Unit 5: Criminal Profiling

Unit 5: Criminal Profiling

Offender Profiling

Psychological Autopsies

Criminal Profiling: Types of Criminals, Crime scene

analysis, Investigative psychology: David Canter’s
five factor analysis, geographical profiling
 Criminal Profiling and
Psychological Autopsie

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Much of the public was
introduced to the practice of
criminal profiling by the
Academy Award–winning film
The Silence of the Lambs.

In that film, a young FBI agent

named Starling and her boss
are on the trail of a serial killer
who murders young white
women and cuts away large
pieces of their skin.
• Boss: Look at these [photographs], Starling. Tell me what you see.
• Starling: Well, he’s a white male; serial killers tend to hunt within their
own ethnic groups. He’s not a drifter; he’s got his own house
somewhere, not an apartment. Boss: Why?
• Starling: What he does with them takes privacy. He’s in his thirties or
forties. He’s got real physical strength, combined with an older man’s
self-control. He’s cautious, precise. He’s never impulsive; he’ll never
stop.
• Boss: Why not? Starling: He’s got a real taste for it now; he’s getting
better at his work. Boss: Not bad, Starling
 Criminal Profiling
• Possible solution to battling serial offences
• A behavioral and investigative tool that is intended to
help investigators to accurately predict and profile the
characteristics of unknown criminal subjects or
offenders.
 Criminal Profiling
Some Assumptions of the Profiling Process
1. The Crime Scene reflects the personality.
– Manner of death
– Organized or disorganized crime scene
2. Methods of operation remain similar.
- Clues left could be a “signature” of the killer.
3. The “signature” will remain the same.
- Unique manner in which a crime is committed.
- Manner, words used, something left at the scene.
4. The criminal’s personality will not change.
- Core personality cannot change.
Psychological profiling Offenders
 Assumptions about the offender- By
profiling
• Particular way they do the crime- Offenders signature
• We are interested in age, gender, ethnicity, occupation and
educational level, also physical and behavioral charactertiscs of
the offender.
 Top- down
• The top-down approach is the method of offender profiling used
by the FBI. This approach is typology lead, as investigators will use
detail from the crime scene to decide whether they believe the
offender to be ‘organised’ or ‘disorganised’, and thus
characteristics they are likely to possess.
• Personal experience and intution.

• sexually motivated serial killers, allowing for the pattern of either

‘organised’ or ‘disorganised’ offenders to be recognised, and the
way that these different offender types were reflected in the crimes
of the convicted murders that were interviewed.
• This allows investigators to use these typologies, in a reversed manner, to point towards
the likely characteristics of an offender based on details of the crime.
• The organised typology refers to an offender who is likely to be intelligent, have a skilled
occupation, and be socially competent, as well as many other characteristics, and an
organised offender can be recognised by features of the crime such as it being planned,
very self-controlled, the body and weapons being in different locations, a clean crime
scene, and the victim being a stranger.
• This vastly differs from the disorganised typology, which applies to offenders that are
likely to be socially inadequate, live alone, unskilled in work, and are also likely to know
the victim. A disorganised offender can be recognised by features such as the crime
being unplanned, clues being left and the weapon being left at the crime scene, and not
being in control which could be evidenced by eye contact with the victim being avoided.
• Step 1: Data assimiliation (Chosen victim, autopsy, witness,
photography)
• Step2: Category of- organized / disorgnised
• Step3: Crime reconstuction – sequences of behavior before and
after the offend( hypothesis).
• Step4: Profile generation: age, gender, phyical etc...
 Bottom-up approach

• The bottom-up approach is the offender profiling method that is

used in Britain, which starts with small details of data and then
builds up to the bigger picture. Unlike the top-down approach, as
this technique is data driven there are no initial assumptions made
regarding the offender.
• This approach is focused largely on investigative psychology,
such as interpersonal coherence and forensic awareness, and
geographical profiling, such as whether there is a centre of gravity
that the crimes are based around, and if the crimes are being
committed close to this centre point, or the offender is travelling
away from it.
• The bottom-up approach relies heavily on computer databases
and a programme known as Smallest space analysis, allowing for
patterns to be detected highlighting if a series of offences are
connected.
• All data analysied statistically
• Interpersoanl coherance:- interaction style with victim eg-
agreessive, manupulative, shy.
• Time and place significance:- mental model of env(
Schema's) offender more likely to feel comfortable and in control.
• Criminal Characterstics: evdince from previous crime
• Criminal Career:- becoming more expert with crimes over period
of time
Geographic Profiling: An Alternative to Intuition
CRIMINAL SPACIAL MAPPING

