Is the American Approach better than Canters?
The American approach to offender profiling according to Webber (2009, p42) is a method based on interviewing convicted serial killers, to see how they describe their offending. They then use that information to look at crime scenes to see what type of person might have committed the offences as mentioned previously. This style of offender profiling is associated with that of the FBI’s behavioural science unit (Webber 2009, p42).
Holmes and Holmes (2002 cited in Webber 2009, p42) assert that serial killers tend to be white males, between 25 and 34, intelligent or ‘street smart’ charming and charismatic with an interest in police work. They outline a typology of different types of serial killers. The first distinction is the spatial patterning of the murderer locations. They state that this tends to be either spatially concentrated or dispersed. These are termed geographically transient and geographically stable (Holmes and Holmes 2002 cited in Webber 2009). Dispersed murders can indicate that the killer has access to a vehicle and travels to confuse law enforcement agencies. Equally it could mean the killer drives for a living or has lived in various places suggest Holmes and Holmes (2002 cited in Webber 2009). A geographically stable serial killer tends to live in one area for some time and kills close to home. This aspect of serial killing is the key to Canter’s approach to what he terms investigative psychology (Webber 2009 p36).
The British approach
Webber (2009) puts forward that the British approach to offender profiling is based on a method that seeks to understand the actions of the criminal through the actions of ‘quantitative scientific methodologies’. This is presented ...
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Forensic Psychology: Criminal Profiling - Peter Dupas Research Research Questions: - What is criminal profiling and what is its purpose? - What are the description and summary of Peter Dupas' crimes, including any signature behaviors? - What is the offender's history (criminal/personal), characteristics, employment status, socioeconomic status, marital status, and prediction of future behaviors? - If a stalker, what type of stalker is Peter Dupas, and what are the reasons for stalking? Notes in Point Form only: - Criminal profiling is a technique used to assist in identifying and apprehending likely criminal offenders for a crime.
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The stereotype that exists for individuals who commit serial murder is one that mainly includes males of a specific race. However, it is now known that white males are not the only individuals who commit serial murder. Men and women from all racial and ethnic backgrounds and socio-economic statuses have been found to be serial murderers. Although this information has been presented to society, the cultural schema of the white male serial killer is still prevalent. The assumptions that involve serial murderers often include two aspects, the serial murderer is male and the serial murder is a type of “lust murder”, often involving sexual crimes by a sadist (Keeney and Heide, 1995). Keeney and Heide (1994) define serial murder to be the premeditated murder of three or more victims committed over time, in separate incidents, in a civilian context, with the murder being chosen by the offender.
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This article gives some examples of crimes and how they were solved using a psychology technique along with how criminal profiling is used to solve crimes and how the profilers know how to slim down the suspects. In the first case, there was a man that planted bombs in multiple places each time writing a note in block letters- signing it F.P. The first bomb was found in 1940, in 1954 he struck four times, and in 1955 five times. In
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Several serial killers have a definitive and common personality profile. Almost every major social, biological, psychological behavioural influence that has been seriously suggested as playing a role in causing crime has been thoroughly thought as potentially contributing to the behavior of serial killers (Levin, 2008). The time period and amount of killings fluctuate depending on the individual committing the crimes. Usually, the murders happen in different geographical areas. A mass murder has a separate definition than a serial killer, because a serial killer has a “cooling off” period, where mass murders kill several individual in a single event.
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Serial murder as defined by the FBI is, “[t]he unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events" (Morton Robert J. Ed, & Hilts., Ed, 2005, p. 9). Numerous people disagree with the definition, this researcher included, since it lacks the cool- down period after they murder, which various people feel stands necessary for serial killer status. Serial killers remain a rare phenomenon. The FBI states, serial murder accounts for less than one percent of killings per year (Morton Robert J. Ed, & Hilts., Ed, 2005, p. 2). Nevertheless, throughout the years, countless people have researched serial killers since they commit such heinous crimes. Criminologists and researchers have been attempting to identify various
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In the 1970’s, Robert Ressler, who was the previous director of Violent Criminal Apprehension Program with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), coined the term “serial killer”. He did so because when he was a child, the police in England used to refer to murders such as this as “crimes in a...