Forensic Psychology--Estimating The Value Of The Suspect's Personality - Profiling The Perpetrator

If you are a big fan of the TV show Criminal Minds, you would know that the characters in the show are experts in criminal profiling of an unknown subject, or unsub, as they call it. What are the characteristics that make up a profile of an offender? What are the categories used to describe these offenders?

There are three categories to describe suspects from crime scene evidence:

• Organized offenders
  
  These are the types of crooks who are more sophisticated in their approach, and their crimes show evidence of premeditation. These crooks tend to be of average or better intelligence, employed, and in active social relationships such as with spouses and families. Although they are driven by their fantasies, they knowingly exert enough restraint to avoid impulse. They prepare and even practice. They tend to make a target of specific victims or types of victims and use physical restraints to maintain compliance on the part of the victim. They carry the tools they need to access and control the victim and avoid leaving behind evidence. As murderers, they generally hide or dispose of the corpse and are likely to have a place chosen for dumping the body.



• Disorganized offenders
  
  These perpetrators usually live by themselves or with a relative, possess below-average intelligence, are unemployed or work menial jobs, and often have mental problems. They act on impulse and exercise little restraint over their fantasy-driven needs. They do not always use subterfuge to gain the victim's trust, but rather attack with immediate violence, overwhelming the victim. The crime scene is many times messy and unkempt. This kind of offender rarely plans ahead or brings tools along, but rather uses whatever is immediately available to commit the offense. As murderers, they typically leave the corpse at the scene and exert minimal effort to avoid leaving behind evidence. Some perpetrators sexually abuse the victim following a killing.



• Mixed offenders
  
  Some perpetrators leave behind mixed messages at crime scenes. They show evidence of premeditation and a complex method of operation (MO), but the assault alone may be disorderly or messy, which may be indicative of some control over firmly established and violent fantasies.

Criminal profilers have developed categories of descriptors, or manners that describe the kinds of persons who commit the crimes. Some of the descriptors used in serial killer profiling include:

• Age: Most serial killers are in their 20's or 30's.


• Sex: Most of them are male.


• Race: Most choose to kill somebody within their own race. This means that Caucasian offenders kill other Caucasians, while African-American offenders kill other African-Americans.


• Residency: Organized perpetrators may be married, have children, and have a large circle of friends, whereas disorganized perpetrators, due to their mental instability and lack of maturity, tend to live by themselves or with a family member.


• Proximity: The location of the perpetrator's house with respect to the crime scene is important. Most perpetrators kill close to home, a factor that is true with the first few victims. The area within a short distance of the perpetrator's home serves as his comfort zone. With more experience, however, the killer may expand his predatory boundaries further away from his house.


• Social skills: Murderers who use a ploy to catch their victims, like what Ted Bundy did, typically possess good people skills, whereas those who employ a blitz-style assault are not as comfortable with good conversation.


• Work and military histories: Well organized perpetrators are more likely to have a stable work history and are more often to have left any military service with an honorable discharge. Disorganized perpetrators many times lack stability in maintaining a long-term job or fail to complete military service.


• Educational level: Disorganized perpetrators generally do not have higher education levels as organized perpetrators.

Using these descriptors, criminal profilers can come up with a good image, or profile, of the kind of person who likely committed the crime. This profile may aid law enforcement to target a specific suspect and may play an important role during the interrogation of suspects. Knowing the kind of person who would commit a crime assists investigators to formulate the right questions and leverage any pressure points during the questioning that catch suspects in a series of lies or even squeeze out a confession.

Criminal profiling also plays an important part in ascertaining whether a crime scene is set up, or staged. Staging refers to altering the appearance of a crime scene to make it look like a murder took place in a different manner and for a different reason. For example, the husband who murders his wife in a fit of rage, then empties drawers and closets, knocks over furniture, and breaks a door lock or window to make it look as though their house was burglarized, and the murder was committed by somebody else. When crime scene investigators (CSI's) discover that the wife was severely beaten and stabbed 30 times, the umbrella of suspicion is over the husband. Stabbing a person numerous times indicates that the killing was personal with anger as a common ulterior motive.

The next time you watch Criminals Minds or any of the CSI TV shows, you will have a better understanding of what the characters talk about when they profile a perpetrator.

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