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• Geographic profiling relies on maps and mathematics. Key
locations associated with serial crimes—particularly crime scenes,
but also places where bodies have been dumped or where
witnesses have spotted suspicious activities—are plotted on a
detailed computerized map (Rossmo & Velarde, 2008).
• Computer programs with catchy names such as “Predator” and “Dragnet” crunch the
data to estimate the general vicinity of the criminal’s home or place of work, or the
potential location of his next crime . Often, investigators assume that a serial offender
stays within a geographic comfort zone and is likely to be caught in that zone. The
spatial map can be quite detailed, including high crime risk locations such as bars,
nightclubs, parking lots, areas around college campuses, rest stops, and jogging paths.
• As the number of crimes increases, so should the usefulness of the spatial map.
• Unlike speculations about a killer’s personality, a geographic profile has direct
implications for investigators; it suggests where to place stakeouts, where to set traps,
and where to find potential witnesses who might have seen something suspicious
• Geographic profiling has proven useful in some actual cases. For
example, one such profile helped identify a serial killer who had
killed women in several states. His victims were found along
major interstate highways. Overlaying the spatial pattern of
killings with major trucking routes helped police to find the truck
driver responsible for the murders. In a similar case, the so-called
“Railway Killer” was identified when investigators developed a
geographic profile revealing that all the killings had occurred near
railway tracks—the killer turned out to be a transient who hopped
freight trains to get from one place to another (Hickey & Harris,
• Computer programs often look for an anchor point from where
criminals might launch attacks, and some assume a buffer zone
around a criminal’s home, where he is less likely to commit
crimes. Many programs work on the principle of distance decay,
meaning that the probability of an attack decreases as distance
from past crime locations increases (Chainey & Tompson, 2008;
Hammond & Youngs, 2011)
• Whereas intuitive profiling relies on the application of human
judgment and experience, geoprofiling relies on using statistical
techniques to uncover patterns in a criminal’s movements and
environment.
• In general, statistical approaches have been found to be superior
to intuitive approaches (see Chapter 15). Because geoprofiling is
primarily a statistical application that provides concrete
information useful in allocating investigative resources, it is more
promising than the intuitive personality profiling so often
depicted in books, movies, and television shows.
• But it is not as glamorous or dramatically powerful. Most of us are
fascinated with psychological analyses of depravity, but not with
statistical analyses of movement patterns.
Predictive Policing: Profiling the Time and Place
of Future Crimes by James Vlaho
• Predictive policing techniques combine traditional criminal data
with unorthodox information to generate predictions about where
crime is likely to happen in the future.
• Police computers analyze each crime by time of day, day of the
week, and day of the month. Offense locations are parsed by
street address, as well as by proximity to places such as ATMs,
parks, and bars. ftware does not even need to start with a theory
from human overseers, although that can be helpful; the
computers can instead troll an ocean of data and devise predictive
algorithms automatically, a process known as rule induction. Feed
• The computers are supplied with the paydays of major local
employers . . . and the schedules at local concert and sports
venues. Everything from the timing of gun shows to the weather
and phase of the moon is deemed potentially important.
• Evaluating how all these factors might influence future crime
requires a partnership between people and machines, with each
bringing different strengths to the table. Computers are better at
flagging statistical trends, but cops still have to interpret them,
says Lt.
• the computers can instead troll an ocean of data and devise
predictive algorithms automatically, a process known as rule
induction.
• Feed the computer a set of data, and the software will trace
combinations of factors that lead to crime, prompting guesses
about how novel combinations influence overall future risk.
• For example, what might happen when there is a gun
show scheduled on the same weekend that the weather forecast
calls for a heat wave or when there will be a full moon the night
of an upcoming payday?
 Geographic Profiling
• Search area? ?? - narrow down
• Least effort prinicpal:- The offender choose the most
closest ...multiple equal potential
• Ds
• https://youtu.be/DQjYs-D729E?si=VMpZ1zUDMyhVgB-1
The Process of
Profiling
• Profiling is the process of drawing inferences about a criminal’s personality, behavior, motivation,
and demographic characteristics based on crime scenes and other evidence.
• Profiling techniques have been most famously applied to cases involving serial killers—murderers
who kill three or more people in separate events with a cooling-off period between murders.
• Since developing these profiling techniques, the FBI has trained thousands of law enforcement
officers in their use
• To create a tentative description—or profile—of the criminal, profilers
analyze the crime scenes, gather information about the victims, and
study both police and autopsy reports.
• Profiles provide leads for police and help focus the efforts of
investigators. For example, officers might be told to look for a white
male in his 20s who works nights and lives in a particular part of a city.
• A profile might also be used to set a trap for the criminal. For
example, if police are looking for a serial killer who preys on young
prostitutes with long dark hair, an officer with long dark hair may pose
as a prostitute in an effort to attract and entrap the killer.
• Profilers emphasize the importance of the
signature aspect of the crime— the
distinctive, personal feature of the crime
(e.g., a particular form of torture or a
particular sexual activity) that presumably
reveals the killer’s personality.
• According to John Douglas, one of the
agents who developed the FBI’s system,
the methods used to abduct, transport, or
dispose of victims may change, but the
signature will remain relatively constant
because it is “why he does it: the thing
that fulfills him emotionally . . . the
emotional reason he’s committing the
crime in the first place” (Douglas &
Olshaker, 1997, p. 26)
• The process requires a series of inferential
leaps that can be succinctly summarized as
moving from “what?” to “why?” to “who?”
(Pinizzotto & Finkel, 1990).
• reach conclusions about why the killer
committed the crime.
• An understanding of why then leads to
inferences about the perpetrator’s
characteristics and identity.
• According to Douglas:

