Examining The Psychological Offender Profiling Investigation Criminology Essay

Examining The Psychological wrongdoer pen Investigation Criminology Essayoffender write is an investigative rooster that is apply by psychologists to bene detailor them operate on out exactly why a peculiar(a) umbrage has been commit and why a felon is behaving in a current way. This puppet is exercised to research the types of villainys people argon committing and how an offender picks his or her dupe. This orderliness of research excessively helps the Criminal legal expert System at a signifi keistert degree. It enables them to make a decision based upon the research and facts, which makes the boilers suit verdict more(prenominal) ethical.The aim of wrongdoer Profiling is to go beyond the facts and develop a hypothesis about the offender.Holmes Holmes (1996) suggests three objectives to meet this aim. These atomic number 18 to 1) to leave the law with basic data about the certain personality attri alonees of the offender such as age, family, ethnicity, employment and marital status, 2) to suggest some(a)(prenominal) belongs the offender whitethorn occupy that would lead him to committing this offensive and 3) to provide interviewing strategies and suggestions the practice of law may use when questioning a suspect. The British get on Offender Profiling is actually different to the American onset. The British approach does not categorise crimes and try to oppose them into theories but takes a more scientific approach to analysing e genuinely possible data of a crime and using these to develop the profile, whereas the American approach (FBI) to developing an offender profile is different to this. Their approach has been substantial from an initial sample of interviews with 36 convicted serial versed murderers, together with detai take information from crime scenes i.e. the mending and timing of the crimes, medical examination cut acrosss, both crimes that do already been perpetrate in the neighbourhood, the victims whereabouts and the amount of rhetorical awargonness shown by the offender.1This is done in order to help them establish a bigger picture of the crime and help them identify the psychology basis it.Offender Profiling was initial used in the Second World warf be to see if thither were any weaknesses that can be exploited and enhanced for the future. For example, Langer conducted a profile on Hitler and concluded that if he had lost the Second World War he would commit suicide. He was correct. After the defeat in 1945, Adolf Hitler affiliated suicide and passed away.Psychiatrists believe that the basic assumption of Offender Profiling is that the offenders attain a certain fingerprint, in other words, certain behavior at the crime scene which is a reflection of their personality and characteristics. For example, a poisonous tying up the victim the psychological fingerprint behind this would be that the offender wants control and dominance over the offender in order to defeat them. Another example can be shown from a coddle case. When an offender has perpetrate rape they would wash the victim. The psychological fingerprint behind this would be that the savage either lookings some sort of remorse so he/she wants cleanse or that they want the case to be so inconspicuous that they even remove the victims pubic hair.How Offender Profiling influencedmotor hotelThe courtroom is very important in the British Criminal justness System. There argon two types of profile techniques that are used in trials. The first is what we call deductive Offender Profiling, which concerns itself with the particular behavioural distinguish of a case. Second is inductive profiling which assumes that when a nefarious commits a crime, he or she will have a similar primer and motive to others who have committed a similar crime. There are related problems of the use of Offender Profiling in the courtroom. The first is un bashing about the nature of Offender Profiling and phy sical turn up. The second is when the profilers are too zeal. When these two problems cross in a single case, it may be that an offender profiler gives opinions with strong confidence about circumstances and behaviours that are assumed and not established.2InterviewingOffender Profiling can help the CJS and the police in terms of suggesting effective ways of interviewing, related to specific criminal types. Not all will react to questioning in the resembling manner. An effective way of questioning for one person may be ineffective for person else. This is because not all murderers commit murder for the aforesaid(prenominal) reason. This means depending on their reasons for committing a crime, they would need different strategies of questioning. An example can be shown by the murder of a unsalted girl and her mate in which the stepfather was the main suspect but at that place was no rhetorical render to convict him. When he was questioned in the usual way, he denied any invo lvement. The profiler suggested that as he was a man who had a great obligatory for control, it would be good to ask for his help in solving the crime. pretending to be doing this, the suspect was given lots of photographs of the crime scene and thought process he was in control of the investigation, became so occupied in public lecture about the case that he revealed more and more his knowledge with the crime until he lastly gave up and confessed.3VictimsOffender Profiling certainly impacts victims in various ways. The most evident is that it helps police suffer their offender. The victim may be traumatised as a result of the offence and may feel threatened that the perpetrator will return in that respectfore being terrified to leave their home. If the offender is convicted, the victim will be relieved and at least try and continue with their normal life.Mental healthRessler (1992) says that mental health professionals have an interest in offender profiling and have also he lped research in the study of criminal psychology. Thus, it is suggested that clinicians could be used to help the Criminal Justice System in suggesting ways of profiling and ways of treatment.PoliceProfiling can give the police a new or different direction in their attempt to thingmabob the offender by reducing the sway of suspects. This is by giving them information about the choice of victim, the location, anything that was said by the offender and the nature of the offense. These things may help to give the offender more of a personality, and thus help the police in their chase of the offender. Profiling is not aimed to tell the police who actually committed an offence instead it aims to suggest to them some personality and demographic characteristics that the offender is in all prob cogency to possess. If for example