◆ SpookStack

Douglas et al. Crimunal Profiling trom Crime Scene Analysts Hardeastle stared at him incredulously. . “Excuse me. Monsieur Poirot. vou 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. 1 know— really know... [ perceive you are still seeptic, But first let me sa} this, To be sure means that when the right solution 1s reached. everything falls into place You perceive that in no other way could things have happened.” (Christie, 1963, pp. 227-228) 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 pro- cess and provides a case example to illustrate the technique. INTRODUCTION: HISTORY OF CRIMINAL PROFILING 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 by focusing on certain behavioral and personality characteristics. Profiling techniques have been used in various settings. such as hostage taking (Reiser, 1982). Law enforcement officers need to learn as much as possible about the hostage taker in order to protect the lives of the hostages. In such cases, police are aided by verbal contact (although often limited) with the offender, and possibly by access to his family and friends. They must be able to assess the subject in terms of what course of action he is likely to take and what his reactions to various stimuli might be. Profiling has been used also in identifying anonymous letter writers (Casey- Owens 1984) and persons who make wri ten or spoken threats of violence (Miron & Douglas 1979). In cases of the latter, psycholinguistic techniques have been used to compose a “threat dictionary.” whereby every word in a message is assigned. by computer, to a specific category. Words as they are used in the threat message are then compared with those words as they are used in ordinary speech or writings. The vocabulary usage in the message may yield “signature” words unique to the offender. In this way. police may not only be able to determine that several letters were written by the same individual, but also to learn about the background and psychology of the offender. Rapists and arsonists also lend themselves to profiling techniques. Through BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES & THE LAW