Offender Profiling

TOPICS TO COVER• WHAT IS IT?• WHY DO IT?• BRITISH APPROACH (Behavioural Evidence Analysis)

David Canter

• CIRCLE THEORY (geographic Profiling) – David Canter

• FBI APPROACH (Typology approach)

• FAMOUS CASES – JACK THE RIPPER AND THE ZODIAC KILLER

Offender Profiling

• WHAT IS IT?

• Different types of crimes are carried out by different types of people with different needs

• Offender Profiling is based on psychological studies, using prison interviews, pre-sentence reports etc

• WHY DO IT?

• Build up a psychological picture of an offender so that they can be identified, found and charged

• To better understand the reasons why certain people commit certain crimes and try to stop them BEFORE they do it!

CASE STUDY 1

JAMES BRUSSEL

Criminal Profiler

GEORGE METESKY

The Mad Bomber of New York

James’ predictions about George

* A male high school graduate,

aged 40 – 50 years

* Living in Connecticut or

Westchester, probably with a

sister or a maiden aunt

* Slavic and Catholic

* Likely to be wearing a buttoned-

up double-breasted suit

* 54

* Living in Connecticut with two

older sisters

* Polish and Catholic

* Wearing a double-breasted suit

How did he do it?

• Bombing is a crime associated with paranoid personality disorders which tend to peak around the age of 40

• Bombs at that time tended to be a middle European protest strategy

• Errors in the letters indicated non-US origins• Most middle Europeans are Catholics, and in New

York tend to concentrate in either Connecticut or Westchester, where there are strong family ties

• The bombing style was meticulous, suggesting someone for whom order was important, and this could translate into the dress of the day

CASE STUDY 2

DAVID CANTER

Criminal Profiler

JOHN DUFFY

The Railway Rapist

How David caught Duffy

* Live in the Kilburn or Cricklewood area of London, the area where the first three offences occurred

* Duffy lived in Kilburn* Be married with no children

* Duffy was married, and a low sperm count meant he was infertile* Have marriage problems

* Duffy was separated from his wife* Be a loner, with few friends

* Duffy had only two male friends, one of whom was David Mulcahy, his co-offender

* Be physically small, with feelings of unattractiveness* Duffy was 5’4, with acne

* Have an interest in martial arts or body building* Duffy spent much of his time at a martial arts club

How David caught Duffy

*Need to dominate women*Duffy was a violent man, who had already attacked his wife

*Have fantasies about rape and bondage*Duffy like tying up his wife before sex

*Have a fascination for weapons, especially knives and swords*Duffy had many ‘Kung Fu’ style weapons in his home

*Have fantasies about sex and violence*Duffy collected hard-core porn videos

*Keep souvenirs of crimes*Duffy had 33 door keys, each taken from a victim as a souvenir

*Hold a semi-skilled job with little contact with the public*Duffy had trained as a carpenter with British Rail

*Be in the age range of 20 – 30*Duffy was 28 when arrested, and had been a rapist for 4 years