Criminal Profiling

By Jory HenleyPeriod 7

English 12

Criminal profiling

• Criminal Profiling is when you connect evidence gathered from past crimes, then using that information making an assumptions about who the perpetrator is and what he or she might do in the future.

Criminal Profiling info

• Profiling is most often employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and is usually in cases such as rapists, murders and other illegal acts. But many people are against using criminal profiling because sometimes it can lead the case into the wrong direction.

Profiling Background

• Criminal profiling was first used in the late 1900s by Thomas Bond who was a medical doctor who used this system to try to find out the personality of one of the most famous serial killers Jack the Ripper.

New York City Bombing (1950)

• Law enforcement officials brought James Brussel a psychiatrist into the investigation and he constructed a profile of the bomber. George Metesky, he fit the profile almost exactly. Roman Catholic middle-aged Eastern European immigrant who was unmarried, lived in Connecticut with female relatives, had a paranoid personality and wore a buttoned-up, double-breasted suit.

Profile of Adolf Hitler

• Psychiatrist named Walter Langer said that Hitler would most likely commit suicide if faced with imminent defeat. In 1945 the Allied forces entered Berlin the German capital Hitler did indeed kill himself

Bomb explosion of the1996 Summer Olympics

• A bomb that exploded killing one person and injuring more than 100 led to the investigation of a security guard Richard Jewell. At first they called him a hero for identifying the bomb before it exploded and helping to evacuate bystanders. Then Jewell was named as a suspect in the media a few days after the bombing. It was because the FBI said that he fit the suspect profile as someone with a law enforcement background who might have planted the bomb so that he looks like a hero.

Fall of 2002 D.C. Snipers

• John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo who are accused of a string of shootings in the fall of 2002 most of them in the Washington, D.C. area. The use of the sniper to shoot the victims from a distance the seemingly random selection of most of the victims and to leave crime scenes without attracting attention left investigators stunned.

Bad Idea

• If the police department believes that a perpetrator is a man in his 20s who doesn’t have a job they will focus all their efforts on those who fit that profile while other possible suspects are passed by. Criminal profiles can have the detective chasing a stereotype while the real suspect would get away from the crime.

Wrongful Imprisonment

• Just because the shooting happened in an Urban Area they assumed that it was two young black African Americans

DeShawn Reed, left, and his uncle Marvin Reed (served eight years)

Poll of 2007

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Stoppedby

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HespanicsCaucasiansOthers

• Wrongfully accused because of Criminal Profiling

Wrongfully Convicted

• Wrongfully convicted poll (2007)

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WrongfullyImprisoned

Blacks

HespanicsCaucasiansAsians

Others

• Criminal profiling is a team effort in solving crimes. A detective using this system can help investigators use critical resources by narrowing their focus to a specific type of suspect or in a certain area. It can help understand the patterns in random information

Pros and Cons of Criminal Profiling

• Criminal Profiling is used in many cases. It is very controversial because it can have the police arrest an innocent citizen and it can ruin there live and also their families. Criminal profiling can also solved cases if it is used the right way.

Supporters of Criminal Profiling

• Profiling allows investigators to concentrate their efforts on a smaller area than they otherwise would. By setting out specific estimates of the characteristics of suspects and where they live and commit crimes law enforcement authorities can apply human and financial resources to a smaller geographic area and a shorter list of suspect

• In 1998, Rossmo aided the Lafayette, La. police in catching a suspect who had committed more than a dozen rapes over nearly a decade and every rapist who was ever caught by him was found in the area he predicted.

Against Criminal Profiling

• Criminal profiling should not be a system used to catch perpetrator, this system can ruin lives if not used properly. And it can also lead the case into the wrong direction and cause the suspect to get away from his or her crime.

• Mark Bravo convicted for a rape he did not commit. He served 3 years and was later released after they caught the real criminal.

The Interview

• William Edison was walking home from a friends house before the curfew bell ranged, on his way home he was stopped by police because their was a series of house breaking and he fitted their description (black male ages between 16-22) of their suspect and they told him that if any house gets broken into or any cars get stolen they are arresting him.