Psychological profilers evaluate the condition of the crime scene, aspects of the crime, the Modus Operandi, the Signature, police reports, and the circumstantial evidence and from this pool of information draw inferences to create a profile on the unknown suspect (Costanzo & Krauss, 2015, p. 94). In the process of creating psychological autopsies, experts dissect the life of the possible suicide victim, looking at a pool of information ranging from biographical information—age, marital status, occupation status— to personal information—lifestyle, alcohol or drug use, addiction history, medical history, suicidal tendencies, psychiatric history— to finally any secondary information—police records, dairies, books (Costanzo & Krauss, 2015, p. 111). In the case of the process of jury selection, consulting psychologists draw inferences on the biases, prejudices, and beliefs of the potential jurors from the information pool collected in the voir dire process, the various questionnaires filled out by the potential jurors and any interviews during this process (Costanzo & Krauss, 2015, p.…
On July 17, 1982, a young woman was raped by a black man whom she said was a total stranger (The Innocence Project). The act committed to the young lady was beyond no doubt outrageous and sickly in nature, however a lot much attention to details and surety should have been taken in this case of such importance. When she reported this crime forensic psychology could have been of assistance by evaluating the emotional and mental stability of the victim. Such an event would be very traumatic in nature and it would be responsible to ensure the victim is in a sound state of mind to give the necessary testimony in which to incriminate the perpetrator. Often people of younger age and have been on psychiatric medicine are known to given false identifications of suspects (MORGAN).…
Understanding the criminal mind can be a daunting task. There are many aspects an investigator must consider before determining the typology of the criminal. The investigator must take a look at whom the individual was before they began their descent down their murderous path and what could have caused the descent. They must also explain if the individual has any mental disorders that could have contributed to their behavior.…
Cindy Sanchez Juvenile Justice System C. Drew 9/22/15 Mental Health and Violent Offending Juvenile delinquents, minors who commits acts that violate the law. Not all juveniles are prone to perpetrate crimes. There are many studies towards why adolescents commit crimes. Most criminologists conclude that theories and mental health can be excellent explanations towards offending. Choice theory, trait theory and mental health issues are superb studies to further understand the causes of juvenile delinquency.…
As stated above, Criminal Profiling can be a useful tool for law enforcement. Although it may not be perfect, it can help solve cases that law enforcement may not have been able to uncover on their own. Nearly all law enforcement agencies use some form of Criminal Profiling, some just use it more than others. Whenever an offender strikes, law enforcement agents attempt to find out what happened? Who did it?…
For many Canadians, the media is their primary source of information related to events and occurrences that may be taking place within their community. As a primary source, the media holds significant weight in relation to the development of perceptions and understandings of both current and past events. These perceptions, while at times seemingly innocuous, can be uncritical or far-removed from the reality of the events as they exist outside of the framing of media depictions. Media depictions of crime, criminality and the criminal justice system, can, and often do, set the foundation for the development of understandings that are inconsistent with the experiences of those who are directly involved—in a professional capacity—with the Canadian criminal justice system. Consequently, these distorted, or perhaps more accurately, misinformed understandings, can lead to the development of myths that are perpetuated at the social and political level.…
In that case, with the obstacles the police faces when dealing with mental illness situations, there are two serious issues appears from the current state of criminalization with someone having a mental illness and injury or death as a result of their contact with the police. As noted, officers are in the position to be first responders to serious mental health emergencies; police intervention accounts for a significant amount of referrals into care estimates of 15-40% of the mentally disordered is currently in jails and prisons (Adelman, 2003). Majority of arrest of mentally ill people are for non-serious crimes such as minor theft, noise or disruptions complaints, failure to appear in court following other charges that was either directly or indirectly related to their illness. A study by Rogers, suggest that lack of advance knowledge of mental illness was a contributing factor to arrest (1990). As a result, an arrest was often the only step available for officers in situation where individuals were not sufficiently disturbed too be accepted by hospitals but were too public in their deviance to be ignored.…
However, most are not familiar with criminal profiling as an investigative tool and my purpose in making this presentation is to make more people aware of this investigative technique, which very often is used to solve crimes. However, I also point out that criminal profiling does not apply in all crime cases. Criminal profilers look at the implications or psychological suggestions that might be drawn from the crime scene. Based on these inferences, investigators begin to create a psychological picture of the offender(s).…
While forensic psychology is a rather young field of psychology it can still provide valuable insight into the problem of mental illness…
During the 1980’s, women were constantly being raped and killed in London, England. Their killer was known as the railway rapist. As criminologists try to solve the reoccurring cases, offender profiling is put into place. Offender profiling is used to determine who the suspect is by using evidence and clues that were left at the crime scene. There are several different approaches to offender profiling such as a linked series of crimes and testing the behavior and personality of the offender.…
So from evidence inferences that may be made about the psychological relationship between crimes and offenders, we can deduce potential suspect, giving cranial investigators leads. As “criminals are distinct in personality or psychological profiles.” (Anastasi, 1976). But the degree of how accurate criminal profiling may be brought into…
Topic: Psychological Profiling General Purpose: To inform Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about psychological profiling. Central Idea Statement/Thesis: I will discuss (1) what psychological profiling is, (2) the profiling of Jack the Ripper, and (3) the most important uses of psychological profiling. Introduction I. [Attention Getter] Which well-known murderer is not defined as a serial killer? (Pictures of known offenders) II.…
Criminal offenders are carry a stigma of being bad people, so they are often neglected and assumed as immoral rational beings. Unfortunately, there are cases in which these offenders suffer from mental illness which may have played a role in their deviant behavior. Approximately 14-16% of the 7.3 million people in correctional facilities suffer from serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar or major depression. (Peterson et al. 439)…
In this essay I will reflect on the few assumptions and understandings I had about crime and see how they have changed. Upon arriving at De Montfort University to study Criminology and Criminal Justice, I had average knowledge about crime and punishment i.e. insight into biological and psychological perspectives of crime having studied A-level Law and Psychology beforehand. However I did expect to delve so deep into the history and other aspects of Criminology during this first semester. During A-level Law I have read many case studies of murder, manslaughter, GBH, rape etc. I found the main reasons behind committing these crimes were usually motives for revenge, loss of control, hate, rage, and biological inheritance of 'criminal genes ' such as Monoamine oxidase A which makes individuals more prone to exert violence.…
Criminal Psychology Introduction: Criminal psychology is the study of the intentions and behaviours of criminals. Criminologists apply psychology to crime in order for them to uncover the criminals reasoning for committing the crime. This is not a job that many people know about but I believe that it is a very important job so that the police and other agencies have information about what and who they are dealing with. I had a short limited amount of prior knowledge about this topic but from researching it further I have accumulated much more information and have created 3 key questions that I will be exploring. First I will be analysing the question How can criminal psychology help the criminal justice system and other agencies deal with…