JULY EXAMINATION 2020
SECTION B
STUDY UNIT 5: MULTIPLE MURDER, SCHOOL AND WORKPLACE VIOLENCE
INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGY
In the professional and academic world, the word "profiling" is often avoided. There are many
reasons for this.
1. Activity is unregulated in the United States, persons with minimum degrees or experience can
call themselves profilers: some have attained celebrity status, appearing for media interviews
and writing in ongoing blogs. At times their "predictions" have been extremely inaccurate,
though credible profilers help us understand an event after it occurred or while it is unfolding.
2. Many profilers tend to rely on “hunches" rather than on scientific data. While hunches based
on clinical experience are understandable, hunches without data to back them up are
problematic.
3. Some profilers in the past have written self-serving personal accounts of their experiences
that minimize the imperfect nature of their art.
4. Depictions of profilers in novels or entertainment media too often suggest they are infallible
and can solve most crimes. For these reasons, to bring more respectability to the profiling
enterprise, some professionals prefer to call themselves "behavioural analysts" or "investigative
psychologists" rather than profilers.
Investigative psychology, a term coined by David Canter, the director of the Centre for Investigative
Psychology at the University of Liverpool in England, refers to the
application of psychological research and principles to the investigation
of criminal behaviour. Investigative psychology tries to answer three
fundamental questions that are crucial in criminal investigations.
A. What are the important behavioural features of the crime that
may help identify and successfully prosecute the perpetrator?
B. What inferences can be made about the characteristics of the
offender that may help identify him or her?
C. Are there any other crimes that are likely to have been
committed by the same person?
FORMS OF PROFILING
Profiling can be divided into five somewhat overlapping categories:
1.) psychological profiling
2.) suspect-based profiling
3.) geographical profiling
4.) crime scene profiling
5.) equivocal death analysis.
, Just Note: the last is the least likely to be relevant to multiple murders.
Each of these profiling methods-and the investigators who employ these methods, rely on different
ways to analyse the person, the crime scene, or the incident.
Some of the profiling categories rely on either the clinical or actuarial approach.
The clinical approach is case focused and tries to infer characteristics of an offender from the
analysis of evidence gathered from a specific crime or series of crimes.
The method concentrates on the description, understanding, and
identification of a single offender based on the material gathered on an
individual case.
In situations where an offender has not been identified (such as in
burglaries, rapes, or some killings), the clinical method hopes to predict if
and when the offender will strike again.
It is based on the premise that every case is unique, and often emphasizes
discovering the motivation for the crime as a basic understanding of the
offender.
The clinical approach relies heavily on experience and training, and is often
supplemented by intuition, subjectivity, and sometimes "gut feelings."
By comparison, the actuarial approach concentrates on a data base gathered from groups
of offenders who have committed similar crimes or engaged in similar incidents.
This profiling tactic is based on how groups of offenders who have committed similar
crimes have acted in the past.
The accumulated data from these groups of behavioural patterns are called the base
rates. Base rate is defined as "the unconditional, naturally occurring rate of a
phenomenon in a population”.
If, for example, 65 out of 100 serial killers move the body from the crime scene, the
base rate would be 65.
The base rate provides an estimation of how many serial killers move the bodies
from the crime scene, a helpful indicator for the profiler.
Psychological Profiling
Psychological profiling is an assessment practice designed to help in the identification and
prediction of behaviour in known individuals.
As a general concept, it is not limited to negative characteristics.
Psychological profiling consists of two basic approaches:
(a) Threat assessment
Threat assessment is the process of determining the validity and seriousness of threat being
carried out by a person or group of persons.
In most cases the threat has already been made and is generally directed at a person,
facility, institution, organization, or group of persons.
Might be employed in the case of a high school student who has told peers that he plans to
“take out" the school, or an employee who displays uncharacteristic, bizarre behaviour.
SECTION B
STUDY UNIT 5: MULTIPLE MURDER, SCHOOL AND WORKPLACE VIOLENCE
INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGY
In the professional and academic world, the word "profiling" is often avoided. There are many
reasons for this.
1. Activity is unregulated in the United States, persons with minimum degrees or experience can
call themselves profilers: some have attained celebrity status, appearing for media interviews
and writing in ongoing blogs. At times their "predictions" have been extremely inaccurate,
though credible profilers help us understand an event after it occurred or while it is unfolding.
2. Many profilers tend to rely on “hunches" rather than on scientific data. While hunches based
on clinical experience are understandable, hunches without data to back them up are
problematic.
3. Some profilers in the past have written self-serving personal accounts of their experiences
that minimize the imperfect nature of their art.
4. Depictions of profilers in novels or entertainment media too often suggest they are infallible
and can solve most crimes. For these reasons, to bring more respectability to the profiling
enterprise, some professionals prefer to call themselves "behavioural analysts" or "investigative
psychologists" rather than profilers.
Investigative psychology, a term coined by David Canter, the director of the Centre for Investigative
Psychology at the University of Liverpool in England, refers to the
application of psychological research and principles to the investigation
of criminal behaviour. Investigative psychology tries to answer three
fundamental questions that are crucial in criminal investigations.
A. What are the important behavioural features of the crime that
may help identify and successfully prosecute the perpetrator?
B. What inferences can be made about the characteristics of the
offender that may help identify him or her?
C. Are there any other crimes that are likely to have been
committed by the same person?
FORMS OF PROFILING
Profiling can be divided into five somewhat overlapping categories:
1.) psychological profiling
2.) suspect-based profiling
3.) geographical profiling
4.) crime scene profiling
5.) equivocal death analysis.
, Just Note: the last is the least likely to be relevant to multiple murders.
Each of these profiling methods-and the investigators who employ these methods, rely on different
ways to analyse the person, the crime scene, or the incident.
Some of the profiling categories rely on either the clinical or actuarial approach.
The clinical approach is case focused and tries to infer characteristics of an offender from the
analysis of evidence gathered from a specific crime or series of crimes.
The method concentrates on the description, understanding, and
identification of a single offender based on the material gathered on an
individual case.
In situations where an offender has not been identified (such as in
burglaries, rapes, or some killings), the clinical method hopes to predict if
and when the offender will strike again.
It is based on the premise that every case is unique, and often emphasizes
discovering the motivation for the crime as a basic understanding of the
offender.
The clinical approach relies heavily on experience and training, and is often
supplemented by intuition, subjectivity, and sometimes "gut feelings."
By comparison, the actuarial approach concentrates on a data base gathered from groups
of offenders who have committed similar crimes or engaged in similar incidents.
This profiling tactic is based on how groups of offenders who have committed similar
crimes have acted in the past.
The accumulated data from these groups of behavioural patterns are called the base
rates. Base rate is defined as "the unconditional, naturally occurring rate of a
phenomenon in a population”.
If, for example, 65 out of 100 serial killers move the body from the crime scene, the
base rate would be 65.
The base rate provides an estimation of how many serial killers move the bodies
from the crime scene, a helpful indicator for the profiler.
Psychological Profiling
Psychological profiling is an assessment practice designed to help in the identification and
prediction of behaviour in known individuals.
As a general concept, it is not limited to negative characteristics.
Psychological profiling consists of two basic approaches:
(a) Threat assessment
Threat assessment is the process of determining the validity and seriousness of threat being
carried out by a person or group of persons.
In most cases the threat has already been made and is generally directed at a person,
facility, institution, organization, or group of persons.
Might be employed in the case of a high school student who has told peers that he plans to
“take out" the school, or an employee who displays uncharacteristic, bizarre behaviour.
