,Offender Profiling: The Top-Down Approach
The American approach
Key points: The top-down approach to profiling originated in the United States as a result of work carried out
• Offender profiling: A behavioural and analytical by the FBI in the 1970s. More specifically, the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit drew upon data
tool that is intended to help investigators gathered from in-depth interviews with 36 sexually-motivated murders including Ted Bundy and
accurately predict and profile the characteristics Charles Manson. They then concluded that the data could be categorised into organised or
of unknown offenders disorganised crimes/murders. Each category had certain characteristics which meant that if, in a
• The top-down approach: Profilers start with a future situation, the data from a crime scene matched some of the characteristics of one category,
pre-established typology and work down to we could then predict other characteristics that would be likely. This could then be used to find the
lower levels in order to assign offenders to one of offender.
t wo categories based on witness accounts and Offender profilers who use the top-down method will collect data about a murder (characteristics
evidence from the crime scene of the murderer, the crime scene, etc.) and then decide on the category the data best fits.
• Organised offender: An offender who shows
evidence of planning, targets a specific victim Organised and disorganised types of offenders
and tends to be socially and sexually competent The organised and disorganised distinction is based on the idea that serious offenders have certain
with higher-than-average intelligence signature ways of working' (often referred to as their modus operandi) and these generally
• Disorganised offender: An offender who shows correlate with a particular set of social and psychological characteristics that relate to the
little evidence of planning, leaves clues and individual.
tends to be socially and sexually incompetent Organised offenders show evidence of having planned the crime in advance. The victim is
with lower-than-average intelligence deliberately targeted and this suggests that the killer or rapist has a 'type of victim they seek out.
The offender maintains a high degree of control during the crime and may operate with almost
The top-down approach detached surgical precision. There is little evidence or clues left behind at the scene. They tend to be
of above-average intelligence, in a skilled, professional occupation and are socially and sexually
Offender profiling competent. They are usually married and may even have children.
Offender profiling is an investigative tool employed In contrast, disorganised offenders show little evidence of planning, suggesting that their
by the police when solving crimes, the main aim of offences may be spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment acts. The crime scene tends to reflect the
which is to narrow the list of likely suspects. impulsive nature of the attack - the body is usually still at the scene and there appears to have
Professional profilers will often be called upon to been very little control on the part of the offender. They tend to have a lower-than-average IQ , be
work alongside the police especially during high- in unskilled work or unemployed, and often have a history of sexual dysfunction and failed
profile murder cases. Methods vary, but the relationships. They tend to live alone and often relatively close to where the offence took place.
compiling of a profile will usually involve careful
scrutiny of the crime scene and analysis of the Constructing an FBI profile: There are four main stages in the construction of an FBI profile:
other evidence (including witness reports) in order 1. Data assimilation - the profiler reviews the evidence (crime scene photographs, pathology reports
to generate hypotheses about the probable witness reports, etc.).
characteristics of the offender (their age, 2. Crime scene classification - as either organised or disorganised.
background, occupation, etc.) 3. Crime reconstruction - hypotheses in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of the victim, etc.
4. Profile generation - hypotheses related to the likely offender, e.g. of demographic background,
physical characteristics, behaviour, etc.
, Evaluation (application)
Evaluation - (Research support)
P: Another strength of the top-down profiling is that it can be adapted to other kinds
P: One strength of the top-down approach is that there
of crime, such as burglary.
is support for distinct organised category of offender.
E: For example, Tina Meketa reports that top-down profiling has recently been
E: in order to test the organised-disorganised typology
applied to burglary leasing to an 85% rise in solver cases in three US states. The
which is central to the top-down approach, David Canter
detection method retains the organised-disorganised distinction but also adds t wo
et al conducted an analysis of 100 US murders each
new categories: interpersonal (offender usually knows their victim and steals
committed by a different serial killer. A technique called
something of significance) and opportunistic (generally inexperience young offender)
smallest space analysis was used - a statistical
E: This suggests that the top-down profiling does not have a sound, scientific basis
technique that identifies correlations across different
CA: However some psychologist may argue that The TDA is not necessarily appropriate
samples of behaviour . In this case the analysis was used
for every type of crime, as its basis lies in the documenting of (mainly) sexually-
in order to assess the co-occurrence of 39 suspects of
motivated serial murder, which means that it lacks consistency (and, by association,
serial killings.this included such things as whether there
reliability) across crimes
was torture of restrain, whether there was an attempt
C: Despite this, it’s still a strength because the evidence from Meketa increases
to conceal the body, the form of murder weapon used
reliability that the TDA can be used for other kinds of crimes.
