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responsible for a serial murder investigation (see Brooks, 1982; Brooks
et al., 1988); and

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Payment of money to a serial murderer for evidence. To date, this has
only occurred in the Clifford Olson case in British Columbia (Bayless,
1982; Mulgrew, 1990).

Police departments may also use psychics to help search out clues (see

Dettlinger & Prugh, 1983; Lyons & Truzzi, 1991), and have been involved in
the production of special television programs designed to elicit tips, wit-
nesses, and bring about designed responses in the offender. And normal
investigative techniques, routine police patrol work, unsolicited suspect con-
fessions, and sheer luck have all played significant roles in the solving of serial
murder cases (Keppel, 1989; Levin & Fox, 1985).

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Criminal Profiling

‘Now, I have here a watch which has recently come into my possession.
Would you have the kindness to let me have an opinion upon the character
of the late owner?’

‘He was a man of untidy habits — very untidy and careless. He was left
with good prospects, but he threw away his chances, lived for some time in
poverty with occasional short intervals of prosperity, and, finally, taking to
drink, he died. That is all I can gather.’

‘How in the name of all that is wonderful did you get these facts? They are
absolutely correct in every particular.’

‘Ah, that is good luck. I could only say what was the balance of probability.
I did not at all expect to be accurate.’

‘But it was not mere guesswork?’

‘No, no: I never guess. It is a shocking habit — destructive to the logical
faculty. What seems strange to you is only so because you do not follow my
train of thought or observe the small facts upon which large inferences may
depend.’

— 

The Sign of the Four

, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1888

Sherlock Holmes’ inductive construction for Doctor Watson of the personal
characteristics of the owner of a pocket watch was part of the craft of pro-
filing. Criminal or psychological profiling

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 is one of the primary investigative

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The terms offender profiling, criminal personality assessment, and crime scene profiling

are also used.

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tools used to prioritize suspects and assist in cases of sexual violent crime.
It can be defined as the identification of “the major personality and behavioral
characteristics of an individual based upon an analysis of the crimes he or
she has committed” (Douglas et al., 1986, p. 405). Or, more simply and
generally, as the inference of offender characteristics from offence character-
istics (Copson, 1995).

The construction of such a behavioural composite — a social and psy-

chological assessment — is based on the premise that the proper interpreta-
tion of crime scene evidence can indicate the personality type of the
individual(s) who committed the offence. Human action is “the expression
of an individual personality structure within a concrete framework of space
and time” (Rebscher & Rohrer, 1991, p. 243). Certain personality types
exhibit similar behavioural patterns, and knowledge of these patterns or “clue
texts” can assist in the investigation of the crime and the assessment of
potential suspects.

Profiling is therefore an attempt to generate a consistent personality

pattern, and is based on the principle that character traits can be inferred
from crime scene behaviour and then used to predict other behaviour
(Homant & Kennedy, 1998). Trait theory assumes that human behaviour is
consistent and predictable, though some social psychologists hold that per-
sonality is not a good predictor of action in a specific situation. The funda-
mental attribution error results when behaviour is seen only as the product
of internal dispositions and situational influences are ignored (Homant,
forthcoming). Profilers counter they deal with cases involving extreme
pathology, and serious adult antisocial behaviour appears to be particularly
stable. In any case, traits are best measured through multiple tests.

Offender dangerous prediction is related to profiling. But as difficult and

contentious as future behaviour assessment is, the inferential burden is even
greater in crime scene profiling because the latter must go from behaviour
to individual to behaviour. Criminal profiling structures its analysis through
answers to three primary questions:

1. What happened at the crime scene?
2. Why did these events happen?
3. What type of person would have done this?

Responses to these questions are “based on a mixture of operational

experience with similar crimes, statistical knowledge gleaned from the
analyses of sets of similar cases and knowledge gathered from clinical
research and practice” (Jackson et al., 1994, p. 22). Unlike the “just the
facts” nature of most investigative methodologies, profiles are composed
of probabilistic knowledge concerning the criminal offender. There is a

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hierarchy of investigative methods in terms of quality of information con-
tent: (1) physical evidence; (2) witnesses; and (3) profiling. It is therefore
important to realize that profile information should be considered subser-
vient to physical evidence.

