1. Making a case Interviewing witnesses, suspects and creating a profile.

2. Making a case: This unit in forensics looks at how crime is investigated, gathering the evidence about the offender and talking to the witnesses. In the past, police have used their own personal experiences and traditional practice to go about this work. Forensic psychologists have now started to put forward alternative ideas abut how to carry out such investigations.

3. How can we apply the approaches? Behaviourist –Assumes that all behaviour is learned, either through association or through reinforcement. –They will look for habitual patterns in a criminals’ behaviour and exploit the power of association or reward when trying to get people to speak up. Cognitive –The development of techniques to trigger memories, spot liars and understand criminal thinking patterns have been beneficial to forensic psychology. Individual differences –Understanding that everyone’s memory of sense of guilt works in different ways.

4. Theories of creating a profile Canter et al, Canter and Heritage, Canter

5. Theories of creating a profile. Profiling is one of the many techniques used to solve crimes, particularly when dealing with unusual or serial crimes. Profiling attempts to categorise offenders based upon their unusual criminal activity patterns, thought patterns and the environment in which they commit their offences. The main approaches within this section are individual differences, cognitive and social.

6. Top-down approaches: A top-down approach tries to fit everything into a set of pre-designed categories. A good example is astrology and the zodiac. This top-down approach to predicting someone's future is because of identifying a small piece of information about the person, their birthday, and fitting them into an astrological type, this making all sorts of predictions about the individual including their personality.

7. Top-down approaches in profiling: Top-down approaches exist in criminal profiling. Profilers have created typologies of criminals. A typology s a set of clear and distinct categories. When investigators arrive at the scene, they are looking for clues that reveal what type of criminal was there. Sometimes the clues may point to more than one typology so investigators try to go for the ‘best fit’. Once the type has been identified, investigators can make predictions about whether the criminal will strike again, where, and who the victim might be.

8. Bottom-up approaches: Bottom-up approaches make no assumptions about the person or object they are dealing with. Instead, a researcher will gather together all the information then build up a logical description based on that. A bottom-up approach could be something like a tarot card reading where all the chosen cards meanings are put together to make a whole prediction.

9. Bottom-up approaches in profiling: The bottom-up approach is popular in Britain and is championed by David Canter. Canter started out as an environmental psychologist, looking at how people’s behaviour in buildings stayed the same, even in emergencies such as a fire. From this, he developed his criminal consistency hypothesis which states that an offenders behaviour while committing a crime will be consistent with their behaviour in their daily life.

10. Canter et al 2004 Investigation of the organised vs disorganised theory of serial murder

11. Background: Organised Leads an ordered life Sexually competent Social competent Kills after a critical life event Premeditated Planned crimes Bring weapons which are removed from the scene Use restraints for control Average intelligence Employed in skilled jobs Body is hidden or removed from the scene. In 1980, Hazelwood and Douglas published their account of the ‘lust murderer’ whereby they outlined their theory that lust murders can be categorised as organised or disorganised. Disorganised Committed the crime in a moment of passion Spontaneous No evidence of premeditation Leave evidence- blood, semen, weapons Body may be left and unhidden Less socially competent Less sexually competent Unemployed or in unskilled work Less than average intelligence Lives alone.

12. Aim: To test the reliability of the top-down typology by applying them to 100 cases.

13. Procedure: A content analysis of 100 cases of serial killers from the USA in order to see if the features hypothesised to belong to each typology would be consistently and distinctively different. The cases came from published accounts of serial killers and were cross-checked with court reports and officers where possible. They had been collected over several years by an independent researcher and were called the Missen Corpus. The third crime committed by each serial killer was analysed using the Crime Classification Manuel in order to determine the crime as being organised or disorganised.

14. Findings: Twice as many disorganised crimes as organised crimes were identified, suggesting that disorganised offenders are more common or easier to identify. Two behaviours in the organised typology occurred a level significantly above chance. –In 70% of cases, he body was concealed –In 75% of cases, sexual activity had occurred. Further analysis failed to reveal any significant differences between organised and disorganised variables.

15. Conclusions: Canter concluded that instead of their being a distinction between the two types of serial murderer, all of the crimes had to have an organised element to them. –We might expect this as they were not caught after three killings! The distinction between serial killers may be a function of the different ways in which they exhibit disorganised aspects in their activities. It would be better to look at personality differences between offenders.

16. Issues: Usefulness –Can be applied to identifying a murderer Reliability –Had an dependent researcher –Tested against the CCM Validity –Used real-life murder cases

17. Debates: Ethnocentrism –All cases were from the USA giving very westernised views of murderers Reductionism vs Holism –R: Top-down approach forces people into categories in which they do not fit. –H: Looks at social factors as well as environmental factors- employment, etc.

18. Canter and Heritage 1990 Developments in offender profiling

19. Background: Canter’s bottom-up approach looks for consistencies in the offenders behaviour during the crime. These can be inferred from the crime scene, or from surviving victims accounts. No initial assumption is made about the offender until a statistical analysis using correlational techniques has been carried out on the details of the cases, The approach relies heavily on computer databases being accurate. This approach can be considered more objective and reliable.

