Criminal Behavior and Profiling Exam #1

Contains Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

What fields of study does profiling include?

• Clinical Psychology
• Industrial Psychology
• Forensic Psychology

Criminal Profiling

Inferring the traits of individuals responsible for committing criminal acts

What fields of study does profiling include?

• Clinical Psychology
• Industrial Psychology
• Forensic Psychology

Criminal Profiling

Inferring the traits of individuals responsible for committing criminal acts

When was Criminal Profiling first traced in history?

The blood libeling of the Jews in Rome during 38 CE

Blood Libel

False accusation of ritual killing

The Malleus Maleficarum

One of the first published texts that offered explicit instructions on the subject and practice of profiling criminal behavior

Witches were women who:

• have a spot, scar, or birthmark
• live alone
• keep pets
• suffer from mental illness
• cultivate medicinal herbs
• have no children

Why was no one allowed to defend witches in court?

The Witches guilt was assumed

Ann Glover’s Trial

The first testimony of profiles of witches were allowed as evidence in court

Fundamental Attribution Error

An individual’s tendency to attribute another’s actions to their character or personality while attributing their behavior to external situational factors outside of their control

Cesare Lombroso

One of the first criminologists to formally classify criminals for statistical comparison

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Outlined evidence-based method of inference and deduction through the character Dr. John Watson

Dr. Johann (Hans) Baptist Gustav Gross

Founding father of modern criminal profiling

O’Connel and Soderman

Published Modern Criminal Investigations. The text provides detailed profiles of different types of criminals who commit burglaries, larceny and robberies

Dr. Paul Kirk

Published Crime Investigation. He focused on physical evidence and provided guidelines for crime reconstruction and arson typologies

Dr. James Brussel

Formed diagnosis of unknown offender’s mental disorder from behaviors at the crime scene by comparing behavior to own experiences with behaviors of patients

When did the FBI’s involvement of profiling begin?

1960

When was the Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) established?

1980s

Behavioral Science Unit (BSU)

Involved in profiling related research, education, and training in case consultation

When was the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) established?

1990s

What fields of study are included in modern criminal profiling?

• Criminology
• Psychology
• Psychiatry
  • Forensic Science

Modern Criminal Profiling

Involves the inference of criminal characteristics for investigative and judicial purposes

Criminal Profile

A collection of inferences about the qualities of the person responsible for committing a crime or a series of crimes

Inference

A particular type of conclusion based on evidence and reasoning

Speculation

A conclusion based on theory or conjecture without firm evidence

Observer effects

Present when the results of a forensic examination are distorted by the context and mental state of the examiner

What is the first step that can blunt the effects of bias?

Adherence to the scientific method

Scientific Method

A way to investigate how or why something works or how something happened through the development of hypotheses and subsequent attempts at falsification through testing and other accepted means

Falsification

The act of refuting or disproving a hypothesis or a theory

Scientific Theory

If the hypothesis remains standing after a succession of the tests or experiments fail to disprove it

Scientific Principles

Scientific theories that withstand the test of time and study

Critical Thinking

Indiscriminately questioning all evidence and assumptions, no matter their source

Logic

The process of argumentation and the science of valid thought and reasoning

Basic principles of logic:

• The principle of identity
• The principle of the excluded middle
• The principle of sufficient reason

The Principle of Identity

This principle may be used to argue for individually profiling particular crimes; that is, treating each case as an individual event, rather than as an extension of “similar” crimes

The Principle of the Excluded Middle

Either a crime (or an action) has occurred, or it has not

The Principle of Sufficient Reason

Everything in the known universe has an explanation for it’s existence

Induction

Comparative, correlation, or statistical process, often reliant on subjective expertise

Deduction

Forensic evidence-based, process-oriented method of investigative reasoning about the behavior or a particular offender

Inductive Argument

Where the conclusion is made likely, a matter of some probability, by offering supporting conclusions

What are the two types of inductive arguments?

