3. The Investigative Psychology Approach

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this third module, we think about the investigative psychology approach, focusing in particular on: (i) defining forensic psychology, as per Canter & Youngs (2009); (ii) the role that investigative psychology plays in the events after uncovering a crime scene, including predicting a criminal’s next move; (iii) the involvement of investigative psychology in the information, inference and action portions of crime scene investigation; (iv) the ‘railway rapists’ case, which was key in establishing investigative psychology as a part of the criminal investigation process.

Course

This course, by Professor Ciarán O’Keeffe (Buckinghamshire New University), explores offender profiling. In the first module, we think about the top down and bottom up approaches to profiling, and review a range of definitions of offender profiling. In the second module, we think about the FBI’s organised and disorganised crime scene and criminal typologies. Next, we think about the investigative psychology approach as an alternative to the ‘FBI approach’. In the fourth and final module, we think about geographic profiling and its origins in John Snow’s ‘cholera map’ of London.

Lecturer

Ciarán O’Keeffe is associate professor at Buckinghamshire New University. He specialises in both forensic and criminal psychology, as well as parapsychology (the study of mental phenomena which are inexplicable by conventional psychology). Professor O’Keeffe’s background is in investigative psychology and now teaches across a range of forensic and criminal psychology courses. He has made numerous television and radio appearances alongside an array of celebrities.