JUS-445

October 18th, 2020

Professor Sadulski

Criminal Profiling

Criminal profiling has been used since the 1970’s. It is a technique that uses information

from assumptions as well as conclusions about the case. It is used to link likely suspects to

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unsolved cases. 5 notorious cases that show how criminal profiling work are George Metesky,

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Ted Bundy, Joseph Paul Franklin, Wayne Williams, as well as Andrew Cunanan. In this essay I

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will go into further detail how Wayne Williams was apprehended using a criminal profile
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provided by the FBI as well as identify the types of data useful in creating a criminal profile and

disadvantages to using criminal profiles.

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Wayne Williams was convicted of murdering two adults but is the prime suspect of the

Atlanta murders of more than 20 youths throughout the time span of 1979-1981. During the time
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of the murders in the late 70’s and early 80’s Williams was arrested due to the findings of fibers

found on one of the victims bodies that was found in the home and the car of Williams
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(Biography 2020). He was only found guilty of the murder of two adults, however due to loads
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of evidence he is thought to be responsible for the death of all those children (Epstein 2019). The

killings started in 1979, two corpses were found on the side of the road. One was shot and the
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other death by asphyxiation. Throughout the time span of the 22 months that these murders took

place they noticed a decent amount of children that have died because of being strangled. As the

similarities of deaths increased the FBI was then called in to help the police of Atlanta. When the

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 police realized the murderer changed their MO from the woods to the river, they then placed

lookouts for that location. Williams was actually pulled over during this investigation due to the

police hearing a splash but then having to let him go because they did not know at the time what

it was. Days later a body was found in the river and he was brought in for questioning in which

he failed multiple polygraph tests (Biography 2020). He was then arrested then put on trial and

found guilty for the murders of the two adults.

Types of data that have been considered useful when creating a criminal profile are crime

scenes, the area in which the bodies are being found, the types of victims, etc. These are all

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important because it shows the motives of the killer and can potentially lead to more information

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about them. They often bring in psychological professionals that can help understand and

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interpret certain characteristics of a killer. For example, a famous case that was cracked due to
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criminal profiling was the “mad bomber” aka George Metesky. After bringing in New York

State’s assistant commissioner of mental hygiene in to look at crime scene photos as well as
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notes from the suspect they were able to come up with a very well thought out description of the
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suspect. This description consisted of him being unmarried, foreign, self-educated, in his 50’s,

living in Connecticut, paranoid, as well as a personal vendetta against the victims of the first
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bomb (Winerman 2004). These exact descriptions actually helped the police and FBI narrow

down their suspects in order to find George Metesky who fit the description to a “T”. When they
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found him he admitted to everything. Criminal profiling can be helpful when it is done
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successfully and thoroughly but you can not expect everything to be dead on because just like

most everything it does have its disadvantages.

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The disadvantages of criminal profiling are they are based on educated assumptions,

information added to profile is not based on facts, it relies on “facts” on a crime that could very

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 well not be facts, it is based on consistency, as well as the method being most certainly limited

(ConnectUs 2015). Although criminal profiling can most certainly be helpful especially in cases

such as George Metesky, Ted Bundy, and as mentioned above even Wayne Williams, it most

definitely is not a perfect method. Criminal profiling is still yet a “newer” form of catching

criminals and still has room for error within it.

In conclusion, the purpose of this essay was to inform the reader of a real-life example of

a criminal that was apprehended due to using an FBI criminal profile, address certain types of

data that would be helpful to create a criminal profile, as well as address the disadvantages to

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using criminal profiles.

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References:

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 Biography (2020). Wayne Williams: Murders, Arrests & Facts Biography. Retrieved from

https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/wayne-williams

ConnectUs (2015). 12 Prevailing Pros and Cons Of Criminal Profiling. Retrieved

from

https://connectusfund.org/12-prevailing-pros-and-cons-of-criminal-profiling

Epstein, G. (2019). Atlanta Child Murders: Wayne Williams “Very Like”

FBI Profile. Retrieved from

https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/atlanta-child-murders-williams-very-like-fbi-

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profile/IKyewPxrv06NXcUWz98F9J/

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Winerman, L. (2004). Criminal Profiling: The Reality Behind The
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Myth. Retrieved from

https://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/criminal
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