Offender Profiling Week 6 PDF

Offend er Profilin Week g6  Off ender profiling, once a central topic in forensic Offender and criminal psychology, appears to have lost some of its prominence. Understanding this shift requires an examination of its origins, the influence of Profiling popular cu...

Offend er Profilin Week g6  Off ender profiling, once a central topic in forensic Offender and criminal psychology, appears to have lost some of its prominence. Understanding this shift requires an examination of its origins, the influence of Profiling popular culture, and the challenges psychologists face in researching the subject rigorously. Various terms such as "criminal investigative analysis," "criminal profiling," "psychological profiling," and "personality profiling" are often used interchangeably, although Jackson and Bekerian highlight distinctions among these, categorizing them all under "profile analysis." Fox and Farrington (2018) note the extensive body of literature on off ender profiling, including numerous bestselling works. However, they caution that the field suffers from a "dark cloud" over its credibility due to a lack of robust, systematic evaluations of its effectiveness. Offender Profiling Offender profiling gained momentum in the U.S. roughly five decades ago, coinciding with the rapid growth of forensic and criminal psychology. The field owes much of its popularity to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which significantly influenced its development. Despite this, many psychologists critique FBI profiling due to the questionable evidence supporting its effectiveness. For both psychologists and courts, the core issue is whether profiling provides reliable scientific evidence? Kocsis (2015) points out additional challenges: beyond the lack of convincing evidence for profiling's validity, there is an absence of theoretical coherence that limits its utility as a knowledge base. Offender profiling is generally taken to mean the use of information gathered at the crime scene in order to predict the characteristics of the offender. According to Jackson and Bekerian (1997, p.2) offender profiling is based on the following formula: ‘Behaviour is exhibited at a crime, or a series of similar crimes, and studying this behaviour allows inferences to be made about the likely offender.’ Some researchers seem to see substantial differences among different types of profiling. Homant and Kennedy (1998) suggest that a minimum of three different types of profiling should be distinguished though they refer to very different things:  Crime Scene profiling: Uses information from the scene of the crime (physical and Three Types of other evidence) to generate a full picture of the unknown offender. This is what this chapter assumes off ender profiling to be. Profiling Offender profiling: the collection of empirical data in order to collate a picture of the characteristics of those involved in a certain type of crime. This is not about the crime scene but the question of whether a particular type of crime is committed by a particular type of person. Psychological profiling: the use of standard personality tests together with interviewing in order to assess the extent to which the individual fits the known personality template of a certain type of off ender such as child sex abusers. Again this is not about the crime scene. Examples in popular media Herndon (2007) provides extensive information about the impact of offender profilers on popular media including both fictional and factual. For example, he gives a remarkably long list of the motion pictures which have featured offender profilers. The most famous of these is probably The Silence of the Lambs (1990) but the list also includes Manhunter (1986), Kiss the Girls (1997), Copy- cat (1998), The Bone Collector (2000), From Hell (2000), Along Came the Spider (2001), Citizen X (2001), Hannibal (2001), Blood Work (2002), Red Dragon (2003), Twisted (2003), Mindhunters (2004), and Taking Lives (2004). There have been others since then. Herndon sums up a wide range of popular culture writings and depictions as follows: The FBI profiling process - Stage 1: Data The earliest stage of FBI profiling involves collecting a Assimilation variety of information. A crime usually has various sorts of associated documentary materials: for example, the pathologist’s report about the medical circumstances that led to death, photographs taken at the crime scene, witness statements and police reports and so forth. At first sight, this information may appear valueless. Nevertheless, unpromising materials may prove crucial to the ultimate profile. The time of death, for example, may reflect the psychology of the offender. Basically, the profiling process seeks to identify the psychological signature of the offender. This psychological signature is different from the modus operandi – the latter broadly refers to the style of committing the crime – the characteristic way in which a particular criminal Two concepts which have a bearing on works. the The psychological personality signature of the offender. concerns This is mostwhat can likely to offender profiling need to be be gleaned include from the of the fantasies crime scene about the offender. distinguished: (a) modus operandi (MO) and (b) crime signature Stage 2: Crime Scene Classification Remember that serial sexual murders are the most important crimes profiled by the FBI psychologists. Profilers developed a dichotomy to describe three