Criminal Profiling, A Powerful Tool

Criminal profiling can be a rather useful tool for criminal investigators of all kinds. Many departments use profiling to catch terrorists, gangs, cyber-crimes, counter intelligence, white collar crimes, and most of all serial killers. How criminal profiling works is by looking at the behavior of the criminal to gain insight into his or her personality. A doctor does the same thing when looking at symptoms to diagnose a certain disease. Being able to understand this person’s personality leads you one step closer to catching him or her.

The history of profiling starts as early as the 1800s. Criminal profiling is what it is today because of the contributions of those investigators of that time. The first documented case that profiling was used was during the serial killer case of Jack the Ripper. Jack the Ripper was a serial killer in London who mutilated female prostitutes. Dr. Thomas Bond made the first conclusion when performing the autopsy on one of the victims. To better understand the serial killer Dr. Bond reconstructed the murders and gave a profile to authorities. Though Jack the Ripper was never found Dr. Bond became the first offender profiler.

In order to accurately profile in a case you must gather up as much information as possible. There is certain information that can be rather useful to the capture of the suspect, such as the time or type of crime, the weapon used, and even to the victim. Knowing this information can help us gain insight into the mind of the suspect. Based on the information we can see if there is evidence of a mental illness or even if the suspect as done this before. We are going to look at the kidnapping and murder case of JonBenet Ramsey to better explain process.

It all started the day a...

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... Academic Press, 1999, 451 pp

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