Criminal Profiling

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Criminal Profiling

• LECTURE/DISCUSSION 1
• The Use of Typologies and Profiles in Criminology
  and Criminal Justice

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Introduction

• This course is intended to provide an academic
  overview of criminal profiling in contrast to how
  the practice is presented in media and pop
  culture.

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Question

• Have you ever met a criminal profiler?. Is
  criminal profiling an actual career?.... Whats
  the difference between a criminal profiler in
  fact versus fiction?

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What is Criminal Profiling?

• DEFINITION The inference of offender
  characteristics from crime scene evidence.
• Criminal profiling is an example of APPLIED
  CRIMINOLOGY.
• Criminal profiling is the reversal of clinical
  assessment and risk prediction.
• As is the case in other areas of forensic
  science, involves identifying class and
  individual characteristics/evidence.

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History of Criminal Profiling

• Profiling is grounded in the study of
  criminology, psychology, and forensic science.
• As an academic area of study, profiling has been
  heavily influenced by popular culture.
• The notion of inferring offender characteristics
  from crime scene evidence has been around in
  popular true crime lore for over 200 years (e.g.
  Whitechapel, Jack the Ripper), fiction (e.g.
  Sherlock Holmes), and popular culture (Profiler,
  Silence of the Lambs, Criminal Minds, Cold Case).
• As a science, profiling originated with aspects
  of positivist criminology the notion that
  criminal behavior is determined by particular
  features and characteristics of an offender.

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The FBI Profilers

• Small but prominent group of profilers who
  popularized the term Criminal Profiling
  beginning in the 1970s in the FBI Behavioral
  Science Unit, now called (since 1984) the
  National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime
  (NCAVC).
• FBI Profilers have published extensively
  including the Crime Classification Manual, Sexual
  Homicide Patterns and Motives, articles in
  academic journals, and true crime novels and are
  responsible for establishing the Violent Criminal
  Apprehension Program (VICAP), the
  Organized/Disorganized Typology and focus on M.O.
  and Signature.

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Some Historical Highlights

• 1940s - First recorded use by psychiatrist Walter
  Langer during WWII commissioned to construct a
  psychodynamic profile of Hitler.
• 1957 - psychiatrist James Brussels worked with
  NYPD to construct a profile of the Mad Bomber.
• 1970s-1980s - FBI (Howard Teten, John Douglas,
  Robert Ressler, Roy Hazelwood, and others) became
  involved in psychological profiling and
  popularized the technique.
• 1990s Present - attempt to scientize profiling
  and move the practice beyond the purview of the
  FBI (by David Canter, Maurice Godwin, Ron Holmes,
  Robert Keppel, Brent Turvey, George Palermo,
  Richard Kocsis and others).

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The THEORY behind Criminal Profiling

• Profiling requires knowledge of interdisciplinary
  criminology and the many frameworks,
  perspectives, disciplines, and theories of which
  it is comprised.
• Profiling requires familiarity with research on
  criminal types or typologies.

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What is a TYPOLOGY?

• The study or systematic classification of types
  that have characteristics or traits in common.
• A particular theory of types.

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Clarification of Terms

• CLASSIFICATION is the systematic grouping into
  categories on the basis of a relationship between
  them.
• A PROFILE is a summary or analysis of data
  representing distinctive features or
  characteristics.
• A TAXONOMY is the division into categories or
  groups.
• A TAXON is an either/or category/
• The terms typology and taxonomy are often used in
  relation to theory development while
  classification and profiles are often used to
  refer to practical application of theory.

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The Process of Typology Construction

• Although all phenomena are unique, we make
  sacrifices in our understanding of variety by
  constructing generalizations, images, and
  concepts in order to know the world around us
  --Types reduce phenomena to a more systematic
  unit of observation.
• Types have been constructed for centuries in the
  study of physical and human phenomena many
  theorists in criminology use LINNAEAN
  CLASSIFICATION of plants and animals as a
  framework.

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How are Typologies Constructed?

• Subjective impressions of IDEAL TYPES (often
  referred to as armchair theorizing).
• Attributes or features of central importance to a
  particular theory are organized into categories.
• Variables of interest are pragmatically combined
  into types.
• Categories are generated by multivariate
  statistical methods into EMPIRICAL TYPES.

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Typologies and the Scientific Method

• Typologies assist in the formation of hypotheses
  and serve as guides for research by
• Formulating hypotheses based on characteristics
  of types.
• Giving characteristics an empirical
  interpretation
• Incorporating a special case into a more
  comprehensive theory.
• Specifying characteristics with which a theory is
  to deal
• Typologies can lead to theories and theories can
  be the basis for typologies involves a
  reflexive relationship between INDUCTIVE and
  DEDUCTIVE approaches.

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Typologies in Criminology/Criminal Justice

• Typologies of crime and criminals can be
• LEGALISTIC
• SOCIAL
• PSYCHOLOGICAL
• MULTI-TRAIT
• Each differs with respect to purpose.

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The Purpose of Classifying and Categorizing in
Criminology and Criminal Justice?

• Typologies are necessary for communication and
  decision-making (in everyday, scientific, and
  professional activities).
• Typologies/Classifications are needed for 4 main
  purposes in criminal justice
• INVESTIGATION
• MANAGEMENT
• TREATMENT
• THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING

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What does all of this have to do with Criminal
Profiling?

• Profiling is an example of one of the many ways
  that typologies are used/theory is applied in the
  criminal justice system.
• CRIMINAL PROFILING is the process of inferring
  distinctive personality characteristics of
  individuals responsible for committing criminal
  acts based on the premise that the way a person
  thinks directs the persons behavior.

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Question

• Whats the difference between a Criminal
  Profile and a Racial Profile?

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Criminal Profiling, Forensic Science, and
Forensic Psychology

• Criminal Profiling is one of the many tools used
  in crime scene investigations to supplement other
  FORENSIC SCIENCE techniques.
• While criminal profiling fits the general
  definition of FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY/SCIENCE in that
  it involves application of psychological concepts
  to the legal system, many do not include
  profiling under the rubric of forensic
  psychology.

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Controversy over Criminal Profiling as Forensic
Psychology or Forensic Science

• Criminal profiling is not generally viewed as
  science because
• Training has been controlled by the FBI.
• The number of profiling jobs is miniscule
  compared to the intense level of interest.
• The majority of people who do profiling did not
  do graduate work in psychology.
• Even experienced profilers acknowledge that
  profiling is more art than science.
• Expert testimony on profiling may not meet
  standards for the admissibility of scientific
  evidence

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Professionalizing Criminal Profiling.

• There is movement toward professionalizing
  criminal profiling which includes holding it to
  standards of scientific scrutiny.
• Issues that hinder professionalization
• Ego wars
• Sloppy research methods
• Unwillingness to share case information.

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Key Terms

• Classification
• Typology
• Profile
• Taxonomy/ Taxon
• Homogeneity/Heterogeneity
• Linnaean Classification
• Personality Disorder
• Categorical/Dimensional

• Exhaustive/Mutually Exclusive
• Ideal/Empirical Type
• Interdisciplinary criminology
• Applied criminology
• Forensic Science
• Forensic Psychology