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The British approach top down approch - Coggle Diagram
The British approach top down approch
Geographical Profiling (GP):
GP, also known as crime mapping, plays a crucial role in the BUA by analyzing the spatial distribution of linked offenses.
The theory categorizes serial offenders as marauders, who commit crimes near their home base, or commuters, who travel to different areas to offend.
Circle theory, a fundamental concept in GP, involves drawing circles around linked offenses to pinpoint the offender's likely residence.
Successful applications of GP, such as in the case of the Railway Rapist John Duffy, demonstrate its effectiveness in identifying offender patterns and behaviors.
British Approach to Offender Profiling (BUA)
The BUA, pioneered by David Canter, takes a unique approach to offender profiling by being data-driven and inductive.
Canter's methodology emphasizes the use of computational and statistical analysis to identify patterns and correlations in crime scene data, known as investigative psychology (IP).
Unlike the top-down approach, which relies on pre-established typologies, the BUA starts with the specific details of the crime scene to develop a profile of the offender.
Investigative Psychology (IP)
Time and place significance involves analyzing when and where crimes occur, providing insight into offender routines and preferences.
Forensic awareness assesses the offender's efforts to avoid leaving trace evidence, such as DNA or fingerprints, and their knowledge of investigative techniques like CCTV.
Interpersonal coherence examines how offenders interact with their victims before, during, and after the crime, drawing parallels between crime scene behavior and everyday actions.
IP, a key component of the BUA, focuses on understanding offender behavior through detailed analysis of crime scene characteristics.
strength
Canter's profile of John Duffy accurately predicted several key characteristics, including his likely residence, marital status, and behavioral tendencies.
Duffy's personal details aligned with Canter's profile, providing validation for the BUA's methodology and Canter's profiling techniques.
The BUA takes a more objective approach than the TDA (which uses as its basis the results of interviews conducted over 50 years ago) with its use of statistical methods which means that it is more reliable than other approaches to profiling
negitives
When profiling goes wrong it can be catastrophic: British psychologist Paul Britton’s profile of the killer of Rachel Nickell completely derailed the police investigation and resulted in the murderer going on to claim more victims
Kocsis et al. (2002) tested the profiling skills of various police professionals compared to a sample of Chemistry students: the Chemistry students produced the most accurate profiles (interestingly the more experienced the police professionals were, the more inaccurate their profiles were) hence profiling may involve little more than guesswork