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What Have We Learned From Offender Profiling? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 40 Years of Research

Authors:

Abstract

In the 4 decades since offender profiling (OP) was established, hundreds of journal articles, books, book chapters, reports, and magazine articles have been published on the topic, and the technique has been used by countless law enforcement agencies around the globe. However, despite the popularity and extensive literature published on OP, very little is known about its evolution, current state, or findings of the field to date. Therefore, this study presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of 426 publications on OP from 1976 through 2016. Results of this systematic review suggest that there have been considerable improvements in the scientific rigor and self-assessment being conducted in the discipline, although in total, few studies have used a strong empirical approach to develop new profiles. Even fewer evaluations of the effectiveness of OP have been conducted. The first summary of offender profiles proposed for major crimes in OP literature is also presented, with results indicating some recurrent themes in profiles, but wide variations in the number, name, and description of the profiles often found. A meta-analysis of case linkage analysis research indicates that this area is statistically sophisticated, and has yielded moderate to strong accuracy rates for linking crimes to a single offender. Finally, the first analysis of the most prolific authors, researchers, departments, and outlets for OP research, and the methods, approach, and most cited publications in OP are identified. Suggestions for future research on OP and the potential impact that this may have on policy and practice are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
1
What Have We Learned from Offender Profiling?
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
of 40 Years of Research
Bryanna Fox, PhD*
University of South Florida
Assistant Professor
Department of Criminology
Faculty Affiliate
Florida Mental Health Institute
4202 E. Fowler Avenue, SOC 107
Tampa, Florida
Email: bhfox@usf.edu
*Corresponding author
&
David P. Farrington, PhD
University of Cambridge
Emeritus Professor
Institute of Criminology
Sidgwick Avenue
Cambridge, United Kingdom
Published in: Psychological Bulletin
Link: http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-58808-003
Please cite as:
Fox, B., & Farrington, D. P. (2018). What have we learned from offender profiling? A
systematic review and meta-analysis of 40 years of research. Psychological Bulletin,
144(12), 1247-1274.
We extend our deepest appreciation to Karina Benavides, Cassandra Dodge, Lance Johnson,
Emily Luc, Nathan Lawshe, James Meehan, Bernadette Stewart, Elisa Toman, Melanie Valentin
Rosa, and Audrey Weber for their dedication and effort as research assistants on this project.
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
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Abstract:
In the 4 decades since offender profiling (OP) was established, hundreds of journal articles,
books, book chapters, reports, and magazine articles have been published on the topic, and the
technique has been used by countless law enforcement agencies around the globe. However,
despite the popularity and extensive literature published on OP, very little is known about its
evolution, current state, or findings of the field to date. Therefore, this study presents a
systematic review and meta-analysis of 426 publications on OP from 1976 through 2016. Results
of this systematic review suggest that there have been considerable improvements in the
scientific rigor and self-assessment being conducted in the discipline, although in total, few
studies have used a strong empirical approach to develop new profiles. Even fewer evaluations
of the effectiveness of OP have been conducted. The first summary of offender profiles proposed
for major crimes in OP literature is also presented, with results indicating some recurrent themes
in profiles, but wide variations in the number, name, and description of the profiles often found.
A meta-analysis of case linkage analysis research indicates that this area is statistically
sophisticated, and has yielded moderate to strong accuracy rates for linking crimes to a single
offender. Finally, the first analysis of the most prolific authors, researchers, departments, and
outlets for OP research, and the methods, approach, and most cited publications in OP are
identified. Suggestions for future research on OP and the potential impact that this may have on
policy and practice are also discussed.
Public Significance Statement:
This systematic review and meta-analysis indicates that the field of offender profiling has made
considerable improvement in the scientific rigor of its research, with case linkage analysis
studies showing moderate to strong accuracy in its ability to link crimes to a single offender.
Although recurring themes in profiles can be found in the meta-analysis of offender profiling
research, there is also considerable variability in the number, name, and description of the
profiles. Despite being applied often in active police investigations, very few evaluations of the
profiles’ accuracy or effectiveness have taken place. This lack of scientific evidence on the
validity and impact of profiling, despite the technique’s widespread use, seriously questions its
efficacy in real world investigations, as it currently stands.
Keywords: offender profiling, case linkage analysis, systematic review, meta-analysis
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
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What Have We Learned from Offender Profiling? A Systematic Review
and Meta-Analysis of 40 Years of Research
The basic idea of profiling is very simple. Its aim is to predict characteristics of the
undetected offender(s) from characteristics of the offense(s) and the victims(s).
However, this simple aim leads to many complex and unanswered questions.
-David Farrington (2007, p. 486)
Offender profiling (OP) is an investigative tool used primarily by law enforcement,
psychologists, academics, and consultants to help identify the major personality, behavioral, and
demographic characteristics of an offender based upon an analysis of the crime scene behaviors
(Douglas & Burgess, 1986; Fox & Farrington, 2015; Ormerod, 1996a). This tool can be used to
generate or narrow down the range of possible suspects based upon the established links between
the type of crime committed, and the characteristics of offenders who commit those types of
crimes. Although the basic concept of OP is straightforward, determining the numerous
backgrounds, methods, terminology, and findings in the field has been anything but clear.
1
In the first article on OP, published by Colin Campbell in Psychology Today in 1976,
researchers were called upon to prove that profilers are “better than bartenders” at predicting
traits and features of offenders. Despite the considerable research conducted on OP, and
extraordinary popularity of the technique among law enforcement, it is still unclear where the
field currently stands from a scientific standpoint, particularly in terms of Campbell’s (1976)
legendary “bartender” test.
Specifically, in the four decades since the establishment of the OP field, there have been
hundreds of journal articles, books, book chapters, reports, and magazine articles published on
the topic (Dowden, Bennell, & Bloomfield, 2007). However, there appears to be substantial
variation in what is considered to be OP, who is conducting it, the methodology and approach
that is used, the findings that are achieved, as well as where and how the results are presented.
Therefore, despite the popularity and extensive literature on OP, very little is known about the
current state or findings of the field to date.
Conducting a systematic and scientific evaluation of the field of OP is vital for two
reasons. First, OP is not only extremely popular in the media and pop culture, it is also a popular
area of research for scholars in psychology, criminology, and beyond. Unfortunately, there is
very little within the field of OP that is well-established and agreed upon, which is perhaps due
to the lack of uniformity in methods, data, or even the basic terminology used by those
conducting research on OP (Bosco, Zappala`, & Santtila, 2010; Ebisike, 2008; Fox & Farrington,
2015; Wilson, Lincoln, & Kocsis, 1997). For instance, some use a clinical approach to OP,
where profiles are developed on a case-by-case basis by a profiler who has considerable training,
experience, and practice in the field, but with no clear process or methodology outlined (e.g.,
Holmes & Holmes, 1996; Snook, Cullen, Bennell, Taylor, & Gendreau, 2008). Conversely,
others conduct and have begun to evaluate OP using objective and replicable measures and
1
It is important to note that (1) there is not a single agreed upon definition for offender profiling used by all in the field, and (2) there are other
related (and arguably synonymous) terms/concepts, including criminal profiling, criminal investigative analysis, and personality profiling, which
are also used in the field based solely upon author preference and background, not substantive differences in terminology or meaning.
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
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scientific methods in subfields such as investigative psychology (Canter, 1995a; Canter, 2011),
case linkage analysis (Bennell & Canter, 2002; Bennell, Mugford, Ellingwood, & Woodhams,
2014), and evidence-based profiling (Farrington & Lambert, 2000; Fox & Farrington, 2012,
2015).
Although a more statistical approach to OP is beginning to be adopted, there is no
synthesis of the numerous methodologies, terminology, and recurring findings from research
within OP. This synthesis appears to be essential in a field that has such substantial practical
implications, and is aiming to become a true scientific practice (Farrington & Lambert, 2000).
Therefore, systematically and scientifically identifying, analyzing, and summarizing the extant
body of research is critical to the advancement of the OP field.
The second key issue stems from the fact that OP is inherently an applied discipline, as
the findings are routinely used in active investigations by law enforcement around the globe
(Homant & Kennedy, 1998; Snook, Eastwood, Gendreau, Goggin, & Cullen, 2007). However,
there is currently no standardization in the profiling techniques or even awareness of the
recurring offender profiles in existence. There are also very few evaluations on the effectiveness
of the multitude of methodologies and profiles that are being implemented by law enforcement in
unsolved cases. The primary concern is that, although OP is utilized regularly in police
investigations, the field currently does not rise to the level of scientific credibility according to
the 1993 Daubert standard (see Bosco et al., 2010; Ebisike, 2008; Fox & Farrington, 2015;
Pakkanen, Bosco, & Santtila, 2014; Turvey & Freeman, 2012). Specifically, there is no known
reliability or error rate for the vast number of methodologies or profiles developed in the field,
largely because it is unclear what methodologies and resultant profiles currently exist.
Additionally, it is unknown what proportion of the profiles used in practice have undergone the
peer review process and if that proportion is changing over time. Without this information,
general acceptance of OP in the psychological field is unlikely to be achieved. Although there is
great hope in OP, there are many questions that need to be answered for it to become a more
credible and scientific field.
