ABSTRACT
We have been doing research on criminal personality profiling for three years. From the viewpoint of the investigator, profiling is needed in a situation where the community’s fears are extremely high and the arrest of the perpetrator is not an easy task. However, from the viewpoint of the researcher, the crimes for which investigators seek profiling data do not always lend themselves to the process of profiling. Profiling is more viable for those crimes in which perpetrators are distinguishable from the general public by some kind of extreme deviation in behavior, personality and lifestyle. Our experience suggests that offenses suitable for profiling involve serial, indiscriminate (the offenders and victims are strangers) and relatively rare crimes, in which offenders show no apparent motives, or sexually motivated drives (Tamura 1996). Currently, we are conducting research on serial arson (Tamura and Suzuki 1997), serial “Torima” (non-specific-motive attacks) (Tamura et al. 1998), serial sexual murder and paedophilia. This chapter focuses on the profiling of serial arsonists.
