Criminal profiling involves developing a psychological profile of a criminal based on the crime scene. It helps label the perpetrator as organized, disorganized, or mixed, and can be used to catch psychopaths, serial killers, arsonists, and rapists. Profiling allows investigators to predict the characteristics of current and future offenders, helping to catch them before they can commit more crimes.
Criminal profiling is the act of developing a psychological profile of a criminal based on the state of the crime scene. Profiling is often done by a forensic psychologist, someone who has studied the criminal mind. This profile can then be used by police departments to assist in catching the criminal.
A profile is a psychological sketch of an offender. There is a lot that a crime scene can tell a forensic psychologist about the person who committed the crime. This is especially true in homicide investigations. Profiling is often used to help investigators catch psychopaths and serial killers who might otherwise be set free. It can also be used to catch other types of criminals, such as arsonists and rapists.
In criminal profiling, a crime scene helps label the perpetrator as organized, disorganized, or mixed. An organized criminal plans ahead, locating the victim in advance. All necessary tools are brought by the offender. He’s meticulous with the details and it’s clear the crime has been well thought out beforehand. This tells a forensic psychologist a lot about the criminal.
Organized offenders tend to be at the top of their family’s birth order, usually an eldest child. They are highly intelligent and usually have their lives together, but a series of stressful situations have prompted them to take action. Most of them have a live-in partner, are socially adept, and will follow media coverage of their crimes very closely.
A spontaneous crime is often the work of a disorganized offender. It will often depersonalize the victim, to make the crime less real and allow them to remain detached throughout the course of the crime. There is very little conversation, if any, between the perpetrator and the victim, and the crime scene has a casual, dowdy feel. Profiling allows many conclusions to be drawn about this offender as well. Disorganized offenders are often of average or slightly below average intelligence, for example. They are younger children, live alone and are not as socially mature as an organized criminal. They often live or work near the crime scene and have a poor work history.
A mixed offender is harder to profile, but it’s still possible. The crime scene combines the characteristics of organized and disorganized offenders. For example, the perpetrator may have provided their own tools, but picked a victim at random. Profiling a mixed offender may not be as accurate as other profiles, giving police less of a chance to move forward.
Criminal profiling is used not only to find potential offenders but also to narrow down a list of offenders that has already been compiled by the police. While it doesn’t work in all cases, criminal profiling has helped investigators catch hundreds of criminals. By assessing the patterns and motivations of previous offenders, profiling allows investigators to fairly accurately predict the characteristics of current and future offenders, allowing killers and other perpetrators to be caught before they can move on to other crimes.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