Prior Reviews and Meta-Analyses of OP
Three systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been conducted in the field of OP
(Bennell et al., 2013; Dowden et al., 2007; Snook et al., 2007). The latter two, conducted about a
decade ago, noted that in the OP field “there has been very little synthesis of the research to date
to identify how things have developed, if at all” (Dowden et al., 2007, pp. 4445) and that there
is an “absence of well-defined profiling framework and cumulated empirical knowledge” (Snook
et al., 2007, p. 437) in OP. Therefore, these studies aimed to conduct a synthesis of the literature
to provide a clear indication of the status of the field, and the methodologies, scholars, and
findings on which the practice of OP is based. A major goal of this study is to replicate and
expand upon prior work by Dowden et al. (2007), Snook et al. (2007), and Bennell et al. (2013).
Dowden et al. (2007): Review of OP Journal Articles
The review conducted by Dowden et al. (2007) used a content analysis of published
journal articles on OP to conduct a “preliminary quantitative synthesis” of the available literature
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
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from 1976 to 2007 (p. 45). A total of 132 published articles were identified for inclusion through
searches of electronic databases for the following terms: profiling, homicide, serial killing, and
criminal investigative analysis. All books, book chapters, and published reports were excluded
from analysis. Additionally, articles on related fields such as geographic profiling and case
linkage analysis were removed from the study.
The results of Dowden and colleagues’ (2007) review showed that the number of articles
on OP increased substantially over time, with over 61% of the articles published between 1995
and 2007. The proportion of studies that underwent peer review also showed a significant
increase during that time frame, in addition to a significant change in statistical sophistication of
the studies over time. Nearly four times as many studies used inferential statistics between 1995
and 2006, as compared with those published before 1995. Each article was also coded on the
basis of its “emphasis,” with discussion pieces being most prevalent. Also, although most studies
discussed profiling in general (41%), the most common crime type profiled was homicide (30%).
Finally, with respect to the authors of OP research, most (34%) were psychologists, whereas 7%
were FBI agents, 5% were criminologists, 3% were forensic psychologists, and the remainder
were in other professions. Only 18 authors had published three or more articles on OP by 2007.
Snook and Colleagues (2007): Review of OP Publications and Analysis of Profiler Accuracy
The study by Snook and colleagues (2007) was unique in that it included a narrative
review of all peer reviewed publications on OP up to 2007. A total of 130 publications were
identified in database searches using the keywords criminal profiling, psychological profiling,
and offender profiling. Snook et al.’s review focused on the processes used to develop profiles,
with results indicating that 60% of publications used anecdotal inferences to develop profiles,
42% were based on some scientific evidence, and 23% used intuition as a data source in the
publications.
2
However, statistically oriented articles were published significantly more often
after 2000 as compared with before, tended to be written by authors outside the United States,
and were conducted by academics versus law enforcement or FBI agents.
The “meta-analysis” of profiler accuracy was based upon four studies that evaluated the
accuracy of self-labeled profilers as compared with other groups (e.g., psychologists, police
officers, college students, psychics). No effect sizes or other meta-analytic data were collected or
reported. It was found that profilers were generally more accurate than the comparison groups
when predicting physical features, cognitive processes, and the social history of offenders on the
basis of crime scene behaviors. When predicting the overall offender from a lineup, the profilers’
accuracy rate was 62%, as compared with 38% for the nonprofiler groups. Snook and colleagues
concluded that, whereas the field appears to be undergoing a scientific transformation, and
profilers may be more accurate than nonprofilers, OP may not yet rise to the level of “science,”
at least as it stood in 2007.
Bennell and Colleagues (2013): Analysis of Research on Case Linkage Analysis (CLA)
The final review was conducted by Bennell et al. (2013) on a subset of research in OP
known as CLA. CLA, which was first conducted by Bennell and Canter (2002), assesses the
2
The methods used in OP publications are not mutually exclusive and do not add to 100%.
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
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ability to statistically link crimes to a single offender on the basis of various crime scene
behaviors and evaluates the accuracy of the linking decision made. Typically, CLA researchers
use receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to evaluate behavioral similarity across
offenses, and determine the likelihood of case linkage (Bennell et al., 2013). The follow-up
draws upon area under the ROC curve (AUC) analysis, a technique commonly used in the
psychological and medical fields to make two-alternative diagnostic decisions (e.g., cancer vs.
noncancer), to determine the level of accuracy when linking crimes to a serial offender (Bennell
et al., 2013; Steadman et al., 2000). Given the statistical sophistication of CLA, and the applied
uses in criminal investigations, CLA appears to be a rapidly growing subset of OP research.
Bennell and colleagues (2013) conducted a descriptive analysis of all available CLA
research from 2002 through January 2013. A total of 17 published articles were identified
through electronic database searches for case or crime linkage analysis. The results indicated that
there was considerable variability in AUCs across all CLA studies, with some AUCs as low as
.45, which indicates an accuracy below chance, whereas others were as high as .96, indicating
near perfect accuracy in linking decisions. Overall, about half of the reported AUCs fell into the
moderate accuracy range (.70 to .89), whereas 14% were considered highly accurate (over .90),
36% indicated low accuracy (.50 to .69), and 1% were below chance. Burglary and sexual assault
were the most common crime types in the CLA studies, although AUC values were the highest
for homicide, followed by sexual assault, arson, burglary, and then robbery and car theft.
Average AUCs for each offense type were not provided.
With respect to linking accuracy by nation in which the data were collected, considerable
variability in AUCs by country were reported, with Finland showing the highest average AUC
(.72). AUCs for all other countries were not reported. Finally, the behavioral domains used to
make the linking decision were also evaluated. Bennell and colleagues (2013) reported that
intercrime distance resulted in some of the most accurate linking decisions, whereas modus
operandi (MO; i.e., behaviors that indicate offenders’ method when committing a crime)
produced lower average AUCs (the specific values were not reported). Bennell et al. concluded
by stating that, whereas the field of CLA has substantial potential, and the overall accuracy
found for certain crimes and behavioral domains could lead to effective crime-solving strategies
when applied in police investigations, more research was clearly needed on the topic (see also
Ebisike, 2008; Fox & Farrington, 2015; Pakkanen et al., 2014; Turvey & Freeman, 2012).
Current Aim
Although the three aforementioned studies paved the way for this research in terms of a
better understanding of the variety of approaches, data, methodologies, researchers, and
ultimately, findings in the field of OP, the current study aims to replicate and build on these past
analyses in four ways. First, this study collected and analyzed an additional decade of
publications, as the previous systematic reviews of OP literature were conducted by Dowden et
al. (2007) and Snook et al. (2007) over 10 years ago.
Second, a broader array of publications on OP are drawn upon, so a thorough evaluation
of all forms of literature on the topic (to include peer reviewed journal articles, books, and book
chapters, as well as non-peer reviewed publications including nonacademic books, reports, and
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
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trade journal articles, which were excluded from prior reviews) as well as the methods, findings,
outlets, citations, and authors who produced these works. An emphasis is placed on the overall
prevalence and changes over time in the methods, statistical sophistication, peer review, author
types, affiliations and departments, and assessment of impact of OP publications.
Third, to benefit the readers of this article and provide a comprehensive view on the state
of the field of OP, two additional analyses were conducted. A systematic review was conducted
to identify the recurring profiles proposed for each crime type (no effect sizes are available). As
a field it is essential that we take stock of what profiles are being developed, how, and if certain
offender types are consistently linked to certain offending behaviors. No such summary of extant
profiles currently exists in any form.
Finally, a meta-analysis of CLA research is also conducted, in order to determine the
average accuracy of CLA, a rapidly growing field within OP, as well as how this accuracy rate
specifically varies according to the type of crime, behavioral domain, and location of the offense
data of interest. This builds upon prior research, and provides the first meta-analysis on the
active and growing subfield of CLA.
This comprehensive and holistic approach allows for a more accurate and complete
assessment of the unique methodologies, findings, and when available, effect sizes, within OP,
and provides a “state of the art” analysis of the field. (To date, no other study has evaluated the
state of OP in this manner.) Additionally, to have a true assessment of where we are, it is
important to evaluate where we came from. Older OP literature (particularly the work developed
by FBI profilers in the 1970s and 1980s) still impacts police and public perception of the field of
OP. Omitting this literature from an analysis of OP, particularly when it has played such an
important (albeit controversial) role in the field’s history, only serves to ignore it, not evaluate it.
The ultimate goal of this study is to evaluate the current state of OP, its evolution, and the
cumulative impact of 4 decades of work in order to benefit the researchers and practitioners who
study and use OP around the world.
Method
Data
This study aimed to identify and collect all available publications on OP, including peer
reviewed journal articles, books, book chapters, magazine articles, research reports, and trade
journal articles published from 1976 through 2016. To do this, an electronic search of
psychological, criminological, and medical journal databases including PsycINFO, PubMed,
Criminal Justice Abstracts, Medline, Web of Science, and the National Criminal Justice
Reference System was conducted to identify suitable publications to be included in this study.
Additional searches were conducted using Google Scholar, Thomson Reuters Institute for
Scientific Information, and the lead author’s university international library catalog to help
identify books, book chapters, trade journals, and other types of publications not included in
academic journal databases.
