Criminal Profiling Flashcards
What is criminal profiling?
a. An investigative technique for identifying personality and behaviour of an individual based on the crimes they commit
b. Most commonly used in serial homicide and rape (or other violent crimes)
c. Helps to narrow down the list of suspects/ provide new lines of inquiry
d. However, it has been used in other situations
What are three occasions in history that started profiling?
- 1400s monks that looked for witches
- Detective novels
- Jack the Ripper
What man started modern criminal profiling
Dr. James Brussel, who investigated the mad bomber case
What are criticisms of Dr. James Brussel
a. Profile was not accurate to the man finally convicted
b. Very general terms to describe suspect didn’t narrow down list
c. Hind sight bias: he changed his original evaluations in light of new evidence
When did profiling begin in the FBI?
Started in 1972, it established its profiling unit, called the Behavioural Science Unit (BSU)
What is the major role of Canada in criminal profiling?
VICLAS
i. Analyzes data from serious crimes across Canada to look for similarities,
ii. Objective: to reduce linkage blindness
What are the big five categories of profiling
- Crime scene profiling
- Geographic profiling
- Psychological profiling
- Suspect-based profiling
- Psychological autopsy
What is crime scene profiling?
- Identifying cognitive tendencies, behavioural patterns, motivation, emotional dispositions, demographic variables
- All based on analysis of the crime scene
- Often involves heavy reliance upon intuition and previous experience
What is geographic profiling
Method of identifying next location of a serial crime.
What is psychological profiling
Used to predict and identify dangerous members of society based on their behavior patterns
What is suspect-based profiling?
Systematic collection of psychological data previous offenders of the crime to determine correlations to specific groups, to identify suspects for further investigation. However, may suffer from racial profiling
What is psychological autopsy
- Reconstruction of emotional behaviour, cognitive patterns, etc of a recently dead person
- Often used in cases of questionable suicide, insurance claims, etc.
- Can give hints to state of mind of person
What are the two types of geographic profiling?
Mapping and spatial profiling
Define mapping
To identify hotspots for certain types of crime
Define Spatial profiling
a. Analysis of the geographic location associated with the spatial movement of a single serial offender or a small cohort of offenders
What are basic assumptions in geographic profiling
- Series of cases linked to one offending party
- You need at least 3-4 cases
- Offenses must have a stable base of operation
- Short time interval between offenses
What are the two types of threats?
Transient and substantive
What are five indicators of substantive threats (with regards to school shooters)
- Specific plausible details
- Threat has been repeated several times
- Evidence to carry out plan
- Person has invited accomplices or observers
- Person has acquired weapons
Define lone wolf terrorists
a. Often disturbed individuals without empathy
b. Design own plan, targets, etc.
What characteristics define organized groups of terrorism?
a. Terrorists in this category are mentally healthy and more stable than violent criminals
b. Effective groups of terrorists exclude unstable people to ensure absence of complications
Define a rationally motivated terrorist
a. Driven by well-defined goals, with social, economic and political drive. Often has the intent to destroy property, but not human life
Define a psychologically motivated terrorist
a. Lone wolves are in this category
b. Focus on physical harm to persons
c. Commits violence out of profound sense of failure
Define a culturally motivated terrorist
a. Motivated by fear of losing cultural identity
b. Politics and religion are closely intertwined
c. The do it from moral belief
d. Usually cannot be negotiated with unless demands are fully met
