Criminal Profiling: A Viable Investigative Tool Against Violent Crime

Forensic Psychology



Inside the Criminal Mind: A Forensic Psychology eBook Collection Special

In the early 1970s, Special Agent Howard Teten and others in the FBI began to apply the insights of psychological science to violent criminal behavior. In 1972, the FBI Academy launched a Behavioral Science Unit, later called the Behavioral Analysis Unit; which began looking for patterns in the behavior of serial rapists and killers. Agents John Douglas and Robert Ressler conducted systematic interviews of serial killers like John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer to gain insight into their modus operandi, motivations, and backgrounds. This collected information helped agents draw up profiles of violent criminals eluding law enforcement.

By the 1980s, the concept of criminal investigative analysis was maturing into a full-fledged investigative tool for identifying criminals and their future actions by studying their behaviors, personalities, and physical traits. Accordingly, in July 1984, the Bureau opened the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) on the campus of the FBI Academy to provide sophisticated criminal profiling services to state and local police for the first time.

The aim of Inside the Criminal Mind: A Forensic Psychology eBook Collection Special is to showcase all the major articles written by members of the Behavioral Science Units, National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, at the FBI Academy.

Criminal Profiling: A Viable Investigative Tool Against Violent Crime by John Douglas and Alan Burgess is the first article in this collection.

Click Here to download and read this influential article.

Click Here to visit the main Forensic Psychology eBook collection page.

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Criminal Profiling: A Viable Investigative Tool Against Violent Crime

Criminal Profiling

Criminal Profiling Debate



I've just finished reading a very interesting article on criminal profiling that appeared in the New Yorker last November. Written by Malcolm Gladwell the article documents the historical roots of criminal profiling, beginning with the pioneering work of psychiatrist James Brussel and how the work of Brussel influenced FBI profiling. The article then presents a critical review of the work of prominent FBI profilers, in particular John Douglas; a review that clearly questions the usefulness of criminal profiling as an investigative methodology.

If you would like to read Gladwell's article on criminal profiling in full, you can do so by Clicking Here

Learn More About Criminal Profiling

Don't forget that there are several pages dedicated to criminal profiling on the All About Forensic Psychology website.

Criminal Profiling (First Documented Use)

Criminal Profiling (The FBI Legacy)

Criminal Profiling (Methodology)

Geographic Profiling

Criminal Profiling (A Realistic career aspiration?)

Have Your Say

So what do you think about criminal profiling? Do you agree or disagree with the points raised in the New Yorker article?

To have your say on criminal profiling or anything else related to the fascinating world of forensic psychology simply fill out the Forensic Psychology 2.0 form via the following link and you'll be a published guest author on the All About Forensic Psychology Website in no time.

Forensic Psychology 2.0

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Criminal Profiling

Forensic Psychology: Criminal Profiler John Douglas

Forensic Psychology



Retired FBI special agent John Douglas who was the inspiration behind the Jack Crawford character in the classic film silence of the lambs will be speaking at the University of Nebraska at Kearney on the 16th of October.

During his time at the FBI, John Douglas was the chief of the Investigative Support Unit and he played an intergral part in the development of criminal profiling as an investigative tool. In the University press release promoting the event Douglas notes:

“As an FBI agent, I hunted some of the most vicious predators in American history, including the Atlanta child murderer, the Green River Killer and San Francisco's Trailside Killer. Profiling was in its infancy when I got started. It was an exciting, emerging science with a lot of skeptics and much work yet to be done. I learned as I went, conducting face-to-face interviews with Ed Kemper, Charles Manson, David Berkowitz, Richard Speck and many violent serial criminals whose single positive contribution to society was the window they gave me and my colleagues into the criminal mind. By talking with and observing them, we learned how they thought, from the escalation of their violent acts to victim selection. We learned how to predict their behavior. Most importantly, we learned how they revealed themselves through their crimes. That's the basis of profiling. You look at the evidence - from crime scene to forensics to ‘victimology’ and find in the thousands of pieces of information the behavioral indicators from which you put together a picture of the perpetrator".

John Douglas' presentation is free and open to the public.

Date: 16th October 2007

Time: 7.00 PM

Location:

University of Nebraska at Kearney (Nebraskan Student Union)
905 West 25th Street
Kearney, NE 68849
Phone: 1-800-KEARNEY
Room: Ponderosa Room

Contact:

Loper Programming and Activities Council
Phone: 308-865-8523
Email: schaffnittjn@unk.edu

John Douglas Video



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