17.1.6

John Duffy Case Study

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John Duffy Case Study

John Duffy, the Railway Rapist, was a criminal case where offender profiling was successful.

The profile

The profile

  • Duffy committed 24 acts of sexual assault and 3 murders between 1982 and 1986.
  • David Canter (a proponent of geographical profiling) participated in this investigation.
  • From the details of the crimes he developed a profile, which Duffy ended up matching very closely.
  • The profile stated the following information about the offender:
Personal characteristics

Personal characteristics

  • Personal characteristics.
    • The offender would know about British railways:
      • Duffy had worked for British rail.
    • The offender would also be small and feel unattractive:
      • Duffy had acne and was 5’4’’.
    • The offender would be in his mid to late 20s:
      • Duffy was in his late 20s.
Residential location

Residential location

  • Residential location.
    • He would live close to the first three crimes:
      • Duffy lived in the same town of Kilburn.
Criminal history

Criminal history

  • Criminal history.
    • The offender would have a criminal record with violence:
      • Duffy had raped his wife at knifepoint, this was recorded by police.
Domestic traits

Domestic traits

  • Domestic and social characteristics.
    • The offender would fantasise about sex and violence:
      • Duffy had hard-core pornographic videos.
    • The offender would also be interested in martial arts:
      • Duffy was in a martial arts club.
Occupation

Occupation

  • Occupational and educational history.
    • His occupation would be either skilled or semi-skilled:
      • Duffy was a carpenter.

Strengths of John Duffy Profiling

John Duffy, the Railway Rapist, was a criminal case where offender profiling was successful.

Increased use

Increased use

  • In total, Duffy fit 13 out of the 17 characteristics developed by Canter.
  • From there, offender profiling became much more commonplace.
Explanation

Explanation

  • Canter thought that behaviour is consistent.
  • Therefore, the traits of the crime would be similar to the traits of the offender during their everyday life.
Behaviour

Behaviour

  • Initially, Duffy was committing rape against his victims.
  • However, he was once almost recognised and therefore started to murder the victims as well.
Learned behaviours

Learned behaviours

  • Duffy was also discovered to have burned the bodies of his murder victims in an attempt to get rid of forensic evidence.
  • When he was arrested for raping his wife, he learned about police procedures and therefore knew to consider this.
Jump to other topics
1

Social Influence

2

Memory

3

Attachment

4

(2026 Exams) Psychopathology

5

(2027 Exams) Clinical Psychology & Mental Health

6

Approaches in Psychology

7

Biopsychology

8

Research Methods

8.1

Research Methods

8.2

Scientific Processes

8.3

Data Handling & Analysis

8.4

Inferential Testing

9

Issues & Debates in Psychology (A2 only)

10

Option 1: Relationships (A2 only)

10.1

Relationships: Sexual Relationships (A2 only)

10.2

Relationships: Romantic Relationships (A2 only)

10.3

(2026 Exams) Relationships: Virtual (A2 only)

10.4

(2027 Exams) Relationships: Online (A2 only)

11

Option 1: Gender (A2 only)

12

Option 1: Cognition & Development (A2 only)

13

Option 2: Schizophrenia (A2 only)

14

Option 2: Eating Behaviour (A2 only)

15

Option 2: Stress (A2 only)

16

Option 3: Aggression (A2 only)

17

Option 3: Forensic Psychology (A2 only)

18

Option 3: Addiction (A2 only)

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