Why Are Offender Profiles Are Not Useful In Criminal Investigation Essay

Offender profiling is often promoted as being a proven method in assisting criminal investigations and catching criminals, but there remains an abundance of inconsistencies and issues surrounding this method within the criminology and criminal justice field, and on its eligibility to be used as a solid method of apprehending offenders. Evidence gained within approximately the last decade strongly supports the argument that offender profiles are not useful for police to use in investigations. This essay will outline the reasons why offender profiles are not useful in police investigations, and will address how offender profiles can negatively influence an investigation and its outcome, reflect upon the reality that offender profilers are not regulated, and discuss why offender profiling is not an accurate science.

The use of offender profiles can negatively influence an investigation and its outcome. In a

107), and qualifications equated to a higher level of accuracy and therefore in cases, officers allowed for profilers to lead investigations entirely (Gekoski & Gray, 2011). Officers made further comment that during their investigations, profilers controlled leads, handled suspects, and led interviews (Gekoski & Gray, 2011). Alarmingly, officers admitted in certain circumstances, their own conducted investigations heavily breached Police and Criminal Evidence Act, or PACE, as a direct result of the influence and intervention from a profiler (Gekoski & Gray, 2011). If a profiler were to consciously or subconsciously interfere, influence, or alter an investigation or the opinions of those involved in any way, such actions can hold negative ramifications “in terms of both the police investigation and any subsequent prosecution” (Gekoski & Gray, 2011, p.