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Psychological Profiling
An Introduction

❖ ❖ ❖

Inductive Versus Deductive Profiling

Inductive Criminal Investigative Assessments
Deductive Criminal Investigative Assessments
Goals in Profiling
Goal 1: To Provide the Criminal Justice System With a Social and
Psychological Assessment of the Offender
Goal 2: To Provide the Criminal Justice System With a Psychological
Evaluation of Belongings Found in the Possession of the Offender
Goal 3: To Provide Interviewing Suggestions and Strategies
Profiling: An Art, Not a Science
Conclusion

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2 PROFILING VIOLENT CRIMES

H istorically, crime and criminals have galvanized the attention of

law-abiding citizens. Whatever the reason, be it the romance of
a Capone or a Dillinger, or the utter lack of any understanding of how
or why criminals can do what they do, books, TV, and movies flood the
market with police and crime. Russell Vorpagel (1998), an ex-FBI agent,
speaks of his own contributions to the development of psychological
profiling in the early years with the FBI. In his book, Profiles in Murder:
An FBI Legend Dissects Killers and Their Crimes, he claims that he along
with Ressler, Douglas, and others were, pioneers in the process of
crime scene analysis. Further, Vorpagel states that he was instrumental
in helping Detective Ray Biondi in Sacramento, California, with the
Richard Trenton Chase murder case. Unfortunately, Vorpagel was not
able to profile Chase’s suicide by pills while Chase was in Vacaville
prison.
Robert Ressler, another retired FBI agent, speaks of the same
Richard Chase case in his book co-authored with Tom Shachtman,
Whoever Fights Monsters (1992), but with only one line devoted to the
help of Vorpagel in developing a separate profile, amazingly similar to
Ressler’s own: “The fact that Chase so precisely fit the profile that I had
drawn up in conjunction with Russ Vorpagel was gratifying to me . . .”
(p. 9). Ressler continues to mention other serial killers, such as Ted
Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, David Berkowitz, Edmund Kemper, Peter
Sutcliffe, Jeffrey Dahmer, and mass killer Richard Speck. Unfortunately
there is no mention of an interviewing methodology used in the meet-
ings. Ressler has published another book with Shachtman entitled I
Have Lived in the Monster: Inside the Minds of the World’s Most Notorious
Serial Killers (1997). In this book, interesting stories abound that relate
to Ressler’s work with many serial killers during his career in the FBI.
Not to be outdone, John Douglas and his co-author Mark Olshaker
wrote Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit (1995). In this
book, Douglas lays claim to a friendship with Thomas Harris, the
author of The Silence of the Lambs (1981), Red Dragon (1988), and
Hannibal (1999). He takes the reader along the steps in his work in sev-
eral major cases and the effects that the profiling work has on mind and
health. The book jacket claims that he is the model for Jack Crawford
in Harris’s book The Silence of the Lambs, a claim, however, that Harris
denies (T. Harris, personal interview, June 20, 2000). The book jacket
also says that Douglas has interviewed dozens of serial killers and
assassins—including Richard Speck, Charles Manson, and James Earl
Ray among them. He has published two other books, The Cases That
Haunt Us: From Jack the Ripper to JonBenet Ramsey, the FBI’s Legendary
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Psychological Profiling 3