Selection Criteria
As noted, OP has been defined in multiple ways by various authors, based largely on
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
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their preference and background (Ebisike, 2008). Furthermore, OP is also referred to by various
names, including criminal profiling, psychological profiling, criminal investigative analysis,
crime scene analysis, behavioral profiling, personality profiling, case linkage analysis,
behavioral consistency analysis. Consequently, each database was searched using the following
key words: offender profiling, criminal profiling, psychological profiling, criminal personality
profiling, personality profiling, criminal investigative analysis, investigative psychology,
behavioral profiling, behavioral evidence analysis, and geographic profiling. Additional
keywords were case linkage analysis, crime linkage, crime linkage analysis, crime scene
analysis, behavioral linkage, behavior linkage, crime behavior consistency, and behavioral
consistency analysis.
3
The search period was January 1, 1976 to December 31, 2016. To
supplement these database searches, the reference lists of prior systematic reviews as well as all
publications identified through the search were examined to identify additional relevant works.
Publications were included in the study if they provided (1) a general, legal, or theoretical
discussion of OP (or any of the aforementioned keyword variants used in the search string); (2) a
case study applying OP; (3) proposed or developed a profile; (4) performed case linkage analysis
(or any of the keyword variants, as identified in the search string); (5) compared profiling
methods; or (6) conducted an evaluation of a profiling technique. All identified publications were
scanned to ensure that they met the inclusion criteria and were not mistakenly identified. For
instance, articles that developed profiles of “lymphokine activities” and “electron density” were
eliminated, so only publications relating profiling to criminal behavior were included.
In total, 513 publications met the initial inclusion criteria for the present study. However,
as geographic profiling (GP) appeared to be dissimilar for direct comparison to traditional OP
because of the mathematical versus behavioral/psychological-based theory and measures,
distinctive GP analytical techniques (e.g., unique algorithms and computer software), and the
case-specific (vs. generalizable) application of the findings, all GP publications (n = 87) were
removed from the study. This left a total of 426 publications included in the study.
It should be noted that in addition to general analysis of the full population of OP
publications, two distinct analyses were conducted using a subset of the 426 publications: (1) a
meta-analysis of all publications which developed offender profiles and (2) a meta-analysis of
studies on CLA’s ability to successfully link cases based upon various crime scene behaviors. To
be included in the meta-analysis of existent profiles, a publication must provide sufficient
information on the number and type of profiles that were developed for a specific crime (e.g., not
a general discussion of profiling or a case study). A total of 62 of the 426 publications fit the
inclusion criteria for the existent profiles analysis. Publications were excluded from the CLA
meta-analysis if they lacked adequate statistics on the effect size and estimates of variance
regarding the ability to successfully link cases based upon various crime scene behaviors. A total
of 18 studies (yielding 34 total effect sizes) fit the inclusion criteria for the CLA meta-analysis.
Measures
All 426 publications were coded for the following measures: (a) year of publication, (b)
3
All variations for each key word (such as profile, profiles, profiler, linking, linkage, behavior, behavioral) were used. Example of a search
string: [offender] AND [profiling OR profiler OR profiles OR profiler].
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
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type and (c) topic of publication, (d) author(s) names, (e) position, and (f) department/agency, (g)
outlet name, (h) peer review status, (i) data collection location, (j) sample size, (k) sampling
technique, (l) crime type, (m) use of statistics, (n) variables used in analysis, (o) results of study,
and (p) number of citations. Most of this information was clearly and readily available, but to
ensure consistency in coding across the large population of studies, we developed and used a
standardized codebook for data collection. To increase comparability with prior review findings,
the coding scheme(s) and measures used by Bennell et al. (2013), Dowden et al. (2007), and
Snook et al. (2007) studies were used when possible.
The year of publication was coded according to the year each publication was made
available to the public. Publication type refers to outlet of publication and coded into six
categories, which are largely based on the “publication emphasis” measure in Dowden et al.’s
(2007) review of OP literature. These categories include the following: peer reviewed journal
article, book, book chapter, trade journal, report, or magazine article. In concordance with
Dowden et al.’s (2007) description, general discussion pieces aim to explain OP, such as how it
is conducted, a description of various profiles, or how OP is generally applied. Legal/theoretical
publications focus on the theoretical underpinnings of OP, such as the assumptions required to
evaluate behavioral consistency or to profile offenders, the implications of using OP such as the
admissibility of profiling in court, or the “Daubert status” of expert witnesses in the OP field.
Autobiographies, typically written by OP practitioners, describe personal experiences and cases
relating to OP, whereas case studies typically develop or apply profiles, but do so to a very small
sample of cases (typically fewer than five), and generally do not conduct any statistical analysis.
CLA articles are empirical studies which aim to statistically evaluate the ability to accurately
match multiple offenses to a single offender, and/or evaluate the consistency of behaviors in a
serial offender’s crime series over time. Profile development articles aim to create a “profile” of
offenders or offenses, but can range from using nonstatistical information to advanced scientific
methodologies. Comparison of methods articles compare results and accuracy of different
approaches to profiling, or compare the abilities of profilers with different groups of individuals.
Finally, evaluations aim to assess the accuracy and/or utility of profiling.
Author affiliation refers to the self-identified professional affiliation of all authors (based
on general field of employment or self-described title) included in the study. The potential
responses include psychologist, criminologist, forensic psychologist/psychiatrist (in independent
practice), FBI Special Agent, law enforcement/government, student, or another field. To expand
on past work (but maintain a manageable amount of data), the name and affiliation for the first
three authors of each publication were coded for analysis, as this represented the author(s) with
the greatest contribution to each publication. The specific department/agency in which each
author was employed at the time of publication was coded on the basis of information provided
in each publication or a review of the author’s curriculum vitae for the time of the publication.
The name of each outlet for publication (e.g., journal, book, magazine) was recorded, as
well as the peer review status (peer reviewed vs. not peer reviewed). All publications were
evaluated on the basis of the location at which data were collected and coded into seven
categories: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands, “no
location” (i.e., if the publication did not use data from a specific location or discussed profiling
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
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in general), and “other” (i.e., if the study sample was derived from another geographic location
or from multiple countries). The size of the sample was also collected. For quality evaluations,
samples were dichotomized to indicate either fewer than 400 cases or 400 or more cases
(Murray, Farrington, & Eisner, 2009). The sampling technique was also coded for the quality
evaluations, reflecting the use of a convenience or nonprobability sampling strategy, or
population or probability/random sample. Each publication was assigned to one of eight
categories for the type of crime that was profiled: homicide (all forms), sexual assault, arson,
burglary, robbery, pedophilia, no specific offense (general/multiple offenses), or some other
type of offense.
Each article was classified into one of three categories on the basis of the analysis used
and its statistical sophistication. Although we accept that the choice of appropriate statistics (or
no statistics) depends on the questions being addressed, we nevertheless thought that it would be
useful and informative to document the extent to which statistical methods have been used in OP
research in different time periods. The categories were the use of: no statistics, basic descriptive
statistics, and more advanced statistical methods (e.g., inferential statistics such as regressions,
cluster analysis, latent class analysis, multidimensional scaling, and ROC analysis). The latter
examples represent advanced scientific work, whereas descriptive studies (or publications based
upon intuition and guesswork of profilers) are not scientifically advanced. In addition to
evaluating descriptive trends in OP research, a meta-analysis of empirical OP and CLA research
is also conducted. To do this, we also coded available results from publications including number
and types of profiles developed and number of variables used to develop the profiles (one to five
or six or more), effect sizes, and estimates of variance.
Citations for all publications in the dataset were determined using Google Scholar and
were collected on January 8, 2017. To standardize citation counts for publications produced
across 4 decades, the number of citations for each publication was divided by the number of
years since the article was published.
4
For instance, if an article published in 1986 generated 300
citations by 2016, the standardized impact score would be 10. The operationalization of all
measures in an official codebook is available on request.
Results
Overview of OP Publications From 1976 to 2016
A total of 426 OP publications were included in the present review and meta-analysis. To
measure the quality of included studies, a risk of bias evaluation was conducted. The descriptive
statistics for each variable in this analysis are presented in Table 1. All publications included in
this study are on the reference list, preceded by an asterisk. As traditional methodological quality
criteria do not apply to most OP publications (see Farrington, 2003), we developed a series of
measures to evaluate study quality on the basis of items included in the Cochrane Effective
Practice and Organization of Care (Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care
4
In an analysis of top 15 highest impact publications based upon total (unstandardized) citation count, nine were also on the top 15 highest
impact publication list using the standardized citation count. Interestingly, all items on the unstandardized list were books or autobiographies, and
all but one (93%) were published prior to 2000.
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
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Review Group, 2017) and Cambridge Quality Checklists (Murray et al., 2009).
The resulting methodological quality evaluation contained five indicators: (1) sample
size, (2) peer review, (3) sampling technique, (4) number of variables used in the analysis, and
(5) statistical technique used. A total methodological quality score ranging from 1 to 10 was also
calculated by totaling a score on all quality indicators.
5
In total, half of all publications did not use a sample, 43% drew upon a sample less than
400 (n = 184), and 7% used a sample of 400 or greater (n = 29). The results indicated that nearly
two thirds of publications went through a blinded peer review process (n = 269), whereas one
third of publications did not (n = 157). Although 57% of the publications did not report or did
not use a sampling strategy, nearly a quarter used a convenience or nonprobability sample (n =
5
The methodological quality evaluation comprising five items, scored as sample size (0= not applicable, 1= 0399, 2= 400+),
peer review (1= not peer reviewed, 2= peer reviewed), sampling (0= not reported or applicable, 1= convenience or non
probability sample, 2= population or probability/random sample), number of variables (0= none, 1= 15 variables, 2= 6+
variables), statistical technique (0= none, 1= descriptives, 2 =advanced/inferential statistics). The methodological quality scale
ranged from a potential total score of 1 to 10.