Inductive generalizations and Statistical arguments

Deductive Arguments

If the premises are true, then the conclusions must be true

Logical Fallacies

Errors in reasoning that essentially deceive those whom they are intended to convince

What are examples of Fallacies of Logic

• Suppressed evidence or card stacking
• Appeal to authority
• Appeal to tradition
• Argument ad hominem (argument to the man)
• Emotional appeal
• Post Hoc, Ergo Prpter Hoc (after this, therefore because of this)
• Hasty Generalizations
• Sweeping Generalisations
• False precision

Suppressed evidence or card stacking

This is a one-sided argument that presents only evidence favoring a particular conclusion and ignores or downplays the evidence against it

ex; distortions, exaggerations, misstatements of fact, or outright lies

Appeal of Authority

Occurs when someone offers a conclusion based on the stated authority or expertise of themselves or others

Appeal to Tradition

Reasons that a conclusion is correct simply because it is older, traditional, or “has always been so”

Argument ad Hominem (argument to the man)

Attacks an opponent’s character rather than an opponent’s reasoning

Emotional Appeal

Attempts to gain favor based on arousing emotions or sympathy to subvert rational thought

Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (After this, therefore because of this)

Occurs when one jumps to a conclusion about causation based on a correlation between two events, or type of events, that occur sumultaneously

Hasty Generalizations

Occurs when one forms a conclusion based on woefully incomplete information or by examining only a few specific cases that are not representative of all possible cases

Sweeping Generalizations

Occurs when one forms a conclusion by examining what occurs in many cases and assumes that it must or will be so in a particular case

False precision

Occurs when an argument treats information as being more precise than it really is

Netacognition

Refers to one’s ability to estimate how well one is performing, when one is likely to be accurate, and when one is likely to be in error

Metacognitive Dissonance

Refers to believing oneself capable of recognizing one’s own errors in thinking, reasoning, and learning despite either a lack of evidence or overwhelming evidence to the contrary

Charles Darwin

Stated “Science requires the imposition of our hypotheses and theories on the facts to give them meaning…our speculations bring order to chaos”

Turvey

Stated “When confronted with a particular crime or an allegation of a crime, it is indeed the job of the criminal profiler to draw from broad theoretical knowledge to theorize. This is best accomplished when limited to the factual and trustworthy evidence that has been established from a scientific standpoint”

Idiographic Knowledge

Refers to the study of concrete, as it describes a specific person that does not exist

What is a primary goal of ideographic (deductive) profiling?

To study and determine the unique characteristics of the particular offender(s) responsible for a specific crime and the particular victims involved

Nomothetic Knowledge

Refers to the study of the abstract, as it results in an average that may not exist in the real world

What is a primary goal of nomothetic criminal profiling?

To accumulate general, typical, common, or averaged characteristics of offender groups

Nomothetic Offender Profiles

Characteristics developed by studying groups of offenders

Nomothetic Profiles

Those who use nomothetic methods to build knowledge about different categories of crime and groups of criminals

What are the four main types of nomothetic profiling methods?

• Criminal Investigative Analysis (CIA)
• Diagnostic Evaluations (DE)
• Investigative Psychology (IP)
  • Geographic profiling

The vast majority of criminal profiling methodology is based primarily on (nomothetic or ideographic) study

Nomothetic study

Criminal Investigative Analysis (CIA)

An investigative process developed by the FBI that identifies the offender’s major personality and behavioral characteristics based on the crimes he or she has committed - in other words The FBI’s term for criminal profiling

Retrospective Profile

Defined as “an after-the-fact cased-specific attempt to define the personality and behavioral characteristics of the individuals responsible for a specific crime or series of crimes”

Organized Crimes

The crime scene is one with evidence of planning, where the victim is a targeted stranger, the crime scene reflects overall control, there are restraints used, and aggressive acts occur before death

What suggests that an offender is organized?

• Average or above-average intelligence
• Socially competent
• Prefer skilled work
• Higher birth order
• Controlled mood during the crime
• May use alcohol with the crime

Disorganized Crimes

Crime scene shows spontaneity, where the location is known, the crime scene is random and sloppy, there is sudden violence, minimal restraints are used, and there are sexual acts after death

What suggests that an offender is disorganized?

