physical characteristics.
• What is the research support for the top-down approach?

  > Support for distinct organised category of offender.

  > Canter et al conducted analysis of 100 US murders committed each by a different serial killers.

  > Smallest Space Analysis used (identifies correlation between different samples)

  > Used to assess co-occurrence of 39 aspects of serial killings - e.g. if there was torture or restraint or attempt to conceal the body.

  >Revealed there appeared to be subset of features of serial killings that matched the typology for organised offenders = high validity of the FBI's typology.
• What is the counterpoint to this research?

  >Some studies suggest organised/disorganised types are not mutually exclusive (may happen at the same time)

  > Godwin argues that it is difficult to classify killers as one or the other type.

  > A killer may have multiple contrasting characteristics e.g. high intelligence but may commit a spontaneous murder leaving the body at a crime scene.

  > Suggests the organised/disorganised typology may be a continuum
• What is the wider application of top-down profiling?

  > Can be adapted to other types of crime such as burglary.

  > Meketa reported that top-down profiling that had recently been applied to burglary led to an 85% rise in solved cases in 3 US states.

  > Added interpersonal (knowing your victim) + opportunistic (inexperienced young offender) to the usual typology
• What is the flawed evidence of the top-down approach?

  > The evidence it is based on is flawed.

  > FBI profiling was developed using interviews with 36 murderers in the US - 25 of which were serial killers.

  > 24 of these by the end were classed as organised offenders.

  > Canter et al. argued the sample is poor - FBI agents did not select a random or even a large sample nor did the sample include different kinds of offender.

  > There was no standard set of questions so each interview was different and therefore not really comparable.
• What is the bottom-up approach?

  > Profilers work up from evidence collected from the crime scene to develop hypotheses about the likely characteristics, motivations and social background of the offender.

  > A British Mode

  > Profile is data driven
• What are the 2 forms of bottom-up profiling?

  > Investigative Psychology

  > Geographical Profiling
• What is investigative psychology?

  > A form of bottom-up profiling that matches details from the crime scene with statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns based on psychological theory

  > Aim to establish patterns of behaviour that is likely to occur across multiple crime scenes.

  > So can develop a database that acts as a baseline for comparison
• What is centre to IP?

  > Interpersonal Coherence: the way an offender behaves at the crime scene may reflect how they behave in everyday life.

  > E.g. some rapists may act apologetic towards their victims which may say how they relate to women generally.
• What is geographical profiling?

  > A form of bottom-up profiling based on the principle of spatial consistency: that an offender's operational base and possible future offences are revealed by the geographical location of their previous crimes.
• What is spatial consistency?


  > The belief that people commit crimes in a limited geographical space.

  > This can be used alongside investigative psychology to create hypothesis on offender's thinking.
• What is Canter's circle theory?

  > The pattern offending forms a circle around the offender's home base.

  > The assumption is that serial offenders will work within areas that they are familiar with.
• What are the 2 ways that offenders can be described?

  > Marauder: Offender who operates in close proximity to home base.

  > Commuter: Offender is likely to have a travelled a distance away from their usual residence.

  > This can reveal important info about the nature of the crime e.g. if it was planned/opportunistic.
• What is the evidence in support of investigative Psychology?

  >Canter and Heritage

  > Analysed 66 sexual assault cases using smallest space analysis.

  > Behaviours were identified as common in different samples like a lack of reaction to the victim.

  > Each individual displayed a characteristic pattern of these behaviours which can be used to establish whether 2 or more offences were committed by the same offender.

  > Supports a basic principle of IP: that people are consistent in their behaviour.
• What is the counterpoint to this evidence?

  > Case linkage depends on crimes that have been solved.

  > The fact they were solved may suggests that it was easy to link them in the first place.

  > May suggest that IP may tell us little about crimes that have few links and therefore remain unsolved.
• What is the evidence for geographical profiling?

  > Canter + Lundrigan

  > Gathered info from 120 murder cases involving serial killers in USA.

  > Smallest Space Analysis revealed spatial consistency in their behaviour.

  > Location of body disposal created a 'centre of gravity' as the disposal creates a circular effect around their home.

  > The effect was more noticeable for marauders.

  > Supports Canter's Circle Theory
• What is the limitation of geographical profiling?

  > The success of this profiling is reliant on the quality of data that the police produce.

