AQA Psychology for A Level Year 1 & AS - Student Book
Contains 6 essay plans covering the whole of the forensics module for psychology A level.
A01 points in black, positive A03 points in green, negative A03 points in red, real world application in orange.
Offender profiling Offender profiling Top-down approach Organised murders
The process of using all the available It provides information about social, Used in the US by the FBI These crimes are when;
information about a crime, crime physical and mental characteristics of Typologies of criminal behaviour and The perpetrator has above average
scene and victim to compose a profile the offender. motivation are created intelligence, they live with a partner,
of the unknown perpetrator Provides predictions about when, A type of criminal is then matched to they follow crime reporting in the
It’s used to help police narrow down where and against whom they’re the features of a crime media, their crimes are planned,
the range of potential subjects and likely to commit their next offence Focuses on aspects of the criminal’s involve a weapon and the removal of
prevent any more crimes from Provides interview strategies that characteristics evidence.
occurring. give a confession or information
about the crimes
Disorganised murders Crime scene analysis Arthur Shawcross Limited use
The perpetrator has; When the crime scene is analysed to A serial killer. A profile was created based Limited to crimes that leave
Below average intelligence is living indicate the type of offender based on 11 murders of women in New York. significant evidence and are multiple
alone near the crime scene, have on these typologies. The classification The profile was of; a lone male, at least offences. These crimes are rare so
35 yrs old, unskilled job, had a police
little interest in media coverage and can then be used to determine the there’s less examples of successful
record and would return to the scene of
their crimes are spontaneous, have characteristics of the offender. So, the crime. Based on this, the police found
profiles. When it’s used, findings
little control and all evidence is left at it’s not suitable for all crimes as Shawcross on surveillance at a nearby show that profiling rarely leads to the
the crime scene. destruction of property wouldn’t bridge from the last victim. He was 44 offender.
reveal the personality of the yrs, had an unskilled job and was on
offender. parole for earlier child murders.
Oversimplified Flawed methodology Compare to the bottom-up approach
Canter et al argued that there’s no distinct Sample size for the initial interviews was Bottom-up approach is better…
subsets of characteristics like organised and small
disorganised murders. He analysed 100 Used an opportunity sample of serial
murders and found that this was false. killers. So, the volunteers were
Holmes et al then reclassified murders into unreliable.
5 categories: disorganised visionary killer, The interviews weren’t standardised and
mission, hedonistic, lust and power/control the classification was based on offenders
killer. Canter found that the features of the
who had been caught they may differ
power/control killer were found in over
from criminals who are still ‘at large’.
half the sample, so it can’t be a distinct
type.
, Bottom-up approach
Bottom-up approach Bottom-up approach Canter’s variables Railway station
It takes evidence and data from the Canter studied the crime scenes of 66 Interpersonal coherence – how the From 1982-1985, rapes were being committed
perpetrator behaves at the crime scene as close to railway stations, Canter used his
crime scene and builds up the profile sexual assault cases. The evidence method to identify patterns in behaviour. The
it’s likely to reflect the type of person they
until a conclusion about the offender revealed clusters of events that are in real life. rapist talked to his victims, forming a
is reached. It doesn’t use typologies commonly occur together e.g. the Time and place – the positioning and timing relationship with them. His profile was;
and it relies more on scientific choice of and interaction with the of crimes gives clues as to where the sexually experienced man, late 20s, semi-
skilled job, had been arrested before, had
principles – evidence from the crime victims including speech patterns perpetrator might work or live
knowledge of London railway network. John
scene. etc… Criminal career – considers how far into
Duffy was arrested. He was a 29 year old
their criminal experience offenders are
carpenter who worked as a railway worker
Forensic awareness – offenders who show and had a criminal record for raping his ex-
awareness of forensic investigation wife.
Adrian Babb Scientific Geographical profiling Canter – types of offenders
A serial rapist who was profiled by In comparison with the Top-down It’s the study of spatial behaviour in relation Commuters – travel to commit
Canter. Canter noticed patterns in to crime and offenders. This method
approach, it’s much more scientific. murders
suggests that locations of crime aren’t
rapes, the perpetrator responded to It’s centred on statistical analysis of Marauders – stick close to home
random, and familiarity is important to the
discomfort of his victims. So, Canter evidence at the crime scene rather offender. This is based on the notion of
thought this meant the rapist would be than intuitive reports and unreliable schema theory and mental mapping. The
known as a considerate person. Babb criminals. more crimes that have taken place in one
was a well-regarded swimming pool So, it’s more valid. area, the more effective this technique can
attendant who was seen as a be. The pattern of offences is likely to form
considerate member of the community. a ‘circle of gravity’ around the offender’s
base.
Canter et al Kocsis
He examined the importance of investigative
Collated information from 120
experience by testing groups of detectives and
murder cases involving serial killers in undergraduate chemistry students on their
the USA. Statistical analysis revealed ability to successfully profile from a real
significant geographical consistency in closed case. Inexperienced chemistry students
the behaviour of all killers. The produced the most accurate profiles of all the
groups, consistently outperforming
offender’s base was found to be in experienced detectives. Evidence of an
the centre of the pattern – support inverse relationship between investigative
for the centre of gravity theory. experience and profile accuracy. Could be due
to the psychology of schemas.
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