Criminal Profiling refers to a instrument used by investigative agencies to help in resolving delinquencies. The purpose is not necessary to identify a particular individual who is likely to be the suspect. Criminal Profiling helps the investigative agencies significantly track down an offender or is released to the general public to assist in determining the offender’s identity. It also helps “narrow down the suspect pools, link crimes, provide relevant leads and new investigative strategies, and keep the overall investigation on track” (Petherick, 2014). However, the criminal has not been broadly recognized in the psychological and lawful community, and even some courts have ruled profiling testimony unlawful. The common criminal profiling approaches used include the bottom-up and top-down. Bottom-up Profiling, also known as British Profiling, is a data-driven tactic that utilizes arithmetical data on related crimes that have been significantly committed to making predictions concerning the features of the suspect. The top-down approach is based on non-statistical data, driven by qualitative analysis.
Some of the similarities between the bottom-up and top-down criminal profiling approaches are that they are not always successful because they only give a more comprehensive suggestion of the kind of an individual who might have committed the offense. They do not specify the exact person who appears to suit the profile. Some of the courts have dismissed the reliability of criminal Profiling when it comes to identifying criminals because they seem not to give a correct prediction. The other similarity is that there is no scientific evidence to back the validity and reliability of the criminal profiling approaches in resolving crimes. The other substantial similarity is that the approaches are used to narrow down fields of suspects. Despite all the criticisms that have been through to the criminal profiling approaches, they have helped the investigative agencies narrow down crimes, which has made it easy to determine the most frequent crimes and in which geographical locations they are likely to occur. Some prosecutors have also relied on criminal profilers to help them explain the “imperceptible psychodynamics of crime scenes and psychotic criminals” (Garcia, 2018).
In contrast, bottom-up approaches are used in a range of crimes, while top-down approaches are used primarily for rape or murder cases. Top-down is based on qualitative approaches such as witnesses and crime scene reports. It does not involve any data analysis as compared to bottom-up approach which is established on quantifiable methods and arithmetical analysis. The concepts based on the top-down approach are on the proficiency of law enforcement officers. In contrast, the bottom-up approach is founded on investigative psychology and geographical Profiling ideas. The main methods used in the top-bottom approach are the crime scene evidence which is significantly used to assign suspects to categories. On the other hand, the bottom-up approach focuses on the distribution of crimes. It significantly assumes that there is a possibility of a pattern in an offender’s behavior. These approaches have fundamentally helped investigative agencies in making informed decisions when it comes to making the justice process more efficient and effective.
References
Petherick, W. (2014). Profiling and Serial Crime.
Garcia, N. (2018). The use of criminal Profiling in cybercrime investigations (Doctoral dissertation, Utica College).
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