characteristic crime scenes – the organised, the disorganised, and the mixed crime scenes. organised = evidence of planning disorganised = chaotic mixed = elements of both The organised/disorganised crime scene classification was based on offenders’ reports of their crimes in the major study by profilers (Douglas et al., 1992). Very early research found that profilers could reliably classify crime scenes using this trichotomy (Ressler and Burgess, 1985). Stage 2: Crime Scene Classification There was, on average, nearly 75 per cent agreement between different profilers on whether a crime scene was organised or disorganised. However, there was considerable variation among profilers and some profilers made a very different assessment of the sort of crime scene involved than others did. These three major crime scene types reveal differ- ent aspects of the offender’s psychology. According to Geberth (1996), the organised offender is characterised by features such as: following the news media; having a decent car; alcohol is associated with the crime; his father had a stable pattern of employment; they experienced inconsistent childhood discipline; and the offender controlled their mood during the crime. The disorganised offender demonstrates virtually the reverse pattern: little or no interest in the news media; lives or works close to the crime scene so a vehicle is not needed; alcohol was uninvolved in the crime; the offender’s father had an unstable employment pattern; their childhood discipline was harsh; and the offender exhibited anxiety when committing the crime. Further, perhaps more important, differentiating characteristics of organised and disorganised off enders are to be found in Table 14.1. This is based on the work of Holmes and Holmes (1996) which, as can be seen, extends into matters such as which interview techniques are appropriate to which type of offender. The mixed crime scene may be the result of a planned crime going wrong because the victim does something unexpected. As a consequence, the body may not be carefully hidden as it might be in a typical organised crime.  Stage 3: Crime Scene Reconsturction The crime scene is not a simple fixed event. Instead, it is the result of a complex set of circumstances. Consequently, there are aspects of the crime scene that cannot be understood unless attempts are made to understand the events as a dynamic process involving a minimum of two people – offender and victim. There may be witnesses, actual or potential, to consider. The information collected in Stage 1 is essential to the  Stage 3: Crime Scene Reconsturction Inference and deduction are involved. Reconstruction does not have to involve playing out the events as in a television reconstruction. The purpose of the reconstruction may be to clarify the offender’s modus operandi. Knowing this may help tie the crime to other crimes. The sequence of events (for example, where there are signs that the victim was stalked) would be considered. Also, could the victim’s response have affected the offender? For example, if she fought and struggled then this may have affected the offender’s ability to Stage 4: Profile Generation Hypotheses about the profile of the offender are drawn together. These hypotheses are not necessarily psychological in nature and may include, for example, demographic features (social class, type of work, employment/unemployment); lifestyle (such as living alone, being in a relationship); behavioural habits (e.g. poor at mixing socially, solitary hobbies); and personality dynamics (e.g. offending linked to depression). Stage 4: Profile Generation In FBI offender profiling, the profile may serve a number of possible functions. Obviously, helping police improve the efficiency of information processing by suggesting features of the offender which would narrow the search is a major one. Another function of profiling is to help answer questions of links between a series of crimes and the possible number of different offenders involved. Linking crimes to offenders in this way means that information and resources can be pooled by different police teams investigating seemingly unconnected crimes. The methodology of the FBI profilers FBI profiling’s main features are as follows: A willingness to encompass experience and intuition as a component of profiling. A relatively weak empirical database, which is small in comparison to the extent to which the method is used. A concentration on the more serious, bizarre and extreme crimes, such as serial sexual murder. A tendency to involve an extensive contact with the investigating team of police officers at all levels of the investigation rather than simply providing a profile. For example, the profiler may make recommendations on how to respond to letters and similar communications from someone who appears to be the offender. Crime signature and modus operandi Two concepts which have a bearing on offender profiling need to be distinguished: (a) modus operandi (MO) and (b) crime signature: Modus operandi simply refers to the characteristic way in which a person performs a particular task, although it is commonly specifically applied to the way in which an offender commits a particular crime. According to Keppel, Weis, Brown and Welch (2005, p. 14) a modus operandi refers to ‘the offender’s actions during the commission of a crime that are necessary to complete the crime’. (The plural of modus operandi is modi operandi.) Modi operandi are not necessarily fixed and offenders may well change their modus operandi in the light of their experiences while committing a crime or on the basis of what they learnt from previous crimes. A criminal signature, in offender profiling, actually uses an archaic meaning of the term signature indicating something distinctive. A crime’s signature characteristics reflect things which happen during the commission of a crime but which are more or less idiosyncratic to or characteristic of the offender. The criminal signature is believed to reflect aspects of a particular offender’s nature. Unlike the modus operandi, a criminal signature is believed to be a relatively fixed and unchanging thing at its core. However, it may evolve in certain respects during a sequence of crimes.  