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Forensic Psychology, Psychological Explanations for offending behaviour,…

- - - - The Top Down approach originated in the USA by the FBI. They established it by using interviews of 36 sexually motivated serial killers such as Ted Bundy and Charles Manson.
        
        Often Referred to the typology approach because it eestablishes what is already known about the crime scene and the criminal to a pre-existing template.
        
        Criminals are then placed into 2 pre-existing categories based on evidence and witness accounts of crime scenes.
        
        The two categories are: An Organised offender and Disorganised.
        
        Organised offenders are those that show evidence of planning the offence, targeting a victim, often socially and sexually competent and often have a higher than average IQ. They also leave little to no evidence at a crime scene
        
        Disorganised Offenders are those that show little evidence of planning, little evidence of targeting, leaves evidence at the seen, often sexually and socially incompetent and have a lower than average IQ.
        
        There are 4 stages to the Top Down Approach:
        1- Data Assimilation: When the profiler reviews the evidence. 2- Crime Scene Classification: When the criminals is described as being organised or disorganised. 3- Crime Reconstruction: Hypotheses is established about the likely series of events. 4- Profile Generation: hypotheses related to the likely offender, e.g. of demographic background, physical characteristics, behaviour etc.
        
        A03 Evaluations**.
        
        Research Support from case studies:would be able to help them. Evidence from the scene indicated that one of the perpetrators worked alone, so Canter applied his profiling theory and created an offender profile for the 'Railway Killer'. Canters profile was very accurate with 12/17 suggested characteristics being correct.
        
        Contradictory Research: Canter et al analysed the data from 100 murders in the USA. They were examined with 39 characteristics which reference the typical behaviour or organised and disorganised killers. Although his findings did find prove for the organised type, this was not the case for the disorganised type. This undermines the classification system as a whole.
        
        - Limited Real World Applications: The Top Down Approach is only really suitable for crimes that say a lot about the offender. For example, rape, murder, arson and cult killings. Common crimes such as burglary or damage to property do not tell much about the offender and so can be considered a limited approach.
        - Too simplistic: Ignored individual differences. Not everyone will fit the same pattern because someone may have high intelligence, be socially competent and still commit a spontaneous attack. Holmes suggested that there were several types of serial killers: visionary, missionary, hedonistic and power/control.
    - - This was developed in Britain and is used to create a picture of the offender using systematic analysis of the crime scene. However, this does not begin with fixed typologies and instead, as more of the case is uncovered, the profile continues to build around this.
      - There are two forms of Bottom Up Approach:
        1- Investigative Psychology
        2- Geographical Profiling
      - Investigative Psychology This is a form of the bottom up Approach which matches details of the crime scene with statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns based off psychological theory.
        This was developed by David Canter who wanted to develop a method that used research as its basis. The fact that this approach is based on statistical analysis makes it more objective than the Top Down Approach.
        
        There are 5 assumptions of investigative psychology in which underpin the crime:
        1- Interpersonal Coherence: This means that there is an assumption that behaviour is more consistent across situations; more specifically, the idea that everyday behaviour is consistent with how a crime is committed. For example, someone who is a generally aggressive person is more likely to commit a more aggressive crime.
        2- Time and Place: These gives clues as to where the positioning and timings of the crime took place which may give us clues as to where the perpetrator may live or work.
        3- Criminal Characteristics: This is placing criminals into the organised or disorganised category.
        4- Criminal Career: This considers how far offenders are into their criminal experience, and how their behaviour of crime may progress.
        5- Forensic Awareness: This highlights the fact that offenders who are aware of the forensic investigation process are likely to have been through the Criminal Justice System before.
      - Geographical Profiling . This is a form of Bottom Up Approach that was first established by Kim Rossmo.
        It has the assumptions that:
        
        Offenders restrict their 'work' to locations familiar to them. When drawing a circle of the offences on a map, we can apply a central location to the crimes, which os often where the perpetrator lives or works (known as the centre of gravity).
        
        Canter's Circle Theory suggests that there are two types of offenders: Commuters and marauders. Commuters are offenders that will travel to commit their crimes, yet the location is still familiar to them, and marauders are criminals that offend close by to where they live.
      - A03 Evaluations of Bottom Up Approach
        
        Research Support:Lundrigan and Canter collected information from 120 murder cases involving serial killers from the USA. They found that the location of each body disposal site was in the opposite direction from the previous, creating a central location in which the offender's base was found. The effect was more noticeable for marauders than commuters.
        
        Real World Applications: The Bottom Up Approach can be used for a variety of crimes and not just serious crimes such as murder and rape. For example, using geographical profiling can still help to explain and identify perpetrators in crimes such as burglary because they still need a 'base' or familiar location to work from.
        
