Criminal Profiling
22 October 2024 07:24
Definition: In a broad sense, a criminal profile is an attempt to provide personality and
behavioral clues about offenders based on their behavior and the evidence they leave
behind. “It is an inferential process that involves an analysis of ... Their interactions with the
victim and crime scene, their choice of weapon and their use of language among other
things”
According to Geberth), “a criminal personality profile is an educated attempt to provide
investigative agencies with specific information as to the type of individual who would have
committed a certain crime.”
How does profiling work?
• Informal criminal profiling has a long history. It was used as early as the 1880s, when two
physicians, George Phillips and Thomas Bond, used crime scene clues to make predictions
about British serial murderer Jack the Ripper's personality.
• At the same time, profiling has taken root in the United States, where, until recent
decades,
• Profilers relied mostly on their own intuition and informal studies. Schlossberg, who
developed profiles of many criminals, including David Berkowitz--New York City's "Son of
Sam"--describes the approach he used in the late 1960s and 70s: "What I would do," he
says, "is sit down and look through cases where the criminals had been arrested. I listed
how old [the perpetrators] were, whether they were male or female, their level of
education. Did they come from broken families? Did they have school behavioral
problems? I listed as many factors as I could come up with, and then I added them up to
see which were the most common."
In 1974, the FBI formed its Behavioral Science Unit to investigate serial rape and homicide
cases. From 1976 to 1979, several FBI agents--most famously John Douglas and Robert Ressler--
interviewed 36 serial murderers to develop theories and categories of different types of
offenders.
Most notably, they developed the idea of the "organized/disorganized dichotomy": Organized
crimes are premeditated and carefully planned, so little evidence is found at the scene.
Organized criminals, according to the classification scheme, are antisocial but know right from
wrong, are not insane and show no remorse. Disorganized crimes, in contrast, are not planned,
and criminals leave such evidence as fingerprints and blood. Disorganized criminals may be
young, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or mentally ill.
Application of Criminal Profiling-
Earlier, profiling was done only in the case of heinous offences or where the crime were done in
a pattern. Habitual offenders are so skilled in committing crimes that they leave no clue behind
to reach; in such cases, criminal profiling becomes a helpful technique to assess the behavior of
the criminal and other things such as modus operandi and signature.
Criminal profiling is mostly applicable in the following cases-
1. Sex-related assaults and homicides
2. Unique homicides, such as those involving torture, mutilation, evisceration, and ritualistic
violence
3. Assassination
4. Child molestation and abduction
5. Fire setting, arson and bombing
6. Extortion
"The basic premise is that behavior reflects personality," explains retired FBI agent Gregg
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"The basic premise is that behavior reflects personality," explains retired FBI agent Gregg
McCrary. In a homicide case, for example, FBI agents glean insight into personality through
questions about the murderer's behavior at four crime phases:
a. Antecedent: What fantasy or plan, or both, did the murderer have in place before
the act? What triggered the murderer to act some days and not others?
b. Method and manner: What type of victim or victims did the murderer select? What
was the method and manner of murder: shooting, stabbing, strangulation or
something else?
c. Body disposal: Did the murder and body disposal take place all at one scene, or
multiple scenes?
d. Post-offense behavior: Is the murderer trying to inject himself into the
investigation by reacting to media reports or contacting investigators?
*A rape case is analyzed in much the same way, but with the additional information that comes
from a living victim. Everything about the crime, from the sexual acts the rapist forces on the
victim to the order in which they're performed, offers a clue about the perpetrator, McCrary
says.
Methods of criminal profiling-
1. Criminal investigation analysis
○ Best known methods devised by the FBI- arose during a study conducted b/w 1979
and 1983- goal was to determine whether there are any consistent features across
offenses that may be helpful in classifying these offenders
○ Mainstay of the FBI approach is the organized/disorganized dichotomy- which
distinguishes offenders by virtue of the sophistication of their offenses.
○ An organized offender is often said to be psychopathic and is literally organized in
most facets of his or her life, cleaning up his or her crime scenes, removing
weapons and evidence, and even attempting to hide the body. Disorganized
offenders are often said to be psychotic and make no such attempt to clean up
their crime scenes, remove evidence, or hide the body.
○ Characteristics of offender
Psychopathic (Organized) offender
i. Average to above average intelligent
ii. Socially competent
iii. Skilled work preferred
iv. Sexually competent
v. Living w/ partner
vi. Controlled mood during crime
vii. Use of alcohol w/ crime
viii. Inconsistent childhood discipline
Psychotic (Disorganized) offender
i. Below average intelligence
ii. Socially inadequate
iii. Unskilled work
iv. Sexually incompetent
v. Living alone
vi. Anxious mood during crime
vii. Father's work unstable
viii. Harsh discipline as a child
2. Investigative Psychology
○ Main advocate of this method is David Canter, a British psychologist who promotes
a research approach to offender behavior.
○ Inductive and dependent on the quality and amount of data accumulated, helps in
determining the motives of offenders and sheds light on the intentions of criminals
○ Involves identifying if a single criminal committed the crime or if more than one
individual was involved.
○ Also used to assess the psychological state of the offender and determine how
dangerous they are.
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dangerous they are.
3. Geographic Profiling
○ Geographic profiling focuses on just one aspect of the crime: the offender’s likely
location.
○ It focuses on the "probable spatial behavior of the offender within the context of
the locations of, and the spatial relationships b/w, the various crime sites."
○ Works as a tool that assists police and prioritizes search areas
○ Principles under geographic profiling-
The Least Effort Principle: that given two alternatives to a course of action,
people will choose the one that requires least effort. That is, people will
adopt the easiest course of action.
Distance Decay: Distance decay refers to the idea that crimes will decrease in
frequency the farther away an offender travels from his or her home.
4. Diagnostic evaluations
○ Also known as clinical approach- used to assess the kind of mental health disorder
that the offender is suffering from
○ Helps to assess whether the offender has committed that crime due to that ailment
or is making a false claim of being mentally unfit
○ Approach helps to identify the psyche of the criminal at the time of the commission
of the offense, and the case is approached from a psychological point of view
5. Behavioral Evidence Analysis
○ Deductive reasoning includes an analysis of the physical evidence found at the
crime scene and then drawing inferences from the characteristics of the offender
○ Primarily used by the investigating officer
○ Involves an analysis of the pattern of crime and behavior shown by the offender
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