Behavioural Sciences
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Authored on: Feb 1, 2013 3:39 PM
Subject: Behavioural Sciences and ViCLAS
As a psychology major, I took this weeks discussion and looked at it in a more personal view from my opinions and beliefs on behavioral science rather then what the RCMP defines behavioral science as. The RCMP states the meaning as the study of deviant behavior; I think this to be very one sided, we all have tendencies and act in ways that we believe is to be right. So when we discussed what we believed to be justifiable homicide; how would that be studied and analyzed? I think it is still a good idea to always study and have professionals create recommendations on the well-being of a suspect or murderer’s mental state. Everyday there will always be exceptions and new ways to understand how someone acts. The television shows we watch today depict people and evidence to always “solve the case”; but what about the times when evidence is circumstantial or lack of. When needed, Canada developed a way to link cases back to the 1980’s, this is a program called ViCLAS. Its ability to store and analysis data from homicides and sexual offences has made it a largely used tool for law enforcement; It effectively can process the psychological and behavior patterns of cases and the criminals or suspects within them. From this, it makes comparisons to previous cases and produces approximately 39 pages of data, which as of 2007 has linked 3200 cases. I like to think of the ViCLAS program as a realistic, less “Hollywood” version of Dr. Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds. In order to make the show flashier or entertaining they use a genius doctor that can make the same connections, a computer program would not help ratings as much. In Conclusion, I believe Canada is in a good position with this program, but improvements and new technology advances so much who knows what the RCMP could be using 5 years from now, I know many people already mentioned it but
Authored on: Feb 1, 2013 3:39 PM
Subject: Behavioural Sciences and ViCLAS
As a psychology major, I took this weeks discussion and looked at it in a more personal view from my opinions and beliefs on behavioral science rather then what the RCMP defines behavioral science as. The RCMP states the meaning as the study of deviant behavior; I think this to be very one sided, we all have tendencies and act in ways that we believe is to be right. So when we discussed what we believed to be justifiable homicide; how would that be studied and analyzed? I think it is still a good idea to always study and have professionals create recommendations on the well-being of a suspect or murderer’s mental state. Everyday there will always be exceptions and new ways to understand how someone acts. The television shows we watch today depict people and evidence to always “solve the case”; but what about the times when evidence is circumstantial or lack of. When needed, Canada developed a way to link cases back to the 1980’s, this is a program called ViCLAS. Its ability to store and analysis data from homicides and sexual offences has made it a largely used tool for law enforcement; It effectively can process the psychological and behavior patterns of cases and the criminals or suspects within them. From this, it makes comparisons to previous cases and produces approximately 39 pages of data, which as of 2007 has linked 3200 cases. I like to think of the ViCLAS program as a realistic, less “Hollywood” version of Dr. Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds. In order to make the show flashier or entertaining they use a genius doctor that can make the same connections, a computer program would not help ratings as much. In Conclusion, I believe Canada is in a good position with this program, but improvements and new technology advances so much who knows what the RCMP could be using 5 years from now, I know many people already mentioned it but
References: Davis, Kim (2008). The Murder Book: Examining Homicide. New Jersey. Pearson Education Inc., Torres, A., Boccaccini, M., Miller, H. “Perception of the Validity and Utility of Criminal Profiling Among Forensice Psychologists and Psychiatrists”. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 37 no. 1 (2006): 51-58.