It is helpful to consider the 11 Jack the Ripper killings which occurred in Whitechapel, London, between 1888 Cas and 1891, since they illustrate the difference between the concepts of modus operandi and crime signatures. However, Keppel et al. suggest that six crimes were e committed by the same offender on the basis of their signature analysis of various Scotland Yard case files. The earliest of the cases attributed to this killer was that of Martha Tabram. She was found face-up with clothing disarranged in a way which exposed the lower part of her body and genitals as the killer left her with her legs wide open. The evidence clearly established that she had been killed at a spot on a landing at the Working Lads’ Institute in Whitechapel. There was no indication at all that the body had been dragged from one location to another. Her body was found at around 4.45 a.m. – probably three hours after the time of death. Martha was a heavy- drinking, known prostitute of about 36 years of age. She had about 39 stab wounds, especially to the left-hand side of her body. There were 17 stabs to  The last of the series of murders believed to have been committed by this one killer was Cas that of Mary Jane Kelly. She was found in a room of a house in e Spitalfields, London. Again she was a known prostitute and heavy consumer of alcohol. Her body was found on its back on a bed. There were considerable levels of mutilation: her nose and ears were severed and the flesh had been removed from the body to leave it in a skeletal state. Her heart and other organs were missing, though some body parts had been left on a table nearby. She had been disembowelled and her viscera placed around the body. Her uterus and one breast were placed under her head. Her neck was severed down to the bone and her right thigh was revealed down to the bone. Mary Jane’s vulva and right buttock had been removed. It was concluded that some of the mutilation had occurred after the death of the victim.  Of course, to appreciate the murder series in full, each should be carefully considered in its entirety. The modi Cas operandi of the six murders in question, while not identical, were highly similar in certain ways. e - Each victim was a poor woman prostitute almost invariably in the 24–45 year range. - Once they lifted their clothing to have sex with the killer, they were strangled and lowered to the ground. - Usually, their heads were facing to the left of the killer. - The attacks took place during the night, after midnight and before 6 a.m. The geographical locations of the murders were within a one square mile (2.6 km2) area and it was no more than a mile (1.6 km) from each successive murder to the next. - The victims were found where they were killed, which was by a sharp, long-bladed knife after they had been strangled near to death.  The first victim (Martha Tabram) was stabbed from the front, Cas which meant that the killer was covered in a great deal of blood, putting him at risk of detection. e Consequently, his modus operandi changed to attacking his victims from behind, which meant that less blood was transferred to his body. Interestingly, there was a change in the location of the killings. The early killings took place outdoors and the killer had been interrupted by the arrival of others at the location. The later killing of Mary Jane Kelly took place indoors as she lay on a bed. This change in the modus operandi meant that the killer was less likely to be disturbed but it also enabled him to extend the process of mutilation, as revealed by the extensive cutting up of her body.  According to Keppel et al., the signature for the six linked Jack the Ripper killings includes the following: Cas Picquerism: this describes the sexual pleasure that some obtain from cutting or stabbing others or observing such acts. It should be stressed that there was no e evidence at all of physical sexual activity on the part of the killer in any of these crimes. The killer needed submission of the victim: all of the victims suffered multiple stab wounds, slashing of the throat, etc. which would incapacitate and subdue them. Overkill to have complete domination of the victim: the violent acts of this particular Ripper were far in excess of what was needed to kill or subdue the victim. Degradation of the victim: this was exemplified by the killer’s leaving of the bodies in very public places which might suggest that he felt invincible and beyond the authority of the police. Posing of victims’ bodies: except in circumstances in which he was disturbed in the course of his crime, the killer posed the bodies of his victims in a characteristic and sexually revealing manner. Escalation of violence: the violence became more extreme as the series of killings progressed.