Mindhunter Sheds Light on the Mysteries That Won’t Go Away (Douglas

& Olshaker, 1999) and The Anatomy of Motive: The FBI’s Legendary
Mindhunter Explores the Key to Understanding and Catching Violent
Criminals (Douglas & Olshaker, 2000). Douglas and his co-author lead
the reader through several celebrated unsolved homicides. One is the
JonBenet Ramsey case, in which Douglas offers reasons for his belief
that the JonBenet’s parents were not involved in the murder of the
young beauty queen. He reacts with some vigor to the criticisms of his
own professionalism and reacts to the criticism aimed at him by his for-
mer colleagues in the FBI. Douglas also offers a profile of his own on
the infamous Jack the Ripper case. Both books address Douglas’s law
enforcement career and his involvement with serial murderers.
The Evil That Men Do: FBI Profiler Roy Hazelwood’s Journey Into the
Minds of Sexual Predators is another book written by a retired FBI
profiler, Roy Hazelwood, along with Stephen Michaud (2001).
Hazelwood was known as a profiler of sexual predators, especially
rapists. In this publication, the reader is once again privy to the spe-
cial talents of the FBI agents and the manner in which they were of aid
of police departments across the world in the successful resolution of
their cases.
As profilers, we have met many people involved in the field. Some of
these encounters have been pleasant and some not. As a general rule, we
have found that those who don’t advertise their rates in their Web pages
are the most reputable. Colleagues like Eric Hickey, Steve Egger, and a
few more enjoy favorable reputations in the criminal justice system.
Regardless, there is a tremendous amount of interest in the field of
profiling. But we must remember that it is only one tool and by itself
has never solved a murder case, despite the statements made by some.
Profilers are often also seen on TV. These shows illustrate the work
of a profiler and how neatly the whole crime is resolved in a one-hour
program. But unlike a vintage Dragnet episode, criminals are not always
brought to justice. Every killer is not peacefully arrested with nothing
more than an MO or a quick confirmation of the identity of the perpe-
trator. This MO (method of operation or modus operandi) holds to a
basic principle: Each perpetrator commits his crime in a certain man-
ner. Therefore, each time a person commits a crime, he will do it in the
same or at least similar fashion. This is a prodigious step in logic, and
one that has been validated by tradition and common sense, both, how-
ever, less-than-reliable sources of knowledge.
For the homicide investigator, where the motives of normal killings
are absent, a psychological profile may be the investigative tool essential
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4 PROFILING VIOLENT CRIMES

to a successful resolution of the case (Douglas & Burgess, 1986; Douglas,

Burgess, Burgess, & Ressler 1993; Palmiotto, 1994; Sears, 1991). How
accurate are the profiles? This will obviously depend on the expertise
of the persons involved in such an assessment. Kocsis, Orwin, & Hayes
(2000) reported that profilers appear to have higher skills when com-
pared to other groups. They claim the most accurate groups are, in
order of accuracy: professional profilers, psychologists, students,
police officers, and self-declared psychics. That psychologists ranked
second in the study suggests that psychologists are better at this
endeavor than police officers, perhaps because of their understanding
of human behavior. The researchers also reported that psychics are the
least reliable of the groups. They apparently depend more on the
stereotypes of murderers than of a true understanding of the mind and
mentality of a killer. The research also suggests that police probably
would do better at profiling if they were educated in the principles of
the process (Peterson, 1997).
Thus profiling, or criminal investigation assessment, is an edu-
cated attempt to provide investigative agencies with specific informa-
tion as to the type of individual who committed a certain crime
(Geberth, 1981).
Of course, profiles are not suitable in all cases, even in some mur-
der cases (Holmes & Holmes, 1992, 2000). They are usually more
efficacious in cases where the unknown perpetrator has displayed
indications of psychopathology (Geberth, 2006; Holmes & Holmes,
2000). Crimes most appropriate for psychological profiling are those
where discernable patterns are able to be deciphered from the crime
scene or where the fantasy/motive of the perpetrator is readily
apparent. Table 1.1 suggests a few of these appropriate crimes; how-
ever, this list is not exhaustive, and any of these specifically men-
tioned crimes may not present enough evidence to develop a useful
profile.
It is important to come to a general understanding of the type of
person who would commit an offense such as a lust murder or spree
killing. Inherent within the premise of the validity and reliability of a
profile is that the person who commits these crimes has a personality
that reflects pathology. In some cases the crimes may be thoroughly
planned and executed, as in many of the recent school shooting cases
(e.g., Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois). In other crimes, chaos, the
lack of planning, mutilations, and other elements reflected in the crime
scene are also usually reflective of his/her personality. Therefore, the
crime scene itself reflects pathology.
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Psychological Profiling 5

Table 1.1 Crimes Most Suitable for the Development of an Offender

Profile

Suggested Crimes for Profiling

Sadistic sexual assaults

Sexual homicide
Postmortem cases of abuse and humiliation
Motiveless fire settings
Lust and mutilation murders
Rape
Occult and ritualistic crimes
Child sexual abuse including pedophilia
Bank robberies
Anonymous obscene communications