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102), and 19% drew on a population, probability sample, or random sampling technique (n _ 81).
In terms of the number of variables or control measures used in these publications, slightly over
half did not use any variables (n = 222), 14% used one to five variables (n = 61), and 34% used
six or more variables in the analyses (n = 143). Finally, of the 426 texts published on OP to date,
over half used no statistics of any kind (n = 218). About 22% used descriptive statistics (n = 95),
and 26% used more advanced statistical analysis in the profiling methodology (n = 113). The full
sample of 426 studies yielded a mean total quality score of 4.38 (SD = 3.11) out of 10.
A large proportion (47%) of OP publications were produced in the last decade (2006 to
2016), and an upward trend in OP publications can be seen over time. Between 1976 and 1985
an average of less than two publications per year were produced on OP (n = 19), whereas nearly
20 publications on OP per year were produced between 2006 and 2016 (n = 198). In short, the
rate and number of OP publications per decade has dramatically increased since 1976,
particularly in the last 10 years.
In the last four decades, most publications have fallen into the profile development (32%;
n = 135) or general discussion of profiling categories (31%; n = 134). The remaining areas have
considerably fewer publications, with 9% of studies in the CLA (n = 39) and profile evaluation
categories (n = 40), and 5% were classified as legal/theoretical articles (n = 22), comparison of
method publications (n = 22), or case studies (n _ 20). Approximately 3% of the publications are
profiler autobiographies (n = 14).
When the self-identified professional affiliation of all authors (on the basis of department
of employment or self-described title) in the analysis were evaluated (n = 852), the plurality
(43%; n = 364) of authors identified as psychologists, whereas 17% identified as criminologists
(n = 145). A total of 10% were law enforcement or government officials (n = 84), and less than
7% of all authors were a FBI Special Agent or profiler in the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit
(BSU; n = 56). Only 6% of authors identified as a forensic psychologist or psychiatrist in
independent practice (n = 51), and 6% of the authors were graduate students (n = 50). A total of
12% of authors identified in a position not covered by the traditional affiliations coded for this
analysis (n = 102), such as mathematicians and statisticians, epidemiologists, journalists, and so
on.
When evaluating the types of author(s) who have published on profiling over time, there
are several considerable changes. First, although FBI Special Agent profilers made up nearly half
(45%; n = 13) of those who published on OP between 1976 and 1985, this decreased
substantially each subsequent decade, down to 28% between 1986 and 1995 (n = 29), 5%
between 1996 and 2005 (n = 14), and finally down to zero between 2006 and 2016. Authors in
other law enforcement agencies wrote 24% of all publications between 1976 and 1985 (n = 7),
but they were responsible for less than half that proportion (9%) by 2006 to 2016 (n = 40). The
largest increase in OP publications occurred among psychologists, as this group authored just 5
of the articles published between 1976 and 1985, but this rose to 122 articles between 1996 and
2005, and nearly 200 between 2006 and 2016 (46%). The number of articles written by
criminologists and graduate students also increased considerably, with criminologists initially
authoring just 2 articles published between 1976 and 1985 (7%), but the rate increased over
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300% as criminologists authored 90 OP publications between 2006 and 2016 (21%). Although
graduate students wrote no articles on OP between 1976 and 1985, they authored 38 (9%) of the
publications between 2006 and 2016. The remaining two author groups (forensic psychologists
and all other positions) stayed relatively stable in their proportion of authorship over time.
Overall, the relationship between author position and decade is statistically significant,
suggesting that the changes in the types of people writing articles on OP differs significantly
compared with what is expected by chance, χ2(18)= 217.53, p< .0001.
The peer review status of each publication was also coded to determine the proportion of
publications that undergo this important evaluation process, and whether this has changed
significantly over time. Although peer review was far less common between 1976 and 1985
(peer reviewed n = 3; non-peer reviewed n = 16), by 1996 to 2005 peer reviewed publications
outnumbered non-peer reviewed publications (n = 93 vs. 55, respectively). Between 2006 and
2016, the number of peer reviewed publications increased considerably to 147 whereas the
number of non-peer reviewed publications decreased to 51. The relationship between peer
review status and decade of publication is statistically significant, χ2(3) = 41.59, p< .0001.
With respect to the type of each OP publication, the majority (63%) were peer reviewed
journal articles (n = 269), whereas 7% were articles in trade journals such as the FBI Law
Enforcement Bulletin and Police Chief (n = 31). Book chapters are the second most common
form of publication on OP (n = 68; 16%), followed by books (n = 35; 8%), and finally magazine
articles (n = 17; 4%) and reports (n = 6; 1%). The type of crime profiled in each of the 426
publications was also examined. The results indicate that, although many articles did not focus
on a single specific crime (42%; n = 177), the most common offense studied was homicide
(26%; n = 113). Sexual assault was the second most common offense (13%; n = 57), followed by
all other offense types, which included fraud, terrorism, and cybercrime (8%; n = 33). Five
percent of profiling publications were conducted on burglary (n = 22), and arson comprised 3%
of the total publications (n = 13). Robbery (n = 7) and pedophilia (n = 4) were the least common
offenses profiled, at 2% or less of all publications.
The geographical locations of the crimes/offenders analyzed in each publication were
evaluated. Although one third of the publications did not have a specific geographic location (n
= 143), one quarter of all offender and crime data in profiling studies was collected in the United
States (25%; n = 107). About 17% of publications are based on data from the United Kingdom (n
= 74), whereas 8% are from Canada (n = 33), 4% are from Australia (n = 15), and 1% are from
the Netherlands (n = 6). Approximately 11% are from other nations (n = 48) such as France,
Spain, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Japan, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, and
China (max “other” country n = 4).
The use of statistics in each publication was also evaluated. With respect to changes in
the use of statistics in OP publications over time, a statistically significant association was found,
χ2(6) = 36.42, p< .0001. Specifically, whereas 68% of publications between 1976 and 1985 used
no statistical analysis (n = 13), the remaining 32% of publications in that decade used only basic
descriptive statistics (n = 6). However, in the last decade (20062016), the proportion of
publications using no statistical analyses dropped to 40% (n = 80), and the use of more advanced
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statistical methods rose to 33% (n = 66). Although just a third of the recent OP publications
using advanced statistics seems low, this is a considerable increase from zero publications three
decades earlier.
Most Prolific Authors and Cited Publications in OP From 1976 to 2016
Table 2 presents the 25 most prolific authors who published on OP from 1976 to 2016.
This analysis indicates those who are the most prolific in overall authorship, the most prolific
lead authors, and most prolific lead authors on just peer reviewed journal publications. While
prolificacy does not necessarily equate to quality of publications, prolific authors may have more
influence on the field, as his or her ideas and findings are being disseminated at a higher rate
than others (and if peer reviewed, indicate support by his or her peers in the field).
In each analysis, Richard Kocsis, a forensic psychologist in independent practice in
Australia, was found to be the top producer of OP publications in all categories since 1976.
Kocsis had 27 publications as lead author, was lead author on 22 peer reviewed journal articles,
and was one of the first three authors on 30 total publications. David Canter, Director of the
International Research Centre in Investigative Psychology at the University of Huddersfield in
the United Kingdom, was ranked in the top three on all productivity metrics, whereas Craig
Bennell, psychologist and Director of the Police Research Laboratory at Carleton University in
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Canada, was consistently ranked in the top four on all metrics. Former FBI Special Agent and
BSU profiler John Douglas ranked fifth in terms of lead authorship and seventh for overall
authorship, but did not qualify as a prolific author in peer reviewed journal articles. All three
members of the original FBI profiling team (Douglas, Ressler, and Hazelwood) were ranked
among the most prolific authors in terms of lead authorship and any authorship, but not for peer
reviewed journal articles. However, being ranked as the most prolific author in OP using all three
criteria was a feat accomplished by only 13 people in the world (Kocsis, Canter, Alison, Bennell,
Beauregard, Santtila, Salfati, Woodhams, Goodwill, Snook, Häkkänen, Tonkin, and Fox). For a
full list of the most prolific authors in offender profiling, see Table 2.
To evaluate which authors and publications have had the highest impact within the field
of OP, measured objectively using a uniform standard, an analysis of the total citations in Google
Scholar for all 426 publications in the study was conducted. Like journal Impact Factors, which
reflect the frequency in which the average article in a journal has been cited in the previous year
as a primary measure of a journal’s impact on the field (Thomson Reuters, 2016), citation counts
also measure the number of times an article has been cited by other scholars, in order to measure
a publication’s impact on a given field.
