RUNNING HEAD: CRIMINAL PROFILINGS

FUNCTIONAL USE

Criminal Profilings Functional Use

Garrett Godusky
June 17, 2015

CRIMINAL PROFILINGS FUNCTIONAL USE

What I can tell you now

Im sure most all of you have seen at least one of the many crime
shows that air on various TV channels. Todays society seems to thrive off of
the drama and suspense that these shows provide and I cant say that they
have not pulled me in as well. Ever since I was a small child I have always
been interested in how the FBI or NCIS solve different types of crimes that
happen every day. The thing that most people dont take notice of is all of
the work that goes into these cases, all of the behind the scenes work that
takes place that will eventually lead to the capture of these criminals.
Just from watching various TV shows, I can tell you a lot about the topic
of criminal profiling that, after much research, are in fact true in the way that
they are used in the real world. The basic outline of almost every show out
there goes something like this. First, it always shows a short scene of the
criminal actually committing the crime. After that it always cuts to the local
law enforcement doing their initial sweep of the crime scene and then later
calling in a higher agency to work along with them. From there officers then
go to different places associated with the possible suspects to try and
determine who the perpetrator is. Then the agencies will give their criminal
profile of the suspects followed by a lot of action and then finally the arrest
of the suspect.
The portion of this that I am focusing on is the part about the criminal
profile. This has sparked my curiosity for as long as I can remember. Since

CRIMINAL PROFILINGS FUNCTIONAL USE

my dad majored in psychology while in college, having all of his old

notebooks around was really a great source for young me to find out more
information. I learned all about the way criminals think along with possible
motives and triggers that could set them off. Essentially, a criminal profile is
the use of common traits of criminals to explain and help find the suspect.
Through this process, race, ethnicity, financial class, approximate age, as
well as personality traits can all be determined using the gathered data from
the crime scene. These possible traits can then be distributed to the police
force as well as the general public to see if this description might match
anyone they know. This, along with a possible sketch from a witness or a
vague description from a bystander can greatly increase the odds and time
of apprehending the criminal.
Eventually, after finally watching hundreds of episodes of these shows,
I determined that this is a possible career that I would like to pursue later in
life. While I was very interested in this topic, for some reason it always took
a back seat to engineering whenever a mandatory school project was
concerned. While I do know a little on the topic, there is still a lot more for
me to learn before I can make a final decision on whether or not this job is
for me.
Some things that I would still like to learn on this subject would be if
there were different uses for criminal profiling in say, cases involving a serial
killer and cases involving a kidnapping. There are also cases where the

CRIMINAL PROFILINGS FUNCTIONAL USE

victim is still alive, such as sexual assault, where the whole process could
change as a result of having a person to talk to. I would like to know the
steps taken in each of these types of cases and how each is manipulated to
adhere to these different types of criminals.

The Story of my Search

For my research I began just as anyone else would, not really
searching for anything specific, just for some basic background
knowledge on Criminal Profiling. I went onto Google and typed in
Criminal Profiling and went onto the first link that came up which
happened to be Wikipedia. Now, I know what youre thinking,
Wikipedia isnt a very reliable source, but since I was not really looking
for any specific information it did the job for me. Here, I discovered
some very generic information, but nothing very relevant to my
specific questions. After a little note taking on the basics from this site,
I then set out to discover more relevant information to each of my
specific research questions.
To learn more about each of my specific topics, I had to start
refining my search and altering my word choice. I decided to first
research the techniques used in cases involving serial killers since this

CRIMINAL PROFILINGS FUNCTIONAL USE

seemed to be the easiest. I was led to a few different websites, one of

which was a paper written on by a college graduate for a criminology
course. Here I found all of the information I needed as well as a few
examples of cases that were actually solved using the methods listed.
I wrote a blog post on this information as well as some from a few
other sources.
My next research question was on the way criminal profiling is
used in cases involving kidnapping. This was actually a tough topic to
research because kidnapping is usually associated with other crimes to
there are other standards to go by. It took me a while of digging before
I finally came upon an article by CBS news who interview an actual
criminal profiler on what goes through the mind of a kidnapper. The
man did have a lot of good information that I was able to use and was
very helpful in answering this question.
My third question was on a little bit different of a topic, sexual
assault. These cases are much different considering that the victim is
still alive so I was wondering if they were still approached the same
way. I started to research sexual assault cases but all I kept coming
across was ways to prevent it. I realized that I must be more specific
and refine my search using key words. After this, I found plenty of
information on my topic that was more than enough to answer my
question.