The key attribute necessary to be a good

profiler is judgment—a judgment based not
primarily on the analysis of facts and figures,
but on instinct. . . . and ultimately, it comes
down to the individual analyst’s judgment
rather than any objective scale or test. (
Douglas & Olshaker, 1997, p. 15)
He further explains that it’s very important to
get into the mind of not only the killer, but
into the mind of the victim at the time the
crime occurred. That’s the only way you’re
going to be able to understand the dynamics
of the crime—what was going on between the
victim and the offender. (p. 17)
• In movie and television depictions of the
technique, profilers seem to be as much psychics
as investigators. They often enter a trancelike
state that allows them to inhabit the mind of a
serial killer, to imagine what the killer saw and felt
at the time of the killing. As Douglas writes:
• What I try to do is to take in all the evidence I have
to work with . . . then put myself mentally and
emotionally in the head of the offender. I try to
think as he does. Exactly how this happens, I’m
not sure. . . . If there’s a psychic component to this,
I won’t run from it. ( Douglas & Olshaker, 1997, p.
147)
• In literary and media portrayals, the profiler–hero arrives
at the scene of a stalled murder investigation, immerses
himself or herself in the details of gruesome crimes, and
uses mysterious psychological methods to infiltrate the
mind and motivations of the killer.
• Empowered by the profiler’s special insights,
investigators capture the killer (Gregoriou, 2011).
• Many first-person accounts of profiling written by former
FBI agents also follow a formula: a narrative of the case
to be solved, a description of the profile developed by
the FBI to assist investigators, a comparison of the
characteristics of the actual killer with the profile, and a
claim of astonishing accuracy (Risinger & Loop, 2002).
Famous Profiles

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First Criminal Profile -“Jack the Ripper”
In that year, “Jack the Ripper” terrorized the East End of London,
strangling and slitting the throats of at least five prostitutes (the exact
number is a matter of some controversy).
The murders were daring and gruesome: The women were attacked
and killed on public streets, their bodies were mutilated, and in some
cases, internal organs were removed and taken from the crime scene.
The still-warm corpses were discovered lying in the streets soon after
the ripper had fled the scene. Dr. Bond performed autopsies on two of
the victims.
 Physical and psychological characteristics of the
ripper based on the characteristics of the crimes
• ● “A man of great physical strength.” (He managed to swiftly subdue his victims; none were able to escape or successfully call out
for help.)
• ● “A man of great coolness and daring.” (His savage crimes were committed efficiently and in public spaces where they could have
been witnessed by passersby.)
• ● “The murderer in external appearance is quite likely to be a quiet, inoffensive looking man probably middle-aged and neatly and
respectably dressed.” (He managed to enter and exit the crime scene without detection, so he apparently blended in and did not
call attention to himself.)
• ● “He must be in the habit of wearing a cloak or overcoat.” (It would have been impossible to kill and mutilate his victims swiftly
without getting blood on his hands and clothes, and a large cloak or coat would hide the blood.)
• ● “[S]olitary and eccentric in his habits, also he is most likely to be a man without regular occupation.” (Someone capable of such
depravity would have difficulty interacting with others without raising suspicion or discomfort.)