T HE S HOOTINGS AT N ORTHERN I LLINOIS U NIVERSIT Y

In February 2008, 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak, a former grad-
uate student majoring in sociology at Northern Illinois University,
entered a lecture hall and shot 21 students and then killed himself.
Four females and one male student were killed. The killer carried his
weapons in a guitar case. Kazmierczak, well liked by other students
and the professors at the university, was reported to have recently
stopped taking medication for depression.
There are no known reasons for his action; however ,he did have a history of men-
tal problems, and he had been admitted to a psychiatric setting after high school, but
he stayed only a short time. He enlisted in the army in 2001 but was discharged
6 months later for unspecified reasons. One possible motive could be that he broke up
with his girlfriend a few days previous to the mass murder. Students put up six white
crosses on campus in front of the Holmes Student Center; one had no name:
Kazmierczak’s.

As we will mention later in this text, each offender will leave part
of him- or herself at the crime scene. Additionally, we have discovered
in the crimes we have profiled for various police departments across
the world, now over 500, that offenders commit their crimes in certain
manners. If it is a serial crime, the crimes are similar—not always iden-
tical, but similar. It is the responsibility of the profiler to offer insight
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6 PROFILING VIOLENT CRIMES

from the physical evidence of the pathology exhibited in the crime

scene (Michaud, 1986).
Also worthy of note is the fact the crime profiles are usually com-
pleted after the fact. While the police and other public health officials
often know that people are not right and are capable of very heinous
violence, there is no simple way that we or any psychologist or psy-
chiatrist can predict the future behavior of these offenders. Hence, even
the development of a psychological profile of the two most recent
school shooters before their murderous events would not have been of
much use to police or other officials before they went on their homici-
dal sprees.
Of course, a good criminal investigative assessment will also
depend to some extent to the working relationship between the police
agency desiring a profile and the profiler. This should be self-evident,
but nonetheless it is important to state and understand. One reason for
this is that if the police agency has no faith in the process or the profiler,
information may not be included that is vital to the profile itself. This
omission can be simply negligence or it could be intentional;. hope-
fully, it is usually unintentional.

T HE V IRGINIA T ECH S CHOOL S HOOTINGS

On April 16, 2007, 23-year-old Seung Hui Cho killed two
students at West Ambler Johnson resident hall and then
returned to his dorm room and changed his clothes. He then
mailed a package to NBC News in New York containing an
1,800-word diatribe, pictures of himself, and various video clips.
He then marched across campus to Norris Hall and chained
the three exit doors shut from the inside. In the next 11 minutes,
the shooter killed 30 more students and himself, firing between 150 and 200 rounds.
All told, Cho killed 32 students and himself, making this episode one of the most
deadly school shooting incidents in the history of the United States.

 INDUCTIVE VERSUS DEDUCTIVE PROFILING

There are two different postures to adopt to develop a profile. One is

the inductive approach, and the other is the deductive approach. At
first glance they seem to be mutually exclusive, but on a closer exami-
nation they share some commonalities.
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Psychological Profiling 7

Inductive Criminal Investigative Assessments

The inductive approach to profiling rests with a simple premise, an
assumption that if certain crimes committed by different people are sim-
ilar, then the offenders must also share some type of common personal-
ity traits. The information gathered comes from past crimes, past known
offenders, and other sources of information, including the media.
There are obvious advantages to this type of profile. It is quick,
inexpensive, and there is no need to blend the academic disciplines of
sociology, psychology, criminology, and psychiatry. Thus the profiler
does not necessarily need any special skill or knowledge of the field of
human behavior. For example, this type of profiler would not need to
know the work of some of the early pioneers in the field of psychology,
such as Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), William James (1842–1910), John
Watson (1878–1958), and B. F. Skinner (1904–1990). Their valuable work
in human behavior could be ignored, as what happens in the inductive
approach is that an assessment of one crime is offered simply from sim-
ilar crime scenes.

