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).
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.
However, the first successful application of psychological profiling occurred in 1943 when the Office of Strategic Services commissioned Dr. W.C. Langer to provide a profile of Adolph Hitler (Egger, 1999). Langer’s profile was a psychodynamic personality profile th...
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... in psychological profiling and in 1972 created its Behavioral Science Unit (BSU). By 1978, the FBI established a formal Psychological Profiling unit within the BSU at its training facility in Quantico, Virginia (Egger, 1999). In 1982, the program was expanded using a National Institute of Justice grant to collect and store recorded interviews with convicted murderers. The program interviewed some 36 convicted sexual murderers who represented solo, serial, and mass murderers (Egger, 1999).
Works Cited
Egger, S. (1999). Psychological Profiling: Past, Present, and Future. Journal of Contemporary Criminal justice , 15, 242-261.
Padbury, M. (n.d.). The History of Criminal Profiling - by Maichael Padbury - Helium. Retrieved 2010 йил 10-July from Helium: Politics, News, & Issues: US Law & Justice: http://www.helium.com/items/208159-the-history-of-criminal-profiling
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.
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
When police stop someone of a minority because they fit the profile of suspect people become outraged and say that the officer was racially profiling. White argues that profiling based on statistical evidence is an effective way to save time, money and sometimes lives. Many people feel the opposite of White and say that profiling is a way to harass minorities and make them feel unequal in the land of the free. Many people that are pro-profiling say that it happens in almost everything we do, from applying to college to interview for a job. Even shop owners profile so why can’t the police department profile when they are trying to keep the city streets safe. The individuals against profiling say that it targets minorities in order to make them feel out of
Brigham, J. C. (1999). What is forensic psychology, anyway? Law and Human Behavior, 23(3), 273-298. doi:10.1023/a:1022304414537
Beres, D.B Killer at Larger: criminal profilers and the cases they solve!. New York: F. Watts, 2007. Print.
Forensic (criminal) psychology is a job field that deals with both psychology and law. The field has experienced dramatic growth in recent years due to the role of popular movies, television programs and books popularizing the field. Often these individuals are depicted as vivid components in solving vicious crimes or timing out a criminal’s next home. While these depictions of certainly entertaining, yet these portrayals are not necessarily precise. Forensic psychologists play an instrumental role in the criminal justice system while applying psychological principles to the legal system. The crossover of the two spheres is best decided in the Encyclopedia of Psychology,
Description of offender’s psychological history and functioning at the time of the offence is based on statistical approach which involves the analysis of behavioural and other relevant information found at the scene of crime in order to infer ...
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 most famous serial killers were at one point free and had the opportunity to do what they wanted to do. Ted Bundy for example killed over 30 people, The Atlanta Child Murderers killed 29 people almost all children, and the Green River Killer committed somewhere between 48 to 90 murders. All were eventually caught with forensics, but if police used criminal profiling it might have help catch them sooner. Teten and Patrick Mullany are the first two who have profiled difficult criminal cases. Teten’s first investigation was a woman who was stabbed in her home. He looked at the documents and the crime scene and came up with a profile that fit the description of the actual killer. Mullany and Patrick were
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.
Perri, F., & Lichtenwald, T. (2009). WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE: Criminal investigative analysis, forensic psychology, and the timothy masters case. Forensic Examiner, 18(2), 52-52-69.
Ferrington, David P. (1991). Explaining the Beginning and Progress. In Advances in Criminological Theory, (Eds)., Joan McCord, vol 3, (pp,191-199). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Although much of our information and misinformation regarding criminal offenders is based on classification systems (Hickey, 2013, p.34), there are certain characteristics that can be compiled to develop a general profile of serial murderers. To begin analyzing a serial murderer, investigators must first determine whether the killer is an organized or disorganized offender by examining various factors of the crime. Determining whether the offender is organized or disorganized allows investigators to begin constructing a profile that could provide some insight on certain characteristics of the perpetrator that can be used to apprehend him or her, such as the likelihood of the offender knowing the victim, the offender’s living arrangements, or
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
Understanding Psychology and Crime; Perspectives on Theory and Action, New York. PENNINGTON, D ( 2002) , Introducing Psychology: Approaches, Topics and Methods, London, Hodder Arnold TANNENBAUN, B, (2007),Profs link criminal behaviour to genetics [online] , Available at: http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2007/11/profs_link_criminal_behavior_to_genetics [accessed 16th October 2011]. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/41182390/Explanations-of-Criminal-behaviour