On the basis of the standardized impact score for each item in the population of articles,
the 15 publications with the highest impact scores (i.e., relevance/impact on the field) are
presented in Table 3. It is interesting to note that, of the top 15 most cited publications, only five,
are peer reviewed journal articles (Canter, 2000; Canter et al., 2003, 2004; Canter & Fritzon,
1998; Robertiello & Terry, 2007). The remainder are either books, such as Holmes and Holmes
(1996) and Hickey (1991), book chapters, such as Canter (2010), or autobiographies, such as
Douglas and Olshaker (1995). It is also interesting to note that, although the field of OP has been
producing publications for 40 years, most of the highly cited research was produced between
1994 and 2004. Although the citation counts are not a measure the quality of publications, they
do measure the influence a publication has had on future works. Consequently, the high number
of citations for the OP publications is quite remarkable. Three of the top five most cited
publications had citation counts over 500 (and the other two were nearly at 500), and in total, the
top 15 OP publications were cited a total of 5,275 times.
Most Popular Outlets for OP Publications From 1976 to 2016
An analysis was conducted to determine the top 10 most popular outlets for publications
on OP over the last 4 decades. Of the 426 publications, 103 were published as book chapters or
books (24%), making this the most common outlet to date. The most popular journal outlet for
OP publications is the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling (8%; n = 33),
followed by the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology (6%;
n = 25). The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, which is not a peer reviewed outlet, was the third
most common outlet for articles on OP (5%; n = 20), whereas the highly ranked journal Criminal
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Justice and Behavior was the fourth most popular home of profiling publications (4%; n = 18).
6
7
The remaining most popular outlets were all peer reviewed journals, in the following order: 5,
Legal and Criminological Psychology (n = 12); 6, Psychology, Crime, & Law (n = 11); 7,
Homicide Studies and the Journal of Police & Criminal Psychology (n = 10); and a three-way tie
by Aggression and Violent Behavior, Behavioral Sciences and the Law, and the Journal of
Interpersonal Violence (n = 9).
Departments Producing Most OP Publications From 1976 to 2016
To determine the departments producing the highest volumes of publications on OP since
1976, an analysis of the first author’s departmental affiliation for all 426 identified publications
was conducted. The most prolific single department was the FBI’s BSU, as this unit produced
nearly 8% of all publications on OP (n = 33). The second largest producer of OP publications
was Richard Kocsis’ independent practice, accounting for about 6% of all publications (n =
24).
8
8 The International Centre for Investigative Psychology at the University of Huddersfield in
the United Kingdom was third (n = 15; 4%), and the Department of Psychological Science at the
6
Articles submitted to the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin undergo an internal review by FBI employees selected by the editor (an
FBI employee) and may give preference to FBI employees and collaborators. Additionally, after an article receives approval by
reviewers, FBI management may (and have) rejected accepted articles for a variety of reasons that may or may not be made clear
to author(s). This process does not qualify as peer review.
7
Journal rankings were determined on the basis of each journal’s 2016 Impact Factor from the Thomson Reuters, 2016 Journal
Citation Reports Index. A journal’s impact factor is measured using the number of times that articles published in a specific
journal in the two previous years were cited the next year (Thomson Reuters, 2016). Of the eight journals, Criminal Justice and
Behavior had the highest Impact Factor (= 1.90).
8
Kocsis conducted OP research at the University of New England in Australia prior to starting his private practice.
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University of Liverpool ranked fourth (n = 14; 3%). Tied for fifth most prolific departments in
the field of OP are the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida in Tampa
and the Department of Psychology at Carleton University in Canada (n = 12; 3%). Seventh place
is the Psychology Department at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada (n = 8; 2%). A
three-way tie for eighth place was found for the Department of Psychology at John Jay College
of Criminal Justice in New York City, Department of Justice Administration at the University of
Louisville and the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University in Canada (n = 7; 2%). It
is important to note that the top 10 departments span four countries on three different continents,
and that psychology, criminology, law enforcement, and independent practice are all represented
on the list.
Analysis of Results in OP Publications From 1976 to 2016
Of the 426 total publications, there have been 370 articles, books, chapters, and reports
written on “traditional” OP from 1976 to 2016. However, it is currently unknown what
conclusions can be drawn from this body of literature. No study has analyzed the cumulative
findings from these publications to indicate the most replicated number and types of profiles for
a variety of crimes. Although no effect sizes are present in profile development publications, this
study is the first to conduct a meta-analysis of the existent literature on OP and indicate the most
consistent profiles developed based on 40 years of literature conducted across the globe.
In total, 62 publications have developed or proposed specific profiles for six major crime
types (homicide, sexual assault, burglary, robbery, arson, and pedophilia) and a number of other
minor offenses or subtypes of major crimes. These publications, including the number and type
of proposed profiles, sample size (if applicable), and study location, are presented in Table 4.
A second methodological quality evaluation was conducted for the 62 profile
development publications. In total, 71% were peer reviewed (n = 44), and over twice the rate of
publications in the full sample used a population, probability or random sampling (37%, n = 23)
whereas 40% used a convenience or nonprobability sampling method (n = 25). About 11% of
studies used a sample of 400 or more (n = 7) and 79% used samples of less than 400. The
majority (77%) of articles used six or more variables to develop the profiles (n = 48), and 13%
used one to five variables (n = 8). About 65% of profiles were developed using an advanced or
inferential statistical analysis (n = 40), whereas 19% used descriptive statistics (n = 12). The
profile development studies produced a mean total quality score of 7.03 (SD = 2.25) out of 10.
Overall, this analysis indicates the profile development publications tend to be of relatively high
quality.
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Homicide was the most common offense profiled, with 25 publications (40%) proposing
profiles for homicide. Of these, 11 publications focused specifically on sexual homicide, which
combines sexual assault and murder, and 14 publications developed profiles for homicide in
general. The second most common crime to profile was sexual assault, with 14 total. Eight
publications developed profiles for arson, and six profiles were developed for burglary
(including two for sexual burglary). Finally, two publications each proposed profiles for robbery,
pedophilia, fraud, and cybercrime, and one profile has been developed for terrorism. The
samples used to develop the profiles for these offenses over the last 40 years range in size from 0
to 125,513. Excluding the outlier, the largest sample comprised 1,016 cases. This yields a mean
sample size of 140.59 across 61 publications. The median sample size is 100.
The United States had the plurality (39%) of publications developing offender profiles (n
= 24), followed by the United Kingdom (19%; n = 12) and Canada (16%; n = 10). Over half of
the profiles developed for homicide were from the United States (52%; n = 13), whereas Canada
was the most common location for the studies on sexual assault (36%, n = 5). The United
Kingdom had the most offender profiling publications on burglary (38%; n = 3), and both of the
profiles developed for robbery (100%; n = 2). Other nations which produced profiles of
offenders include Australia (6%; n = 4), Finland (6%; n = 4), Japan (3%; n = 2), the Netherlands
(2%; n = 1), Hong Kong (2%; n = 1), Cyprus (2%; n = 1), and Belgium (2%; n = 1).
The results of the 62 profiling publications range in variety in terms of the number and
type of profiles developed. Although Table 4 presents a summary of findings from each
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publication, Table 5 shows results of an analysis of the recurring profiles for each crime type.
Among the 14 publications which developed profiles for homicide, the number of
profiles ranged from two to six unique subtypes. The mode number of profile subtypes was four,
as 36% of the 14 studies (n = 5) suggested that four profiles of homicide exist. Although most
publications had unique labels for the profile subtypes, analysis of these labels indicates that the
most common recurring profiles for homicide are expressive, instrumental, visionary, hedonistic,
power/control, traveling, and local offenders. To illustrate the variation in these profile types, we
submit that expressive homicides as emotion-laden and committed to relieve the offender’s
emotional distress or anger (Salfati & DuPont, 2006); instrumental homicides achieve a goal
such as revenge, financial gain, or crime concealment (Zaitsu, 2010); visionary killers murder in
response to voices or visions from a good or evil power; hedonistic offenders are thrill-seekers
who gain satisfaction from the act of homicide; power/control offenders kill to feel power over
helpless victims; traveling murderers may kill across thousands of miles; and local offenders do
not leave their comfort zone (Hickey, 1991).
Sexual homicide is considered a unique subset within the OP field, and an analysis
suggests that 45% of publications (n = 5) indicate three profiles of sexual homicide exist. The
range of suggested profiles was more limited for sexual homicide, ranging from two to four
profile subtypes across the 11 publications. The most common profiles for sexual homicide are
sadistic, sexual, anger/fury, power/control, organized, and disorganized offenders. Profiles
developed for sexual assault ranged in from two to six subtypes, with four being the most
common across the 14 publications on the offense (43%; n = 6). There was a notable variety in
subtypes for sexual assault, with the most prevalent being hostility, involvement, opportunistic,
disorganized/chaotic, ritual, and power/control types of offenders.
The eight publications on arson suggested a wide variation in profiles, ranging from two
to 10 subtypes. The most common number of profiles for arson was four, as proposed by 38% of
the eight publications on arson (n = 3). The most common profiles proposed for arson were
limited, and include expressive, instrumental, crime concealment, and revenge offenders.
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A total of four articles proposing profiles for burglary have been published, and
incredibly, all indicate that there are four profiles of burglary. However, the specific types of
profiles proposed differ among the studies, and only two subtypes, opportunistic and
disorganized/pilferer offenders were repeatedly suggested in the resultant burglary profiles.