  > Recording crime isn't always accurate and a reported 75% of crimes aren't even reported.

  > Calls into question how often this approach can be used if it relies on accurate geographical info.
• What are the 2 biological explanations?

  > Atavistic form

  > Genetic and neural
• What is the atavistic form?

  > By Lombroso

  > Claims are offenders are genetic throwbacks (a primitive subspecies who were biologically different from non-criminals)
• How were offenders seen by Lombroso?

  > Lacking evolutionary development + untamed

  > They would be unable to adapt to civilised society and this would turn into crime.

  > Saw offending as a natural tendency rooted in genes, innate

  > He said they can be marked by specific atavistic characteristics.
• What are atavistic characteristics?

  >strong jaw, high cheekbones, asymmetric face(cranial), dark skin, extra toes

  > As well as insensitivity to pain and tattoos.
• What was Lombroso's research?

  > examined the facial and cranial features of hundreds of Italian convicts, both living and dead

  > examined the skulls of 383 dead criminals and 3839 living ones

  > concluded that 40% of criminal acts are committed by people with atavistic characteristics
• What are the offender types Lombroso established?

  > Murderers had bloodshot eyes, curly hair, long ears etc.

  > Sexual deviants had glinting eyes, swollen fleshy lips
• What is a strength of Lombroso's work?


  > Changed the face of study of crime

  > Credited for shifting the focus to a more scientific position

  > His theory heralded the beginning of offender profiling.

  > Hailed as the 'father of criminology' and he himself coined the phrase 'criminology'.
• What is a limitation to Lombroso's work?

  > Critics like DeLisi have questioned whether this legacy is positive.

  > There is a lot of racial undertones in his work

  > e.g. features identified as atavistic curly hair, dark skin are more likely to be found in those of African descent.

  > He was Basically suggesting that Africans were more likely to be offenders.

  > Suggests elements of his theory was highly subjective.
• Poor Control (limitation)


  > Lombroso failed to control important variables in his own research

  > Did not compare his offender sample with a control group.

  > Could have controlled confounding variables that might have equally explained higher crime rates in certain types of people.

  > E.g. some research has demonstrated links between crime and social conditions like poverty that could explain why offenders were more likely to be unemployed.
• Contradictory evidence (Limitation)


  > Goring set out to establish whether there is something physically unique about offenders.

  > Compared 3000 non offenders + 3000 offenders.

  > Concluded that there wasn't evidence to suggest offenders have distinct cranial and facial characteristics

  > Challenges Lombroso's theory.
• What are some of the genetic explanations for Crime?

  > Twin and Adoption studies

  > Candidate genes

  > Diathesis-stress model
• What is the gene that has been linked to aggressive behaviour?

  > MAOA gene

  > Also regulates serotonin
• What is the gene that has been linked to substance abuse?

  > CDH13

  > + Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

  > Genetic analysis of 800 Finnish offenders by Tiihonen et al found that 5-10% of crime was attributed to these 2 genes
• How can the diathesis-stress model be linked to crime?

  > Tendency for offending behaviour can come from a genetic predisposition then a psychological trigger.

  > i.e. being raised in a dysfunctional environment.
• What twin/adoption studies have showed the importance of genes in crime?

  > Christiansen studied 3500 twin pairs in Denmark and found concordance rates for offending behaviour:

  > 35% for Monozygotic male twins

  > 13% for Dizygotic male twins

  > Offending behaviour was checked against Danish police records.
• What did Crowe find about adopted children whose biological mother had a criminal record?

  > 50% risk of having criminal record by 18

  > The opposite only had a 5% risk
• Issues with twin evidence (Limitation)

  > There is an assumption of equal environments

  > It is assumed that environmental factors are constant as twins were brought up together and therefore must experience similar environments.

  > However, this assumption may apply more to MZ twins the DZ twins as MZ twins look identical and therefore people tend to treat them more similarly which affects their behaviour.
• Support for diathesis-stress(Strength)


  > Mednick et al conducted study of 13,000 Danish adoptees.

  > When neither biological/adoptive parents had convictions the percentage of adoptees that did was 13.5%

  > The figure rose to 20% when one of the biological parents had convictions and 24.5% when both biological/adoptive had some.

  > Shows that genetic inheritance plays an important role but also environmental influences are important.
• What is the neural explanation for crime?

  > May be neural differences in the brain between offenders and non-offenders.