Profiling, Criminal Personality

Uses of the Criminal Profile

The psychological profile as an investigative tool helps to focus investigators on individuals with similar personality traits that parallel the traits of others who have committed similar offenses in the past. As an investigative strategy, a criminal profile allows investigators to narrow the field of options and generate educated guesses about the perpetrator. Criminal personality profiling has been practiced with offenses as diverse as sexual homicide, arson, stalking, and terrorism.

The profile is generated based upon what can be termed a psychological assessment of the crime scene. The profiler identifies and interprets evidence at the crime scene that might be indicative of the personality type of the individual(s) committing the crime. Depending on the type and amount of available evidence, the elements of a profile may include

• Perpetrator's race
• Sex
• Age range
• Marital status
• General employment
• Reaction to questioning by police
• Degree of sexual maturity
• Whether the individual might strike again
• The possibility that he or she has committed a similar offense in the past
• Possible police records

These items make up the core social and psychological variables of the offender's personality. A carefully prepared profile may also be able to help connect past unsolved crimes to the current offender and provide an indication as to whether or not future attacks are likely. The profile can also suggest possible items to add to a search warrant, such as souvenirs, pornography, and photos. Finally, the profile should suggest possible interrogation strategies designed to elicit information from the suspect.

Classification and Profiling

Recognizing the constraints of traditional methods of offender classification in providing leads to investigators, an interdisciplinary team from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Behavioral Science Unit set out to examine the correlation between offender characteristics and offense characteristics in one of the first efforts to advance profiling theory and methods. By the mid-1980s, the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program was developed.

Based upon these and later findings highlighting the correlation between crime scene indicators and offender characteristics, profilers develop a classification of the likely offender rather than classifying according to the psychological symptoms that may be the basis for the official diagnosis under which an offender might fall. Just as the various symptoms [Page 377]or behaviors of his or her client are of principal importance to the psychologist or physician conducting an evaluation, the profiler sees the crime scene, particularly a bizarre one, as a reflection of the behavior or symptoms of the perpetrator.

In producing the profile, each profiler will likely have his or her own process; however, the following elements are generally assumed to be necessary:

• 1.
  Appraisal of the crime and crime scene
• 2.
  Complete evaluation of the crime scene(s)
• 3.
  Thorough analysis of the victim(s)
• 4.
  Evaluation of preliminary police reports
• 5.
  Assessment of the medical examiner's autopsy
• 6.
  Development of a profile with critical offender characteristics
• 7.
  Investigative suggestions derived from the profile
• 8.
  Possible suspect apprehension strategies

The major classification used by the FBI for sexual homicide cases identifies whether or not a crime scene is organized or disorganized, from which certain profile elements are then assumed. For example, the organized crime scene suggests a more sociable, psychopathic offender who likely did not know the victim, whereas the disorganized offender is more asocial and unkempt, and may have even known the victim on at least a passing basis.

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