Deductive Criminal Investigative Assessments

This method is slightly different. From a thorough analysis of the
crime scene and the evidence left at that scene, the profiler is able to
construct a mental picture of the unknown offender. As profilers, we
know from experience that the one of the most vital elements in the
analysis of a crime is victimology. Despite a profiler’s request that
a police agency disclose all known information about the victim, this is
the one element that typically lacks adequate information. The more
one knows about the victim, the more one knows about the offender.
Thus from this perspective the profile is drawn from the physical and
nonphysical (love, hate, rage, fear, etc.) evidence.
The profile drawn from this perspective is agonizingly slow. Much
care is taken in the examination of forensic reports, victimology, etc.,
and the report will take much longer to develop using only this app-
roach. Looking at the crime scene evidence is imperative. This is one
problem we have with the profile done for the Ramsey family on the
murder of their young daughter, JonBenet. The crime scene was
destroyed by the time the profiler was able to develop an assessment.
It would have been important to know, for example, the exact posi-
tioning of the hands, the manner in which the garrote was found, and
the position of the body in relationship to the opening of the door to
that small room. There are other questions that needed to be addressed,
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8 PROFILING VIOLENT CRIMES

and the answers could have only been obtained from the examination
of the physical evidence present at the scene. The physical evidence
will also be an indicator of the nonphysical evidence.
For example, in a southern state an elderly White female was
beaten to death in her home. The killer had been in the home when she
arrived from a night out with two companions. As she undressed in her
unlit bedroom, the killer came upon her from the back and hit her over
the head and bludgeoned her to death. From the crime scene it was
apparent that the killer had been there for some time, perhaps awaiting
her return from an evening of entertainment on the town. He had a bot-
tle of wine sitting in the hallway, and it was uncorked. This victim was
a very clean housekeeper and would not have left that container of
spirits in the hallway. The killer felt comfortable enough to drink some
of the wine, and he also apparently knew where the bottle had been
kept in the pantry. Before she came home, he went into the bedroom
and placed pictures in frames of the victim’s nieces and nephews face-
down in the bedroom.
From the description of this crime scene it is easy to see there is a
combination of inductive and deductive reasoning. Knowing some-
thing of the academic disciplines of psychology, sociology, criminology,
and psychiatry, a clear picture of the mind and mentality of the
unknown killer is revealed. Also, we can gather some information from
similar cases, when oftentimes the victim is killed by a relative—
elderly female, no sexual assault, the picture frames detail—and these
other similar cases can educate us to the possible identity of the killer.
Ideally, then, we can use both methods to develop a psychological
profile. It is important to use both methods simply because there are
benefits to both. One may be quicker to develop, while the other takes
more time but can evaluate the unknown offender from a perspective
that is different from the other offenders who have committed similar
crimes. There are items to bring to the assessment from both the deduc-
tive approach and the inductive approach. With the deductive
approach, for example, one assumption is that any crime is accompa-
nied by a fantasy. Certainly in looking at the forensic evidence at a
similar crime scene, with persons arrested for a similar crime, in the
deductive method a profiler can “interpret” the crime scene and exam-
ine the fantasy present in the crime scene itself.
While inductive profiling may not be as reliable as the deductive
method, there is no reason to ignore the possible benefits derived from
the utilization of this method, and combining the benefits of both is
truly the correct response.
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Psychological Profiling 9

 GOALS IN PROFILING

There is some confusion when the topics of goals and objectives are
discussed. Simply stated, goals are broad general statements of what is
to be accomplished. Objectives are specific, measurable statements to
be accomplished by a given time (Craig, 1980, p. 24). Goals are usually
statements individuals or organizations offer to direct their efforts
toward some reward. Obviously, these efforts take varied forms. It may
be a certain number of units manufactured by a truck plant per time
period, or a number of violent personal crimes cleared by arrests.
Objectives are the means to be used to satisfy the goals of the organi-
zations, and objectives must be measurable.
Goals in profiling are not distinctly unique. They exist to aid the
criminal justice system in its battle against crime. As such, there are
three major goals.

Goal 1: To Provide the Criminal Justice System With a

Social and Psychological Assessment of the Offender
The purpose of this goal is very simple. It should provide basic and
sound information concerning the social and psychological core vari-
ables of the offender’s personality. This assessment should include race,
age range, employment, religion, marital status, education, and so on.
This psychological packet will focus the investigation. Instead of
dealing with a wide range of possible perpetrators, the profile will
reduce the scope of the investigation. This will have a direct effect on
the number of days and weeks spent on the case by positioning the
police toward a successful resolution.
A profile contains information that alerts the law enforcement pro-
fessional to the possible psychological traits present in a crime scene. It
can predict future possible attacks as well as probable sites of attacks.

