Profile of a Criminal Profiler

By Dan Billings, Jan 11, 2012 in Offbeat, Pop Culture

Roy Hazelwood, an original member of the Behavioral Science Unit with the FBI, recently stated that the most important thing about law enforcement is to “answer every question that comes up in an investigation.” In many instances, in order to do this, a criminal profiler is brought into an investigation.

As popularized in movies such as The Silence of the Lambs and television shows like Criminal Minds, profiling applies the insights of psychological science to criminal behavior in order to solve a crime. Much like Nick Trever, who struggles to solve the mystery of his kidnapped son in the series The Division, criminal profilers must learn to think like criminals in order to get one step ahead of them, ultimately catching them.

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Generally, criminal profilers begin their career by getting a degree in forensics or psychology. The best criminal-profiling academy is the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, which is a highly competitive institution (as it accepts only the best minds in the country). Students are typically between the ages of 23 and 27, after beginning their careers either in law enforcement or the FBI. Most entrants have already spent three years in the FBI before entering the Academy.

After successfully graduating from the FBI Academy, profilers will use their new skills to look into the psyche of a criminal. Although the profession isn’t exactly what you see in The Silence of The Lambs, the goal of both Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) and a real profiler is the same: to develop an offender description by examining evidence. This evidence will range from witness testimony to physical evidence left at the crime scene.

According to retired FBI agent Gregg McCrary, “the basic premise is that behavior reflects personality.” He noted that in a homicide case, FBI agents glean insight into personality by looking at four crime phases: the plan of the murderous action, who the victim was and how that person was murdered, how did the murderer dispose of the body, and what has the murderer done after the crime. Generally, the profile will include the motive, the method, and will look for a signature. By taking these phases and information, a profiler can determine what the criminal is attempting to do and will try to get one step ahead. In the television show Criminal Minds, the Behavioral Analysis Unit, led by Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), travels across the United States to catch serial killers. The show develops the profile of the murderers by using these phases.

Criminal Minds’ character of Aaron Hotchner is based partly on the writings of one of the FBI’s first profilers, John Douglas. One of Douglas’ most famous captures was the Green River Killer. A recent graphic novel by Jeff Jensen, Green River Killer: A True Crime Story, chronicles the events that led to the capture of the killer through the eyes of his father, who led the investigation. Though Douglas’ twenty page report correctly noted features about the killer, all of the points were not correct. For example, Gary Leon Ridgway, the Green River Killer, was not an outdoorsman, like Douglas suspected. However, with different approaches to solving the crime, the murderer was apprehended.

The techniques of criminal profiling have been used for centuries. One of the most famous profilers was Dr. Thomas Bond, a medical doctor who tried to create a profile and capture Jack the Ripper. Robert Anderson, an officer with Scotland Yard, asked Bond to examine the evidence to assist in the investigation. After performing an autopsy on one of the victims, he wrote a letter to Anderson, which noted the sexual nature of the crimes and how Jack the Ripper was most likely a loner and would not appear out of the ordinary. Nonetheless, Jack the Ripper was never caught and is still a subject of many criminal profiles.

However, criminal profiling is not without controversy. Many law enforcement officials believe that profiling does not provide satisfactory results. Some psychologists believe it is nearly impossible to create a legitimate profile of an individual from a solitary action. One specific problem is the effect of the false positive, where a profile has been constructed and an individual has been apprehended, but that individual is not the actual culprit. A recent example is the Atlanta Olympic bomber. The FBI created a profile and arrested security guard Richard Jewell. While Jewell was in custody, the investigation did not continue. When it became apparent that Jewell was innocent, the FBI had lost a lot of time in the investigation and a lot of pain was caused to Jewell and his family.

Nonetheless, criminal profilers will continue to be a part of major criminal investigations across the world. By using psychology and criminal justice knowledge, investigators are provided a starting point from which to begin the investigation. Much of the research is common sense information that investigators would use regardless of the application. So, though profiling may be controversial to some aspects of the justice system, its methodology has been used for centuries and will continue to find murderers.

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Dan Billings lives in Mt. Prospect, Illinois. When he’s not running and listening to BBC podcasts, he’s reading comic books. He likes to consider himself a successful funny man, but that may only be true compared to the other legal writers that he spends his days with. On occasion, he writes on his own personal blog at rockthewesternworld.com.