Criminal Profiling - Coursework Example

Investigators often employ the use of geographical profiling in deducing the most probable location of a given offender through investigation of various connected series of crimes. In accordance to Holmes (2009), geographical analysis can provide useful information plus strategies in the investigation of crime series. Geographical profiling often gets applied in cases like serial rape, arson, murder, bombings and robbery (Holmes, 2009). Through geographical profiling, linkage between a series of crimes could help pin point specific suspects records with similar past offences, identify similar crime scenes plus also provide substantial information regarding geographical and psychological profiling efforts (Rossmo, 1999).

There are various elements that often become put in place when conducting geographical profiling. Some of them include crime location type, land use, arterial roads and highways, neighborhood demographics, physical and psychological boundaries plus displacement and routine activities of victims (Holmes, 2009). In relation to crime location type, one often considers encounter sites, crime site, attack site, vehicle dump site and victim disposal site (Rossmo, 1999). In regard to arterial roads and highways, most people have preferences on which roads and pathways that they take, hence perpetrators in serial crimes have certain routes which they follow to get in contact with their victims or dispose bodies (Rossmo, 1999).

Displacement is also another factor crucial in geographic profiling since a given offender in this case changes his or her crime location due to some external factors like police patrol, etcetera. Some hunting patterns of certain investigators can be limited by certain physical and psychological boundaries. Example of physical boundaries involves rivers, lakes, while examples of psychological boundaries entail a different neighborhood, etcetera (Rossmo, 1999). Land use remains also beneficial in profiling criminals geographically through identifying the zones most affected, for instance, industrial, commercial, residential areas, etcetera (Holmes, 2009).

One should always keep in mind the characteristics of the given neighborhood located around the crime site in terms of demographic and census data. The habits, travels and behaviors of the perpetrators also provide a critical element in geographical profiling (Rossmo, 1999). 2. Analyze and discuss the role of victimology in criminal profiling? According to Ann (2011), victimology implies the study of given victims involved in crimes. Victimology will try to identify similarities that exist between the victims involved in the given crimes so as the given profiler can identify a certain pattern used by the criminal in committing the given crimes (Turvey, 2011).

In victimology, more emphasis is placed on the victim’s side in order to identify distinctive characteristics that attracted the perpetrator and try to draw a relation with the crimes on other victims. Often, victimology tries to examine age, similarities in hair colour, eye colour, lifestyle, whether the victims ever met or even worked together or if shared common interests. In summing up all these information, victimologists often try to build a clear picture of the given offender (Turvey, 2011).

Usually, serial crimes committed by certain given criminals often provide clues in relation to the victims affected regarding the criminals choice of victims. Hence in victimology, criminal profiling can be established via looking at the victims (Turvey, 2011). According to Turvey (2011), victimology often proves useful in criminal profiling through establishing the relationship between the victims and perpetrators. One could ask questions whether the two initially were family