Case Study
Recently a profile was completed for a police department in a
southern city where in the course of 4 months four young women were
murdered, throats cut. None of the four women was sexually molested,
but there were several commonalities.
The profile offered information as to the age, education, residence,
and a predicted period of time when the perpetrator would strike
again. The profile was accurate even to the day that the next attack
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10 PROFILING VIOLENT CRIMES

would occur. The police department, with confidence in the profiling

packet, redoubled their efforts with the positive benefit of the appre-
hension of the attacker on the night predicted.

Goal 2: To Provide the Criminal Justice System

With a Psychological Evaluation of Belongings
Found in the Possession of the Offender
This particular goal is very important to investigators when they
have a prime suspect. It may be that all of the physical evidence, wit-
ness reports, and all pertinent information point toward one suspect.
The psychological profile may suggest items the offenders may have in
their possession: souvenirs, photos, pornography, and so on. These
items will serve as a reminder of the violent episode. In the case of a
serial pedophile, we are familiar with pedophiles’ child pornography
collection. By analyzing the collection, the profiler can offer the police
interrogator with a plan to interview the alleged offender as to choice
of victim, seduction or capturing strategies, and other pertinent infor-
mation gleaned from the collateral evidence found in the possession of
the charged offender. This same statement can be said of other types of
offenders undergoing interrogation—offenders such as arsonists, serial
killers, and rapists.

Case Study
Jerry Brudos was a serial killer who was sent to the Oregon State
Penitentiary for the brutal and sadistic killing of young women in the
late 1960s. He died in prison only recently. Brudos had a shoe fetish,
and he had stolen a pair of high-heeled black shoes during the course
of a robbery and rape. He often wore the shoes around his home and
demanded his wife to do the same. One victim, a young National Merit
scholar, was forced to wear the shoes even as he hung her from the
rafter in his garage. In addition, Brudos was involved in triolism, a
sexual behavior in which sexual gratification is gained by seeing one-
self and/or others in sexual scenes. Combining his transvestism with
triolism, Brudos took pictures of himself wearing the high-heeled shoes,
panties, bra, and stockings. He also took pictures of his wife nude and
photographed three of his four victims. One victim was already dead
when he photographed her (Stack, 1983).
If profiling had been popular and used by the Salem Police
Department, such a profile might have alerted the police to the possi-
bility of finding souvenirs or trophies in the possession of Brudos. This
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Psychological Profiling 11

physical evidence, if listed on a search warrant, could have been

invaluable material to be used in his trial. It might have also alerted
police to the possibility of film that might display nude females or
other suspicious pictures coming through local businesses for develop-
ment. As it did transpire, Brudos convinced his wife that she could
pose for him in the nude because big labs process too much film to look
at every picture. They look at the first or the last and that’s all (Stack,
1983, p. 33). Brudos apparently used this same subjective rationale
when he photographed his victims.

Goal 3: To Provide Interviewing Suggestions and Strategies

Once a subject is apprehended, a profile packet should contain
information regarding proper and effective methods of interviewing
and interrogation. This can be crucial.
The profile packet should contain information regarding different
personalities and effective strategies in soliciting information from a
diverse group of offenders. Not all people react to questioning in the
same fashion. For one type of offender, one strategy may be effective,
but it is a drastic mistake to assume all offenders will respond to the
same interviewing strategy. For example, not all serial murderers kill
for the same reason, and not all respond to the same type of interview-
ing strategy. Violent personal offenders also vary with their motives as
well as their responses to interrogation.

