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Forensic psychology essays
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FORENSICS 16 MARKERS Offender profiling: the top-down approach, including organised and disorganised
types of offender; the bottom-up approach, including investigative Psychology;
geographical profiling.
Psychological explanations of offending behaviour: Eysenck’s theory of the
criminal personality; cognitive explanations (led to; level of moral reasoning and
cognitive distortions, including hostile attribution bias and minimalization;
differential association theory; psychodynamic explanations.
Discuss the top-down approach to offender profiling. Refer to evidence in your answer [16
marks]
The top-down approach was developed in the US due to work carried out by the FBI in the
1970’s. It’s main aim is to narrow the field of enquiry and list likely suspects. This involves
analysis of evidence at the crime scene which is used to create a hypothesis of the
offender’s characteristics. Offenders would then be categories into one of two predetermined
categories created by the FBI: organised and disorganised. An organised offender is one
who shows evidence of planning the crime in advance, which suggests the criminal has a
type. They have high control during the crime and there is little evidence left behind. They
tend to be intelligent as well as socially and sexually contempt. A disorganised offender
shows a spontaneous crime, with clues left behind, as well as being socially and sexually
incompetent with a lower than average IQ. There are 4 stages involved in constructing an
FBI profile. Firstly, data assimilation involves reviewing the evidence found, including
photographs and reports recorded from the scene. Then the offender is classified as
organised or disorganised and the hypotheses about the behaviour of the victim are formed,
which are likely to link to the offender.
A weakness of the top-down approach is that it only applies to particular crimes. The method
was created after interviewing 36 US murderers and rapists, so may only apply to those
crimes, rather than more common crimes such as burglary. This suggests that the approach
is limited in offender profiling for all crimes, and is less representative. However, a
psychologist reported that top-down has been recently applied to cases of burglary, and has
led to an 85% rise in the solved cases in 3 US states. This implies that the approach may
still be applicable to less violent crimes.
Another weakness of the approach is that the classifications are too simplistic. The
behaviours of disorganised and organised crimes are not mutually exclusive. A variety of
combinations can occur at any crime scene. Godwin argues that it is difficult to classify
someone as one or the other. The killer may be intelligent but commit a spontaneous
murder, leaving the body behind. Critics argue it may be better to think of the two types of
having a crossover.
On the other hand, a strength of the approach is that there is evidence for organised
offenders. Canter used a statistical technique called smallest space analysis and analysed
data from 100 murders in the USA. Each case was examined with reference to 39
characteristics thought to be typical of organised and disorganise offenders. There was
evidence for the organised type, but not the disorganised type. This suggests that parts of
the approach have significant real life applications.
Discuss investigative psychology and geographical profiling. Refer to evidence in your
answer [16 marks]
, FORENSICS 16 MARKERS
The bottom up approach, developed in the UK, aims to generate a picture of the offender
through systematic analysis of evidence at the crime scene. It does not use predetermined
categories like the top-down approach. One procedure used within the approach is
investigative psychology, which involves matching details from the crime scene with
statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns. A concept used in investigative
psychology is interpersonal coherence, this is the idea that behaviour displayed at the crime
scene reflects an offenders’ everyday behaviour. For example, some rapists may want to
control their victims, whereas others appear more apologetic for their actions, which may
reveal how they relate to the woman more generally. Time and place also play a role in
suggesting where an offender lives or what their job is. Furthermore, forensic awareness
may indicate to previous crimes that the offender may have carried out, as their behaviour
may show them attempting to cover their tracks.
Another element of the bottom-up approach is geographical profiling. This is a technique that
uses spatial consistency to make inferences of the likely home or operational base of an
offender based on the geographical locations of an offenders previous crimes. This is known
as crime mapping. Investigators identify a centre of gravity which shows the areas in which
an offender may carry their crimes in. Canter’s circle theory proposes two different types of
offender behaviour: the marauder operates in close proximity to their home, while the
commuter usually travels away from their usual home. Using these geographical patterns
enables investigators to identify possible locations of future offences.
A strength of the bottom-up approach is that it has support for investigative psychology.
Canter conducted content analysis of 66 sexual assault cases. Data was examined with
small space analysis, which identifies correlations across patterns of behaviour. There were
several characteristics identified as common in most cases, for example lack of reaction to
the victim. This can help us if the offenders behaviour changes over their offences or if two
or more offence were committed by the same person. This shows the benefits an real life
application of offender profiling.
A strength of the approach is that there is supporting evidence for geographical profiling.
Canter collected information from 120 murder cases with US serial killers. Small space
analysis revealed spatial consistency in the behaviour of the killers. The location of each
body disposal site was in a different direction from the previous, creating a centre of gravity.
Offenders base was always located in the centre of the pattern, this effect was more
noticeable marauder offenders. This supports Canter’s claim that spatial information
determines the base of an offender.
Another strength of the approach is that it has scientific basis. It is more objective and
scientific than the top-down approach, as it has evidence rather than theories. Using artificial
advanced intelligence, investigators are able to manipulate data to produce results that
assist that investigation. This makes it more favourable than a subjective approach like the
top-down approach.
A weakness of the approach is that it has mixed success rates. A psychologist surveyed 48
police forces and found advice produced by a profiler was judged to be useful in 83% of
cases. Only 3% led to accurate identification of the offender. This suggests that, although it
is more objective, it may be less effective.
Discuss Eysenck’s theory of criminal personality [16 marks]
Eysenck’s theory of personality proposes that behaviour could be represented along two
dimensions: introversion or extraversion and neuroticism or stability. He then added a third
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