Two publications addressed the subset of sexual burglaries, but there was no consensus
on the number of profiles. Although one study found two subtypes and the other suggested that
three exist, both studies identified a profile of fetish offenders. Similarly, only two studies on
robbery profiles have been conducted, and neither resulted in the same number or types of profile
subtypes. Specifically, the number of profiles for robbery ranged from three to four, and there
were no recurring subtypes of profiles across the two studies on robbery. Additionally, two
studies aimed to develop profiles for pedophilia, and both suggested that there are three profiles
of offenders. However, there was no overlap in the profile subtypes proposed by each study.
Of the five remaining publications of other offense types, there was no consensus on the
number of profiles for fraud and cybercrime. In fact, the two studies conducted on each offense
yielded the widest array of proposed profiles, ranging from three to 12 subtypes for both fraud
and cybercrime. Although there were no recurring profile subtypes for cybercrime, there were
two subtypes identified in both studies on fraud offenders: novice/isolated and
experienced/career fraud offenders. The single study developing profiles for terrorism suggested
two profiles of terrorists exist: leaders and followers.
Meta-Analysis of CLA Research Conducted From 2002 to 2016
To determine the cumulative level of accuracy when linking cases in CLA, and how CLA
accuracy varies depending on crime types, data location, and crime scene behaviors, a meta-
analysis of all available CLA research and findings was conducted based upon the search terms:
case linkage analysis, case linkage, crime linkage, crime linkage analysis, behavioral linkage,
behavior linkage, crime behavior consistency, behavioral consistency, and behavioral
consistency analysis. This meta-analysis builds upon the study conducted by Bennell and
colleagues (2013), which presented a descriptive analysis of CLA research published from
January 2012 through January 2013, but did not contain an analysis of effect size.
To conduct the meta-analysis of CLA research, standardized effect size measures and
estimates of variance were required for inclusion, and coded for analysis (Lipsey & Wilson,
2001). Effect size is in CLA is typically determined using the AUC, which is a standardized
effect size measure of diagnostic accuracy, and typically provided for the behavioral domains
used to link crimes (e.g., MO, target selection behaviors, and intercrime distance). The AUC,
calculated using a ROC curve, indicates the probability that a finding based upon a certain
measure is accurate. AUC scores range from 0.0 to 1.0, where 1.0 indicates perfect accuracy, and
.50 indicates chance/randomness. Anything less than .50 indicates accuracy worse than chance.
In CLA, higher AUC values indicate a higher likelihood that a series of crimes was truly
committed by the same offender and are based the criminal behavior selected for analysis
(Bennell et al., 2013). According to Swets (1988), AUCs between .50 and .70 indicate low
predictive accuracy, AUCs between .70 and .90 indicate “good” predictive accuracy, and AUCs
of .90 to 1.0 indicate high to perfect predictive accuracy. When available, the standard error for
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each AUC was used as the estimate of its variance. If the effect size or estimate of variance was
not provided, the study was noted, but could not to be used in meta-analysis calculations.
On the basis of the full dataset of all 426 publications, a total of 39 studies on CLA were
published from January 1, 2002 through December 31, 2016. Of those, 18 met the inclusion
criteria of utilizing empirical data and producing comparable effect sizes and measurements of
variance. These studies often included multiple case linkage results based upon various
behavioral domains, multiple crimes, and/or multiple data sets. As the most common behavioral
domains used in these studies related to intercrime distance, target selection, MO behaviors, and
a composite of all crime scene behaviors, these domains were selected for analysis, when
available. This yielded a total population of 40 AUC effect sizes. Of these, 34 were accompanied
with an estimate of variance.
9
Details on the 18 studies in the meta-analysis and their results are
presented in Table 6.
9
An effort was made to acquire missing information (e.g. estimates of variance) from the first authors of relevant publications for the meta-
analysis. However, because of the time elapsed and technological issues no missing information could be acquired.
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CLA has been performed on five types of crime (homicide, sexual offenses, burglary,
robbery, and car theft) using data derived from six countries (United Kingdom, Canada, United
States, Finland, South Africa, and Japan). The samples utilized in these studies ranged in size
from 49 to 720 offenses. An analysis of heterogeneity showed that the effect sizes in the 34
studies were generally homogeneous (Q = 10.17, I2 = 0.0; CI [0.0, 0.75]; df = 33; heterogeneity p
= 1.00, model p< .0001). Although the homogeneity in the results initially appears low, since
there was a broad confidence interval around the I2, a random effects model was used to
calculate the weighted mean effect sizes in the meta-analysis. Overall, AUCs ranged from .53
(target selection in residential burglary) to .96 (all MO behaviors in homicide). The overall effect
size for the articles in the population was .83 (95% CI [.76, .89]). This is a relatively high effect
size, suggesting that overall, research produced on CLA can link crimes in a series with
reasonably high accuracy. A forest plot depicting the 34 studies included in the CLA meta-
analysis, effect sizes, and standard errors is presented in Figure 1.
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As there may be a greater tendency for studies with high effect sizes to be published, a
publication bias analysis was conducted. Using a funnel plot (Light & Pillemer, 1984; Sedgwick,
2013), we analyzed the relationship between studies’ error rates and effect sizes. In this case, a
roughly even distribution among studies with strong and weak effect sizes was observed,
indicating that there is no positive skew toward strong effect sizes in published studies. Analysis
of the 40 AUCs indicates that 25.0% of results (n = 10) fall in the low (.50 to .69) range, 57.5%
are moderate (.70 to .89; n = 23), and 17.5% of results are strong (.90 to 1.0; n = 7) effect sizes
(Swets, 1988).
Additionally, a third methodological quality evaluation was conducted for the 18 CLA
studies. About 72% of CLA studies used samples less than 400 (n = 13), though 72% drew upon
a population or used probability or random sampling (n = 13). Over 94% of studies used six or
more variables in the analyses (n = 17), 94% used advanced statistics (n = 17), and 100%
underwent peer review (n = 18). The CLA studies produced a mean total quality score of 8.76
(SD = 0.83) out of 10, indicating that CLA studies have the highest level of overall quality
among the OP publications in this review.
To examine potential variations in effect size across crime types, data sources, and crime
scene behaviors, a series of follow-up analyses were conducted. A summary of findings for
effect size estimates for each offense type, standard errors for each of the crime types, behavioral
domains, and data locations are presented in Table 7.
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The results suggest that AUCs were slightly higher for person crimes compared with
property crimes. Homicide yielded the highest overall AUC (.96), followed by sexual offenses
(.86), and robbery (.84). Burglary yielded the highest AUC among property crimes at .73,
followed closely by car theft at .72. The composite of various crimes had an AUC of .90. All
AUC estimates for these offenses were in the “good” range, except for homicide, which is
considered a very strong effect (but was based on only one study). Each reported AUC estimate
was statistically significant at the p< .01 level.
When the major behavioral domains included in the analysis are disaggregated, it appears
that the composite measure of all crime scene behavior variables yielded the largest AUC across
crimes (.93), whereas all MO behaviors showed a relatively large AUC of .83. Intercrime
distance, or the distance between multiple offenses, had a large AUC of .87, whereas target
selection showed the lowest level of accuracy in predicting the likelihood of crimes being linked
(.69). Each AUC estimate for the behavioral domains was statistically significant.
Visual inspection of the forest plot indicates that AUC estimates for a behavioral domain
varies significantly across crime types. Specifically, target selection behaviors were the most
accurate when linking sexual offenses (AUC = .87), followed by robbery (.69), burglary (.66),
and finally car theft (.61). However, although target selection AUC estimates were statistically
significant for burglary and car theft (p< .01), they were not statistically significant for linking
sexual offenses and robberies (each based on only one study). With respect to the distance
traveled to commit each crime, only burglary (AUC = .82) and robbery (.84) showed statistically
significant AUC estimates, although the effect sizes for car theft (.84), across various crime types
(.91) and within various crime types (.90) were quite strong. The composite measure of all crime
scene behavior variables was only available for two crime types, sexual offenses (.92) and
robbery (.95), and neither showed statistically significant AUC estimates (but both had only one
case in the sample). Still, these AUC estimates for all variables were very large.
AUC estimates for all MO behaviors were calculated for five of the six crime types.
While the MO behaviors AUC values for burglary (.71), robbery (.70), and sexual offenses (.84)
were good, the AUC for MO behavior in homicide was an extremely strong predictor of crime
linkage (.96), but very weak for car theft (.56). However, only the AUC estimates for sexual
offenses and burglary were statistically significant among the all MO behavior domains,
presumably because each remaining crime had only a single case in the analysis.
Finally, the AUCs for the 34 complete results in the meta-analysis were analyzed for
strength of effect size across the nations that the crime samples were drawn from. As shown in
Table 7, there is variability in the accuracy when linking cases, depending upon the location
where the crimes took place. The strongest AUC was found in a study conducted in the United
States (.96), followed closely by crimes committed in Canada (.90). Both were considered strong
effects, although, the AUC estimate for the study in the United States (one case) was not
statistically significant. The next AUCs, falling in the moderate to strong range at .88 and .83
were drawn from South Africa and Japan, respectively. However, both (based on only one case)
were also not statistically significant predictors of overall case linkage accuracy. Finally, the two
largest samples of results, which were drawn from the United Kingdom (n = 23) and Finland (n
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
26
= 6), yielded the lowest overall AUCs, at .80 for the United Kingdom and .79 for Finland. Both
were statistically significant at the p< .01 level.
