Criminal profiling can be a rather useful tool for criminal investigators of all kinds. Many departments use profiling to catch terrorists, gangs, cyber-crimes, counter intelligence, white collar crimes, and most of all serial killers. How criminal profiling works is by looking at the behavior of the criminal to gain insight into his or her personality. A doctor does the same thing when looking at symptoms to diagnose a certain disease. Being able to understand this person’s personality leads you one step closer to catching him or her.
The history of profiling starts as early as the 1800s. Criminal profiling is what it is today because of the contributions of those investigators of that time. The first documented case that profiling was used was during the serial killer case of Jack the Ripper. Jack the Ripper was a serial killer in London who mutilated female prostitutes. Dr. Thomas Bond made the first conclusion when performing the autopsy on one of the victims. To better understand the serial killer Dr. Bond reconstructed the murders and gave a profile to authorities. Though Jack the Ripper was never found Dr. Bond became the first offender profiler.
In order to accurately profile in a case you must gather up as much information as possible. There is certain information that can be rather useful to the capture of the suspect, such as the time or type of crime, the weapon used, and even to the victim. Knowing this information can help us gain insight into the mind of the suspect. Based on the information we can see if there is evidence of a mental illness or even if the suspect as done this before. We are going to look at the kidnapping and murder case of JonBenet Ramsey to better explain process.
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2. Douglas, J., & Olshaker, M. (1995). Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit. New York: Scribner.
3. McCrary, G. (2014, April 13). Profiling JonBenét Ramsey's Murder. Crime library. Retrieved , from http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/jonbenet_profiled/16.html
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5. Wannamaker, J. (2007, March 1). The History of Criminal Profiling. Legal source. Retrieved , from http://www.legalsource360.com/index.php/the-history-of-criminal-profiling-4-7497/
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This type of criminal profiling is quick, accurate, and easy. But, it is the opposite in real life. People in today’s society believe that actual crime solving is as easy as it is in Hollywood while in reality it takes weeks, maybe even months, for criminal profilers to narrow the suspects down to one person. On reality shows, every case is solved within the forty-five plus minutes of every episode. These unrealistic events set people up for a lot of confusion. These shows don’t go into much detail on how they solve these crimes and catch the “bad guys” you just know that they put some papers in machines and somehow have a database containing the faces of hundreds to thousands of people. This type of database does not even exist yet. Though progress is being made, there is no piece of machinery that can pinpoint the face of any person of your choosing. So, knowing this, it seems quite difficult to grasp the thought that these crime shows would ever be able to get any actual work done because without these “machines” that they use on their shows, they would be unable to catch their “guy” as quickly and easily as they do. Therefore, criminal profiling would be known as a boring and dragging event that most people would not be interested in were it not for the exaggerations applied to the processes that occur in the “crime-fighting, inspired countless movies, television shows, and best-selling thrillers.” Our reality is distorted by the media, causing people to believe some of the craziest things. Along with over-exaggerating reality, society has set standards and stereotypes that many people
Ramsland, Katherine M. The mind of a murderer: privileged access to the demons that drive extreme violence. Santa Barbara, California: Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data, 2011.
With the society that most individuals are offered today, the world of crime has been constantly transforming. This can influence the typical individual to question if there are too many laws that one should follow, including the penalties that are to be expected. The word crime can insinuate many thoughts of apprehension, segregation, and security when applying the law in accordance to criminal acts being prosecuted. In order for penalties to apply to a particular individual, law enforcement must first be able to track and identify suspects of various crimes. Numerous approaches can be offered for this process, but profiling is a common tactic that has aided law enforcement in seeking justice for both suspects and victims. Although viewed negatively at times, law enforcement profiling is an effective tool for police officers that should not be abandoned due to infrequent and negligible invasions into an innocent person’s personal privacy. Suspect profiling has diverse backgrounds, intentions, and classifications that are demonstrated in various forms and allows law enforcement to evaluate and distinguish any probable evidence. With the following paragraphs I will provide detailed information on what ‘profiling suspects’ means in a law enforcement setting, the pros and cons of profiling, and the reasons why profiling should be used in law enforcement.
police then look for a suspect who might possibly have committed it. Profiling means that a suspect is discovered and the police then look for a crime for the person to have possibly committed” (Tator & Henry, 2003, p3).
Dwilson, Stephen. “How to Get a Job in Criminal Profiling.” Everydaydaylife.global.post.com.N.p.,n.d. Web. 25 Nov 2013.
