AQA PSYCHOLOGY - FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY EXAM
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS GRADED A++
Offender profiling
Turco: Biographical sketch gathered from information taken at a crime scene
A behavioural and analytical tool used to help investigators accurately predict and profile the
characteristics of unknown criminals
Top-Down approach
- from the work of the USA FBI in the 1970s
- FBI gathered data from in depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated killers eg Ted Bundy
- Murderers and rapists are classified as either organised or disorganised
- Starts with the big picture and a pre-established typology and work down in order to assign offenders
to a category based on evidence
Organised offender
- Show evidence of having planned the crime in advance
- Victim is often targeted and fits a 'type'
- Above average IQ and socially / sexually competent
- Usually married with kids
Disorganised offender
,- Shows little evidence of planning
- Impulsive act
- Little control exerted from the offender
- Be in unskilled work or out of work
- lower than average IQ
- tend to live alone and close to the crime scene
the four main stages in the top down approach
- Data assimilation (profiler reviews the evidence )
- Crime scene classification ( organised vs disorganised )
- Crime reconstruction ( hypotheses in terms of sequence of events and behaviour of victim )
- Profile generation
( hypothesis related to the likely offender )
Bottom - up approach
- British model does not begin with fixed typologies ( builds an individual profile)- David Canter
- creates a profile by making inferences from statistical analysis of details from the crime scene
compared to database of similar crimes and matching with statistical analysis of typical behaviour
patterns- investgative
Investigative psychology
Focuses onunderstanding and profiling criminals to assit with silving crimes and provide empirical
evidence- Canter
Characteristics can help to classify them and increases chance of apprehension
3 assumptions of investigative psychology
, - Interpersonal Coherence
(Consistency between the way offenders interact with victims and behaviour in everyday situations)
- Significance of Time and place
(Time and location may show something about the offender's place of residence- geographical profiling)
- Criminal characteristics/ Forensic Awareness
(Focuses on indivduals who have been subject to a police interrogation before so show awareness of
'covering their tracks' eg clean up a crime scene)
Geographical profiling
Rossmo 1997: Geographical profiling: location info used to make inferences about likely 'operational
base' of an offender- called crime mapping
-Based on spatial consistency: create hypothesis about offenders thoughts thier modu operandi, centre
of gravity and jeopardy surface
Canters and Larkins (1993)
-'circle thoery' to grographically profile where a pattern of offending forms a circle around an offernders
base
- Proposed two distribution of offences desciptions:
- the MARAUDER
(Operates in close proximity to home base)
- the COMMUTER
(Travelled a distance from their usual residence)
-Offers insight into nature of offense (whether planned or opportunistic)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH COMPLETE
SOLUTIONS GRADED A++
Offender profiling
Turco: Biographical sketch gathered from information taken at a crime scene
A behavioural and analytical tool used to help investigators accurately predict and profile the
characteristics of unknown criminals
Top-Down approach
- from the work of the USA FBI in the 1970s
- FBI gathered data from in depth interviews with 36 sexually motivated killers eg Ted Bundy
- Murderers and rapists are classified as either organised or disorganised
- Starts with the big picture and a pre-established typology and work down in order to assign offenders
to a category based on evidence
Organised offender
- Show evidence of having planned the crime in advance
- Victim is often targeted and fits a 'type'
- Above average IQ and socially / sexually competent
- Usually married with kids
Disorganised offender
,- Shows little evidence of planning
- Impulsive act
- Little control exerted from the offender
- Be in unskilled work or out of work
- lower than average IQ
- tend to live alone and close to the crime scene
the four main stages in the top down approach
- Data assimilation (profiler reviews the evidence )
- Crime scene classification ( organised vs disorganised )
- Crime reconstruction ( hypotheses in terms of sequence of events and behaviour of victim )
- Profile generation
( hypothesis related to the likely offender )
Bottom - up approach
- British model does not begin with fixed typologies ( builds an individual profile)- David Canter
- creates a profile by making inferences from statistical analysis of details from the crime scene
compared to database of similar crimes and matching with statistical analysis of typical behaviour
patterns- investgative
Investigative psychology
Focuses onunderstanding and profiling criminals to assit with silving crimes and provide empirical
evidence- Canter
Characteristics can help to classify them and increases chance of apprehension
3 assumptions of investigative psychology
, - Interpersonal Coherence
(Consistency between the way offenders interact with victims and behaviour in everyday situations)
- Significance of Time and place
(Time and location may show something about the offender's place of residence- geographical profiling)
- Criminal characteristics/ Forensic Awareness
(Focuses on indivduals who have been subject to a police interrogation before so show awareness of
'covering their tracks' eg clean up a crime scene)
Geographical profiling
Rossmo 1997: Geographical profiling: location info used to make inferences about likely 'operational
base' of an offender- called crime mapping
-Based on spatial consistency: create hypothesis about offenders thoughts thier modu operandi, centre
of gravity and jeopardy surface
Canters and Larkins (1993)
-'circle thoery' to grographically profile where a pattern of offending forms a circle around an offernders
base
- Proposed two distribution of offences desciptions:
- the MARAUDER
(Operates in close proximity to home base)
- the COMMUTER
(Travelled a distance from their usual residence)
-Offers insight into nature of offense (whether planned or opportunistic)