Discussion
This study presents a comprehensive statistical evaluation of 40 years of publications on
the field of OP. Although dozens of profiles have been developed for various offenses, no
analysis has been conducted to determine the specific recurring themes or profiles exist within
the body of publications on OP. Additionally, as nearly 50% of the 426 articles, books, chapters,
and reports written on OP were published in the last 10 years, after the last systematic reviews in
OP took place, an updated and more inclusive review of the OP field is required.
Results of the systematic review and meta-analysis in this study indicate several key
takeaway points regarding the state of the field. First, it is clear that there are stark new trends
emerging in the rate, type, statistical sophistication, location, and affiliation of authors of
publications in the field of OP. For instance, a sharp positive trend in the number of publications
on OP was identified for each decade from 1976 to the present. Although not in the majority,
many publications that were excluded from previous systematic reviews on OP, such as books,
book chapters, reports, and magazine articles, comprised of 30% of the population. Also, while,
there are a growing number of new profile proposals, very few evaluations of existing profiles or
profiling strategies (< 10% of all publications) have been conducted to determine the level of
accuracy of these profiles and methods. With respect to the scientific and statistical rigor of OP
publications, the proportion of publications using advanced statistical analyses rose from 0% to
33% over the last 4 decades, and in the past 10 years the number of peer reviewed studies out-
paced non-peer reviewed publications by a margin of three to one.
The present article was also the first to examine the location where OP research is being
conducted, and the results indicate that, whereas most data were collected in the United States,
far less research is currently conducted there. Instead, the United Kingdom and Canada have
been rapidly increasing their research and publications on OP. In terms of authorship, this study
showed that a growing number of criminologists and graduate students have been conducting
research on OP in recent years, whereas the number of FBI Special Agents and profilers, who
were once the highest proportion of OP authors, has now decreased to zero. Moreover, most
research on OP is conducted by psychologists, which also appears to be increasing in rate over
the last 2 decades. In general, academics are now producing the vast majority of literature on OP,
a finding shared by both prior systematic reviews. These findings on trends in OP are important
for future students, practitioners, attorneys, the news media, publishers, and our colleagues to be
aware of, as we hope to keep directing OP in a more scientific and empirical direction.
The second major takeaway is from the analysis of recurring profiles developed over the
last 40 years of OP. In the analysis of the 62 publications that have developed offender profiles,
there was a considerable variation found in the number, characteristics, and terminology used to
describe otherwise similar profile types. For instance, the modal number of homicide offender
profiles (the most common crime profiled) in the literature was four. This finding is in sharp
contrast to the pop culture depiction of the Organized and Disorganized serial killer profiles
originally proposed by agents in the FBI’s BSU in the 1980s (Douglas & Burgess, 1986).
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
27
Instead, studies on homicide clearly indicate that there are other profile types that fit the
characteristics of various types of homicide offenders. The recurring profiles found in this study
include expressive, instrumental, visionary, hedonistic, power/control, traveling, and local
homicide offenders (see Hickey, 1991; Salfati & Dupont, 2006; Zaitsu, 2010).
Furthermore, some authors proposed profiles on the basis of the authors’ investigative
experience, MO at the crime scene, and review of OP literature. Other studies utilize advanced
statistical analysis of all available crime scene information, to include MO and target selection
behaviors, and produced statistical profiles to fit the data. Given the wide variety in methods and
terminology used across the field, synthesis of the findings of OP as a whole is very difficult. In
short, it is important for OP researchers to aim to scientifically test, replicate, and ideally,
consolidate the terms used for profiles in order to streamline and advance the field of OP.
The final major takeaway stems from the meta-analysis of CLA research from 2002 to
2016. Results indicate that in general, CLA can be used successfully to link crimes in an offense
series committed by a single offender. In fact, well over half of all reported AUCs were in the
moderate to strong range, whereas almost 20% were very strong effect sizes. This aligns with,
but is slightly higher than, the findings of Bennell et al. (2013). Additionally, in contrast to
Bennell et al.’s (2013) findings, which found that ICD resulted in the highest effect sizes and
MO behaviors showed lower accuracy rates in linking, this updated analysis found that the
composite measure of all crime scene behavior variables yielded the largest mean effect size
across crimes, and linking crimes based upon MO behaviors was largely accurate across studies.
With respect to linking accuracy across countries, another variation was found between
the present and past research on the topic. While Bennell et al. (2013) reported that Finland had
the highest average linking accuracy, the effect sizes for all other countries were not reported. In
this study, the strongest effect was found in a study from the United States, followed by Canada,
South Africa, and Japan. The United Kingdom and Finland showed two of the lowest average
AUCs in this study. As these countries produced the most research on CLA, it is possible that
more variability was introduced which potentially lowered the average AUC compared with
other less-researched nations. However, with more data from the United Kingdom and Finland,
the generalizability of these findings are increased. In short, more research on CLA is needed
across nations including the United States, Canada, and beyond, in order to best determine the
cumulative level of accuracy when linking cases for various crimes, locations, and behavioral
domains.
Conclusion
In short, OP has exploded in popularity as both an investigative technique and a topic for
many books, chapters, reports, and journal articles over the past several decades (Dowden et al.,
2007). However, unlike many other fields where considerable research and practice is being
done, which typically have rigorous evaluations and reviews to establish the “state of the art” and
the overall success of the practice, the field of OP remains relatively close to where it started in
terms of scientifically assessing what profiles exist, and how the profiles perform in actual police
investigations. This has rightfully led to many strong critiques of OP, and caused a dark cloud
over the reputation and results being produced by the field (see Bennell, Jones, Taylor, & Snook,
B. FOX & D. FARRINGTON: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OFFENDER PROFILING?
28
2006; Kocsis, 2006).
The results of this review and meta-analysis indicate that there is considerable
improvement in the scientific rigor and self-assessment in the discipline. The last decade has
shown sharp increases in the proportion of OP publications utilizing advanced statistics, as well
as the number of evaluations conducted on the applied aspects of this work. Still, there is much
further for the field to go.
Specifically, to address concerns that the field does not rise to the level of scientific
credibility according Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (1993; Bosco et al., 2010;
Ebisike, 2008; Pakkanen et al., 2014), all future profiles should be developed using a solid
empirical approach that relies on advanced statistical analysis of large data sets (not the intuition
or experience of the author or the descriptive statistics of a handful of cases), and should undergo
peer review prior to publication. This will help to streamline the vast number of methodologies
used in the field, increase the quality of resultant profiles, and the acceptance of OP in the field.
Additionally, it is not enough to simply develop new profiles and then hope that their
impact is positive, or even effective. Profiles should be implemented in police investigations and
then evaluated for their effects on arrest rates in unsolved cases using an experimental design
(see, e.g., Fox & Farrington, 2015). This will establish a known reliability/error rate, and
evaluate which profiles are most effective when applied in actual police investigations. Although
results of this study indicate that OP started off as a very different field 4 decades ago, OP
appears to be on a positive trajectory in terms of the use of more scientific and statistical
methods, data and analyses, and evaluations of our work. Continuation on this trajectory,
particularly in the next 10 years, will help the field of OP transform from a “cocktail napkin
psuedoscience” into an evidence-based discipline that produces research used to help police,
inform policy, and ultimately, make the world a safer place.
Ultimately, the field of OP must consider Campbell’s (1976) original question and ask
“Are we better at this than a bartender?” Although we have come quite a long way since that
question was posed over 4 decades ago, the answer remains largely unknown. But, with the
continued use of the scientific tools at our disposal, such as quantitative data, advanced statistics,
experimental evaluations, and future meta-analyses, this goal can certainly be achieved.
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... Crime Linkage (CL) [1] is a multidisciplinary field that has garnered significant attention from sociologists, psychologists, statisticians, and computer scientists [2,3,4,5,6,7]. In essence, they aim to connect pairs of crimes by creating crime link associations [3]. ...
... The literature on crime linkage encompasses a wide array of methods and evaluation metrics, alongside various data sets used to establish connections between criminal incidents. Numerous studies have showcased CL outcomes, particularly in cases involving property crimes and sexual offenses [5]. The CL is in essence a classification problem, where the goal is to either assess if a pair of crimes is linked or not, or to associate a case to a series of offenses, based on pattern characteristics. ...
... Previous literature surveys have not included machine learning approaches [3,4,5], thus, our aim is to provide an extension of research assessment on the theme. When analyzing the studies collected, we observed a general framework in the CL process, which will be also discussed in this paper. ...
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Crime linkage is the process of analyzing criminal behavior data to determine whether a pair or group of crime cases are connected or belong to a series of offenses. This domain has been extensively studied by researchers in sociology, psychology, and statistics. More recently, it has drawn interest from computer scientists, especially with advances in artificial intelligence. Despite this, the literature indicates that work in this latter discipline is still in its early stages. This study aims to understand the challenges faced by machine learning approaches in crime linkage and to support foundational knowledge for future data-driven methods. To achieve this goal, we conducted a comprehensive survey of the main literature on the topic and developed a general framework for crime linkage processes, thoroughly describing each step. Our goal was to unify insights from diverse fields into a shared terminology to enhance the research landscape for those intrigued by this subject.
