Offender profiling: The top-down approach

Offender profiling

• An investigative tool employed by the police when solving crimes, the main aim of which is to narrow the field of enquiry and the list of likely suspects
• The compiling of a profile will usually involve careful scrutiny of the crime scene and anlysis of the evidence in order to generate hypotheses about the probable charcateristics of the offender

The American approach

• The top-down approach to profiling originated in the US as a result of work carried out by the FBI in the 1970s
• The FBIs Behavioural science unit drew upon data gathered from in-depth interviews with 36 sexuallu motivated serial killers, Ted Bundy and Charles Manson
• Also known as the typology approach, offender profilers who use this method will match what is known about the crime and the offender to a pre-existing template that the FBI developed
• Murderers/rapists are classified in one of two categories on the basis of the evidence 

Organised and disorganised types of offenders

• These distinctions are based on the idea that serious offenders have certain signature 'ways of working' and these generally correlate with a particular set of social/psych charcteristics that relate to the individual
• Organised offenders, show evidence of having planned the crime in advance
  • The victim is deliberately targeted and will often reflect the fact they have a 'type'
  • Maintain a hugh degree of control during crime and may operate with almost detached surgical precision
  • Little evidence/clues left behind
  • Above-average intelligence, in a skilled, professional occupation
  • Socially and sexually…