CRIMINAL PROFILINGS FUNCTIONAL USE

After doing all my research and writing all of my blog posts, it

was time to start writing my paper. I took all of the information I had
collected and transformed it into something that could be useful to get
me where I am now.
Results
Criminal profiling is an intellectual tool used by law enforcement
to help predict and profile criminals unique characteristics accurately 1.
Criminal profilers use clues and evidence left behind at a crime scene
to provide an arbitrary description of the offender. They then work side
by side with local law enforcement, using their profile to apprehend the
criminals2.
There are many early signs of the common serial killer that occur
in childhood that have been proven to lead a child to extreme
measures. The most common among serial killers are abuse from
parents, peers, and other adults, substance and drug abuse within the
household, and the child carrying out their own fantasies on animals.
Many future killers will take time perfecting their skills on animals while
they are little and eventually move onto larger and larger victims3.
Due to all of these qualities, law enforcement can look into suspects
past and possibly identify these few factors and possibly convict the
individual. There are also some qualities that will follow the killer into
adulthood, however, these are harder to identify because of the

CRIMINAL PROFILINGS FUNCTIONAL USE

varying mind state of them. Organized killers are usually your

everyday person with average intelligence and a stable job. Your
disorganized killers are those who are more sporadic and kill when the
opportunity is available. These people often have below average
intelligence and are socially awkward towards others4.
Not all criminal profilers deal strictly with killers, kidnapping is
also a crime that can help to be solved with profiling. While most
cases deal with killers, some cases involve murder as well as
kidnapping. People who kidnap other people typically know that what
they are doing is wrong, but somehow convince themselves that their
actions are justified in their own heads. The offenders are unable to
feel empathy or guilt for any of their actions and typically do it all in
the name of power5. All they want is to feel as if they have more
power over somebody, so bad that they will go to extreme measures to
achieve this feeling. Profiling can be used to predict the next move of
the offender and possibly save the life of the person who has been
taken6. Most criminals have no intent of hurting their victim, but as
with any mentally ill individual, anything can trigger a violent outburst.
Sexual assault is just like any other crime in the sense that there
is a suspect and a victim, but is unlike others because the victim is
often still alive. This changes things because there is not only the
profile to go off of, but also the victims statement. There is more

CRIMINAL PROFILINGS FUNCTIONAL USE

known about these type of criminals because this crime is a lot more
common than others so there is a larger pool of subjects to develop a
profile from. Studies that show that the average rapist is usually under
the age of 25 unless they are sadistic, then they are over 30. They are
usually male and approximately 6 feet tall with a, average intelligence
level. They have a stable job and a normal personality type, someone
who you would never suspect would do this kind of thing. There are 4
main types of rapists, power reassurance, power assertive, angerretaliatory, and sadistic. Power reassurance rapists are the least
violent of the bunch who only assault victims to re-establish they
dominance and boost their self-esteem sexually. They exhibit nonaggressive behavior and often choose victims geographically close to
them. The next category of rapist is the power-assertive ones. These
individuals usually exhibit aggressive, but nonlethal behavior towards
their victims. These individuals have no problem with their masculinity
and often select victims around the same age as them. They are
geographically mobile meaning that they are not limited to choosing
victims within their own neighborhood. The third category is the
anger-retaliatory rapists. These individuals often show high levels of
short, extreme aggression. They believe that the woman has
committed a wrong doing against them, whether true or not, and that
they are using this as a form of punishment. The last category, which
is the most extreme, is the anger-excitation, or sadistic rapists. These

CRIMINAL PROFILINGS FUNCTIONAL USE

are the individuals that show extreme brutality on their victims that
usually result in the death of the victim. They get off on torturing their
victims and their main motivation is to inflict pain and fear into them.
The offender in this case will typically not even know the victim; they
will just lash out in anger whenever they get pissed off. They are also
usually members of a high society, typically white, married, and upper
class. It is also very common for drugs and/or alcohol to be involved at
the time of the attack7.
Reflection
I have gained a lot of new knowledge from all of the research
that I have done in order to make this paper possible. There are things
that I learned that not in a million years would I have ever known if I
had not completed this paper. I will remember all of this information
for a lifetime to come and will apply it to many other sources.
Hopefully I can take my information and secure a shadowing
opportunity with a criminal profiler in the future. I would also like to
start taking entrance level psychology courses so that way by the time
I am eligible to take it in college I will already have prior knowledge
and can start out at a more advanced level. As for a career in this
field, it is definitely an option that I am strongly considering. I have
reviewed the statistics of the job and found that the demand is rapidly
increasing and the pay is very respectable. With this information that I

CRIMINAL PROFILINGS FUNCTIONAL USE

have obtained through my research, it will be my building block onto

which I will pile information and hopefully construct my future career in
criminology on.

References

1. 2015, Offender Profiling. Wikipedia.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offender_profiling>
2. Cherry, K. 2015, Criminal Psychologist Career Information.
About.com.
http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologycareerprofiles/p/crimi
nal-psychologist.htm
3. Gerber, H. B. 2013, 10 Most Common Traits of Potential Serial
Killers. Listverse.com. http://listverse.com/2013/01/02/10-mostcommon-traits-of-potential-serial-killers/
4. Marrie Freeman, n.d. The Psychology of a Serial Killer.
http://web.lemoyne.edu/~Freemams/index_files/psych_serial.htm
5. King, C. 2013, Criminal profiler explains mind of kidnapper,
CBS.com. http://www.cbs46.com/story/22188949/criminalprofiler-explains-mind-of-kidnapper
6. Scott, H. L. 2011, The Psychology of Kidnapping and Abduction,
Pursuit Magazine http://pursuitmag.com/the-psychology-ofkidnapping-and-abduction/
7. N.d. Profiling a Rapist, Blue Ridge Budokan,

http://budokan.wcart.net/WomenSelfDefense/RapistProfile.htm