offender profiling essay

Offender Profiling In Psychology

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

When police have very little evidence to go on, they will sometimes enlist the help of a forensic psychologist. The forensic psychologist will use prior knowledge and evidence gathered from the scene to build an offender profile.

Offender profiling is an investigative tool that aid the identification, apprehension and conviction of an unknown offender by providing the police with a description of the likely social (employment, marital status) and mental characteristics (level of education, motivation) of the offender.

It also provides predictions of who the offender is likely to attack next, where and when and possible interview strategies to elicit information about the crimes committed and confession of guilt.

Offender profiles are only as good as the information provided to the profiler. They should be regarded as one tool amongst many to be used by the police.

There are two approaches:

• The top-down American approach: From the data gathered at the crime scene, the investigators can identify characteristics of the offender e.g. lifestyle or personality characteristics. From this the offender is categorized as either an organized or a disorganized offender. It is a top-down approach because it attempts to fit crime details under pre-existing categories (typologies).
• The bottom-up British approach or investigative psychology: Starts with small details and creates the big picture. No initial assumptions are made about the offender and the approach relies heavily on computer databases. It can be the little details that are often overlooked that can be crucial to the success of a case.

Top Down – The FBI Approach

The phrase top-down refers to an approach, which starts with the big picture and then fills in the details. The Top Down of FBI approach relies on previous experiences of crimes.

This approach was pioneered in the US with the work of Ressler, Burgess and Douglas in the 1970s from the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit.

They interviewed 36 sexually motivated serial killers including Ted Bundy, the questions used related to factors such as early warning signs and possible triggers.

From the data obtained by the interviews, the data gathered at the crime scenes and examination of the crime itself, they identified typologies. Typologies are categories, groups of offenders displaying different clusters of behaviors and attitudes.

In 1980 Hazelwood and Douglas published their account of the ‘lust murderer’, they advanced a theory that lust murderers are mainly catergorised by two types: – Organised and disorganised.

Organized Offenders

An organized offender leads an ordered life and kills after some sort of critical life event. Their actions are premeditated and planned, they are likely to bring weapons and restraints to the scene. They are likely to be of average to high intelligence and employed.

• Organized offenders : They show signs of having planned their crime in advance
• Personal characteristics : socially adequate, sexually competent, charming, geographically/ occupationally mobile, high IQ, lives with partner.
• Post-offense behavior : returns to the crime scene, volunteers information.
• Interview techniques : use direct strategies

Disorganized Offenders

A disorganized offender is more likely to have committed the crime in a moment of passion. There will be no evidence of premeditation and they are more likely to leave evidence such as blood, semen, murder weapon etc. behind. This type of offender is thought to be less socially competent and more likely to be unemployed.

• Disorganized offenders : They show little sign of planning.
• Personal characteristics : socially inadequate, sexually incompetent, lives and works near crime scene, low IQ, lives alone.
• Post-offense behavior : returns to crime scene to relive event, keep diary/ news cutting of events.
• Interview techniques : empathise with offender, introduce evidence indirectly

Constructing a profile using the top-down approach

To generate a profile of the offender, the profiler

• Review the evidence gathered from the crime scene and other material evidence
• The crime scene is classified as organized or disorganized
• The crime is reconstructed – based on the evidence gathered hypotheses are made about what has occurred in terms of order of events, behavior of the offender and of the victim.

These elements are then compared to the typographies and a profile is generated.

Critical Evaluation

Top-down profiling is reductionist as the classification system (organized/disorganized) is too simple. Offenders are not simply either disorganized or organized. It may be that there are both organized and disorganized features to all their crimes.

An offender may start off being disorganized and become more organized as they develop their modus operandi.

Top Down typology can only be applied to sexually motivated serial killers; because of the limitations of the original sample that they interviewed: – sexually motivated serial killers!).

This approach assumes that the criminal behavior will reflect the characteristics of the offender and will remain stable over time and across offenses; however criminals change over their criminal careers. They might change their modus operandi (the way they operate) as they become more forensically aware for example to avoid detection.

However, research shows that more fundamental aspects of the crimes remain fairly stable over time because they are linked to motivation and needs, this is what Canter called “central narrative themes”.

This theory is deterministic as it assumes that the offender’s behavior is shaped by stable personality traits but Alison et al. (2002) argues that the offender’s behavior is the result of complex interaction of many factors such as context and interaction with the victim so is not stable and predictable.

Furthermore, Alison et al. (2003) also questions the assumptions that similar types of offenders will commit crime in a similar way. Mokros and Alison (2002) compared criminal behavior, background and criminal history of 100 British male rapists. They found that rapists who offended in similar ways did not share any of these characteristics.

