How does psychological profiling help solve crimes?
Criminal Profiling involves linking two or more cases based on the crime scene and the victims, by examining cases. It is a listing of background, physical, and behavioral characteristics of the offender. It provides investigators with specific information about unknown suspects that will help in the identification and/or apprehension. It helps the investigators reduce the suspects by eliminating those who are outside said profile. The more violent the crime, the more helpful it is to creating a profile. The more advanced an offender the less physical evidence he will leave behind. The primary foundation for the FBI’s profiling system is based on a delineation between an organized and disorganized offender. Dr. Thomas Bond, a police surgeon who performed an autopsy on the last victim of Jack the Ripper, makes the first example of profiling. He connected the murder of four of Jack the Ripper’s victims, stating that all the victims died in a similar manner. This similarity is known as a
