Forensic Psychology and Criminal Profiling

Introduction

We live in a society where criminals appear to outsmart the law enforcement agencies. People have been killed and their killers remain at large and unknown. This gives the justice system a difficult time to catch the culprit and ensure justice is served. Law enforcement departments have had to look for ways to contain these criminals before further harm is done to society. This requires meticulous investigation into the nature of the crime.

Thus, criminal investigators employ the skills of forensic psychologists to create drifts and styles of criminals to come up with criminal profiles that would aid in catching and prosecuting criminals. This may be equated to searching for a needle in a stack of hay but as Sherlock Holmes found out, a person skilled at making inferences can differentiate the waters of the Atlantic or the Niagara falls from a globule of water without necessarily knowing any of the places or having ever seen them. This knowledge is gained through an extensive and diligent study though no one can claim to be perfect at it.

This paper seeks to explore intriguing insight into the nature of criminal investigative psychology and a comprehensive evaluation of the practice in solving crime.

Forensic psychology is a scientific field of gathering evidence through studying an individual’s mental behavior, growth or family related background that is likely to raise the individual’s chances of getting involved in criminal activities. It is about incorporating intellectual studies into the system of seeking justice for crimes. It involves creating an individuality profile of an otherwise unknown criminal. According to Hess and Orthmann (2009), forensic psychology is the administration of empirical methods of investigation into criminal inquiries to establish a crime.

What is criminal profiling?

Criminal or offender profiling is a mechanism of finding criminals through analyzing the disposition of the offense and the method through which the crime was committed. It encompasses investigating the behavior and mental phenomena of unknown criminals by studying profiles. Certain descriptions and traits such as gender, age, race, level of education, height, family backgrounds, location, their attitude towards sex, weight, IQ level among other distinguishing characteristics are analyzed.

This knowledge is considered alongside other pertinent details and tangible evidence from the crime scene, and then comparisons are made with already established personality stereotypes and psychological disorders to come up with a virtual representation of who the suspect may be. Consequently, the information is utilized by law enforcers to create a profile used to ascertain the identity of the criminal and apprehend them (Ainsworth 2001; Wrightsman, 2001).

History

Criminal profiling has been in use for a while now. The most notable early systematic form of criminal profiling can be evidenced in the heinous “Jack the Ripper” murder case in England in the late 19th century. Through informed deductions, Dr. Thomas Bond was able to reconstruct the crime scene and catch the serial killer.

The Second World War and the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi spread the practice to other parts of the world especially the United States which commissioned psychiatrists to build Hitler’s profile to comprehend his thoughts and determine his subsequent actions. This profile proved accurate.

Consequently, it became a well known way of verifying identities of criminals. Over time, criminal investigators have in enlisted the aid of psychologists in creating profiles for suspects especially those who prove hard to catch.

However, with the increase of crimes and sequential killings, the FBI created a special unit known as Behavioral Science Unit. Through this unit, crime locations have been studied broadly, known criminals interrogated and approaches to crimes and behavior patterns developed. This way, profilers can now make comparisons of crimes and criminals and even make further recommendations on the profiles.

Criminal profile is nowadays an approved operation in various investigations. Subsequent technological advancements have enabled law enforcers make huge steps in curbing disasters before they happen or reoccur (Hess and Orthmann, 2009).

How criminal profiling works

Criminal profiling is a significant element of forensic psychology. Based on the scene of the crime, forensic psychologists, also known as criminal profilers develop psychological portrait of the offender. These psychologists are usually highly trained in the field of analyzing the minds of criminals.

Criminal profiling is based on the proposition that personality is shown through behavior. According to J