        Scientific: The approach is based on statistical likelihood and statistical tests which makes it more objective than the Top Down Approach. For example, one statistical test used is small space analysis which allows us to identify correlations of behaviour patterns . This makes it more reliable.
        
        Too Simplistic:The Bottom up Approach can be seen as too simplistic because it mainly focuses on geographical profiling. Consequently, this means that things like psychological profiling tend to be overlooked. This means that a full picture of the offence is not provided.
- - - - Lombroso examined the facial and cranial features of Italian convicts. He examined the skulls of 383 alive convicts, and 3839 dead convicts. Lombroso concluded that 40% of criminal acts could be accounted for by atavistic characteristics such as: A sloping brow, narrow but prominent jaw, high cheekbones and an asymmetrical face.
      - A03 Evaluations
        
        Contradictory Research: Goring tested Lombroso's findings and compared 2348 London convicts and a control group. Goring railed to replicate Lombroso's findings and suggested that there is no link between offending behaviour and physical appearance.
        
        Socially Sensitive:Lombroso''s research has been criticised for having racist undertones (such as curly hair and dark skin are more likely to be found in people from African decent). This is a weakness as this could have contributed to or supported the eugenics movement. Even if he did not intend on this, it limits the usefulness by asserting unhelpful stereotypes about physical features and criminality.
        
        Methodological Weaknesses:Lombroso did not use a control group, nor did he consider the fact that some of the convicts he examined may have had learning difficulties which may have an effect on physical features.
        
        Scientific:Although Lombros has been heavily criticised for his study, in the historical context of the time, this is a scientific approach to investigating offending behaviour, especially due to the fact criminal behaviour was seen from a religious perspective. Therefore, although his theory is naive and outdated, it did attempt to look at criminology in a scientific way which may have paved way for offender profiling today.
  - - - A03 Evaluations
        
        Research Support for the XYY gene: Jacobs found that in an all males prison, 3% of convicted prisoners had the XYY gene. This was in comparison to 0.1% of males in the 'normal population'. These men were also found to have a higher level of testosterone and lower levels of intelligence than the non-XYY men.
        
        -Simplistic/ Reductionist:concordance rates in twins are not 100% therefore other factors must contribute to criminal behaviour. In this way, the diathesis stress model is a more likely explanation as it acknowledges that people may be more genetically vulnerable to engaging in criminal behaviour, but other factors may still be involved.
        
        Deterministic which may lead to complications:The genetic explanation is limited because it suggests that we have no free-will over engaging with criminal activity. This can lead to complications because it means that people may try to justify their acts to the Criminal justice System by saying they had no control over it.
        
        -May be an issue with twin studies and nature vs nurture: It is difficult to draw conclusions from twin studies as MZ twins are often raised together and in a similar way. This means that it may still be the effect of nurture and their environment in determining their criminal behaviour rather than the effects of their genes.
    - - Biochemistry
        there are 3 biochemicals that have been implicated in offending behaviour:
        1- Noradrenaline:This is a part of our fight or flight response which helps us to respond to threatening situations.
        2- Serotonin:This regulates mood and impulse. Therefore, if someone has low levels of serotonin, offending behaviour may be more likely as they will have more impulses. For example, in an emotional situation their serotonin levels may be low and they may not be able to control themselves.
        3- Dopamine:This is linked to addictive behaviour because dopamine activity in the limbic system is linked with pleasure. Therefore, the greater the activity, the more pleasure. As there is a correlation between dopamine levels and substance abuse, this suggests that high levels could be linked with offending behaviour.
      - Brain Physiology
        This suggests that structure and damage to the brain can be implicated with criminal behaviour. This can be seen by research on the prefrontal cortex- the area which is responsible for managing neural networks associated with emotions and behaviour.
        Raine used brain imaging techniques and found that individuals with APD have reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex. Similarly, he found an 11% reduction in the volume of grey matter in people with APD, compared to a control group.
      - A03 Evaluations
        
        Research Support:Higley et al investigated neurotransmitters in non-human primates and found that levels of serotonin were negatively correlated with impulse behaviour.
        
        Issues with cause and effect:Although neural explanation may show a correlation it does not necessarily mean a cause.There may be other factors involved such as the trauma of a head injury affecting behaviour rather than the damage itself.
        
        Simplistic/ Reductionist:Likely to be other factors as well. Altered biochemistry or brain structure may just lead to a vulnerability to criminal behaviour. E.g. not everyone with low levels of serotonin will engage in criminal behaviour therefore there must be other contributing factors.
        
        Deterministic/ Implications
        The neural explanation is very determinist as it assumes we have no free will over our choices to engage in criminal activity.**