The Pros And Cons Of Criminal Profiling

Criminal profiling, a practice initiated by the FBI, began in the 1970’s (James et al., 2014; 542). Profiling is used by law enforcement officials for all types of crime, including serial killings, “to supply offender characteristics to help investigators narrow the field of suspects based on the characteristics of the crime scene and initial investigative information” (James et al., 2014; 542). It is used to aide investigators in catching the killer or to link a person in custody to a crime, but does not provide any support in court (James et al., 2014; 543) (White et al., 2011; 164). Several definitions of a serial killer exist, but it is most commonly defined as an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month (Taylor et al., 2011; 31). Crimes begin to be investigated as serial murders when there are several deaths
Criminal profiling can aide in narrowing down the subject pool in an investigation, but it does not provide enough accuracy to conclude the exact perpetrator. It is a fairly new, and evolving practice that still needs to be adjusted in order to truly be useful in catching criminals, especially serial killers. Serial murder committed by women is largely unaccounted for because it is rare, which is why there is only one classification rubric that is nearly twenty years old. (Farrell et al., 2013; 268, 269, 273). A study conducted using many known cases of women serial killers concluded that most of the cases did not fit the profile created by Kelleher & Kelleher because it is so outdated (Farrell et al., 2013; 283-284). Criminal profiling has the potential to be a useful tool in criminal investigations, however, more effort needs to be allocated towards improving and maintaining the practice to accommodate the ever changing criminal