Approaches to Psychological Profiling

Four types of profiles are 1) the offender profile, 2) the victim profile, 3) the DNA profile, and 4) the geographic profile. Offender profiling involves obtaining information from law enforcement regarding the types of people who commit crimes (Douglass & Burgess, 1986). From the data compiled about crimes and individuals who commit crimes, an offender profile is developed to identify the type of person who might commit crime. These types are categorized according to crime, with a specific profile developed for a specific crime.

For example, the profile of an individual who might be an arsonist would differ from the profile of an individual who might be a drug dealer. Victim profiling involves creating a database of information on victims of crimes obtained from law enforcement. Specific crimes are linked to specific types of victims and a profile is created of individuals who are likely to be victims of a specific crime much in the same way a profile is created of an individual who is likely to engage in a specific crime.

DNA profiling is conducted by obtaining genetic data on an individual. Specifically it entails collecting the variable number tandem repeats or VNTRs of the loci on a chromosome. VNTRs are what distinguish DNA sequences.

Obtaining VNTRs is like obtaining fingerprints, it just doesn’t require a person’s fingers; all it requires is a cell from the body—a hair, blood, nail or piece of skin will do (Panneerchelvam & Norazmi, 2003) Geographical profiling looks at where crimes are committed and develops a profile of places, indicating where crimes are likely to be committed based on the geographical characteristics of the place.

For example, if a building is abandoned it might be considered to have a geographic profile for where drug use could be going on. A thorough psychological profile can be created by combining individual profiles—in this case, for example, a victim profile could be linked to a specific type of offender in a specific geographical profile. Even a DNA profile could play a part as DNA sequences tend to vary by geography as well (Freeman, 2018).

2 An example of an offender profile would be an individual who has robbed a convenience store. He has tattoos on his legs, is armed, always takes 2 cartons of Marlboro Reds after robbing the cash register by climbing over the counter, and gets away in a car waiting outside. The offender’s race, height, weight, age, sex, and other characteristics would also serve to make up his profile.

This profile could be coupled with a geographic profile by looking at what part of town the convenience store is in, what time of day or night the robbery occurs, how heavy traffic is at the time, whether the convenience store is empty of customers or busy, whether other robberies have taken place nearby, and so on. Victim profiling could also be used by examining the clerk on duty at the time of the robbery.

Is there something significant about the clerk? Are there any ethnic, sex, age, weight or height characteristics that might fit in with a pattern of offender types who prey on victim types? If an altercation breaks out and the offender’s blood or skin or hair is left behind at the scene of the crime, a DNA profile could be obtained that could be used to link the offender to other crimes if his DNA is already on record.

An example of a victim profile might be an individual who is robbed at gunpoint after leaving a strip club at 3 a.m.

The victim’s identifying characteristics would help to create the profile: what is the victim’s sex, ethnicity, height, weight, socio-economic background? Other questions would include: Was the victim waiting for a ride? An uber, a taxi, a car to be brought up? Was the victim intoxicated? Had the victim been fighting with anyone inside the club? Did the victim have any history of altercations with individuals there? Did the victim frequent the club? Did the victim know the offender? This victim profile could be combined with a geography profile by looking at where the crime took place—a strip club—and where the club was.

Was the club in a dangerous part of town or was the club a high-end place where wealthy people went? What was the history of crime in the neighborhood of the club and at that club in particular? The offender profile could also be used to help understand the victim.

What were the characteristics of the offender? What type of offender is often linked with the type of victim in this case or with the type of geography involved in the crime? The strip being a high-end sort, and the offender being well-dressed and getting away in an expensive car as shown by cameras on the premises, it is likely that the offender knew the victim and that the victim knew the offender.

It is also likely that the robbery was backlash from an earlier altercation at the same club between the two, which would become known by investigating the club and obtaining a history of events from witnesses. DNA profiling would probably not be necessary for this type of investigation. And example of DNA profiling would be at a murder scene where hair samples are collected.

One hair matches the DNA of the victim, another hair matches a sample of an ex-con convicted of rape and murder who escaped from prison six months prior. The geographical profile of the scene would help to tell more about the victim and the offender and an offender profile along with a victim profile could be used to provide information that could corroborate the DNA profile constructed from the physical evidence obtained at the scene.

All four profiles would be useful in creating a story of characters who could or could not be likely players in the murder scene. A geographical profile could be a dead-end street on the west side of town, where the demographic is of low socio-economic status individuals. The dead-end street has four houses, two of which are abandoned, but every weekend there is a shooting there or an altercation because the street is a popular hangout for gangs and.