1. Forensic psychology Top-down approach
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2. Starter What are 3 issues with defining crime?
What are the 3 ways of measuring crime?
What are some issues with these measures of crime?

3. With a partner, discuss following:
Starter
With a partner, discuss following:
Whether there are certain ‘types’ of people that commit particular crimes?
Whether there are different categories that criminals fit into?
Whether you can tell what type of person committed a crime based on what the crime scene looks like?

4. Offender Profiling (dates back from 1988)
A behavioural and analytic tool that is intended to help investigators accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminals.
Aim = to narrow the field of enquiry and list of suspects Methods vary…
Copson (1995) argues police need 4 types of information from Profilers:
Type of person
Future threat
Case linked to others?
Interview strategies to be used with offender.
Tool employed by police when solving crimes – characteristics of the offender can be deduced from the characteristics of the crime scene

5. How is it done? Top-Down Approach
Start with an established typology / categorisation and assign individuals to these types based on witness accounts and evidence.
American - Used by FBI
Bottom-Up Approach
Starts by looking at even the minor details of a crime scene and develop a likely hypothesis about the likely characteristics of the offender.
British model

6. Qualitative profile created from interviews and analysis of crime details/scenes
The Top-Down Approach
Top: motives and characteristics of offenders.
Lead to . . .
Down: categories creating more knowledge of the crime
It's described as a qualitative approach to offender profiling due to looking at the overall picture and using typologies. (types)
It's based on police experience and case studies rather than psychological theory.
It's suitable for the more extreme/unusual crimes, such as murder, rape and ritualistic crimes.
The top-down approach originated in the USA as a result of work carried out by the FBI in the 1970s. The FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit drew upon data gathered from in-depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers. Profilers will match what is known about the crime and the offender to a pre-existing template created by the FBI. Offenders are classified in one of two categories (organised or disorganised) on the basis of evidence and this classification informs the subsequent police investigation.
Organised and disorganised types of offender
The distinction is based on the idea that serious offenders have certain signature ‘ways of working’ (modus operandi) and these generally correlate with a particular set of social and psychological characteristics of the individual.
Organised: They show evidence of having planned the crime in advance; the victim is deliberately targeted and will often reflect the fact that the offender has a ‘type’. They maintain a high degree of control during the crime and may operate with almost detached surgical precision. There is little evidence or clues left behind at the scene. They tend to be above-average intelligence, in a skilled, professional occupation and are socially and sexually competent. They are usually married and may have children.
Disorganised: They show little evidence of planning, suggesting the offence may have been a spontaneous, spur of the moment act. The crime scene tends to reflect the impulsive nature of the attack – the body is usually still at the scene and there appears to have been little control on the part of the offender. They tend to have a lower than average IQ, be in unskilled work or unemployment, and often have a history of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships. They tend to live alone and often relatively close to where the offence took place.
There are four main stages in the construction of a top-down profile:
Classification system is used to predict and prevent crime

7. Classification system is used to predict and prevent crime
Qualitative profile created from interviews and analysis of crime details/scenes
Top: motives and characteristics of offenders.
Lead to . . .
Down: categories creating more knowledge of the crime
Classification system is used to predict and prevent crime

8. 10 minute challenge! Answer both
Define what is meant by offender profiling (3marks)
Distinguish between organised and disorganised types of offender (4 marks)

9. The top-down approach
Organised
Disorganised
Behaviour towards victim
Victim targeted
Controls conversation
Victim selected at random
Crime unplanned
Avoids conversation
Crime scene detail
Weapon absent
Body hidden from view
Body moved from crime scene
Attempts to clean up
Weapon present
Sexual activity after death
Body left in view at crime scene
Characteristics of criminal
High intelligence
Socially competent
Sexually competent
Skilled occupation
Average intelligence or lower
Socially immature
Sexually incompetent
Poor work history
Lives alone
Lives close to crime scene
serious offenders have certain signature ‘ways of working’ (modus operandi) and these generally correlate with a particular set of social and psychological characteristics of the individual

10. What does this crime scene tell you about the offender responsible?

11. FBI profiling process Data assimilation
Data compiled from police reports, post mortems, crime scene photos etc.
Crime classification
Profilers decide whether the crime scene is organised or disorganised
Profile generation
Offender’s physical, demographic and behavioural characteristics
Crime reconstruction
Hypotheses about crime sequence, offender & victim behaviour etc.

