Creating a Profile
Top Down Typology
Like a Jigsaw
See the picture then
find the pieces to fit it
CANADA
USA
MEXICO
Top – Down Typology
Top – Down Typology
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The American, or ‘top-down’, approach was compiled by the FBI through a
series of in-depth interviews with 36 convicted sexually orientated
murderers, including Ted Bundy and Charles Manson.
This information, along with detailed information from the FBI
Behavioural science unit, was combined with detailed examination of the
crime scene, the nature of attacks, forensic evidence, and any information
relating to the victim to develop models that would result in a profile of
the offender.
From this the FBI developed a classification system for several serious
crimes.
Murders (in particular ‘lust murders’) were classified as either ‘organised’
or ‘disorganised’ and a set of characteristics was built from this.
Organised offenders would show planning in their crimes, leave few clues,
and target a stranger; from this it was possible to infer that they would be
above average IQ, be socially and sexually competent and in a skilled
occupation.
Those categorised as disorganised would show the opposite traits.
FBI investigators, Hazelwood & Douglas in 1980 were able to classify crimes in terms of
the ‘organised’ and ‘disorganised’ offender by attempting to fit new crimes into these
existing categories based on details of the crime and intuitive analysis.
Disorganised scene
Organised murder scene
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Planned
Victim — targeted stranger
Control including restraints,
Aggression before death
Body hidden or moved from crime scene
Weapon and evidence absent
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Spontaneous
Victim — known by offender
Little control
Sexual acts before death
Body not hidden or left at crime scene.
Evidence present
Organised murderer
Disorganised murderer
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More-than-average lQ
Skilled occupation
Controlled mood
Living with partner
Mobile — for example, car
Socially competent
Sexually competent
Inconsistent discipline as child
Use of alcohol during crime
Follows crime on news
Limited change in behaviour after crime
Less-than-average IQ
Unskilled
Uncontrolled
Living alone
Lives near crime
Socially incompetent
Sexually incompetent
Harsh discipline as child
Alcohol not used during crime
Does not follow crime on news
Major behaviour change after crime
FBI
The FBI need certain information
before they can make the profile
• Colour Photos of the crime scene
• Data about the neighbourhood of
the crime (housing, income)
• Medical Examiners report
• A map of the victims travels prior
to death
• A complete investigative report of
the incident
• Background details of the victim
FBI – 4 STAGES
1.
2.
3.
4.
DATA ASSIMILATION
CRIME CLASSIFICATION
CRIME RECONSTRUCTION
PROFILE GENERATION
http://youtu.be/eSfgY8sr46o
Agents
Given the
evidence provided
your task is to
draw up a profile
of the offender.
• Use the the differences
between organised and
disorganised murders
The following exercise is taken from Howitt (2002) and is
based on a case originally reported by Ressler et al (1988).
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A nude female's body is was found at 3.00pm on the roof of an apartment block where she
lived.
She had left home for work at 6.30 in the morning.
She was 26 years of age, 90 lbs in weight, her spine was deformed and she was not dating
men.
Both of her nipples had been removed and placed upon her body.
Her face was severely beaten.
She had been throttled with the strap of her bag.
A blunt instrument had caused many face injuries.
Virtually all items used came from the victim’s bag.
The phrase "You can't stop me" was written in ink on the inner thigh and "Fuck you" on the
torso.
The pendant she usually wore was missing.
The victim’s underwear had been taken down and pulled over her face.
Her stockings were tied around her ankles and wrists but very loosely.
A pen and an umbrella were inserted into her vagina.
A comb was stuck in her pubic hair.
There was no semen in the victim’s vagina. The offender had ejaculated over her body from a
standing position.
There were bite marks on her thighs and various bruises/lacerations all over.
Faeces from the murderer were very close by. They were covered with the victim’s clothes.
There was no evidence of similar crimes being carried out in the area.
So Agents…….
Give me your profile of the
offender!
What the FBI have to say…
• A white man.
• Aged between 25 and 35 years similar in age to the victim.
• Sexual fantasies have been
harboured by the offender for a
long time and possibly uses and
collects sadistic pornography.
• He would fit into the context
well - might reside in the
apartment block or work there.
• Average intelligence but dropped
out of education.
• No military background.
• Possibly unemployed.
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Unskilled or skilled occupation.
Alcohol and drugs would not have
materially contributed.
Difficulties in personal relationships
with women.
Any dates would be younger so that
they could be more easily controlled
and dominated.
Sexually inexperienced and
inadequate.
Never married.
Disorganised offender - confused
and perhaps mental difficulties in
the past.
Messages challenged the police and
may indicate future killings.
Additional Info - FBI
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Killers tend to be similar in terms of age and race to their victim.
Fantasy is at the core of extreme cases like this. The fantasy may involve the thinking about
and planning for the offence. The sadistic nature of the crime is probably indicative of the
offender's fantasy. Keeping a trophy, the pendant, will help the offender fantasise about this
in the future.
Although the offender fantasised and "planned" the murder in his fantasy world, there was
little evidence of real planning. This was a disorganised crime, the offender using what came
to hand in the course of the crime....her pen, her umbrella etc.