20. Think… This approach relies heavily on data held in computer databases and this data being accurate. What factors can affect the accuracy of police records? Anomalous results? Eye-witness Testimony? Leading questions? Not all crimes are reported? Not all crimes are followed up Human error? Data being lost?

21. Aim: To identify a behaviour pattern from similarities between offences.

22. Procedure: A content analysis was carried out on 66 sexual offences from various police forces committed by 27 offenders to find 33 offence variables that were clearly linked to a potential behaviour characteristic. It was possible to say yes or no to each variable. A computer was used to work out the correlations between each aspect of the crime and identify the key factors central to sexual assault. This method is known as a smallest-space analysis, because it presents results visually, with the most common factors closer to the centre and less typical behaviours appearing out on the edges.

23. Smallest-space analysis example: Behaviour occurs in 25-35% of cases Behaviour occurs in more than 65% of cases Behaviour occurs in 40-60% of cases Behaviour occurs in 20-25% of cases

24. Findings: Five variables were found to be central to the 66 cases; 1.Vaginal intercourse 2.No reaction to the victim 3.Impersonal language 4.Surprise attack 5.Victims clothing was disturbed This suggests a pattern of behaviour where the attack is impersonal and sudden and the victim’s response is irrelevant to the offender.

25. Conclusions: This has become known as the five factor theory. These five aspects have now been shown to contribute to all sexual offences, but in different patterns for different individuals. An analysis of these factors can enable police to decide if an offence has been committed by the same individual.

26. Issues: Correlational methods –Does not show cause and effect Reliability –The accuracy of the police databases as described earlier Application –Can work to help stop crimes and identify the criminals Quantitative data –Objective and not influenced by personal opinions

27. Canter The case of John Duffy the ‘Railway Rapist’

28. Background: In November 2000, John Duffy, who was serving life for the rape and murder of several women, confessed to his prison psychologist that in fact he was responsible for many more cases and that he had committed many of these acts with an accomplice- David Mulcahy. He therefore testified in front of the jury at Mulcahy’s trial, giving evidence to ‘clear his conscience’.

29. Background: In 1982, a woman- KJ- was raped near London’s Hampstead station and dozens more were attacked over the next 2 years. The police set up a workshop to find the perpetrators, called Operation Hart. The press called the attacker the ‘Railway Rapist’ but this changed to the ‘Railway Killer’ in 1985 when Alison Day was dragged off of a train in Hackney and repeatedly raped and strangled with a piece of string. In April, a 15 year old was raped and murdered and her body was set on fire. A month later, a local TV presenter was abducted and murdered after leaving a train in Brookman's Park.

30. Background: The police investigation was getting nowhere, because although the surviving women could give details accounts of the attacker’s methods of working, they were uncertain about his height and appearance. They were possibly distracted by the weapons focus effect.

31. Aim: To show successful application of a “bottom-up” approach of profiling to solving a crime.

32. Procedure: In 1988, Canter was invited by the Metropolitan Police to draw up a profile of the ‘Railway Rapist’. Cater examined the details of each crime and built up a profile of the attacker’s personality, habits and traits. He used the bottom-up approach to identify two significant themes in the attacks; –The attacker seemed prepared to try to relate to the victim- suggesting a previous abusive relationship. –Minimal amount of force was used to the victim- suggesting a weak, insecure individual.

33. Procedure: Canter also studied the location of the crimes, going back 4 years, laying transparent acetate sheets with the crime scenes marked on top of the map of the area surrounding London. This built up a geographic profile which helped him pin down where the attacker lived because he pattern suggested he was a marauder who committed crimes in his own neighbourhood.

34. The profile: Canter’s profile included that the offender; –Lived in Kilburn or Cricklewood –Was married –Had no children –Had marriage problems –Was a loner with few friends –Was physically small –Had feelings of unattractiveness –Has an interest in martial arts or body building –Had a need to dominate women –Had a fascination with weapons- especially knives –Had fantasies about sex and violence –Was in a semi-skilled job –Had little contact with the public –Was aged between 20 and 30 years old.

35. Findings: John Duffy was 1505 th on the police’s list of 2000 suspects with the right blood group to be the attacker. He as on the police database because of a previous incident where he had threatened his wife at knife point. John Duffy fit the profile Canter had made very closely.

36. Findings: John Duffy; –Lived in Kilburn –Was married –Was infertile –Had separated from his wife –Only had 2 male friends –Was 5”4 –Had acne –Was a member of a martial arts club –Was violent and often attacked his wife –Was a collector of martial arts weapons –Was a collector of hard core porn videos –Was trained as a British Rail carpenter –Was aged 28

37. Findings: John Duffy was reinvestigated as a result of Canter’s profile and was convicted for the two murders and five rapes. Caner had also predicted that the attacker would have a signature- most likely he took ‘souvenirs’ from his victims. John Duffy had a collection of 33 house keys that he had taken from the women he had raped and murdered. Police suspected Duffy’s friend David Mulcahy to be his collaborator, but could not prove this. Mulcahy was a married father of 4 and was eventually convicted in 2001.

38. Conclusions: This case study lends support to Canters bottom-up approach to profiling.

39. Issues: Usefulness –Can help with identifying and finding offenders Generalisability –A case study with a sample size of 1 cannot be easily generalised.