Unraveling Crime: The Bottom-Up Approach to Offender Profiling

Unraveling Crime: The Bottom-Up Approach to Offender Profiling

Learning Objective

Understand the bottom-up approach to offender profiling, including investigative psychology, data-driven analysis, and key concepts such as interpersonal coherence and geographic profiling.

What do you already know about the bottom-up approach to offender profiling?

Investigative Psychology

Focuses on using data from crime scenes and victims to analyze relationships between different crimes.

Data-Driven Analysis

Utilizes empirical evidence and statistical methods to identify patterns and trends in criminal behavior.

Interpersonal Coherence

Examines the consistency and distinctiveness of an offender's behavior across multiple crimes.

Geographic Profiling

Focuses on analyzing the spatial patterns of crime to narrow down the geographical area where an offender is likely to live or operate.

Marauder and Commuter

Distinguishes between offenders who commit crimes within their familiar environment (marauders) and those who travel to commit crimes (commuters).

Activity: Applying Concepts

Analyze crime case studies using the bottom-up approach, considering data, interpersonal coherence, and geographic profiling.

Case Study 1 Analysis

Examine the crime details and identify patterns related to the offender's behavior and geographical patterns.

Case Study 2 Analysis

Analyze a different crime case study, considering the data-driven approach and the concept of interpersonal coherence.

Group Discussion

Share findings from the case studies and discuss the challenges and insights gained from applying the bottom-up approach.

Key Takeaways

Summarize the key concepts and practical applications of the bottom-up approach to offender profiling.

Q&A Session

Address any remaining questions or uncertainties about the bottom-up approach to offender profiling.

Critical Thinking Exercise

Pose a hypothetical criminal scenario and ask students to apply the bottom-up approach to develop a profiling strategy.

Review and Reflection

Reflect on the lesson content and discuss the relevance of the bottom-up approach in modern criminal investigations.

Lesson Conclusion

Recap the key learnings and emphasize the value of the bottom-up approach in understanding and profiling offenders.

Write down 3 things you learned in this lesson.

Have students enter three things they learned in this lesson. With this they can indicate their own learning efficiency of this lesson.

Write down 2 things you want to know more about.

Here, students enter two things they would like to know more about. This not only increases involvement, but also gives them more ownership.

Ask 1 question about something you haven't quite understood yet.

The students indicate here (in question form) with which part of the material they still have difficulty. For the teacher, this not only provides insight into the extent to which the students understand/master the material, but also a good starting point for the next lesson.