and the cause of death
E: This analysis revealed that there does seem to be a
Evaluation (flawed evidence)
subset of features of many serial killings which matched
P: One limitation of the top-down profiling is the evidence on which it is based.
the FBI’s typology of organised offenders.
E: FBI profiling was developed using interviews with 36 murders in the US - 25 of
CA: However some psychologist may argue that many
which were serial killers, the other 11 being single or double murderers. At the end of
studies suggest that the organised and disorganised
the process, 24 of these individuals were classified as organised offenders and 12
types are not mutually exclusive. There are a variety of
were disorganised.
combinations that occurs at any given murder scene. For
E: Canter et al has argued that the sample was poor - the FBI agents did not select a
example Maurice Godwin argues that, in reality, it is
random or even a large sample nor did the sample include different kinds of offender.
difficult to classify killers as one or the other type. A
There was no standard set of questions so each interview was different and
killer may have multiple contrasting characteristics,
therefore not really comparable . This suggests that top-down profiling does not have
such as high intelligence and sexual competence, but
a sound, scientific basis.
commits a spontaneous murder leaving the victims body
CA: However some psychologist may argue that the TDA has been used successfully in
at the crime scene. This suggests that the organised-
17% of case, which may seem like a negligible number; however, it means that the
disorganised typology is more of a continuum.
perpetrators of some very serious crimes were caught before they could harm anyone
C: Despite this, it’s still a strength because the research
else (Holmes, 1998)
support suggests that a key component of the FBI
C: Despite this, it's still a limitation because the success rate remains relatively low,
typology approach has some validity.
and the lack of scientific rigour in its foundational evidence undermines its reliability.
The American approach
Key points: The top-down approach to profiling originated in the United States as a result of work carried out
• Offender profiling: A behavioural and analytical by the FBI in the 1970s. More specifically, the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit drew upon data
tool that is intended to help investigators gathered from in-depth interviews with 36 sexually-motivated murders including Ted Bundy and
accurately predict and profile the characteristics Charles Manson. They then concluded that the data could be categorised into organised or
of unknown offenders disorganised crimes/murders. Each category had certain characteristics which meant that if, in a
• The top-down approach: Profilers start with a future situation, the data from a crime scene matched some of the characteristics of one category,
pre-established typology and work down to we could then predict other characteristics that would be likely. This could then be used to find the
lower levels in order to assign offenders to one of offender.
t wo categories based on witness accounts and Offender profilers who use the top-down method will collect data about a murder (characteristics
evidence from the crime scene of the murderer, the crime scene, etc.) and then decide on the category the data best fits.
• Organised offender: An offender who shows
evidence of planning, targets a specific victim Organised and disorganised types of offenders
and tends to be socially and sexually competent The organised and disorganised distinction is based on the idea that serious offenders have certain
with higher-than-average intelligence signature ways of working' (often referred to as their modus operandi) and these generally
• Disorganised offender: An offender who shows correlate with a particular set of social and psychological characteristics that relate to the
little evidence of planning, leaves clues and individual.
tends to be socially and sexually incompetent Organised offenders show evidence of having planned the crime in advance. The victim is
with lower-than-average intelligence deliberately targeted and this suggests that the killer or rapist has a 'type of victim they seek out.
The offender maintains a high degree of control during the crime and may operate with almost
The top-down approach detached surgical precision. There is little evidence or clues left behind at the scene. They tend to be
of above-average intelligence, in a skilled, professional occupation and are socially and sexually
Offender profiling competent. They are usually married and may even have children.