The data on which the approach is based is unreliable as it was gained from the interview of offenders who are very manipulative; this raises questions about the validity of the data obtained.

However, the interviewers also had a very thorough briefing of the facts which helped them detect deception. Furthermore, the data was obtained from American men this questions the generalisability of the findings and the theory based on this data to other cultures and to women.

The typologies organized v.s disorganized offenders has been challenged by Canter (2004) who analyzed the data of 100 murders in the US using “smaller space analysis”. He found that there was support for organized typology but no support for the disorganized typology. This undermines the classification system.

According to Holmes (1998) the top-down approach has contributed to arrest in only 17% of the cases in which it was used. This is still a valuable contribution as it is used in very serious cases where lives are at risk.

Bottom Up – The British Approach

This approach was pioneered by psychologists David Canter and Paul Britton working with the police. Canter (1990) is the UK’s foremost profiling expert; his bottom-up approach looks for consistencies in offenders’ behavior during the crime.

Canter’s most famous case is that of the ‘Railway Rapist’ John Duffy. John Duffy carried out 24 sexual attacks and 3 murders of women near railway stations in North London in the 1980s.

David Canter analyzed the geographical details and the evidence and drew up a surprisingly accurate profile. However, it should be noted that the profile didn’t directly lead to John Duffy’s arrest.

The bottom-up approach is data-driven; the profile is constructed based on the association between particular characteristics of the offense and of the offender. It started with an individual analysis of individual crimes and a series of crimes.

Canter then started to statistically analyze solved crime and identified clusters of events and behaviors that occur together (smallest place analysis). From this analysis, he derived typologies.

A crucial concept of this approach is interpersonal coherence , the way an offender behaves while committing a crime, e.g. the way they interact with the victim, reflects the way they behave and interact in their everyday life.

A second key concept of Canter’s theory is spatial consistency . He assumes that offenders operate in areas that they know well. Canter and Larkin (1993) proposed two categories of offenders:

• Marauders : they commit their crimes close to where they live and feel secure.
• Commuters : they commit their crimes away from where they usually live and over large areas.

This has been the base of geographical profiling. Geographical Profiling is used to make inferences about where an offender is likely to live. This is also known as crime mapping.

Circle Theory of Environmental Range

Canter and Larkin (1993) proposed the circle theory of environmental range. This is based on the study of many cases which showed that if a circle is drawn that encompasses all linked crimes, the offender will be based somewhere within the circle.

Rossmo (2000) suggests that in general criminals offend close to their homes (or other base e.g. workplace) and the number of offenses drops off with increasing distance from the base. This is supported by Godwin and Canter (1997) found that 85 % of the offenders they studied lived inside the circle encompassing their offenses.

It is more difficult to geographically profile commuters, although when investigators were looking at the disappearance and murder of 4 young girls from different and seemingly unrelated areas of Britain in the 1980s, the dumping of the bodies in laybys next to major A roads (including Twycross, just up the road) led to a breakthrough.

It was realized that his likely occupation was delivery driver, giving him access to a van/lorry for easy transportation and led to him ‘commuting’ all over the country, traveling along A roads.

Geographical profiling has support; Godwin and Canter (1997) found that 85 % of the offenders they studied lived inside the circle encompassing their offenses. However, Koscis and Irwin found that only 50% of burglars lived in the circle defined by their offenses.

Snook et al. (2005) examined the offense locations of 53 serial murderers in Germany and found that in 63% of cases the killer lived within 6 miles of where the bodies were found.

This approach can provide useful information to aid the police in narrowing their search. However, it requires accurate data on the offenses committed in a particular area and this might be a problem with the under-reporting of crimes by the public, the recording of crimes by the police could also limit the effectiveness of this method.

Unlike the top-down approach, investigative psychology can be applied to a wide range of offenses. It has been used in burglary and car crime.

Investigative psychology is more scientific than the top-down approach as it is based on psychological theories and research. However, like the top-down approach, investigative psychology is based on research carried out in Western societies so it might not apply to other cultures without modifications.

Psychological profiles based on this approach have enabled the police to catch offenders in a number of high-profile cases, including that of John Duffy. Such cases have attracted a high degree of media attention however there has also been spectacular failures such as Rachel Nickel’s killer.

Copson (1995) carried out a survey of detectives who had worked with offender profiling found that the advice given in the profile only helped to catch the offender in 3% of the cases. However, it was found to be useful in 83% of the cases where it had been used but it only offered direct help in solving the crime in 14 percent of the cases.

One of the problems seems to come from a lack of consistency in the British approach. There are a number of individuals in the UK providing psychological profiles for the police with different backgrounds in psychology and psychiatry, each using their own approach.

