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Criminal Profiling

Lecture notes

Introduction to forensic psychology

  • The application of psychological knowledge and theories to all aspects of the criminal and civil justice systems, including the processes and the people

  • Sub fields

    • Criminal psychology

    • Investigative psychology

    • Police psychology

    • Legal psychology

    • Correctional psychology

What is criminal profiling?

  • Determining the major behavioural and personality characteristics of an offender based on analysis of the crime

  • Involves identifying factors such as: 

    • Demographic characteristics 

    • Personality and psychopathology 

    • Behaviour and movements 

  • Aim is not to solve the crime but to help police narrow down offenders and approach to solving the crime 

History of criminal profiling 

  • 1888: “Jack the Ripper” 

    • Asked someone to profile the person they were looking for 

    • Profile clearly not successful cause he wasn’t found 

  • 1956: “The Mad Bomber” 

    • Series of small bombs placed around NY with notes and letters sent to newspapers 

    • Psychiatrist Dr James Russell did a profile 

    • Profile was highly accurate but did appear to be luck rather than sciences 

Criminal profiling in Australia 

  • John Glover - “The Granny Killer” 

    • Psychiatrist developed a profile for suspect that was mostly correct however he got the age wrong 

    • Same guy did a profile for Ivan Millat 

  • Profiling used on the case of William Tyrell 

  • Only a handful of criminal profilers in Australia 

  • Often police officers or employed by the police 

  • Collaborative approach with forensic psychologists 

Types of criminal profiling 

  • Deductive criminal profiling 

    • Based on intuition and inference 

    • Looking at crime scene and making inferences on the type of person who would commit the crime 

  • Inductive criminal profiling 

    • The FBI approach - Crime Scene Analysis 

      • Came about with the development of the Behavioural Sciences Unit

      • Interviewed 36 sexually motivated murderers 

      • Categorised crimes scenes as either organised or disorganised 

      • From that categorisation, offenders could be categorised in the same fashion 

      • Organised 

        • Planning 

        • Targeted victim 

        • Control and restraint used

        • Body hidden 

        • Evidence removed 

      • Disorganised

        • Spontaneous 

        • Random victim 

        • Chaotic 

        • Body visible 

        • Evidence available 

    • Investigative Psychology Approaches

      • Move towards a more scientific approach to profiling

      • 5 Key Ideas

        • Interpersonal coherence 

        • Significance of place and time → Geographic profiling

        • Criminal characteristics 

        • Criminal career 

        • Forensic awareness

      • Also draws on statistical approaches 

Summary 

  • Forensic psychology involves applying psychological theories and knowledge to the legal system 

  • Criminal profiling has an interesting history in Australia and beyond 

  • There are different approaches to criminal profiling, and the science of criminal profiling has been the subject of criticism