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Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 15 - Issue: 3 - Dated: August 1999 - Pages: 230 To 241
Patrick E. Cook ; Dayle L. Hinman
This overview of criminal profiling of violent criminals discusses definitions of profiling, the training and expertise necessary to do profiling, how profiling can be helpful in criminal investigations, the types of crimes that lend themselves to profiling, and the profiling process.
The discussion notes that criminal personality profiling is a technique for identifying the major personality, behavioral, and demographic characteristics of offenders based on an analysis of their crimes. It differs significantly from the clinical personality profiling done by mental health professionals in the course of clinical and forensic practice. The most effective profilers are highly trained, experienced investigators. Crimes that lend themselves to the most detailed profiles are often those that are part of a series of similar crimes. It is often easier to profile unusual crimes, particularly those with signature characteristics, behavior prints, or signs of staging, than more common violent crimes. Working with a small profiling team is the most productive approach to the profiling process. The scientific status of profiling depends on the reliability and validity of the various types of forensic-science core knowledge used by the profiler, the reliability and validity of the violent crime database, and the reliability and validity of the profiling process itself. Further research may enable profiling to become more of a science and less of an art.
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