Forensic Psychology
Offender profiling
Offender - A behavioural and analytical tool that intends to help
profiling investigators accurately predict and profile the
characteristics of unknown criminals
- Usually involves careful scrutiny of the crime scene and
analysis of the evidence to create hypotheses about the
probable characteristics of the offender (age, background,
occupation etc)
The top-down - Profilers match what is known about the crime and the
approach offender to a pre-existing template developed by the FBI
- Originated in the US in the 1970s due to work done by the
FBI who drew upon data gathered from in-depth interviews
with sexually motivated serial killers, including Ted Bundy
- Murders or rapists are classified into two categories
(organised or disorganised) on the basis of evidence
- This classification informs the subsequent police
investigation
Organised/disorganised
- Distinction is based on the idea that serious offenders have
signature ‘ways of working’ – modus operandi
- Generally correlates with a particular set of social and
psychological characteristics related to the individual
Organised offenders
- Show evidence of planning; victim is deliberately targeted
and will often reflect the fact that the killer/rapist has a
‘type’
- Tends to be socially and sexually competent
- Higher than average intelligence
- Maintain a high degree of control during the crime and
may operate with surgical precision
- Little evidence/clues left behind at the scene
- Usually married and may even have children
Disorganised offenders
- Little evidence of planning, may have been a spontaneous
offence
- Crime scene reflects the impulsive nature of attack – body
still at the scene, little control on the part of the offender
- Lower than average IQ in unskilled work/unemployed
- History of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships
- Tend to live alone and often relatively close to where the
offence took place
Constructing an FBI profile
1. Data assimilation – profiler reviews evidence (crime scene
photographs, pathology reports etc)
2. Crime scene classification – organised/disorganised
3. Crime scene reconstruction – hypotheses in terms of
, Forensic Psychology
sequence of events, behaviour of victim etc
4. Profile generation – hypotheses related to the likely
offender e.g. of demographic background, physical
characteristics, behaviour etc
Weaknesses Only applies to certain crimes
- Best suited to crime scenes that reveal important details
about a suspect, such as rape, arson and cult killings
- More common offences such as burglary are irrelevant to
profiling because the resulting crime scene reveals little
about the offender
- Limited approach to identifying a criminal
Based on outdated models of personality
- Typology classification system assumes that offenders
have patterns of behaviour and motivations that are
consistent across contexts
- Critics suggest this approach is naïve and based off old-
fashioned models of personality that view behaviour as
driven by stable dispositional traits rather than external
factors that may change constantly
- Approach is likely to have poor validity when identifying
possible suspects and/or trying to predict their next move
due to it being based on ‘static’ models
Original sample
- Typology approach was developed using interviews with 36
killers in the US – 25 serial killers and 11 single or double
murders
- Critics highlight this is too small and unrepresentative a
sample to base a system that may significantly influence
the nature of police investigation
- Also, unreliable to rely on self-report data with convicted
killers when constructing a classification system
The bottom- - Aims to generate a picture of the offender – their likely
up approach characteristics, routine behaviour and social background
through systematic analysis of evidence at the crime scene
- Does not begin with fixed typologies (unlike the top-down
approach)
- Instead, their profile is ‘data-driven’ and develops as the
investigator engages deeper into the details of the offence
- Much more grounded approach in psychology
Investigative psychology
- Attempt to apply statistical procedures, alongside
psychological theory, to the analysis of crime scene
evidence
- Aims to establish patterns of behaviour that are likely to
occur or co-exist cross crime scenes
- This develops a statistical ‘database’ which then acts as a
baseline for comparison
Offender profiling
Offender - A behavioural and analytical tool that intends to help
profiling investigators accurately predict and profile the
characteristics of unknown criminals
- Usually involves careful scrutiny of the crime scene and
analysis of the evidence to create hypotheses about the
probable characteristics of the offender (age, background,
occupation etc)
The top-down - Profilers match what is known about the crime and the
approach offender to a pre-existing template developed by the FBI
- Originated in the US in the 1970s due to work done by the
FBI who drew upon data gathered from in-depth interviews
with sexually motivated serial killers, including Ted Bundy
- Murders or rapists are classified into two categories
(organised or disorganised) on the basis of evidence
- This classification informs the subsequent police
investigation
Organised/disorganised
- Distinction is based on the idea that serious offenders have
signature ‘ways of working’ – modus operandi
- Generally correlates with a particular set of social and
psychological characteristics related to the individual
Organised offenders
- Show evidence of planning; victim is deliberately targeted
and will often reflect the fact that the killer/rapist has a
‘type’
- Tends to be socially and sexually competent
- Higher than average intelligence
- Maintain a high degree of control during the crime and
may operate with surgical precision
- Little evidence/clues left behind at the scene
- Usually married and may even have children
Disorganised offenders
- Little evidence of planning, may have been a spontaneous
offence
- Crime scene reflects the impulsive nature of attack – body
still at the scene, little control on the part of the offender
- Lower than average IQ in unskilled work/unemployed
- History of sexual dysfunction and failed relationships
- Tend to live alone and often relatively close to where the
offence took place
Constructing an FBI profile
1. Data assimilation – profiler reviews evidence (crime scene
photographs, pathology reports etc)
2. Crime scene classification – organised/disorganised
3. Crime scene reconstruction – hypotheses in terms of
, Forensic Psychology
sequence of events, behaviour of victim etc
4. Profile generation – hypotheses related to the likely
offender e.g. of demographic background, physical
characteristics, behaviour etc
Weaknesses Only applies to certain crimes
- Best suited to crime scenes that reveal important details
about a suspect, such as rape, arson and cult killings
- More common offences such as burglary are irrelevant to
profiling because the resulting crime scene reveals little
about the offender
- Limited approach to identifying a criminal
Based on outdated models of personality
- Typology classification system assumes that offenders
have patterns of behaviour and motivations that are
consistent across contexts
- Critics suggest this approach is naïve and based off old-
fashioned models of personality that view behaviour as
driven by stable dispositional traits rather than external
factors that may change constantly
- Approach is likely to have poor validity when identifying
possible suspects and/or trying to predict their next move
due to it being based on ‘static’ models
Original sample
- Typology approach was developed using interviews with 36
killers in the US – 25 serial killers and 11 single or double
murders
- Critics highlight this is too small and unrepresentative a
sample to base a system that may significantly influence
the nature of police investigation
- Also, unreliable to rely on self-report data with convicted
killers when constructing a classification system
The bottom- - Aims to generate a picture of the offender – their likely
up approach characteristics, routine behaviour and social background
through systematic analysis of evidence at the crime scene
- Does not begin with fixed typologies (unlike the top-down
approach)
- Instead, their profile is ‘data-driven’ and develops as the
investigator engages deeper into the details of the offence
- Much more grounded approach in psychology
Investigative psychology
- Attempt to apply statistical procedures, alongside
psychological theory, to the analysis of crime scene
evidence
- Aims to establish patterns of behaviour that are likely to
occur or co-exist cross crime scenes
- This develops a statistical ‘database’ which then acts as a
baseline for comparison
