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Criminal Investigative Analysis: Criminal Profiling

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Criminal Investigative Analysis is better known as criminal profiling. Profiling is the careful analysis of evidence and the details of a crime scene to discover the psychopathology of the scene. “Psychopathology is an offender’s behavioral and psychological indicators that are left at a violent crime scene as a result of this physical, sexual, and in some cases verbal, interaction with his victim”(O’Toole, 1999, p. 44). Aspects of the crime scene that are used to establish the psychopathology include the police reports, crime scene photographs, victimology, witness statements (if there were witnesses), forensic reports, as well as autopsy reports and photos (if applicable). Once these aspects has been evaluated and psychopathology has been …show more content…

This profile could include what type of lifestyle the offender fits into—blue collar worker or white collar businessman—race, gender, level of education, behavioral characteristics, marital status, how well the offender is able to communicate, whether or not the offender feels guilt, criminal history, mental capacity, the possibility of committing another crime, and whether or not the crime was committed to gain sexual gratification (O’Toole, 1999). While profiles do not include all of this information, profilers strive to deduct all of the information that is possible about the offender. One of the main focuses of a profiler is to discover five behavioral characteristics of the offender; the level of planning, the amount of control, emotional involvement, the risk levels of the offender and victim, and if the scene was organized or …show more content…

Risk levels are divided into three categories, low, medium, and high. The risk level of the victim is determined by the victim’s lifestyle, friends and family, behaviors, and environment (O’Toole, 1999). A low risk victim would be the average Joe living in a low crime area. A high risk victim would be a prostitute or someone that frequently comes into contact with individuals that exposes the individual to dangerous possibilities. The levels of risk for an offender are the inverse of the levels of risk for a victim. An individual that is at a high risk of being a victim is a low risk for the offender begin caught. This is because an individual that is at a high risk of being a victim could be victimized by a plethora of individuals. An individual that is at a low risk of victimization is a high risk mark for an offender. It is likely that a low risk individual knew his

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Criminal profiling has evolved to enable investigators to have other investigative tools available to him (Douglas & Burgess, 1986, p. 5). When there is no DNA evidence or other physical evidence left at a scene that leads to a potential suspect or when the ‘case has gone cold’ due to little to no descriptions of potential offenders(s), there are other tools available in the forms of an offender profile. An investigator has the ability to analyse the crime scene and/or crime scenes, the act itself, the victim and police reports as well as forensic information including autopsy reports and medical examiner findings. (Douglas, Ressler, Burgess & Hartman, 1986). The accumulation of knowledge from these things enables profilers to create a profile, which can help predict the offender’s next actions (Criminology, 2005).

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