Criminal Profiling and Investigative Analysis

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to criminal profiling and investigative analysis.

Criminal Profiling

The process of studying the details of a crime to make predictions about the person who committed the crime.

Modus Operandi

The actions and behaviors that were needed to commit the crime, including planning and control over the victim.

Decision Process

The step in criminal investigative analysis where information is arranged into meaningful patterns to analyze victim and offender risk.

Organized Crime Scene

A crime scene that shows planning and premeditation, with a conscious effort to avoid getting caught.

Disorganized Crime Scene

A crime scene marked by spontaneity, lack of planning, and often violent assaults on victims chosen at random.

Behavioral Traits

Characteristics used in criminal profiling that indicate probabilities about an offender's identity, not certainties.

Serial Killer

An offender who commits multiple murders linked by a common characteristic, typically defined by the cooling-off period.

Crime Assessment

The stage where profilers reconstructs the sequence of events during a crime and analyze the offender's behavior.

Components of a Criminal Profile

Includes data about the perpetrator such as race, gender, age range, marital status, and past offenses.

FBI's Behavioral Sciences Unit

Created in 1972 to help law enforcement with difficult cases, including serial crimes like murder and arson.