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Forensic psychology essay plans (1)
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Forensic psychology essay plansDiscuss the top-down approach to offender profiling - correct answer-AO1-
Offender profiling- a behavioural and analytic tool that is intended to help investigators
accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown offenders
The top-down approach- profilers start with a pre-established typology and work down to
lower levels in order to assign offenders to one of two categories based on witness accounts
and evidence from the crime scene. Came as a result of work carried out by the FBI in the
1970's where they drew upon data gathered from in-depth interviews with 36
sexually-motivated murderers and then concluded that these could be categorised based on
certain characteristics
Organised offender- an offender who shows evidence of planning, targets a specific victim
and tends to be socially and sexually competent with higher-than-average intelligence
Disorganised offender- an offender who shows little evidence of planning, leaves clues and
tends to be socially and sexually incompetent with lower-than-average intelligence
AO3-
Strengths
-Research support (Canter et al. conducted an analysis of 100 US murders each committed
by a different serial killer. The analysis was used in order to assess the co-occurrence of 39
aspects of serial killings and revealed that there does seem to be a subset of features of
many serial killings which matched the FBI's typology for organised offenders)
-Wider application (Meketa reports that top-down profiling has recently been applied to
burglary, leading to an 85% rise in solved cases in three US states)
Limitation
-Counterpoint of research support (Godwin argues that it is difficult to classify killers as either
organised or disorganised. A killer may have multiple contrasting characteristics)
-Flawed evidence (been argued that the sample of murderers was poor as the agents did not
select a random or even a large sample nor did the
Discuss investigative psychology and geographical profiling - correct answer-AO1-
The bottom-up approach- profilers work up from evidence collected from the crime scenes to
develop hypotheses about the likely characteristics, motivations and social background of
the offender
Investigative psychology- a form of the BU profiling that matches details from the crime
scene with statistical analysis of typical offender behaviour patterns based on psychological
theory
, Geographical profiling- a form of BU profiling based on the principle of spatial consistency-
that an offender's operational base and possible future offences are revealed by the
geographical location of their previous crimes
The marauder- who operates in close proximity to their home base
The commuter- who is likely to have travelled a distance away from their usual residence
AO3-
Strengths
-Evidence for investigative psychology (Canter and Heritage conducted an analysis of 66
sexual assault cases and several behaviours were identified as common in different samples
of behaviour, such as the use of impersonal language and lack of reaction to the victim.
Each individual displayed a characteristic pattern of such behaviours and this can help
establish whether two or more offences were committed by the same person)
-Evidence for geographical profiling (Lundrian and Canter collated information from 120
murder cases involving serial killers in the US. Smallest space analysis revealed spatial
consistency in the behaviour of the killers. The location of each body disposal site created a
'centre of gravity' presumably because, when offenders start from their home base they may
go in a different direction each time they dispose of a body, but in the end all these different
sites create a circular effect around the home base. The offender's home base was
invariably located in the centre of the pattern)
-Copson surveyed 48 police depart
Discuss one historical approach to offending behaviour - correct answer-AO1-
Historical approach- In 1876 an Italian physician wrote a book called L'Uome Delinquente in
which he suggested that criminals were 'genetic throwbacks'- a primitive subspecies who
were biologically different from non-criminals
A biological approach- Offenders were seen by Lombroso as lacking evolutionary
development, their savage and untamed nature meant that they would find it impossible to
adjust to the demands of a civilised society and would inevitably turn to crime
Atavistic form- Lombroso argued that the offender subtype could be identified as being in
possession of biologically determined characteristics, mainly of the face and head, that were
linked to particular types of offence. It included a narrow, sloping brow, a strong prominent
jaw, high cheekbones, facial asymmetry, dark skin and the existence of extra toes nipples or
fingers. Murderers were described as having bloodshot eyes, curly hair and long ears,
whereas sexual deviants had glinting eyes, swollen, fleshy lips and projecting ears, and the
lips of fraudsters were thin and 'reedy'
Lombroso's research- He meticulously examined the facial and cranial features of hundreds
of Italian convicts, 3839 living and 383 dead, and concluded that there was an 'atavistic
form'. Furthermore he concluded that these features were key indicators of criminality. He
concluded that 40% of criminal acts were committed by people with atavistic characteristics
AO3-
Strength
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