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Geographic Profiling: The Fast, Frugal, and Accurate Way
| Citations: | 7 - 4 self |
BibTeX
@MISC{Snook_geographicprofiling:,
author = {Brent Snook and Paul J. Taylor and Craig Bennell},
title = { Geographic Profiling: The Fast, Frugal, and Accurate Way},
year = {}
}
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Abstract
The current article addresses the ongoing debate about whether individuals can perform as well as actuarial techniques when confronted with real world, consequential decisions. A single experiment tested the ability of participants (N 215) and an actuarial technique to accurately predict the residential locations of serial offenders based on information about where their crimes were committed. Results indicated that participants introduced to a ‘Circle ’ or ‘Decay ’ heuristic showed a significant improvement in the accuracy of predictions, and that their post-training performance did not differ significantly from the predictions of one leading actuarial technique. Further analysis of individual performances indicated that approximately 50 % of participants used appropriate heuristics that typically led to accurate predictions even before they received training, while nearly 75 % improved their predictive accuracy once introduced to either of the two heuristics. Several possible explanations for participants’ accurate performances are discussed and the practical implications for police investigations are highlighted. Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. A more efficient use of resources and an increase in offender apprehension are the rewards for the police decision-maker who is able to predict accurately the location of an offender’s residence from information about where his or her crimes were committed.
Keyphrases
geographic profiling actuarial technique accurate way participant accurate performance police investigation post-training performance offender apprehension significant improvement serial offender john wiley son consequential decision individual performance several possible explanation real world residential location predictive accuracy appropriate heuristic practical implication single experiment current article ongoing debate offender residence police decision-maker efficient use
