Criminal Profiling: Principles and Practice

Criminal Profiling: Principles and Practice provides a compendium of original scientific research on constructing a criminal profile for crimes that are not readily resolvable by conventional police investigative methods. Leading profiling expert Richard N. Kocsis, PhD, utilizes a distinct approach referred to as Crime Action Profiling (CAP), a technique that has its foundations in the disciplinary knowledge of forensic psychology. The initial four chapters examine the skills, accuracy, components, and processes surrounding the construction of a criminal profile. The next two chapters focus on CAP research, the methods developed for the profiling of violent crimes and describing a systematic method for the interpretation and use of the CAP models. The subsequent three chapters canvass the respective CAP studies undertaken for crimes of serial rape, serial/sexual murder, and serial arson. An explanation for how each of the models is developed is also given. The final chapters of the book are devoted to the geographical analysis of crime patterns and to a discussion of the format conventions and procedural guidelines for developing a criminal profile.Offering a scientifically grounded method for the construction of a criminal profile, Criminal Profiling: Principles and Practice provides law enforcement personnel, forensic psychologists and psychiatrists, criminologists, and forensic investigators with a step-by-step, practical guide for understanding and applying CAP techniques for the construction of a criminal profile in a systematic and replicable manner. What Is Criminal Profiling? Smoke and Mirrors: The Illusions of Accuracy in Criminal Profiles Rhetoric vs Reality: Investigating the Skills and Accuracy of Criminal Profiling The Components and Processes of Criminal Profiling Defining Serial Violent Crime Operational Interpretation of the CAP Models Criminal Profiling of Serial Rape Offenses Criminal Profiling of Sexual Murder Offenses Criminal Profiling of Serial Arson Offenses Offense Location Patterns: Geographic Profiles Procedural Considerations and Format Guidelines Epilogue: Fighting Fire With Fire Appendix A: Understanding Descriptive and Inferential Statistics: A Beginner's Guide Appendices B-G: Variable and Coding Tables Index