Offender profiling

1. Offender profiling Definitions, approaches and developing a profile

2. Activity • Someone has defaced the entrance to the local primary school, using spray paint. Write a profile of a possible suspect, considering the following factors: • Social: employment , education, family background • Physical: age, race, gender • Mental: IQ, motivation to commit criminal offence

3. Definitions & Aims Profiling: an attempt to produce a description or profile of an offender by analysing the characteristics of the offence and other background information • Aims • Descriptions of factors:- • Social: employment , marriage • Physical: age, race • Mental: IQ, motivation characteristics of criminal

4. First Profile?: ‘Jack the Ripper’ • First known case of killer profiling-Dr. Thomas Bond examined the victim-Mary Kelly • Determined some personality traits of the killer from victim • Often considered the first recorded serial killer because of the nature of the crimes (a typical sexual motive).

5. Profiling • Copson (1995) police need 4 types of information from profilers: • The type of person who committed the crime • How great a threat they pose in the future • The possibility the case is linked to others • How the police should interview the suspects; what strategies they should use.

6. Relevant for homicides or serial crimes of the following types: • sadistic torture in sexual assaults • evisceration • post-mortem slashing & cutting • motiveless fire-setting or arson • lust and mutilation murder • rape • satanic & ritualistic crime • pedophilia

7. Two approaches to profiling • Typological • The FBI approach involves categorising offenders by the type of offence they have committed. • Geographical profiling • The British approach is based on using the location of the crime to identify the likely home of the offender.

8. American (FBI) approach ‘Top Down’ Creation of typologies and motivation based on interviews of captured criminals, and past crimes • Intuitive analysis of data based on personal experience of police •  Matching a particular type with a particular crime •  eg. organized Vs disorganized

9. FBI Approach The FBI requires the following before a profile can be made • colour photos of the crime scene, • data about the neighbourhood of the crime (for example, the type of housing and average income of residents), • the medical examiner's report, • a map of the victim's travels prior to death, • a complete investigative report of the incident, • background details of the victim.

10. The collection of this information is part of a systematic process following four stages: • Data assimilation; collection of all available information. • Crime classification; attempts to classify the crime • Crime reconstruction; attempts to reconstruct the crime and generate hypotheses about the behaviours involved. • Profile generation.

11. Basis of this approach • The US approach is based on the work of the FBI in response to serial murderers. • The main source of their data is interviews with offenders in prison. • FBI investigators in 1979 interviewed 36 sexual murderers and were able to categorise them as either 'organised' or 'disorganised'.

12. a) Organised offenders shows evidence of planning, they target the victim and have tried to control the situation as much as possible. They have at least average intelligence, social and sexual competence and are already in an intimate relationship. • b) Disorganised offenders tend to be socially inadequate, may know the crime scene or the victim and lives alone. The crime scene evidences the impulsive, unplanned nature of the attack that uses minimal amount of restraint and no attempt to conceal the body.

13. Organized murder scene; Planned. Victim -targeted stranger. Control including restraints. Controlled talk. Aggression before death. Body hidden or moved from crime scene. Weapon and evidence absent. • Disorganized scene; Spontaneous. Victim known by offender. Little control. Sexual acts before death. Body not hidden or left at crime scene. Evidence present.

14. Organized murderer; More-than-average lQ. Skilled occupation. Controlled mood. Living with partner. Mobile- has use of car. Socially competent. Sexually competent. High birth order status. Fathers work stable. Inconsistent discipline as child. Use of alcohol during crime. Follows crime on news. Limited change in behaviour after crime. • Disorganized murderer; Less-than-average IQ. Unskilled. Uncontrolled. Living alone. Lives near crime. Socially incompetent. Sexually incompetent. Low birth order status. Unstable. Harsh discipline as child. Alcohol not used during crime. Does not follow crime on news. Major behaviour change after crime. • (Source: FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 1985.)

15. British Approach 'Bottom up' • Data-driven • building up individualistic profiles by looking at associations between crime scene and offenders • The use of scientific statistical analysis • Application of psychological Theories • Types of analysis may include - content analysis of speech - location - timing of offences

16. Investigative psychological approach • Canter (1994) believes that criminals, like most people behave consistently. • An analysis of the pattern of behaviour observed over a number of crimes committed by a serial offender will give clues about the non-offending everyday behaviour of the criminal.

17. Behaviour patterns • Canter believes that offences are not separate behaviours from the rest of the offenders • Offences are directly linked to their everyday interactions. • He uses statistical analysis to buid up a picture of a wide range of factors associated with each other to give a profile. • BUT he does not place offenders into typologies the way the FBI does, but looks tat the way their behaviour mirrors other aspects of their day-to-day life.

18. Canter identified five characteristics which he believes can aid investigations • Residential Location • Criminal Biography • Domestic/Social Characteristics • Personal Characteristics • Occupational/Educational History

19. Other approaches • The clinical approach • Geographical profiling See your text book for more information

20. Comparing British and US (bottom up and top down) Profiling

21. Advantage of British Profiling/disadvantages of USA • British profilers look at all the facts before they make assumptions about the suspect. Therefore they are approaching the investigation with an open mind. • The US profilers will have an idea of the type of person they are looking for based on theory. They will have preconceptions about who they are looking for. Kocsis et al (2002) suggests that more experienced detectives are not as good at profiling perhaps because they have preconceptions about what they are looking for. • British profiling treats each crime scene as individual, taking the characteristics for each case and examining only those, not comparing them with others. • The US system could lead to profilers missing important and unique evidence that is individual to that case.

22. Disadvantage of British profiling/advantage of USA • British profiling is time consuming and expensive to do and may mean it takes longer to identify suspects. • The US approach will narrow down the list of suspects quickly, which could lead to the crime being solved more quickly. • British profiling is carried out by specialist Psychologists with experience in criminal investigation. This may mean they have too many stereotypical views about suspects, which may influence their ability to profile effectively. Kocsis et al (2002) suggests that more experienced detectives are not as good at profiling perhaps because they have preconceptions about what they are looking for. • The US system can be used by anyone as it doesn’t rely on the ability or experience of any one individual.