As a branch of criminal
science, psychological profiling is better known in
practice than by name. Although no solid evidence can
be obtained from this process, it provides an accurate
way of guiding the direction, in which an investigation
heads toward.
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Psychological
profiling involves investigating an offender's behaviour,
motives and background in an attempt to further guide
an investigation. Research shows that offender's that
repeatedly rape or kill are driven by a heightened public
fear for their actions and media attention, which could
eventually lead to their arrest. Analysing the criminal's
habits
and rituals allows investigators to trace similarities
between previous crimes. When these details of their
lifestyle are made public, friends, neighbours and colleagues
may recognize them.
The process of psychological
profiling began over a century ago, but was first distinctly
used as a method in America during the 1950's. Investigators
discovered through research, intriguing patterns and
similarities between serial killer's behaviour. Some
of the patterns discovered include the killers having
suffered from child abuse as youngsters, whether it
is sexual or physical and that this kind of abuse led
to abnormal behaviours later on. As children and teenagers,
they started fires, were cruel to animals or children
and then in the late teenage years to early twenties,
were engaging in petty
crime and defying authority.
Committing serious crimes
usually start at around the mid to late twenties. Being
able to manipulate victims and show a sense of power
and domination is a main drive for criminals, as well
sexual motives. Murdering victims gives them the sense
of success and control that they have never felt in
their lives. Some criminals have also found that they
need to relive that sense of victory that was felt during
the committing of the crime, so they take something
from their victims, for example, jewelry, clothing and
even body parts.
Investigators putting
together a profile use either inductive or deductive
approaches. Inductive profiling involves assuming that
when a criminal commits a crime, he or she will have
a similar background and motive to others who have committed
a similar crime. An example of this is a re-offending
rapist whose target are white women, is not likely to
be black, because crimes of the past that have been
similar to this one have rarely crossed racial lines.
However, these statements have been questioned and have
experienced a lot of publicised drawbacks.
Deductive profiling
involves a process that avoids generalisations
and averages. This method involves intently studying
suspects in extreme detail and adapting findings in
which new evidence surfaces. A deductive profile is
set up based on the offender's actions before, during
and after committing the crime. For example, if the
murderer used a makeshift weapon, investigators are
then able to deduce that the crime was probably spontaneous.
Another example involves serial murderers. Investigators
are able to find out whether the murder was organized,
which means that the killer carried out a planned, premeditated
attack on a victim, or if the attack was disorganized,
meaning that the murder was unplanned and the killer
behaved in an uncertain way. Organised and planned killers
often carry a tool kit containing duct tape and rope
to bind their victims and gloves and a mask to hide
their identity.
Serial killers are also
known to stick within their 'comfort zone', for example,
their own neighbourhood, before traveling further as
their sense of power and domination heightens. A serial
killer often leaves behind a signature or trademark
of their work that is usually unnecessary, but emotionally
fulfills the killer. There are usually also similar
aspects, which will link the crimes together, for eg.
the method of murder or the victims may all have some
form of similarity. Profilers use this to trace and
link crimes committed earlier together.
