ABSTRACT

The applications of clinical criteria and abnormal psychology to the investigative process are an integral part of criminal personality profiling and have been universally recognized and accepted as genuine and legitimate investigative techniques. Detectives and criminal investigators routinely employ these techniques in their investigation of violent crime on a case-by-case basis. From a practical standpoint, there are only so many ways to kill and only so many stories to tell as an offender attempts to explain the killings. After a while, a distinct pattern emerges, which encompasses a series of clusters of behavioral information and specific typologies of offenders. For example, human behavior is repetitive. Certain actions engaged in at the scene by certain types of personalities will tend to repeat themselves. This is the foundation of criminal investigative analysis. We look at previous events and identify specific patterns and clusters of behavioral information and then extrapolate this investigative information to the current case and persons involved in the current event.