Alison, L., Bennell, C., Mokros, A., & Ormerod, D. (2002). The personality paradox in offender profiling: A theoretical review of the processes involved in deriving background characteristics from crime scene actions. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 8 (1), 115.

Alison, L., Smith, M. D., Eastman, O., & Rainbow, L. (2003). Toulmin’s philosophy of argument and its relevance to offender profiling. Psychology, Crime & Law, 9 (2), 173-183.

Canter, D. (2004). Offender profiling and investigative psychology .

Canter, D. V., Alison, L. J., Alison, E., & Wentink, N. (2004). The organized/disorganized typology of serial murder: Myth or model? . Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 10 (3), 293.

Canter, D., & Larkin, P. (1993). The environmental range of serial rapists . Journal of environmental psychology, 13 (1), 63-69.

Copson, G., Badcock, R., Boon, J., & Britton, P. (1997). Articulating a systematic approach to clinical crime profiling.

Godwin, M., & Canter, D. (1997). Encounter and death: The spatial behavior of US serial killers . Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management .

Hazelwood and Douglas (1980) – ‘ The Lust Murderer ’. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 49 (4), 18-22.

Holmes, R. M., & Holmes, S. T. (1998). Serial murder. Sage Publications, Inc.

Ressler, R. K., Douglas, J. E., Groth, A. N., & Burgess, A. W. (1980). Offender profiles: A multidisciplinary approach. FBI law enforcement bulletin, 49 (9), 16-20.

Kocsis, R. N., Hayes, A. F., & Irwin, H. J. (2002). Investigative experience and accuracy in psychological profiling of a violent crime. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 17 (8), 811-823.

Mokros, A., & Alison, L. J. (2002). Is offender profiling possible? Testing the predicted homology of crime scene actions and background characteristics in a sample of rapists. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 7 (1), 25-43.

Snook, B., Zito, M., Bennell, C., & Taylor, P. J. (2005). On the complexity and accuracy of geographic profiling strategies . Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 21 (1), 1-26.

Further Reading

• Questioning the validity of criminal profiling: an evidence-based approach Offender profiling and investigative psychology
• Canter, D., & Heritage, R. (1990). A multivariate model of sexual offence behavior: Developments in ‘offender profiling”. I. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 1(2), 185-212.
• The Use of Offender Profiling Evidence in Criminal

Advances in Offender Profiling: A Systematic Review of the Profiling Literature Published Over the Past Three Decades

• Published: 03 July 2007
• Volume 22 , pages 44–56, ( 2007 )

Cite this article

• Craig Dowden 1 ,
• Craig Bennell 1 &
• Sarah Bloomfield 1  

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Despite the immense popularity of offender profiling as both a topic of fascination for the general public as well as an academic field of study, concerns have been raised about the development of this area of scientific inquiry. The present study provides a preliminary step towards moving the field forward as it reviews the type and quality of studies dealing with offender profiling over the past 31 years. Based on a content analysis of 132 published articles, the review indicates that researchers investigating this phenomenon rarely publish multiple articles, and they are generally reported across many different journals, thereby making knowledge synthesis and knowledge transfer problematic. In addition, the majority of papers published in the area are discussion pieces (e.g., discussing what profiling is, how profiles are constructed, and when profiling is useful), despite the fact that the processes underlying offender profiling are still not well understood. Finally, although peer-reviewed articles exploring this topic have steadily increased, the statistical sophistication of these studies is sorely lacking, with most including no statistics or formal analyses of data. Suggestions for future research and recommendations to streamline efforts in this field are provided based on the results of this review.

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In contrast to quantitative summaries of experimental effects, where it is important to include unpublished documents to minimize any potential publication biases (e.g., a tendency for journals to accept manuscripts that report statistically significant findings), omitting unpublished documents from quantitative reviews of the current type is less of a problem.

The problem here was one of distinguishing between cases where a specific crime type was simply mentioned on numerous occasions in an article and cases where that specific crime type was really the focus of the article.

Note that the last column in this graph only covers a two-year period (2006 and 2007).

In the event of a tie, the journals were arranged alphabetically.

In the event of a tie, the authors were arranged alphabetically by their last name.

This is also true of course for many of the other researchers included in the sample (e.g., David Canter).

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Craig Dowden, Craig Bennell & Sarah Bloomfield

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Dowden, C., Bennell, C. & Bloomfield, S. Advances in Offender Profiling: A Systematic Review of the Profiling Literature Published Over the Past Three Decades. J Police Crim Psych 22 , 44–56 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-007-9000-9

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Home — Essay Samples — Law, Crime & Punishment — Criminal Profiling — Offender Profiling As An Investigative Tool in Criminology

Offender Profiling as an Investigative Tool in Criminology

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Offender Profiling as an Investigative Tool Report

Introduction.

