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Criminal Investigative Analysis

The document provides an overview of Criminal Investigative Analysis (CIA), detailing its history, the organized/disorganized dichotomy, and the criminal profile generating process. It discusses the establishment of the Behavioral Sciences Unit and critiques the limitations of the CIA methodology, including issues with the typology and the subjective nature of profiling. The document emphasizes that profiling is more of an investigative tool than a definitive solution to crime.

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Siren Lawson
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3 views19 pages

Criminal Investigative Analysis

The document provides an overview of Criminal Investigative Analysis (CIA), detailing its history, the organized/disorganized dichotomy, and the criminal profile generating process. It discusses the establishment of the Behavioral Sciences Unit and critiques the limitations of the CIA methodology, including issues with the typology and the subjective nature of profiling. The document emphasizes that profiling is more of an investigative tool than a definitive solution to crime.

Uploaded by

Siren Lawson
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction

Criminal
& A Brief
Investigativ
History
e Analysis
Criminal
LCR1001Profiling LCR3CPR
Dr
Dr Meribah
Meribah Rose
Rose
What is Criminal Investigative
Analysis (CIA)

The organised/disorganised
This dichotomy

lecture The criminal profile generating


process

Critiques and limitations


Part A. What is CIA? A brief
history
The Behavioral Sciences Unit (BSU)
• 1972: Behavioral Sciences Unit
established
• Howard Teten
• Pat Mullany
• 1977:
• John Douglas
• Robert K Ressler
The Crime
Classification Manual
• Extensive typology of crimes
• Classification based on:
• Victimology
• Crime scene
• Nature of victim-offender exchange
• Numbering system for classifying crimes using
three digits (sometimes 2 additional digits after a
decimal point)
• 107.01 Individual profit murder
• 122.02 Staged domestic homicide
• 231.00 Crime concealment, murder
Part B. The organised /
disorganised dichotomy
The
Criminal Personality Research
organised Project
/
Based on interviews with 36
disorgani convicted sexual murderers
sed
Theoretical rationale “Behaviour
dichotom reflects personality”
y
Table 1- Profile Characteristics of Organized and Disorganized Murders

ORGANIZED DISORGANIZED

Average to above-average intelligence Below-average intelligence


Socially competent Socially inadequate
Skilled work preferred Unskilled work
High birth order status Sexually
incompetent
Father’s work stable Low birth order status
Inconsistent childhood discipline Father’s work unstable
Controlled mood during crime Harsh discipline as child
Use of alcohol during crime Anxious mood during crime
Precipitating situation stress Minimal use of alcohol
Living with partner Minimal situational
stress
Mobility with car in good condition Living alone
Follows crime in news media Lives/works near crime scene
May change jobs or leave town Minimal interest in news media
Table 2 - Crime Scene Differences Between Organized and Disorganized
Murderers

ORGANIZED
DISORGANIZED

Planned offense Spontaneous


offense
Victim a targeted stranger Victim/location
known
Personalizes victim
Depersonalizes victim
Controlled conversation Minimal conversation
Crime scene reflects overall control Crime scene random and sloppy
Demands submissive victim Sudden violence to victim

Restraints used Minimal use


Critiques of the dichotomy

Introduction of “mixed”
category or
reconceptualisation as a Difficult to verify based on How useful is it for
continuum raises issues re crime scene data investigators?
determining where a case
fits
Part C. The criminal profile
generating process
Profile generating process

Profiling Crime
input assessment Investigation

1 2 3 4 5 6

Decision process Criminal Apprehension


models profile

See John E Douglas et al, ‘Criminal Profiling from Crime Scene


Analysis’ (1986) 4(4) Behavioral Sciences and the Law 401
Profile generating process: Stages 1
&2
1. Profiling input stage: collection and analysis of relevant case
material, ie actual evidence
2. Decision process models stage: organising profiling inputs to
discover “meaningful patterns”
1. Homicide type and style
2. Primary intent
3. Victim risk
4. Offender risk
5. Escalation
6. Time for crime
John E Douglas et al, ‘Criminal Profiling from Crime Scene
7. Location factors Analysis’ (1986) 4(4) Behavioral Sciences and the Law 401, 412
Profile generating process: Stages 3-
6
3. Crime assessment stage: reconstruction of the sequence of events
 organised / disorganised
4. Criminal profile stage: generation of an actual profile; very little
guidance actually provided. “Feedback filter 1”
5. Investigation: profile communicated to investigating agency.
“Feedback filter 2”
6. Apprehension: desired outcome of the process
Part D. Critiques and
limitations of Criminal
Investigative Analysis
Issues with the typology
• Data set – only 36 offenders in original study (Burgess & Ressler); not
random; interviews relied on self-report
• Dichotomy terminology adopted in order to “dumb down”
psychological terms for police offers
• Dichotomy forced in some cases – agents asked to force offenders
into either organised or disorganised category
• Study never replicated outside the USA
Issues with the process
• Over-reliance on profiler intuition and experience
• Subjectivity of weighting of different characteristics within each
offender type (ie left to individual profiler to determine which they
deem important or applicable)
• Lack of clear or verifiable methodology
• Most crime scenes are mixed, so how useful is the organised /
disorganised dichotomy to investigators?
“Profiling is subjective rather than
objective; more art than science; an
investigative tool rather than a magical
solution to crime”
Roy Hazelwood and Stephen G Michaud, Dark Dreams: A Legendary FBI Profiler
Examines Homicide and the Criminal Mind (St Martin Press, 2001), 31

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