The crime was sexual but there was no penetration by the offender, only the substitutes. It is
this that suggests sexual inadequacies and the likelihood that he lacked sexual experience
and had never married.
The victim was partially disabled, she was tied up in a crude way, and this suggests the
offence has elements of control and domination.
Defecation near a crime scene is not unusual but in this case it perhaps indicates that the
offence took place over a lengthy period of time. Potentially, this represents a considerable
risk for the offender since he was in an exposed situation (a roof top). Unless of course he
lived or worked in the area and knew he was unlikely to be disturbed.
The killer….
• Using this profile the police were able to work through their records and
identify a man whose father lived in the same apartment block.
• The police had been told that his son was in a mental hospital but they
found that security there was poor.
• The crucial piece of evidence was the bite marks on the body which
matched the dental pattern of the suspect.
What’s wrong with this
approach?
Discuss briefly and I will go
through it at the end…
Canter 2004 – serial murder and
investigation (to be researched for
Wednesday!)
Bottomup/Geographical
Offender
Profiling
The British
Way
Bottom up approaches
• Canter 1990 – UK’s foremost profiling expert, his
bottom up approach looks for consistencies in
offenders behaviour during the crime.
• No initial assumptions are made about the
offender.
• Relies heavily on computer databases.
• The British, or ‘bottom-up’, approach is more scientific than the American
approach in that it uses more psychological theories and methodologies.
• Seen as a cognitive social approach and looks at associations between the
offenders characteristics and the offence behaviour.
• This approach looks for ways in which the crime might mirror the behaviour
of the offender in every day life – the Criminal Consistency Hypothesis
(Canter (1989)).
• This consistency principle has been applied to two areas: interactions
between the victim and the offender (interpersonal consistency); and the
geographical area in which the criminal commits the offence (spatial
consistency).
• Within interpersonal consistency it is argued, for example, that the degree of
violence used in serious crimes, especially rape, may reflect how the criminal
treats other women in his non-criminal life.
• Spatial consistency is based on the idea of mental maps; criminals then draw
on these mental maps when committing a crime (so committing a crime
somewhere they are comfortable with, on the way to a friends or work).
• Two types of offenders were highlighted: the marauders who use a fixed base
(usually home) and offend around that central point (as little as 2 miles,
Canter & Gregory, 1994) ; or commuters who travel far to the location of the
crime to disassociate themselves from the geographic location.
• Called bottom-up as no initial assumption is made about the offender
until a statistical analysis using correlational techniques is carried out.
• Relies heavily on computer databases being accurate (more objective
and reliable than the American approach).
• Canter criticised the technique used in the American approach (top
down).
• He suggests that interviews with criminals are unreliable as the criminals
can be manipulative and they are often disturbed sensation seekers.
• He believes that criminals, like most people behave consistently, so
criminals will reflect their normal behaviour patterns when they commit
crime, which leads to further clues.
• An analysis of the pattern of behaviour observed over a number of
crimes committed by a serial offender will give clues about the nonoffending everyday behaviour of the criminal.
• The British approach (bottom up) involves advising police officers about
correlations between sets of data, such as time, place, choice of victim.
Evaluation points?
Strengths
• Trying to build a ‘picture’ of the person who committed a crime without ever
having contact with them.
• It helps to narrow down the scope of people from where to start looking for
suspects – helps focus police resources.
• It can establish description of likely social, physical and mental
characteristics.
• This can help establish where and when they are likely to offend again and
possible victims.
• This can lead to possible interview strategies to elicit confession of guilt or
details of a crime.
• Can reduce list of potential suspects
• Could force a slip-up to enable detection
Weaknesses
• Police resources have been wasted pursuing the wrong person
• Can be an over-reliance on so-called ‘expert’ without acknowledging the
invaluable contribution of experienced police officers
• Small percentage of successes in catching offender when working with
offender profiling
Evaluation extended:
• An initial problem with research into offender profiling lies in the
researchers only focusing on one variable that could be the cause an
offender committing a crime; this is known as being reductionist.
• For example, the American approach uses topologies to categorise
offenders as either organised or disorganised.
• Some offenders could show characteristics of both topologies. In
contrast, the British approach uses a variety of psychological theories to
provide an understanding of how an offenders’ behaviour during an
offence relates to their everyday life therefore allowing for many more
variables to be taken into account and thus not being reductionist.
• Research which is reductionist is problematic as it doesn’t look at the
entire range of influences on behaviour and we may get a distorted
picture of the behaviour being investigated.
Evaluation
• The research presented in this area has many useful applications to the
real world.
• We are able to use the results to predict why some criminals offend, and
also design strategies to intercept and catch offenders.
• For example, the American approach allows psychologists to classify
offenders as one of the two topologies, and as a result provides certain
personal characteristics about the offender which could allow police to
target their enquiries more efficiently.
• Similarly, the British approach has proved it’s usefulness through
applications such as the John Duffy case (Canter (1994)).
• This case provided strong support for using the criminal consistency
hypothesis to create a profile of the offender and the profound effects a
profile can have on apprehending an offender.