Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

OFFENDER PROFILING (THE TOP DOWN APPROACH (FBI) (Based on 36 interviews…

- - - - 4 STAGES:
        1) Data Assimilation-review crime scene
        2) Classification- organised vs disorganised
        3) Crime Reconstruction- hypothesis in terms of what happened
        4) Profile Generation- hypothesis related to the offender e.g. background
- - - - -- Approach was formed using interviews with 36 of the most dangerous and sexually motivated murderers in USA. They ere very manipulative. the sample is also very small and difficult to generalise. This means caution needs to be taken when generalizing.
        
        +_ The approach is useful as COPSON (1995) questioned 184 police officers and found that 82% said technique was operationally useful and 90% said would use it again. However, just because it's useful doesn't mean it lead to identification.
        
        -- Some have criticised the approach to be no more than guess work. KOCSIS ET AL )2002) found chemistry students produced more accurate profiles on a solved murder case than experienced detectives. This suggests that profilers are not necessary and ordinary individuals could produce accurate profiles.
- - - - TIME PLACE
        May indicate where the offender lives
        
        GEOGRAPHICAL PROFILING
        Can be used in conjunction with psychological theory to create hypothesis of thinking. Involves using crime location to identify where may live. Serial offenders may restrict crimes to areas they are familiar with.
        CANTER OF GRAVITY refers to area where the offender commits crime.
- - - - +_ Approach has been praised for having wider application. Techniques e.g. Small Space Analysis can be used for range of offences e.g. burglary, theft, murder and rape. This means it's more useful in catching criminals.