Offender profiling and crime analysis

208 Pages·2001·4.497 MB·English

by  Peter B Ainswoth

Offender Profiling and Crime Analysis

Offender Profiling and Crime Analysis
Peter B. Ainsworth
Published by
Willan Publishing
Culmcott House
Mill Street, Uffculme
Cullompton, Devon
EX15 3AT, UK
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
e-mail: [email protected]
Published simultaneously in the USA and Canada by
Willan Publishing
c/o ISBS, 5824 N.E. Hassalo St,
Portland, Oregon 97213-3644, USA
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Fax: [phone]
© Peter B. Ainsworth 2001
The right of Peter B. Ainsworth to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by
him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval;
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence
permitting copying in the UK issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham
Court Road, London W1P 9HE.
First published 2001
ISBN 1-903240-22-0 (cased)
ISBN 1-903240-21-2 (paper)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Printed by T J International Ltd, Trecerus Industrial Estate, Padstow, Cornwall, PL28 RW
Contents
Contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
Discerning patterns in criminal activity 2
Plan of this volume 3
1 Offender profiling – separating myth from reality 5
Is there consensus on what constitutes profiling? 7
What does profiling involve? 7
What do ‘profiles’ look like? 9
Can the goals of profiling be identified? 15
Are there different kinds of profiling? 16
What knowledge do profilers need? 16
Concluding comments 17
Further reading 18
2 Criminal behaviour and its motivation 19

Explanations of criminal behaviour 21
Genetic and individual factors 22
Twin studies 27
Family influences 31
Personality theories 33
Social learning theories 35
Concluding comments 37
Further reading 38
3 Environmental influences and patterns of offending 39
The influence of the environment 40
v
Offender Profiling and Crime Analysis
Defensible space 41
Is the environment entirely deterministic? 43
Modern housing and its possible effects 44
People’s needs and environmental provision 47
Designing environments which might reduce
crime levels 48
Situational crime prevention 49
Crime displacement 50
Environmental effects on target selection 51
Is crime ‘normal? 53
Repeat victimisation 54
Concluding comments 57
Further reading 58
4 Problems and pitfalls in the gathering of data 59
The reporting and recording of offences 59
False reporting of ‘crimes’ 63
How can we know how much crime is committed? 63
Police recording of crime 64
Other ways in which biases may be produced 65
Human perception and memory 66
The interviewing of suspects 76
Concluding comments 78
Further reading 81
5 Crime mapping and geographical profiling 82
The geography of crime 83
The Chicago School 84
The importance of place 86
Crime hot spots 88
Combining geographical and temporal information
on crime 90
Is such information useful? 91
Problems an d difficulties with geographic profiling 92
Concluding comments 94
Further reading 99
6 Early approaches to profiling 98
The development of the FBI’s first profiling system 99
Other classifications – selfish v unselfish rapists 103
Further classification of rapists 104
What functions might categorisation have? 107
How useful is the FBI’s approach? 109
Concluding comments 114
Further reading 116
vi
Contents
7 Investigative psychology and the work of David Canter 117
The psychological underpinnings of Canter’s work 117
Canter’s work on crime locations 127
Concluding comments 131
Further reading 133
8 Clinical and other approaches 134
The Dutch approach to profiling 134
Contributions from forensic psychiatry and clinical
psychology 140
The work of Paul Britton 146
Comparing different approaches to profiling 150
Concluding comments 153
Further reading 154
9 Current developments and future prospects 155
Canter’s more recent work 155
Other recent British work 162
Stalking 168
Concluding comments 172
Further reading 173
Conclusions 174
How useful is offender profiling? 175
References 185
Index 195

vii
Offender Profiling and Crime Analysis

viii
Chapter title
Preface
Offender profiling appears to be a subject which holds considerable
fascination for many people. The notion that profilers have the ability
to understand and interpret the actions of serious criminals appears
to be a recipe which can almost guarantee sales of books or cinema
tickets. When I first announced to my non-academic friends that I was
writing a book on the subject of profiling there appeared to be a
presumption that the book would be a work of fiction in the mould of
Thomas Harris’s now famous Silence of the Lambs. Alternatively
people asked whether the book might eventually form the basis for a
new television series along the lines of Cracker.
Despite the temptation to try my hand at the possibly more
lucrative market offered by works of fiction I decided that I would
write an academic text which attempts to review the current state of
knowledge about profiling. This did not prove to be a particularly
easy task! As the reader will see from this volume the area is rife with
disagreements abo ut what profiling is about and how it should be
conducted. Arguments between profilers have raged for many years
and show little sign of abating. Many within the profiling movement
stick rigidly to a faith in their own system of working and castigate
any who dare to disagree with them. The level of animosity between
some individuals involved in profiling work is disturbing. Supporters
of one ‘camp’ may well suggest that I have been unfair in my
treatment of their work whilst at the same time arguing that I have
been too kind to the work of others. Needless to say those from
another ‘camp’ may well take the opposite view.
ix