5.1 Development of Profiling

While research on “criminal anthropology” dates back to 1820 (Teten, 1989),
the first known offender profile was prepared for the investigation of the
murders of Jack the Ripper (Rumbelow, 1988). Dr. Thomas Bond, a surgeon
with the Great Western Railway and a lecturer in forensic medicine, con-
ducted the postmortem examination of Mary Kelly, generally acknowledged
as the last of the Ripper victims. In a report written November 10, 1888, and
sent to Robert Anderson, the Head of CID (Criminal Investigation Depart-
ment) for the London Metropolitan Police, Bond made inferences regarding
the Ripper’s physical appearance and condition, occupation, income, habits,
motives, sexual paraphilias, and mental health. He concluded that the mur-
derer was subject to periodical attacks of “homicidal and erotic mania.”

The modern use of psychological profiling in the criminal investigation

process can be traced to the work of psychiatrist Dr. James A. Brussel, who
profiled New York City’s Mad Bomber in 1956 (Brussel, 1968). By combining
criminal statistics, psychiatry, and crime scene investigative insights, Brussel
made several accurate predications concerning the description and back-
ground of the bomber, George Metesky (Teten, 1989). Another early profiling
effort came from the Medical-Psychiatric Committee formed in 1964 to
analyze the Boston Strangler; it was unsuccessful as its members could not
agree on which of the murders were linked (Frank, 1966).

Since 1978, investigative support, research, and training in this area has

been provided within the U.S. by the Behavioral Science Unit — now known
as the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) — located
within the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) at the FBI Academy in
Quantico, Virginia. Training for criminal profiling in North America is pro-
vided by the NCAVC and the International Criminal Investigative Analysis
Fellowship (ICIAF) (Lines, 1999). The NCAVC was established in 1984 by
the FBI in response to concerns over the rapid increase in violent crime
throughout the U.S. during the previous decade (Depue, 1986). In addition
to providing profiling services, referred to as criminal investigative analysis
(CIA), the NCAVC is responsible for VICAP, research, and instruction com-
ponents (Ressler et al., 1988; Van Zandt & Ether, 1994).

The Police Fellowship, initiated by the FBI but now an independent

professional body, provides a structured and mentored two-year intensive

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understudy program for qualified law enforcement candidates (see Teten,
1989). Criminal profiling in Canada has followed the FBI/ICIAF model, and
the RCMP Behavioural Sciences and Special Services Branch and the Ontario
Provincial Police (OPP) Behavioural Sciences Section now provide this ser-
vice nationally (Cavanagh & MacKay, 1991; Lines, 1999; MacKay, 1994).

In Britain, the more general terms of offender profiling and behavioural

analysis are used in recognition of contributions from psychology, psychiatry,
geography, mathematics, statistics, and detective expertise. Offender profiling
consists of the prediction of offender characteristics, crime scene assessment,
establishment of crime series, and provision of investigative advice. It is based
on three distinct approaches: (1) practical detective expertise; (2) behavioural
science theory; and (3) statistical analyses of solved case information. The
behavioural science research has two contrasting threads — one in the area
of clinical psychology, and the other in environmental psychology (Copson,
1993). The latter field has been concerned with drawing geographical as well
as behavioural inferences concerning the offender.

The statistical analysis approach to criminal profiling has its genesis in

the development of the CATCHEM database, a collation of all sexually moti-
vated child murders and abductions in Great Britain since 1960 (Aitken,
Connolly, Gammerman, & Zhang, 1994; Burton, 1998; Copson, 1993). Con-
taining 3310 cases (as of end 1997), the system also has a refined database
of 470 victims and 417 offenders that is used for prediction purposes. Sta-
tistical profiles for unsolved crimes are produced through comparisons to
solved cases in the refined database

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 (see above). These are empirical and

make no assumptions regarding offender motivation or personality. Amongst
other predictions, the statistical profiles estimate journey-to-crime ranges,
and distance between crime scene and dump site in cases of missing bodies
(Copson, 1993). Analyses to date of the CATCHEM data suggest that Bayesian
belief networks, a graphical method for depicting probabilistic relationships
(e.g., between offender, victim, and crime characteristics), shows promise for
statistical modeling (Aitken et al., 1994; Aitken, Connolly, Gammerman,
Zhang, Bailey, Gordon, & Oldfield, 1995; see also Iversen, 1984).

The National Crime Faculty (NCF) at the Police Staff College in Bram-

shill coordinates offender profiling and related services for the British police.
They provide operational support, investigative training, crime analysis, data
collection, and research on serious crime issues. The NCF maintains a list of
accredited offender profilers, and a register of contacts for expert support in
the areas of prosecution, forensic science, intelligence, investigation, and
behavioural science. They are also engaged in Operation Enigma, an exam-

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The detection rate is 94% for the entire database, and 88.7% for the refined database.