• Unfortunately, Jack the Ripper was never caught, so we cannot assess the accuracy of Bond’s pioneering profile. However, it
appears to be the first systematic profile offered to assist police in a criminal investigation
Characteristics of Serial Killers
• Many suffer from some form of brain injury that impairs rational thinking.
• Characteristics of Serial Killers physical, sexual, and/or psychological abuse during
childhood.
• Maladjustment during their childhood sometimes expresses itself in cruelty
toward animals (Hickey & Harris, 2013).
• Most seek to dominate their victims before killing them. They tend not to kill
using guns, preferring more intimate methods such as strangulation, stabbing, or
even torture.
• Before killing, they often drink alcohol or use other drugs, perhaps to desensitize
themselves and lower inhibitions. They tend to select victims of a particular
type—for example, only light-skinned adolescent boys.
• Serial killers often show an obsessive interest in violent pornography, and serial
killing is often a highly sexualized crime.
• A killer’s violent sexual fantasies may serve as rehearsals for his crimes, and many
serial killers replay past killings in their minds as a means of sexual self-
stimulation.
• Some have even made videotapes of their killings so that they could watch them
repeatedly. To feed their fantasy life, a few keep souvenirs from their victims (e.g.,
a lock of hair) and collect newspaper clippings describing their crimes (Fox &
Levin, 2011).
• However, female serial killers tend not to fit this general pattern. Instead, they
tend to seek out relatively powerless victims (children, the ill, and the elderly),
are more likely to kill members of their own family, and are more likely to be
motivated by money (Harrison, Murphy, Ho, Bowers, & Flaherty, 2015
The Process of Profiling. Characteristics of the
crime scene lead to inferences about the
criminal’s motives, which lead to inferences about
the identity
[object File] of the criminal
Research on Profiling
• An early experimental study compared the accuracy of profiles
produced by four different groups: undergraduate college students,
clinical psychologists with no profiling experience, police detectives
without training in profiling techniques, and police detectives who
had completed an FBI profiling training program (Pinizzotto & Finkel,
1990).
• All groups evaluated two actual cases—a homicide and a sex offense.
• All groups evaluated two actual cases—a homicide and a sex offense. The
crimes had already been solved, so the true characteristics of the offenders
were known
• All groups evaluated the same evidence: crimescene photographs,
information about the victim, autopsy reports, and reports written by
officers on the scene and detectives investigating the case.
• Analyses did reveal differences among the groups, the biggest differences
being between the trained profiler group and all other groups.
• The trained profilers studied the materials more closely, spent more time
writing their reports, wrote longer reports, and made more specific
inferences about the offender’s characteristics. Nevertheless, their profiles
were significantly more accurate only for the sex offender case, where the
profiles constructed by the profilers were twice as accurate as the profiles
constructed by the police detectives and several times more accurate than
 Crime Scene Analysis:

• Physical Evidence Examination: Profilers examine the crime scene for physical evidence,
including the placement of items, the nature of injuries inflicted on victims, and any forensic
evidence left behind.
• Modus Operandi (MO): Profilers differentiate between the modus operandi (the offender's
method of committing the crime) and the signature (unique behaviors or rituals). Understanding
the MO helps investigators identify similarities with other crimes and determine if they are
dealing with a serial offender.
• Victimology: Profilers analyze the characteristics of the victim, including age, gender,
relationship to the offender, and lifestyle. Victimology can reveal patterns and motives behind
the crime.
• Behavioral Analysis: Profilers examine the offender's behavior at the crime scene, including
actions taken before, during, and after the crime. This analysis can provide insights into the
offender's psychological state and potential motives
OFFENDER CHARACTERSTICS
• Demographics: Profilers attempt to determine the offender's demographic characteristics,
such as age, gender, race, and socioeconomic background. This information helps narrow
down the pool of potential suspects.
• Psychological Profiling: Profilers use psychological principles to create a profile of the
offender's personality, behavioral tendencies, and potential psychopathology. This includes
assessing factors like narcissism, sadism, or antisocial behavior.
• Motives: Profilers seek to understand the underlying motives driving the offender's criminal
behavior. These motives can range from revenge and power to financial gain or sexual
gratification.
• Escalation and De-escalation: Profilers assess whether the offender's behavior is escalating,
de-escalating, or remaining consistent over time. This information can help predict the
likelihood of future crimes and their severity.
Victimology:

• Victim Profiles: Profilers create profiles of the victims to understand commonalities and patterns. This includes
factors like age, gender, occupation, and lifestyle.
• Target Selection: Profilers examine why specific individuals were chosen as victims. Understanding the selection
process can reveal the offender's motives and preferences.
• Links Between Victims: Profilers look for connections between victims in cases of serial offenses. These connections
can help establish a link between seemingly unrelated crimes and identify a serial offender
Problems and
Promise
Assumptions

First, crime-scene
Second, particular crime-
characteristics do not Third, referring to vague
scene characteristics do
seem to fit into neatly abilities such as “instinct”
not appear to be reliably
bound categories such as or “intuition” or
associated with particular
“organized” or “experience” should not
criminal personality types.
“disorganized.” Instead, be mistaken for clear
The data simply do not
they seem to fall along a explanations of the
allow us to conclude that
continuum, with a few inference process. We do
if a crime scene has a
extreme examples being not know how the
particular characteristic,
entirely organized or inference process of
the perpetrator must
entirely disorganized, but profilers works or how it
therefore be a particular
most displaying a should work.
type of person.
combination of types.
Cross-Situational Consistency

If based only on your behavior in a college library, that profile would be very
different from the one we would create if we looked only at your behavior at
parties, and that profile would be still different from the one we would create if we
looked only at your behavior during family gatherings.
Context matters. In murder cases, the victim’s characteristics (e.g., weak or strong,
compliant or defiant), the setting (e.g., secluded or populated), and the killer’s
emotional state (e.g., agitated or calm) can vary.
If changing situations lead to differences in the crime scenes, then the resulting
profiles would also differ. Indeed, sometimes investigators erroneously conclude
that two crimes are so similar that the same person must have committed them, or
they erroneously conclude that two crime scenes are so different that two different
perpetrators must be involved. The process of determining whether the same
person committed two or more crimes is called case linkage (Bennell, Snook,
MacDonald, House, & Taylor, 2012
The Utility of Inferences
• Many profiles include speculations that are interesting but of little use to
investigators (Alison, McLean, & Almond, 2007; Devery, 2010).
• For example, consider these speculations about the interpersonal traits of serial
killers drawn from profiles: “unsure of himself,” “has problems with women,”
“poor heterosocial skills.”
• Do you know any males who are not occasionally unsure of themselves and who
do not have problems with women at times? Do such speculations really help us
narrow down the population of suspects? I
• n an analysis of 21 American and European profiles created over several years,
researchers found that more than 80% of the statements made by profilers were
unsupported—that is, the rationales for the statements were not articulated.
Further, nearly half of the statements could not be verified even after conviction
(e.g., “the killer has a rich fantasy life”), and more than a quarter of the
statements were ambiguous and open to interpretation (e.g., “he will have poor
social skills”)
A lone wolf type of personality.

Immature sexual history.

Heavily into masturbation.

Women he’s been with are either many years younger, very naïve, or much older and depend on him as their meal ticket.

He drives a decent automobile, but it will be nondescript.

Lower-middle class, probably living in a rental.

Middle-class and articulate.

People might say they remember him but don’t really know much about him.
In his mid- to late 30s.

Might be married, but probably divorced.

IQ at least 105, less than 145.

This guy isn’t mental, but he’s crazy like a fox.

Maybe connected with the military.

A “now” person needing instant gratification.

Holds a lower-paying white-collar job, as opposed to blue-collar.

Might wear a uniform for his job.

He can function in social settings, but only on the surface.

He may have women friends he can talk to, but he’d feel very inadequate with a peer-group female.

Women who have had sex with this guy would describe him as aloof and uninvolved.
Scenario 1: The
Burglary

• Crime Scene Description: A

suburban home's front door has
been forced open. The living
room is in disarray, with furniture
overturned and drawers pulled
out. Valuables, including jewelry
and electronics, have been
stolen. No signs of violence or
harm to the residents
• Victim Characteristics:
• The homeowners are a middle-aged couple who were away on vacation. They
have a teenage daughter who was at a friend's house during the incident
 Available Evidences
• Fingerprints on the front door and inside the
house.
• A partially open window at the back of the
house.
• A neighbor's security camera footage
showing a suspicious vehicle parked nearby
Mentalist
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYhFAOUt1Fs