There are a few types of criminal profiling, there is Geographic Profiling, Investigative Analysis, Investigative Psychology, and Behavioral Analysis. Geographical Profiling determines the location of the offender/potential target by examining his/her past actions. This can be done by analyzing places that he/she has visited frequently or where they committed crimes. Investigative Psychology discovers facts about the offender based on the crimes that they committed. This uses more psychological techniques on top of analyzing evidence. Behavioral Analysis determines how the offender acts or will act based on how they committed the crime. Based on the evidence the profiler creates a profile of the offender and determines their characteristics.
Based on these authors, as well as others, it can be effectively argued that racial profiling is not, in and of itself, an unethical practice. However, it must be used in a precise manner in order to be morally sound. This method includes using it as a tool in the investigative process and not before it has been determined that a crime has been committed. It must also be used in a specific way: to describe an individual suspect and not a group of people who are suspected of possibly committing one crime or another. The witness’s background and bias must be taken into account, and racial profiling must be done equally and without favor to one racial group. After these steps are taken into account, racial profiling cannot be considered unethical.
Douglas, John E., and Mark Olshaker. Obsession: The FBI's legendary profiler probes the psyches of killers, rapists, and stalkers and their victims and tells how to fight back. New York, NY: Scribner, 1998. 16-41. Print.
Rosen, Lawrence. “The Creation of the Uniform Crime Report: The Role of Social Science.” JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2011.
Profiling itself has been in use since Jack the Ripper in London during the 1880s. George Phillips and Thomas Bond made predictions about the murderer’s personality based on the information at the crime scene (Winerman, 2004). The FBI now runs the Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) and the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) made popular by the television show Criminal Minds. Forensic profilers interact with a large variety of crime, but the focus of this paper will lie on the interaction of profiling and serial killers.
...meticulously planned from each little aspect, from room climate to positioning of the body. But as an investigative psychological profiler, you know that you are dealing with an organized killer. The suspect is too careful to be a rookie. The manner in which the victim has been dressed suggests that the killer is ritualistic, probably a serial killer. The chosen weapon was poison, indicating that the killer had chosen a particular victim prior to the crime. Using all this information, you and your colleagues are able to make a profile, which describes the true killer almost perfectly. You have experienced criminal profiling at work.
Criminal profiling isn`t a common career path most middle aged individuals aim for, but its most definitely going to be the field I succeed in working in. Criminal profiling requires two college degrees which involve four years of psychology, and four years of sociology for the minimum requirements. This job requires those degrees because you`re trying to comprehend the behavior of criminals, formerly caught criminals, and the mentally ill in order to stop crimes before they occur or stop another of the same kind from happening again. Crimes occur at any given moment all over the United States, so traveling around to new areas is a perk by itself while on the job, as well as interrogations of suspects or everyday people in the streets, and in private. Here`s details for why this is my career choice.
Johnson, H., & Wolfe, N. (1996). The Enlightenment and criminal justice. History of criminal justice. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing Company.
Psychological profiling may have found its origin in fiction rather than fact with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional exploits of Sherlock Holmes (Egger, 1999). However, dating back to the late 1800’s Dr. Thomas Bond may have been the first to truly apply criminal profiling to the serial killer Jack the Ripper. Bond, a police surgeon, had performed the autopsy on Jack the Ripper’s last victim, Mark Kelly (Padbury, n.d.). After reconstructing the murder in an attempt to interpret the behavioral pattern of the assailant, Bond was able to come up with a profile for police to follow (Padbury, n.d.). Although the Jack the Ripper case remained unsolved, psychological profiling took a major step forward.
The process of inferring the personality characteristics of individuals responsible for committing criminal acts has commonly been referred to as criminal profiling. (Turvey) Criminal profiling can also be referred to as, behavioral profiling because when a profiler creates a profile they refer to the behavior of the offender. The general term criminal profiling can also be referred to as crime scene profiling, criminal personality profiling, offender profiling, psychological profiling and criminal investigative analysis. All the terms listed above are used inconsistently and interchangeably. Modern criminal profiling is owing to a diverse history grounded in the study of criminal behavior (criminology), the study of mental illness (psychology and psychiatry), and the examination of physical evidence (the forensic sciences). (Turvey) There are four very important elements that contribute to the making of a criminal profile. These elements are victimology, wound pattern analysis, crime scene characteristics and criminology. Victimology is the study of victims. The profilers ask themselves questions such as, “Why this person?” and “Was the victim related to their killer or attacker?” Wound pattern analysis is the study of the way the wounds on the victim were made. Crime scene characteristics help to the making of a profile by showing profilers what exactly went on during the crime. Criminology is the study of the crime, criminals and criminal behaviors.