Analyzing Criminal Profiling - Assignment Example

Analyzing Criminal Profiling Analyzing Criminal Profiling Crime is as old as humanity itself, through time various methods of determining who the criminal is have been used. Witchcraft, the size of appendages, brain reading contraptions, lie detectors and other scientific inventions have been used to determine the nature of the subject. Although some of the techniques have been dropped with time, one of the scientific techniques used to analyze the possibility of an individual being a criminal, profiling, still prevails.

With results of the study supporting the principles behind it, the technique has been incorporated into studies by various learning institutions.The practice of profiling has its supporters as well as its critiques. The use of physical features to predict the behavior of persons is an old science. In most cases, the looks that are often regarded as malformed or dysfunctional create the allure of the individual being criminalist in nature. The science is a link between the physical and mental, which is often linked to experience.

The criminal to the public represents a filthy, cunning and socially misfit beings. The CID (Criminal Investigation Department) is one of the departments that have been long presumed to use the strategy. With scientific inclusion, the strategy was believed to be correct until some failures began emanating (Turvey, 2011).One of the aspects of criminal profiling that is associated with the failures of the technique is racial profiling. By making statistical inferences, various communities became targets of criminal profiling based on the fact that the numbers provided evidence to support the beliefs of the police forces.

The failures associated with the profiling technique triggered more scholarly concentration on the technique. Various studies on profiling were carried out to reveal the weaknesses of the exercise (Girod, 2004). In the studies, the profiler groups made the most accurate predictions on subjects used for studies. Though the accuracy degree was high, the group still had a wide variance gap. Since the aim was to correctly identify potential criminals, the high degree of accuracy supported the continued use of the profiler strategy.

The use of profiler arguments has been in the investigative phase and controversially in courts. In the effort of providing evidence to support the charges, some court prosecutors have sought to use profilers as witnesses (Hess et. al 2001). This is a move that has been taken up by some courts and denied by others. This proofs that there is still a degree of controversy on the use of profiler in the judicial system. The medical professionals have also been drawn to the profiling system. Through practice and experience, the profiler system has observed mental similarities of its suspects, thus they have recruited psychologists in their teams to establish innocence or guilt of the suspects (Turvey, 2011).

Criminal profiling being a means by which evidence from a crime scene is used to make inference on the possible suspects based on their personal behaviors and psychopathology, is an approach that depends on statistics and understanding the behavior of various communities, groups and personalities. The practice has to be supported by physical evidence to fully convict the suspects, thus it is not a conclusive method of conducting investigations on crimes committed, not in the attempts to prevent committing future crimes.

The study, though needing improvements is largely accurate and since prevention of crime is a lesser evil compared to accusing suspects wrongly, until a fool proof method of profiling has been developed it’s the closest practice to perfection.ReferencesTurvey, E., Brent. (2011). Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis. (4th ed.). New York: Academic Press. Girod, J., Robert. (2004). Profiling the Criminal Mind: Behavioral Science and Criminal Investigative Analysis.

Indiana: iUniverse.Hess, Matison, Karen, Matison, Hess, Christine H., Orthmann & Henry Lim. (2001). Introduction to law enforcement and criminal justice. NewYork: John Wiley and Sons.