the police are analyze a number of rapes in the very(prenominal) area, they will be cheerful to identify whether the same person has committed them. They wil l need to know if they should be looking for one or several offenders. In addition, a profile can help police in reducing their list of suspects and to avoid wasting time on enquiries which are apparent to be useless. If a suspect of the police does not snatch any of the profilers predictions so the police might spend less time following that particular person. In some case the profile may well pass away someone whom the police already suspect and will and then exit the police policemans to concentrate their investigations on the most likely suspect.How Offender Profiling was used in reliable life casesDuring the period 1982-86, 24 cozy assaults occurred in North London near to railways. It was believed that one man committed all these crimes, though on some occasions he had someone that helped him out. Between 1985 and 1986 three murders occurred, and forensic recount together with certain aspects of the attackers suggested that there were links amidst the rapes and murde rs. In 1986, police forces in South England were seek to disclose the Railway Rapist, which then saturnine in to the Railway Killer. Dr. David ride horseback, a psychologist and criminologist was invited to compose British crimes first offender profile. When the offender, John Duffy, was later arrested and convicted, it turned out that 13 of Canters 17 announcements about the offender were correct.The case of Adrian Babb is some other instance where Offender Profiling has been successful and therefrom very implemental to the CJS. Between 1986 and 1988, seven attacks on elderly women took place in pillar blocks in south Birmingham. Women recovered 70-80 were followed into the lifts by a stocky young man who overwhelmed them and took them to the top floor of the tower block, where he raped them and escaped. The same patterns of the crimes suggested that the offense was committed by the same man. Because the criminal had a trammel range of locations, victims and actions, this suggested that the offender was operating a limited world, wherein he was forced in his actions. Victims reported the offender as black, athletic, without body scent and carrying a sports bag. He had no attempt to hide himself, thus he had no fear of being recognised and convicted.Canter labelled his approach investigatory Psychology, where he believes that offender goes beyond what he originally thought of Offender Profiling and covers a branch of applied psychology. Canter has a certain strategy that he uses within this investigation which helps him in finding the offender. He firstly tries to understand the types of crime individuals are likely to become affect in and the way the crime will be carried out. After that he tries to understand the way a criminal behaviour processes and how the crime mirrors their behaviour in their daily life. These led him to believe that there are associated activities that pass off when a crime is being committed. He also believes that actions of offenders at the crime scene are likely to reveal something about their background.The important attributes Canter looks out for within his research are location, biography, social and personal characteristics and occupational/ educational memoir. One other aspect of profiling is the methodological charm of data and statistical analysis. An example of this is when Canter and Heritage (1990) combed by the victim statements of 66 UK sexual assaults and with the use of statistics, they were able to identify drop off patterns in the form of the attack.It is possible to group how the victim is hardened in three ways, each giving clue to the offender. First is when the criminal treats the victim as a person this is when a conversation is involved in the duration of the attack, asking things to the with the womans love and personal life or complimenting her on her looks and body. This type of criminal believes that he is developing some sort of kin with the victim and incorrectl y thinks that the sexual assault produces closeness. The second is when the victim is treated as an object in this case, the victim may be blindfolded, plot the offender tends to be covered. The offender here will mainly be concerned with control in the interaction of the rape. The third and final is when the victim is treated as vehicle when this is the case the offender uses violence to bring down the victim. The actions here are a mirror of the offenders anger and aggression.The third real life case I will discuss in the report is the case of Rachel Nickell, wherein Offender Profiling was used to help the police officers find the offender and help the CJS make a fair verdict. On fifteenth July 1992, a 23 year old model, Rachel Nickell, was walking with her son and her hot dog in Wimbledon car park when she was attacked and brutally killed. Alex (Nickells two year old son) was thrown and twisted into the bushes while Nickell was sexually assaulted, stabbed 49 times and had h er throat cut. Another hiker who was also walking in the Common discovered Alex clinging to his mothers dead body, cry and p tip with her to get up. It was later found that Alex stuck a piece of motif on his mothers forehead in place of a plaster in attempt to make his mum better.The police tried their best to find the criminal but failed to do so. They felt under pressure and as a result, turned to a Forensic psychologist named Paul Britton, an expert in the science of Offender Profiling, and asked him to conduct an offender profile for this crime case. Britton had antecedently helped the police identify the killers of Jamie Bulger in Liver pocket billiards, and had worked on the Frederick West House of Horrors murders in Gloucester, and was felt to be the right man for the speculate.4A suspect was eventually identified by Britton and it was noted that he seemed to fit the profile well. A complex surgical process was planned by Britton, which was aiming to tempt Stagg into a vindication using an undercover female police officer who faked a amatory interest in Stagg and a liking for Satanism. However, despite her efforts Stagg did not confess. force of Offender Profiling in each caseCanter (1990) is the UKs leading profiling expert his approach looks out for the behaviour of the offender during the crime. In his approach no assumptions are made about the criminal and the approach relies heavily on facts. Canter believes that his approach has several advantages over crime scene analysis. First, his type of Offender Profiling draws directly on widely known psychological concepts. Second, his approach could be used extensively and should not be limited to just rape and