Offender profiling is an investigative tool employed In contrast, disorganised offenders show little evidence of planning, suggesting that their
by the police when solving crimes, the main aim of offences may be spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment acts. The crime scene tends to reflect the
which is to narrow the list of likely suspects. impulsive nature of the attack - the body is usually still at the scene and there appears to have
Professional profilers will often be called upon to been very little control on the part of the offender. They tend to have a lower-than-average IQ , be
work alongside the police especially during high- in unskilled work or unemployed, and often have a history of sexual dysfunction and failed
profile murder cases. Methods vary, but the relationships. They tend to live alone and often relatively close to where the offence took place.
compiling of a profile will usually involve careful
scrutiny of the crime scene and analysis of the Constructing an FBI profile: There are four main stages in the construction of an FBI profile:
other evidence (including witness reports) in order 1. Data assimilation - the profiler reviews the evidence (crime scene photographs, pathology reports
to generate hypotheses about the probable witness reports, etc.).
characteristics of the offender (their age, 2. Crime scene classification - as either organised or disorganised.
background, occupation, etc.) 3. Crime reconstruction - hypotheses in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of the victim, etc.
4. Profile generation - hypotheses related to the likely offender, e.g. of demographic background,
physical characteristics, behaviour, etc.
, Evaluation (application)
Evaluation - (Research support)
P: Another strength of the top-down profiling is that it can be adapted to other kinds
P: One strength of the top-down approach is that there
of crime, such as burglary.
is support for distinct organised category of offender.
E: For example, Tina Meketa reports that top-down profiling has recently been
E: in order to test the organised-disorganised typology
applied to burglary leasing to an 85% rise in solver cases in three US states. The
which is central to the top-down approach, David Canter
detection method retains the organised-disorganised distinction but also adds t wo
et al conducted an analysis of 100 US murders each
new categories: interpersonal (offender usually knows their victim and steals
committed by a different serial killer. A technique called
something of significance) and opportunistic (generally inexperience young offender)
smallest space analysis was used - a statistical
E: This suggests that the top-down profiling does not have a sound, scientific basis
technique that identifies correlations across different
CA: However some psychologist may argue that The TDA is not necessarily appropriate
samples of behaviour . In this case the analysis was used
for every type of crime, as its basis lies in the documenting of (mainly) sexually-
in order to assess the co-occurrence of 39 suspects of
motivated serial murder, which means that it lacks consistency (and, by association,
serial killings.this included such things as whether there
reliability) across crimes
was torture of restrain, whether there was an attempt
C: Despite this, it’s still a strength because the evidence from Meketa increases
to conceal the body, the form of murder weapon used
reliability that the TDA can be used for other kinds of crimes.
and the cause of death
E: This analysis revealed that there does seem to be a
Evaluation (flawed evidence)
subset of features of many serial killings which matched
P: One limitation of the top-down profiling is the evidence on which it is based.
the FBI’s typology of organised offenders.
E: FBI profiling was developed using interviews with 36 murders in the US - 25 of
CA: However some psychologist may argue that many
which were serial killers, the other 11 being single or double murderers. At the end of
studies suggest that the organised and disorganised
the process, 24 of these individuals were classified as organised offenders and 12
types are not mutually exclusive. There are a variety of
were disorganised.
combinations that occurs at any given murder scene. For
E: Canter et al has argued that the sample was poor - the FBI agents did not select a
example Maurice Godwin argues that, in reality, it is
random or even a large sample nor did the sample include different kinds of offender.
difficult to classify killers as one or the other type. A
There was no standard set of questions so each interview was different and
killer may have multiple contrasting characteristics,
therefore not really comparable . This suggests that top-down profiling does not have
such as high intelligence and sexual competence, but
a sound, scientific basis.
commits a spontaneous murder leaving the victims body
CA: However some psychologist may argue that the TDA has been used successfully in
at the crime scene. This suggests that the organised-
17% of case, which may seem like a negligible number; however, it means that the
disorganised typology is more of a continuum.
perpetrators of some very serious crimes were caught before they could harm anyone
C: Despite this, it’s still a strength because the research
else (Holmes, 1998)
support suggests that a key component of the FBI
C: Despite this, it's still a limitation because the success rate remains relatively low,
typology approach has some validity.
and the lack of scientific rigour in its foundational evidence undermines its reliability.
