Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
criminal behaviour biological and psychological
criminal behaviour biological and psychological
criminal behaviour biological and psychological
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: criminal behaviour biological and psychological
Imagine this: You are in a crime scene. The air is cold and dry, almost as if in a storage locker or laboratory. The room is neat and tidy; everything has a place that has been carefully planned. The victim, positioned and dressed peacefully, lays in the center of the room. There are no visible wounds or signs of a struggle, but you see drag marks where a large object has been pulled across the carpet. Though, there are currently no suspects, the investigating authorities have received a calling card with a cryptic message.
Aside from the message, there is no evidence or fingerprints. As the lead investigator, what does this tell you?
Criminal profiling is a law-enforcement technique that uses psychological clues to identify potential characteristics of a suspect; Criminal profiling has been used in many cases, including serial-killer Ted Bundy. Has been largely contributed to by the FBI, and is portrayed in many television shows and movies, most famously, Criminal Minds.
What is Criminal Profiling?
Criminal Psychology has been referred to as many things, including Sociology and Criminology. The goal of criminal profiling is to be able to look at the crime scene, the victim, and statistics from previous related crimes to make conclusions about traits the suspect may have. Some aspects of criminal profiling are largely scientific and directly relate to psychological practices and facts. Other facets of profiling are based on common knowledge and the ability to relate to what someone else may be thinking or feeling. Criminal Psychology or Psychology in general, for that matter; is not an exact science. Contrary to popular belief or portrayal in pop culture, criminal profilers are not psychic and do not have super...
... middle of paper ...
...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.
Works Cited
apa.org
clarkprosecutor.org
crimelibrary.com
tv.yahoo.com*
ncis.wikia.com*
wikipedia.org*
*These sources were used only for the Pop Culture section and are not supposed to be used for credible facts.
This article gives some examples of crimes and how they were solved using a psychology technique along with how criminal profiling is used to solve crimes and how the profilers know how to slim down the suspects. In the first case, there was a man that planted bombs in multiple places each time writing a note in block letters- signing it F.P. The first bomb was found in 1940, in 1954 he struck four times, and in 1955 five times. In
The following paper explores a homicide scene at a convenience store / gas station at 3 a.m. The material of the investigation is represented with a number of visible evidence, the dead body with an apparent gunshot wound in the chest and the testimony of the first officer at the scene. The paper is divided into four parts, including the general overview (introduction), latent impression processing, people’s involvement investigation procedure and evidence package for the further fingerprint analysis. The crime scene investigation protocol used in this paper includes interview, examination, photographing, sketching and processing itself (Castleman, 2000: 23). Observing the homicide scene we omit the analysis of the preliminary procedures as security of the scene, integrity precautions, photographing and sketching.
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).
Being a criminal profiler is not like it is on all the television shows, but it is still an interesting and important job. Criminal profilers have been used to close many police and federal cases. They work in several homicide cases involving rape, racial killings, brutal killings, and involving serial killers. They help make it easier for the police to find the right person by examining the crime scene. Being a criminal profiler is a tough job but with hard work and dedication it is a great career choice.
“Advance in Forensics Provide Creative Tools for Solving Crimes.” www.ctcase.org. Np. n.d. Web. 17 March 2014.
McGrath, Michael G. "Criminal Profiling: Is There a Role for the Forensic Psychiatrist?." Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 28. (2000): 315-324. Web. 13 Apr 2011.
The heavy door slammed shut behind the malicious killers back. His presence began to fill the room with a chill ambiance as if his own heart was made of pure ice. A policeman had one hand in the middle of his back, and another nervously fiddling the handle of his gun. The policeman guided him to a chair that screeched as it dragged against the tile floor. Across from him was a highly renowned detective from New York. He had never lost a case in his past investigations, and he doesn’t plan to in this investigation. The two stared at each other trying to figure out what the other was thinking. Lucky for the detective, he was trained to do this very thing. For centuries, scientists, investigators, and doctors have been trying to understand how
Just as insight into the mind of the artist may be gained by examining and comparing the progression of his work, so knowledge of the mind of the serial killer can be ascertained by an examination of his canvas: The murder scene. Forensic profiling is the attempt to do just that. An investigator tries to discern information about the killer based on the information at the crime scene, deducing information about the cause from the effect. This is not an exact science, and has been often likened to an art. It is the goal of this work to provide the reader with a basic understanding of the function and application of forensic psychology, as well as an explication of some of its strengths and weaknesses.
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.
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.
Public Safety Officials have been battling the difficult question of profiling for quite a while. The question is how do they know the suspected individual fit the category associated with an offense? While it has been proven that many profiling cases are somewhat directed to a racial profile, it can be proven that people, given the discretion, are able to identify explanations for a series of behavioral events by identifying what that behavior accredits to. This theory, identified by Frite Heider, “suggested that we have a tendency to give casual explanations for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition,” called the attribution theory. Until recently, a study of the like was considered to be a branch of sociology and not a form of psychology. Social psychology essentially became the focus on the individual rather than the group as a whole. Many thoughtful ideas are collected in response to the studies of social psychology. Human cognition is understood to arise from interacting socially; highlighting the importance of socialization. We use social cognition to develop our explanations and our ideas on why a person’s behavior is/does what it is/does.
A large misconception of criminal investigative analysis is that there is a difference between profiling and criminal investigative analysis. Criminal Investigative Analysis is the same tool as criminal profiling and there is no true difference. A survey was done by Torres and the survey consisted of a couple of questions about profiling and about criminal investigative analysis asked to mental health professionals with profiling knowledge. The following table contains the results from the
Criminology centers its attention on the criminal as a person, his behavior, and what has led him or her to a life of crime. Criminology seeks to understand the criminals' genetic makeup, to learn whether there is an inherited tendency to crime. It also takes into consideration such issues as the individuals socioeconomic background, family background, educational opportunities, and childhood associations.