... Within the last half century, since the field of criminal profiling was shaped, it has attracted a substantial amount of interest from researchers and practitioners alike (Douglas, Ressler, Burgess, & Hartman, 1986;Woodhams & Bennell, 2011;Fox & Farrington, 2018). Such interest developed into an abundance of literature in the form of books or book chapters, journal articles, reports and magazine articles that discussed the various aspects of criminal profiling (Dowden, Bennell, & Bloomfield, 2007), such as its efficacy in offender apprehension, the much-anticipated expectations and to a certain degree, its limitations too (Canter, 2003;Gregory, 2005;Davies & Woodhams, 2019). ...
... Different definitions have been put forward by various academics belonging to the realm of criminology (Geberth 1981;Rossi, 1982;Palermo & Kocsis, 2005;Patherick, 2013). Generally, it is accepted that criminal profiling is understood to be a collection of techniques and skills employed by the respective investigating officers to narrow down the pool of suspects in order to apprehend the likely perpetrators of a crime (Fox & Farrington, 2018). According to Douglas et al. (1986), the purpose of criminal profiling is not to pinpoint to the particular identity of a criminal but rather to focus on the personality and behavioural characteristics of the type of person who would have likely committed the crime. ...
... It is widely acknowledged that criminal profiling is applied and practised as an investigative tool, in one way or another, by the different law enforcement agencies around the world (Fox & Farrington, 2018). According to Snook et al. (2007a), many police officers in the United Kingdom pointed out the fact that criminal profiling, at some point, was essential in their investigations, especially when violent crimes and repetitive offenders were involved. ...
Article
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The aim of this study was to set forth an impartial presentation of the academic situation that prevails in the field of criminology on the subject of criminal profiling. Through an analysis discussion, and interpretation of the main objective of this study research inquiry which is 'Criminal profiling and its use in crime solving', this study will explore on the arguments pertaining to the claim of whether or not, criminal profiling can be of assistance in crime solving. Since there is dearth of exploration of this subject in the Maltese context, some recommendations will be suggested. Desk-based approach was used as for this research study. The utilised literature is the work of different authoritative authors involved in the study of criminal profiling and the result of their extensive research and experience in the same field of study. By carrying out a critical analysis, the study discusses and presents the existing disparity that prevails on the argument regards the validity, utility, and effectiveness of using criminal profiling techniques in crime investigations. Moreover, the research opines on the fact that criminal profiling is a valuable investigative tool, that needs to be utilised in conjunction with other valid scientific investigative methods so as to increase the reliability and success rate of crime solving and offender apprehension. For this reason, it is recommended that more studies are required on this topic from a Maltese perspective.
... En este escenario, es pertinente hacer referencia investigaciones recientes de alcance internacional que promueven la implementación de un procedimiento estandarizado y universal en la construcción de perfiles delictivos. Estos estudios analizan las ventajas y desventajas de diferentes métodos, sugiriendo la conveniencia de una práctica uniforme en las técnicas de Perfilación Criminal (Petherick y Brooks, 2020;Fox y Farrington, 2018). ...
Article
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Durante el proceso de la investigación policial, resulta esencial comprender el delito y la interacción del perpetrador con la víctima y la escena del crimen. En este contexto, el asesoramiento criminológico conductual está ganando cada vez más relevancia como una herramienta fundamental para las agencias de seguridad. Este estudio adopta un enfoque cualitativo con el objetivo de examinar diversas dimensiones de la perfilación criminal. En particular, se enfoca en la importancia de la perfilación criminal en las investigaciones delictivas y en la identificación de los planteamientos más adecuados para su implementación en las instituciones policiales. Para llevar a cabo este análisis, se ha realizado una encuesta a diez expertos, tanto nacionales como internacionales, especializados en la materia en cuestión, provenientes de ámbitos diversos, incluyendo el sector privado y organismos policiales. Los resultados revelan una amplia variedad de perspectivas con respecto a la colaboración y la distribución de responsabilidades entre analistas del comportamiento delictivo policiales y otros especialistas externos. No obstante, también evidencian elementos comunes en la aplicación profesional de la perfilación criminal.
Chapter
This chapter on criminal profiling and femicide provides an analysis of the methodologies and challenges involved in profiling perpetrators of gender-based homicide. It begins by defining femicide and distinguishing it from other forms of homicide, emphasising its roots in gender inequality and violence against women. The chapter then delves into the role of criminal profiling as a tool for law enforcement, outlining its historical development, theoretical foundations, and practical applications in solving femicide cases. Central to the discussion is the profiling process, which includes crime scene analysis, victimology, and behavioural patterns of offenders. By integrating psychological theories with forensic science, the chapter demonstrates how a multidisciplinary approach enhances the accuracy and effectiveness of criminal profiling in femicide cases. The conclusion underscores the need for ongoing research and training to refine profiling techniques and ensure they are used ethically and effectively.
Article
Generally speaking, criminals are caught by police for one or more of the following reasons: they confess to the crime; another criminal gives the police useful information about a crime; they are arrested red-handed or chased and caught by police; an eyewitness describes them; forensic evidence (fingerprints, footprints, DNA, etc.) at the crime scene or their handwriting or video footage is linked to them; or finally, because the police link a number of crimes committed by the same offender. Further, in today's large urban centres all over the world, the work of police detectives is becoming increasingly difficult, calling for more sophisticated techniques as criminals become even more adept. Films such as Silence of the Lambs, television series like Cracker in the UK, Mindhunter, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami or Profiler, and popular books like The Real Cracker by Stephen Cook (2001) , The Jigsaw Man and Picking Up the Pieces by Paul Britton (1998 , 2001 ) have popularised criminal profiling. In addition, well-known retired Federal Bureau of Investigation profilers (e.g. John Douglas, Roy Hazelwood, Robert Ressler) have published some of their experiences in helping law enforcement agencies catch serial killers. Likewise, in the UK, two very experienced offender profilers have published works; namely, academic psychologist Julian Boon and psychiatrist Richard Baddock. Offender profiling refers to the use of behavioural data evident in a crime to assist a police investigation by seeking to infer attributes of probable offenders, thus narrowing the police search for suspects.
Article
Purpose This paper aims to explore advances in indirect personality assessment, with emphasis on the psychology of digital behavior based on the analysis of new technological devices and platforms for interpersonal relationships, identifying – along the way – those findings that may be useful to carry out a reconstructive psychological assessment (RPA) of applicability in the legal context. Design/methodology/approach Different fields of knowledge are explored, transferring the findings to the field of psychology of digital behavior, analyzing the publications that report findings on the analysis of new technological devices and platforms for interpersonal relationships and identifying – along the way – those findings that may result useful to carry out an RPA of applicability in the legal context. Findings The application of RPA represents a significant advance in the integration of criminal psychology and forensic technology in legal contexts, opening new fields of action for forensic psychology. Originality/value The article has transferred advances in computer science to the field of forensic psychology, with emphasis on the relevance of RPA (from the analysis of digital behavioral residues) in the interpretation of behavioral evidence for the indirect evaluation of the personality and within the judicial context (when the victim and/or accused are not included).
Book
Offender profiling is mainly used by the police to narrow down suspects in cases where no physical evidence was left at a crime scene. Recently, however, this technique has been introduced into the courtroom as evidence, raising questions of its reliability, validity, and admissibility at trial. Because offender profiling was not originally intended to be used in the courtroom, its entrance there has caused both confusion and controversy. Offender Profiling in the Courtroom discusses the use of profiling evidence in criminal trials. Ebisike also covers the history, development, approaches to, and the legal aspects of this crime investigation technique. Several serial crime cases where investigators used offender profiling during the criminal proceedings are discussed, including the case of the New York Mad Bomber, George Metesky, who caused thirty-two bomb explosions in New York City between 1940 and 1956, and the case of Albert DeSalvo, known as the Boston Strangler, who carried out several sexually motivated murders in Boston, Massachusetts between 1962 and 1964. Ebisike demystifies offender profiling and raises awareness about the successes and the pitfalls of the process and its use at trial. Offender profiling is a crime investigation technique where information gathered from the crime scene, witnesses, victims (if alive), autopsy reports, and information about an offender's behavior is used to draw up a profile of the sort of person likely to commit such crime. Offender profiling does not point to a specific offender. It is based, instead, on the probability that someone with certain characteristics is likely to have committed a certain type of crime. In spite of the ever-increasing media interest in the use of offender profiling in criminal trials, this technique is still not well understood by many people, including judges, lawyers, and jurors, who weigh such evidence at trial. Some people see offender profiling as a tried and true method of identifying suspects, and others simply see it as a fiction. Here, the author helps readers understand the true nature of offender profiling and the danger of its admission into criminal cases as evidence.
Book
Traditionally, criminal profiling texts have focused exclusively on the technicalities of conducting an investigation, but recent developments in criminal justice have encouraged greater consideration of the related fields of psychiatry, forensics, and sociology. Highlighting the current paradigm shift in criminology towards a cross-disciplinary un.
Chapter
Adversarial systems of justice are premised, in part, on the belief that an impartial jury can make informed legal findings based on an objective assessment of the facts in a given legal dispute. Experienced jurists understand that this does not generally bear out in the peculiar reality that is trial. Juries, being comprised of human beings with all the common frailties, can be manipulated with respect to what they see, feel, and ultimately how they reason. Moreover, all sides vested in a legal contest, including the court itself, set out to shape and sway the jury to conform to their way of thinking. In order to understand how this can occur, we discuss where jurors come from, how they are selected (or excluded), and the major influences on their decision-making processes.