The top-down approach

• Investigative tool employed by police when solving crimes.
• Narrow field of enquiry and the list of likely suspects.
• Professional profilers often called upon to work alongside police, especially during high profile murder cases.
• Compiling profile often involves careful scrutiny of the crime scene and analysis of evidence (inc. witness reports) in order to generate a hypothesis about the probable characteristics of the offender (age, background, occupation, etc.)

• Originated in the US as a result of FBI work in the 1970s.
• FBI's behavioural science unit drew upon data gathered from in-depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers including Ted Bundy and Charles Manson.
• Offender profilers will match what is known about the crime and the offender to a pre-existing template that the FBI developed.
• Murderers or rapists are classified into one of two categories (organised or disorganised) on the basis of evidence.
• This classification informs the subsequent police investigation.

• Organised
  • Evidence of planning the crime in advance
  • Victim is deliberately targeted and will reflect the offender's 'type'
  • High degree of control during crime and may operate with almost detached surgical presicion
  • Little evidence left at the scene
  • Tend to be of above-average intelligence in a skilled, professional occupation
  • Socially and sexually competant
  • Usually married and may even have children
• Disorganised
  • Little evidence of planning (spontaneous)
  • Body usually still at the scene
  • Little control on the part of the offender
  • Lower than average IQ and in unskilled work or unemployed
  • History of sexual dysfunction or failed relationships
  • Tend to live alone and often very close to where the offence took place

Four main stages:

1. Data assimilation - the profiler reviews the evidence (crime scene photographs, pathology reports, etc.)

2. Crime scene classification - as either organised or disorganised

3. Crime reconstruction - hypothesis in terms of sequence of events, behaviour of the victim, etc.

4. Profile generation - hypothesis related to the likely offender, e.g of demographic, background, physical characteristics, behaviour, etc.