Case Study
In a small Midwestern town, 15-year-old Diana Harris and her
boyfriend were shot. Their bodies were found in his car parked in a
lonely lovers’ lane area. She died of one shot to the left temple, and her
male companion was mortally wounded with a single shot entering
under his left armpit. One additional bullet was fired through the pas-
senger-side window. No physical evidence other than the bullets was
obtained.
The police department investigated this case thoroughly but unsuc-
cessfully. After talking with the mother and stepfather, one detective
believed that the stepfather was not telling all he knew. Most people
feared Mr. Harris. A football coach, he carried himself in such a manner
that defied anyone to doubt his virility, masculinity, or intelligence.
The detective interviewed the stepfather about the case. After
questioning him for several hours, the police officer asked him
pointedly if he had killed his stepdaughter and her boyfriend.
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12 PROFILING VIOLENT CRIMES

Breaking into profuse perspiration, the man replied, “Not in my

right mind did I kill them. You’ll have to prove that I did.” Instead
of keeping some pressure on the stepfather, a coffee break was taken.
After regrouping himself psychologically, Mr. Harris denied any
knowledge or responsibility in this case. All progress stopped, and
the investigation came to a halt. All strategies used provided no fur-
ther information.
Finally this police department requested direction in the interro-
gation of Mr. Harris. Suspecting he demanded to be in control but
with a flaw in his personality, a far different strategy was offered. The
suspect was taken into an interrogation room where pictures of the
crime scene lined the four walls. The suspect was told that the police
really wanted to solve the crime of the murder of his stepdaughter.
Despite all they had done, they were getting nowhere, and they
needed help. The pictures of the crime scene served as constant
reminders of what had occurred, not only to his stepdaughter but to
the boy as well.
After the suspect believed that he was now in control of the inves-
tigation and could offer some helpful suggestions to the police, he
became fully engrossed in the case. The more he talked, the more famil-
iar he became with the details of the crime. After more than 8 hours, the
man broke down and cried. Then the detective resumed his question-
ing, and the man confessed to the double homicide.

 PROFILING: AN ART, NOT A SCIENCE

Not everyone agrees that psychological profiling is of benefit to law

enforcement (Jenkins, 1994). Indeed, not all crimes are suitable for the
profiling process.

While virtually any crime showing mental, emotional, or person-

ality aberration can be analyzed for profiling purposes, certain
crimes are particularly appropriate for the process; these crimes
include a series of rapes, serial murders, child molesting, ritualis-
tic crimes, threat communications, violence in the workplace, and
serial arson. (Hazelwood & Burgess, 1995, p. 12)

Vernon Geberth, a retired homicide commander with the New

York Police Department and author of many books dealing with homi-
cide investigations, was in 1994 and still is being misquoted today as
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Psychological Profiling 13

saying that he “was not aware of one serial murder case where a pro-
file led to an arrest.” In a personal communication with Geberth, he
said that the actual quote should be as follows:

Criminal profiling is an excellent law enforcement tool. However,

it is just one of many tools and does not replace good investigative
techniques. In fact, I don’t know of any profile in and by itself that
has resulted in an actual arrest.” (V. Gerberth, personal communi-
cation, February 6, 1995)

While there may be some truth to this criticism, it is reasonable to

expect that the profiler’s years of education and training will be of
value to law enforcement in its attempts to solve heinous and difficult
crimes. But again, we agree with Geberth: By itself, a profile does not
solve any crime. It is only one forensic tool of many that should be uti-
lized in the investigation of a crime.
There are a few discrete rules to adhere to in the profiling of a dif-
ficult criminal case. Of course, educated guesses are made. They are,
however, aided by knowledge gained from the profiler’s experience in
the criminal justice system and from his familiarity with relevant con-
cepts in criminology, sociology, psychology, and psychiatry. In addi-
tion, the profiler is aided by an intuitive sense in the profiling process.
That is, he develops a feel for the crime. This is the art dimension.
Nonprofessional sources of information seldom have the mixture of
competencies essential for efficient profiling.

 CONCLUSION

There are obvious cases that are more suitable and appropriate for psy-
chological profiling than others. The role of the profiler, then, is to
assist the police department in its investigations of the cases in which
additional aid is sought for the successful resolution of a case, such as
lust murder, rape, and the like. The successful profiler will blend his
educational and training background to offer insight into the type of
person who would commit the crime currently under investigation. It
is, however, more than a simple list of suspected characteristics. The
profiler will keep in mind his role in assisting the police by fulfilling
fundamental processes in the profiling endeavor. The goals, then, are
reached as much through education and training as they are through
the acquired art of profiling itself.
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14 PROFILING VIOLENT CRIMES

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