• Below-average intelligence
• Socially inadequate
• Low birth order
• Anxious mood during the crime
• Use minimal amounts of alcohol

Stages of the CIA

• Evaluation of criminal act
• Evaluation of crime scene
• Analysis of victim
• Evaluation of police reports
• Evaluation of autopsy
• Development of profile with offender characteristics
• Investigative suggestions based on profile

Important information to incorporate into a criminal profile

• Details of the crime scene
• Any relationship between the offender and the victim
• Information about the area or vicinity of the crime
• Both the time of day and the day of the week which the crime occurred
• The remoteness of the location
• Any photographs or sketches of the offender or the crime scene
• Eyewitness accounts and/or statements
• Possible motives, signature behaviors, and method of operation (MO)

What are the two categories of offender characteristics?

Hard and soft

Hard Characteristic

Refers to those “offender attributes that are a matter of verifiable, uninterrupted fact”

Soft Characteristics

Those attributes that are a matter of opinion. They require interpretation in order to define them

What are the limitations of Criminal Investigative Analysis?

• Lack of reliability
• Unsystematic gathering of offender biographical material for research/study
• Uncritical reliance upon offender interviews as the source of data worthy of research/study
• Failure to use appropriate control groups
• Uncritical reliance upon law enforcement theories and opinions as fact
• Treatment of investigative hypothesis and theory as fact
• Failure to be forthcoming about the weaknesses of opinions and conclusions
• Failure to compare profiles with actual offenders when outcomes are known
• Failure to base opinions on data susceptible to testing
• Cronyism is evident in both the community and the published research

Diagnostic Evaluations

Services offered by medical and mental health professionals who rely on clinical experience when giving profiling opinions about offenders, crime scenes, or victims

Investigative Psychology

Involves a five-factor model that reflects an offender’s past and present

What is the five-factor model for investigative psychology?

1. Interpersonal Coherence
2. Significance of time and place
3. Criminal Characteristics
4. Criminal Career
5. Forensic Awareness

Interpersonal Coherence

Refers to the way people adopt a style of interaction when dealing with others

Significance of time and place

An offender will feel more comfortable and in control in areas which he knows well

Criminal Characteristics

Provides investigators with some idea about the type of crime they are dealing with

Criminal Career

Provides an understanding of the way offenders may modify behavior in light of experience

Forensic Awareness

May show an increase in learning based on past experience with the criminal justice system

Geographic profiing

Focuses on determining the likely location of the offender’s home, place of work, or some other anchor point

What three theories is Geographic Profiling based on?

1. Least effort principle
2. Distance decay
3. The circle theory

Least effort principle

Suggests that given two alternative courses of action, people will choose the one that requires the least effort - that is, people will adopt the easiest course of action

Distance decay

Refers to the idea that the frequency of an offender’s crimes decreases as he or she travels farther from home

The circle theory

Two models of offender behavior were developed from the circle theory: Marauder and Commuter

Marauder

The offender will “strike out” from their base in the commission of their crimes.

Commuter

Offenders will travel a distance from their base before engaging in criminal activity

Forensic Psychiatrist

A physician who specializes in psychiatry after completing medical school, with board certification in forensic psychiatry, who for court purposes regularly evaluates and diagnoses patients with physical and mental illness

Forensic Psychologist

Typically a person with at least a Ph.D. level education in psychology, with board certification in forensic psychology, who regularly preforms and interprets psychological measures and evaluates and diagnoses patients with mental illnesses for court purposes

Competency to stand trail

Relates to a defendant’s current ability to understand his or her legal predicament and to assist an attorney with his or her defense

Insanity (criminal responsibility)

Refers to the defendant’s mental state at the time of the offense

Andrea Yates

In 2001 she drowned her 5 children - believed her children would suffer in hell

Jeffery Dahmer

He invited men or boys to his apartment and drugged them - when they were incapacitated, he would strangle them and have sex with their dead bodies and eat their body parts

O.C. Smith

A well-known physician left work one evening in 2002 and was found tied with barbed wire to a window grate with an explosive device around his neck. His story was doubted due to the lack of injuries suffered

What characteristics do Forensic Psychologist and Psychiatrists as profilers share?

• Practice is an art and science
• Need for critical thinking
• Independent analysis
• Review of all available data
• Reliance on the facts of a particular case(s)
• Need to avoid advocacy
• Contextual differences
• Ethical practice

Issues or problems that should be minimized with Psychological Profilers

Bias, Transference, and Projection