The history of psychological profiling PDF

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Topic: The history of psychological profiling Criminal profiling entails an investigation to a crime based on the motive of identifying the accountable individual through use of analysis of the crime scene, behavioral science and use of investigative psychology. A BSU (Behavioral Science Unit) was founded by the FBI in 1974 for the investigation of homicide and rape cases. John Douglas an FBI agent decide to interview the incarcerated offenders in order to understand their criminal motives, the crime details, evidence disposal, victim bodies and their plans and preparations towards a crime (Bonn, 2015). The goal behind that was to establish a database that could match offender motives with the information acquired at the crime scene. However Douglas and his colleagues faced problems of analyzing and sharing the data acquired. Over time VICAP which was a computerized database system was established to aid in the analysis of data and information from crime scenes.to formalize the use of VICAP, a crime analysis center called NCAVC was established for further analysis of missing people, murders not yet solved and human unidentified bodies. The artificial intelligent software, VICAP, has been improved over time and integrated in the NCAVC to create profilers for crime analysis. Finally the profilers which used logic and statistics developed and were integrated in the FBI system thereby forming a criminal profiling system for the FBI. According to study made on 113 investigators in the police department, 63.7% of them confirmed that psychological profiling is a key system in investigation and 62.8% confirmed that the use of Profilers was useful in investigations (Jung, 2014). After the interview of the police investigators 71.4% agreed that they would use profilers for more the police work. In this regard, criminal profiling is conformed to be an investigative tool and techniques towards analysis of criminal cases towards justice. Criminal profiling has been used by investigators to solve the complicated cases. A profiler does not identify an offender but rather does analysis and provides information which the police use to match with the right offender (Morton, 2016). The cases for which criminal profiling could work best include sexual assaults, serial killers, homicide, manslaughter as well as violent theft. Such cases many pose challenges to investigators trying to identify the offender form suspects. Therefore due to the complexity of such cases, artificial intelligent system such as a profiler could be used to solve the case. In establishing a psychological profile there are five main steps ("Steps Involved in Criminal Profiling", 2019). First, all information d data collected from the crime scene as well as the physical evidence available is analyzed. Secondly, in the case of witnesses, their statements and any victim’s account concerning the crime are reviewed. For a murder case, the autopsy report is reviewed as well. Thirdly, any series of occurrences to and during the crime are proposed in the profile. Within the profile, a list of the behavioral and personality characteristics related to the offender is included within the profile. Furthermore, investigators make use of the criminal profile to filter the number of suspects in custody. The profile does not list the possible offender but rather gives descriptions which help the investigators to determine the right offender from suspects. If the no suspect fits the profile, re-evaluation is done either by the initial profiler or given to another profiler to re-examine. Finally, in the case of a suspect being apprehended, the criminal profile undergoes evaluation to establish accuracy of the profile in relation to the offender. When a profile is generated, the actual suspect is compared with the profile

toward establishing the precision of the report made. Psychological profiles can be wrong sometimes but in most cases they have [proven to be effective. In most of the criminal investigations carried out, the victim has been neglected and focused on establishing evidence. In the absence of viable suspects, few clues collected from scene of crime and witnesses give unproductive leads, thorough understanding of a victim sets in (Miller, 2008). Such understanding involves information of the victim’s home, workplace, personality, social and marital statuses as well as victim’s family. This information can help investigators in relating the psychological profile with the suspects. The information provided can help in establishing a relationship between a victim and the suspects based on the background information of both the victim and the suspect. Psychological profiling entails methods used by investigators of crimes to establishing a profile for rapists, murders as well as violent criminals who have not yet been apprehended. It is mainly done in the complicated cases that require computerized analysis towards establishing a profile in relation to a specific crime. Offender profiling involves strategies which investigators use in identification of the likely suspect to a crime and establish links with other cases the suspect might have committed. Once background information of a suspect is developed and analyzed an offender profile is established. Crime Scene profiling entails the activities of analyzing a crime scene such as taking pictures and collecting remains and samples that can help in identifying offenders. The crime scene provides information of the ways and tools the offender might have used.

References Bonn, S. (2015). The Birth of Modern Day Criminal Profiling. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/wicked-deeds/201505/the-birth-modern-day-criminal-profiling Miller, L. (2008). Criminal profiling in serial homicide investigations. Retrieved from https://www.policeone.com/investigations/articles/1719635-Criminal-profiling-in-serial-homicideinvestigations/ Jung, S. (2014). A Study on the Effectiveness of Criminal Profiling. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273162993_A_Study_on_the_Effectiveness_of_Criminal_Profili ng Morton, R. (2016). Criminal Profiling: Challenges/Criticisms. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/criminal-profiling Steps Involved in Criminal Profiling. (2019). Retrieved from https://studylib.net/doc/6938975/stepsinvolved-in-criminal-profiling-in-general--five-ste......