Criminal Profiling from Crime Scene Analysis

1 Since the 1970s, investigative profilers at the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit (now part of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime) have been assisting local, state, and federal agencies in narrowing investigations by providing criminal personality profiles. An attempt is now being made to describe this criminal-profile-generating process. A series of five overlapping stages lead to the sixth stage, or the goal of apprehension of the offender: (1) profiling inputs, (2) decision-process models, (3) crime assessment, (4) the criminal profile, (5) investigation, and (6) apprehension. Two key feedback filters in the process are: (a) achieving congruence with the evidence, with decision models, and with investigation recommendations, and (6) the addition of new evidence. "You wanted to mock yourself at me!. .. You did not know your Hercule Poirot." He thrust out his chest and twirled his moustache. I looked at him and grinned. .. "All right then," I said. "Give us the answer to the problems-if you know it." "But of course I know it." Hardcastle stared at him incredulously…"Excuse me. Monsieur Poirot, you claim that you know who killed three people. And why?...All you mean is that you have a hunch" I will not quarrel with you over a word…Come now. Inspector. I know – really know…I perceive you are still sceptic. But first let me say this. To be sure means that when the right solution is reached, everything falls into place. You perceive that in no other way could things have happened. " The ability of Hercule Poirot to solve a crime by describing the perpetrator is a skill shared by the expert investigative profiler. Evidence speaks its own language of patterns and sequences that can reveal the offender's behavioral characteristics. Like Poirot, the profiler can say. "I know who he must be." This article focuses on the developing technique of criminal profiling. Special agents at the FBI Academy have demonstrated expertise in crime scene analysis of various violent crimes, particularly those involving sexual homicide. This article discusses the history of profiling and the criminal-profile-generating process and provides a case example to illustrate the technique. Criminal profiling has been used successfully by law enforcement in several areas and is a valued means by which to narrow the field of investigation. Profiling does not provide the specific identity of the offender. Rather, it indicates the kind of person most likely to have committed a crime …