murder. Finally, in his approach there is less chance for biased decision making. Canter argues that his approach is more scientific than the FBIs and as a result, his profiles are more useful in share the police touch the actual offender and the CJS to make a fair verdict.5John Duffy, Ra ilway RapistFor John Duffys case, Canter created a profile with the following key facts belonging to the rapistThe rapist would get laid in the area near some of the attacks.He would be animated with his girlfriend or wife and will not have a child.He would be in his late 20s his blood fluids would contain indigen antigens and he would be right-handed.He would be skilled in his job and work only at the weekends.He knows the railway system very well.He would have a criminal record of violence.This profile represents the use of behavioural characteristics to search for a criminal instead of pure forensic evidence from the crime scene. Out of 2000 suspects, Canter pin signaled the 1505th suspect, John Duffy, who was the actual offender. Duffy fit most of the profile, including a criminal conviction for raping his wife. The profile Canter developed matched 13 out of 17 details about Duffys characteristics. The remaining that didnt match Duffy was the biological characteristics the of fender was a lot shorter than victims remembered and many had described him as having black or even ginger hair. From the accuracy, it is evident that Offender Profiling has been a very effective investigative tool to use in this crime case.6Adrian BabbFor Adrian Babbs case, Canter created a profile with the following key facts belonging to the attackerNot raving mad because force is only used when necessaryAthletic body suggests that that offender has an interest of solitary sports e.g. swimming or body-buildingCleanliness and organisation suggests that he was obsessiveNo attempt to cover him or hide forensic evidence suggests that he was not aware of the procedures and therefore has not convicted before for this type of crimeEase with elderly women suggests that he dealt with elderly people in non-offence backgroundKnowledge of tower blocks suggests that he make its in oneBased on this profile, a police officer searched through the records of minor sexual offenders and found a m atch between Babbs fingerprints and those at the crime scene. It is evident that Offender Profiling has been a very effective tool to utilise in this case because it has helped the police catch the offender. From the above, we can see that Canters predictions were very accurate. As Canter returnly utter in the profile, the offender must have had no forensic sentiency or knowledge of the likely procedures as he made no attempt to disguise himself. This was a very valuable point that led to the arrest of Babb. As Canter also predicted, Babb attended the swimming pool very often hence the cleanliness and the lack of body odour and also looked after sessions for the elderly.Rachel NickellBrittons first task was to set up a clear picture of the kind of person Rachel was by interviewing her family and friends. His initial thoughts related to Alex, Nickells son. The fact that Alex was not harmed meant that Rachel had not known the offender and so this was not likely to be a domestic mur der. The nature of the attack pointed towards a violent sexual psychopath.Based on his past interactions with sexual killers, Britton drew up a profile of the offender with the following pointsThe offender would be aged between 20 and 30 because the legal age of sexual attacks are committed by young menHe would not have the ability to relate to women in normal conversation.He would either have a history of failed or unsatisfactory relationships or no relationship historyHe would suffer from some form of sexual dysfunctionHe would be attracted to pornography which would play a role in his sexual fantasy lifeHe would only have average countersign and education because the attack was brutalIf employed, he would work in an rusty or labouring occupationHe would be single and have a relatively isolated lifestyleHe would have nongregarious hobbies and interestsHe would live within easy walking distance of Wimbledon Common and would be thoroughly familiar with itHe would be very likely to kill another young woman at some point in the future.Colin Stagg was the named that cropped up four times after the murderers profile was broadcasted on Crimewatch. Stagg fitted Brittons profile precisely. During the police interview Stagg denied any involvement in the crime, but his answers to questions made stronger the match with Brittons profile. The police could find no physical evidence connecting Stagg to the murder but he remained the number one suspect. The complex operation which was planned by Britton had an adverse effect on the whole case. The evidence of Brittons profile and the information obtained from Lizzie James was thrown out of court and the disproof argued that Brittons evidence was speculative and supported only by his instinct. Stagg was set excess and Rachels killer was never found. This shows how Offender Profiling can be misused, misinterpret and misinterpreted if not conducted in a scientific way.ConclusionThere are many arguments discussing the eff ectiveness of Offender Profiling, some of which are positive and some which are negative. Even though there have been less announce cases where Offender Profiling was less accurate e.g. Copson (1995), it can still be a very useful tool in terms of helping the police find the offender. However it is important for the police to be scrupulous not to be blinded to other possibilities. Occasionally criminals do not fit the profile and over use could lead to misjudgement of the Criminal Justice System. Offender profiling is more prediction than science based and therefore the validity is debated. Due to the fact that there is no hard evidence to work from, it is not possible to gain a definite result. stomp can be another factor that affects the way a criminal is profiled. For example, it may be that most rapists are single men that live on their own or with their parents but this may not endlessly be the case and could lead to an inaccurate profile being created if the criminal is a m arried man who lives with his family.To assess the effectiveness of this investigative tool different research has been conducted. For example, Britton (1992) sent out questionnaires to the Criminal Investigation division to identify the number of cases where an offender had been profiled led to arrest. He found that the results were in the main negative in the sense that most cases that were profiled did not lead to arrest. However, the majority of the respondents commented that it could have had a lot of potential in their experience of Offender Profiling.7