* ATTENTION! This training is law enforcement sensitive and open only to personnel associated with police investigations. Students are warned that the study material involves visual depictions of intense violence. *
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE ANALYSIS
Hollywood has warped the public’s perception about criminal profiling with such productions as Criminal Minds, in which viewers are led to believe that serial killers lurk on every street corner and semi-psychic abilities supersede logic and good, old-fashioned police work. In the movie Silence of the Lambs, plausible realism is stretched beyond its breaking point when a rookie agent is pulled from her basic school at the FBI Academy to become a lead profiler in a major serial homicide investigation.
In reality, criminal profilers have years of specialized training, have assisted with hundreds of cases, and possess strong law enforcement backgrounds in violent crime investigations. Criminal Profiling is an investigative tool that examines the behavior exhibited within a crime scene and facilitates the identification of the major personality and behavioral characteristics of the unknown offender. A profile is not evidence. The courts have generally disallowed profiling testimony as prejudicial character evidence.
Criminal Profiling is not the solution to a crime; it does not provide the name, address, and birth date of the criminal. A profile is a description of the most probable demographic and social characteristics of an unknown offender. The goal of a criminal profile is to prioritize suspects and provide information of lead value by discerning offender characteristics. By doing so, it aims the focus of a criminal investigation by narrowing the search for a viable suspect. Consequently, criminal profiling has evolved into the broader discipline of Criminal Investigative Analysis which is something much more than just describing the characteristics of an unknown offender. Criminal Investigative Analysis is an investigative aid that can be used to help solve various crimes. In addition to providing character traits for unknown offenders, Criminal Investigative Analysis also includes a variety of investigative skills such as bloodstain pattern analysis, crime scene reconstruction, and statement analysis.
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE ANALYSIS
The popularity of true crime documentaries and Hollywood entertainment such as Silence of the Lambs, Criminal Minds, and Mindhunter, has certainly aided in perpetuating the mystical aura surrounding criminal profiling. Detractors and naysayers call it voodoo and crystal ball technology. In all honesty, there is nothing psychic about it. Profiling conclusions derive from logical thinking built upon a strong foundation of violent crime investigative experience and training. The godfather of FBI profiling, John Douglas, awed a prosecution team when he accurately prophesied that the Atlanta child killer, Wayne Williams, would act up in the courtroom during his trial for murder. Far from being magical or a lucky shot in the dark, the FBI profiler's prediction was a common sense-infused conclusion, a rational outcome based on the probability that if Williams could be manipulated properly, his arrogance would cause an outburst in front of the jury.
Profiling has evolved and improved over time. When it first burst upon the scene as a viable investigative tool back in the mid-1970's, FBI profilers viewed criminal behavior as polar-opposites; it was believed offenders were either totally organized (planned) or totally disorganized (impulsive). Through the ensuing years, it was realized that the behavior of a criminal could jump around during the commission of a crime and was often more of a mixture than a dichotomy. In simpler terms, instead of either being organized or disorganized, offenders tended to be a blend of both. As such, the well-known offender typologies have given way to an offender continuum. It is paramount for profilers to accurately decipher the various behaviors in a crime scene in order to figure out where on the organized-disorganized scale the offender falls. Unfortunately, there is no profiling template; each offender is assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Contrary to popular belief, criminal profiling typically does not solve a crime. It is merely an investigative technique in which behaviors in a crime scene are examined and analyzed and used to identify general characteristics and personality traits of an unknown offender. It is anticipated that the information provided in a profile will help prioritize leads and guide the focus to viable suspects. In its basic form, criminal profiling can be broken down into a simple equation; what (reconstruction) uncovers why (motive) which leads to who (suspect).
Placing various actions into a reasonable sequential order is very important. A key factor in creating a successful criminal profile is the reconstruction of the event to determine what happened. As the fictional sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, explained in a Study in Scarlet, "In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backward." And that is what reconstruction entails - surveying the end result and working in reverse to a logical beginning. It is rarely easy or precise but by doing so, behaviors can be identified which, in turn, help to uncover the motive.