Criminal Profiling Essay

1650 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Investigative approach to criminal profiling

LITERATURE REVIEW "Criminal profiling is the development of an investigation by means of obtainable information regarding an offence and crime scene to compile a psychosomatic representation of the known architect of the crime." (Douglas and Olshaker, 1995 quoted in Muller, 2000:235). But unfortunately what the media has done is portray the science of profiling into a more precognitive clairvoyant capability which is far from the truth. Criminal profiling comes from the use of the characteristics of an offender’s crime scene and the behavioral patterns they demonstrate. The media has assumed that profiling is a perfect skill but profiling is still miss- understood in the law enforcement arena. "Most criminal profiling uses information …show more content…

Profiling is the process of looking at the violent offenders so that their behavioral patterns can be examined so the investigators can learn as much as possible about these offenders. There are several manifestations that an offender demonstrates during their crimes that can be used during the criminal behavior in the profile. These are Modus Operandi, Signature or Personation, and Staging each of these be examined further later on. Each of these behaviors are made or committed during the process of them committing their crimes. The job of the profiler is to reconstruct these behaviors from the physical evidence so the profiler can look for any patterns in these behaviors. Doing this will illuminate behaviors within a specific crime or even a series of crimes to a specific serial offender. Criminal profiling is mostly used in extremely violent crimes and not used in all cases. Profiling can also lower the number of victims because the profile can result in more specific details and the serial killer can be apprehended quicker. The trouble with profiling is that it can be misleading. The fact that so much is written on this subject that serial offenders can get their hands on it and learn what the experts know. If the profile is misleading the investigators will be looking in the wrong direction and this could lead to more

Show More
Related

  • Peter Dupas Case Study

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    Forensic Psychology: Criminal Profiling - Peter Dupas Research Research Questions: - What is criminal profiling and what is its purpose? - What are the description and summary of Peter Dupas' crimes, including any signature behaviors? - What is the offender's history (criminal/personal), characteristics, employment status, socioeconomic status, marital status, and prediction of future behaviors? - If a stalker, what type of stalker is Peter Dupas, and what are the reasons for stalking? Notes in Point Form only: - Criminal profiling is a technique used to assist in identifying and apprehending likely criminal offenders for a crime.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Malcom's 'Dangerous Minds'

    845 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Criminal Profiling Portrayed in Television, Real Life, and Movies

    1601 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Profiling by Law Enforcement

    1820 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although there have been many proposals offered to the logic behind criminals and how they act, the significance of profiling possible suspects are stressed upon by law enforcement in order to achieve and maintain a way to justify the means. Profiling any possible suspects clearly demonstrates that numerous types of individuals follow oth...

    Read More

  • Racial Profiling by Police in Canada

    2887 Words  | 6 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Ted Bundy: The Mind of a Killer

    2059 Words  | 5 Pages

    Understanding Crime: Theory and Practice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishers. Woodham, J., & Toye, K. (2007). Empirical Tests of Assumption of Case Linkages & Offender’s profiling with Commercial Robbery.

    Read More

  • Criminal Profiling Essay

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    Criminal profiling, first undertaken within the nineteen-seventies, has been used throughout thousands of police investigations from bureaus all over the globe, currently some question their practicality in police investigations. This essay argues the utility of offender profiling in police investigations. Police Investigations utilize Offender and Criminal Profiling methods because it narrows the field of investigation, needs diminutive physical evidence to begin investigations and uses victimology to predict future actions of the offender.

    Read More

  • Criminal Profiling

    1761 Words  | 4 Pages

    The process of using behavioral evidence left at a crime scene to make inferences about the offender, including inferences about personality characteristics and psychopathology is called criminal profiling. Around the country, several agencies rely on the minds of criminal psychologists to lead them in the right direction to finding the correct offender. Criminal profiling provides investigators with knowledge of the appearance and behavior of a potential criminal.

    Read More

  • Serial Killer Profiling

    2173 Words  | 5 Pages

    The usefulness of profiling has been called into question many times. There are those who fall on both ends of the spectrum. Some feel that profiling is as infallible as a fingerprint, and others think it’s as reliable as a sideshow gypsy. Studies have been done that support both positions. The truth, of course, lies somewhere in the middle: Profiling may be a useful tool when applied appropriately, but it should not be used to the exclusion of good suspects or information. It is an addendum to the investigator’s...

    Read More

  • Psychological Profiling

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    Historically, crime and criminals have always caught the attention of law-abiding citizens. Whenever there is mention of serial killers or unsolved murders or abductions, psychological profiling, now a household term, floats to the top of the list of concerns (Egger, 1999). Psychological profiling is an attempt to provide investigators with more information about an offender who has not yet been identified (Egger, 1999). Its purpose is to develop a behavioral composite that combines both sociological and psychological assessment of the would-be offender. It is generally based on the premise that an accurate analysis and interpretation of the crime scene and other locations related to the crime can indicate the type of person who could have committed the crime (Egger, 1999).

    Read More

  • Criminal Statistics Essay

    1331 Words  | 3 Pages

    The accuracy and reliability of criminal statistics is something that has been of great discussion through criminology for decades. Whilst some believe that crime statistics are a misuse of time and resources, others believe that there is some use for them within the criminological community. The inaccuracies of criminal statistics are highlighted in abundance within academic articles and research, many of which highlight the main source as the dark figure of crime. Many also suggest other inconsistencies within official statistics to be influenced by law enforcement agencies and society. But whilst there is much research to suggest that criminal statistics are unreliable and of no use, there are some that suggest that this may not be entirely

    Read More

  • Criminal Profiling

    1821 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...ems that could be wrong with the criminal. All in all, these elements in criminal profiling have helped it become what it is today.

    Read More

  • Criminal Investigative Analysis And Forensic Psycholinguistics

    1714 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Why Do Criminologists Commit Crimes

    1899 Words  | 4 Pages

    Criminologists study various factors in order to understand why criminals commit crimes. They look at psychological and social factors, they research information about the crime, and they also examine the background of the criminal. Criminologists then use this data to create profiles for typical criminals. These profiles are used by other law enforcement agents to assess future criminals. The information gathered helps to apprehend criminals more efficiently, and to better evaluate their motives.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Discipline Of Criminology

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to the book, the discipline of criminology is constituted by subareas such as criminal statistics, sociology of law, theory construction, criminal behavior systems, penology, and victimology. The statistical subarea “involves calculating the amounts and trends of criminal activity” (Siegel 5). This means that with the help of statistics, a profile of criminal behavior can be created with the help of research methods, and measuring the results. The criminologist will “formulate techniques for collecting and analyzing” information, develop surveys, and create a database in order to test their theories (Siegel 5). This field is detrimental to formulate a profile that the law enforcement can use to deal with criminals. Another subfield mentioned earlier is sociology of law or sociolegal studies. This field is used by the criminologist to understand how the criminal acts have evolved throughout history. How and when is law originated and under what circumstances. For example, how a criminal act become punished by the law, when maybe a few decades ago was socially accepted such as the legal age of drinking,

    Read More

More about Criminal Profiling Essay

Open Document