Criminal Profiling

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Criminal Profiling
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Criminal Psychology

• refers to the study of the mental and behavioral
  characteristics of people who break laws
• Criminal/Forensic psychologists sometimes focus
  on serial killer profiles

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Homicidal Triad of Symptoms

• 3 behavioral characteristics that are associated
  with sociopathic behavior
• Sociopath a person whose behavior is antisocial
  and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or
  social conscience.
• Triad
• 1. Animal cruelty
• 2. Obsession with fire setting
• 3. Persistent bedwetting past the age of 5
• Many serial killers exhibited these behaviors
  during childhood

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Types of Killers and Types of Profiles

• Killers
• Organized vs. Disorganized
• Profiles
• prospective or retrospective
• Inductive or deductive

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Organized

• High IQ (105-120)
• socially adequate
• lives with partner or dates frequently
• stable father figure
• family physical abuse, harsh
• geographically/occupationally mobile
• follows the news media
• may be college educated
• good hygiene/housekeeping skills
• does not usually keep a hiding place
• diurnal (daytime) habits

• needs to return to crime scene to see what
  police have done
• usually contacts police to play games
• doesnt experiment with self-help
• kills at one site, disposes at another
• may dismember body
• attacks using seduction into restraints
• keeps personal, holds a conversation
• leaves a controlled crime scene
• leaves little physical evidence
• responds best to direct interview
• drives a flashy car

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Disorganized

• IQ below average, 80-95 range
• socially inadequate
• lives alone, usually does not date
• absent or unstable father
• family emotional abuse, inconsistent
• lives and/or works near crime scene
• minimal interest in news media
• usually a high school dropout
• poor hygiene/housekeeping skills
• keeps a secret hiding place in the home
• nocturnal (nighttime) habits
• drives a clunky car or pickup truck

• needs to return to crime scene for reliving
  memories
• may contact victims family to play games
• no interest in police work
• experiments with self-help programs
• kills at one site, considers mission over
• usually leaves body intact
• attacks in a blitz pattern
• depersonalizes victim to a thing or it
• leaves a chaotic crime scene
• leaves physical evidence
• responds best to counseling interview

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Prospective Profile

• attempts to construct a set of characteristics
  common to a specific type of offender.
• These types of profiles are generally templates
  laid over a specific population in an attempt to
  predict who within that group might have an
  elevated potential for committing a certain type
  of violence.

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Retrospective Profile

• an after the fact case specific attempt to define
  the personality and behavioral characteristics of
  the individuals responsible for a specific crime
  or series of crimes.

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Developing a Profile

• Very difficult
• Different methodologies
• Motivation
• Characteristics of serial killer
• Frequency and timing of homicidal behavior
• Holmes typology deductive approach that
  presumes various socio-psychological
  characteristics of the offender

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• Developed from crime scene evidence and autopsy
  data
• How did killer gain access to victim
• What was killers attraction to victim
• What did killer do to the victim
• Did killer try to cover his/her tracks
• MO Modus operandi-describes tools and strategies
  used to carry out the crime
• Try to find killers signature something unique
  to that criminal

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Female Profile Categories-Kehler Typology

• Black Widows
• Angels of Death
• Sexual Predators
• Revenge
• Profit Killers
• Team Killers
• Question of Sanity
• Unexplained
• Unsolved