NCJ Number
176895
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 61 Issue: 1 Dated: February 1999 Pages: 44-46
Date Published
1999
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes the techniques and uses of criminal profiling by the FBI as a form of criminal investigative analysis.
Abstract
Criminal profiling is a process now known in the FBI as criminal investigative analysis. Profilers, or criminal investigative analysts, are highly trained and experienced law enforcement officers who study every behavioral aspect and detail of a violent crime scene in which a certain amount of psychopathology has been left at the scene. Psychopathology involves an offender's behavioral and psychological indicators that are left at a violent crime scene as a result of his physical, sexual, and, in some cases, verbal interaction with the victim. Violent crimes can be profiled only if residual offender psychopathology can be identified. Such crimes include homicides, sexual assaults, kidnappings, extortions, bombings, product tampering, and threats. A profile, or criminal investigative analysis, is an investigative tool, and its value is measured in terms of how much assistance it provides to the investigator. Police reports, crime scene photographs, witness statements, forensic laboratory reports, and, if the case is a homicide, autopsy photographs are provided by the investigating law enforcement agency and are carefully examined for the smallest behavioral detail or nuance. Through this intense review process, a "behavioral" blueprint of the crime and the offender can be constructed. This blueprint allows a profiler to recreate what happened at the scene. In this article, profilers' qualifications and characteristics are discussed, as are the behavioral characteristics of an offender that may be identified by a profiler. The latter include the amount of planning that went into the crime, the degree of control used by the offender, the escalation of emotion at the scene, the risk level of both the offender and victim, and the appearance of the crime scene (disorganized vs. organized). The interpretation process is also outlined. 20 notes and 7 references