12. 10 minute challenge! Answer both
Define what is meant by offender profiling (3marks)
Distinguish between organised and disorganised types of offender (4 marks)

13. Complete question 1 and 2 on the handout
Activity
Complete question 1 and 2 on the handout
Apply it!

14. Ted Bundy, the “Organised Killer”
Theodore Robert Bundy ( ) was an American serial killer, kidnapper, rapist, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s. Shortly before his execution, after more than a decade of denials, he confessed to 30 homicides committed in seven states between 1974 and The true victim count remains unknown, and could be much higher.
Bundy’s killings usually followed a pattern. He was intelligent, charming and attractive. He excelled at law school and fell in love with a young woman at college. After the breakdown of this relationship, Bundy’s killing spree ensued – his victims resembling his college girlfriend with long hair parted down the middle. After escaping police custody twice, Bundy was executed by electric chair in 1989.

15. Some of Bundy’s confirmed victims . . .
WHAT DID THE FBI DO AFTERWARDS?
INTERVIEWED 36 SEXUALLY-MOTIVATED SERIAL KILLERS, INCLUDING BUNDY AND CHARLES MANSON.
DISCUSS: WHY DID THEY DO THIS???????

16. Arthur Shawcrosss (caught use the top-down approach)
Research…
Arthur Shawcrosss (caught use the top-down approach)

17. Evaluation of the Top-Down Approach
In pairs, discuss the issues with using this approach.

18. Evaluation: Castles Only applies to particular crimes
This kind of profiling is best suited to crimes scenes that reveal details about the suspect such as rape, torture etc.
More common offences such as burglary do not lend themselves to profiling because the crime scene doesn’t reveal much about the offender.

19. Evaluation Two categories is too restrictive
Having only 2 categories is very simplistic as it is likely that criminals do not fit neatly into either category – this makes the prediction of their characteristics difficult
It is likely that there will be more than two types

20. Evaluation Original sample
The approach was developed using interviews with 36 killers in the US – 25 were serial killers, the other 11 were single/double murderers
This is too small and unrepresentative to base a profiling system that may have a significant influence on the nature of police investigation
Also, it is not sensible to rely of self-report data with convicted killers when constructing a classification system

21. Evaluation Based on outdated models of personality
Based on the assumption that offenders have patterns of behaviour and motivations that remain consistent across situations and contexts.
This approach is naïve and 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.

22. Evaluation Opposing evidence for disorganised type
Canter et al. (2004) analysed data from murders in the USA. Although the findings did suggest evidence of a distinct organised type, this was not the case for disorganised which seems to undermine the classification system as a whole.
Nevertheless, this system is still used in the US and has widespread support.

23. Problems with typological profiling
What problems can you identify with the FBI’s approach to offender profiling?
Assumptions about stable types (Alison 2002)
Subjective judgements (Godwin 2002)
Small and unusual sample, self-report (FBI Science unit)
Support / reliability (canter 2004)
Simplistic (Holmes 1989; Walter 1999)
Limited use…

24. 10 minute challenge! Answer both
Define what is meant by offender profiling (3marks)
Distinguish between organised and disorganised types of offender (4 marks)

25. PLAN (bullet point)
An answer to:
Discuss the top-down approach to offender profiling, referring to evidence in your answer.
[16 marks]

26. Check it
On your mini-whiteboard fill in the characteristics for both types of offender
Organised
Disorganised