Offender profiling is one of the forensic science areas attracting considerable attention of practitioners, policymakers, scientists, and the public. A heated debate regarding the matter is still ongoing, and people are largely divided into two major camps (Doorewaard, 2017). On the one hand, the proponents of offender profiling emphasize the effectiveness of this investigative technique and its role in resolving crimes (Alison and Canter, 2018b). On the other hand, offender profiling proponents argue that the practice is characterized by a significant degree of bias, activities poorly supported by evidence, or even guesswork (Fox et al., 2020). At the same time, this profiling is widely used in many countries, including the United Kingdom. Therefore, it is critical to identify the benefits of offender profiling, the major challenges associated with it (if any), the most effective techniques and methods, as well as ways to improve the existing approaches to profiling or the future of the field.

Background and Major Principles of Offender Profiling

Offender profiling has been used for more than a century in diverse settings. For instance, a psychiatrist was addressed to develop a profile of ‘Jack the Ripper’ (Alison and Canter, 2018a). Even governments commissioned practitioners to develop profiles, which can be illustrated by the work of William Langer, who developed Adolf Hitler’s profile for the US government during the Second World War. At present, this technique is employed to investigate different types of crime, including but not confined to terrorism, financial crimes, and violent crimes, among others. In addition to locating suspects, profiling is often employed to prevent crime, which is specifically urgent for addressing issues related to terrorism. Sahar (2020) notes that community resilience can be facilitated by the effective use of offender profiling.

Scholars have come up with several definitions of offender profiling, but the focus is mainly on several domains. The most general perspective of offender profiling is associated with the analysis of the offender’s traits based on their behavior at a crime scene (Alison and Canter, 2018b). However, modern profilers employ a wide range of facts and types of data to infer offenders’ characteristics. These profiles may include such information as DNA data or concentrate on psychological traits (Amankwaa and McCartney, 2019; Home Office, 2021). When creating offender profiles, such components as victim traits, modus operandi, and crime scene are considered (Pecino-Latorre, Pérez-Fuentes and Patró-Hernández, 2019). In any case, profilers utilize sound methods and ground their findings on evidence and valid methodology.

Different Types and Techniques of Offender Profiling

According to the new approach to sentencing presented by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in 2020, law enforcement professionals should make sure sound investigative methodologies are utilized (“A smarter approach to sentencing,” 2020). Profilers have developed some techniques and approaches to make sure that their profiling is evidence-based and effective. For instance, Goodwill et al. (2016) explored the efficiency of an action phase approach to profiling sex offenders. The researchers examined the validity of the four phases (search, selection, approach, and assault) of decision-making characterizing sex offenders that had been introduced earlier. The authors provide a model focusing on such dimensions as victim-type specificity and violence, describing the most recurrent offenders’ characteristics in each cluster. Goodwill et al. (2016) concluded that although each case is unique in its details, it is possible to elicit certain milestones that contribute to the creation of an offender’s profile.

Another model offered by Long et al. (2016) contains a clear matrix that can be used to profile male sex offenders with a focus on such areas as previous criminal history, being a parent, having contact with children, living with a partner, online behavior, substance use, and domestic abuse. The researchers also add that the model has displayed its effectiveness during the analysis of 374 police files (Long et al., 2016). Petherick and Brooks (2020) go further and suggests a framework for evaluating the relevance of the offender profiles. Their CRIME approach implies the analysis of crime scene evaluations, research relevancy, investigative opinion, methods of investigation, and evaluation (Petherick and Brooks, 2020). In simple terms, the authors provide a checklist for profilers to ensure all the aspects are considered, and all areas are covered.

Offender profiling is not confined to sex and violent crimes or terrorism. Button, Pakes, and Blackbourn (2016) developed a profile of household insurance fraudsters. The researchers shed light on such domains as claiming behavior seasonality, given explanations, and claimed goods. Geographic profiling is a helpful investigative tool enabling profilers and law enforcement professionals to locate suspects effectively because the data regarding the potential place of living and zones for committing crimes are identified (Canter and Youngs, 2017; Rossmo, 2017). Importantly, Almond et al. (2018) state that profiles are dynamic since offenders’ characteristics changes considerably. The authors highlight some of the changes that have taken place since the 1990s. These transformations also require the development of new methods and innovative (or new) approaches to offender profiling.

Challenges Associated with Profiling

Some of the most serious challenges linked to offender profiling are associated with legal, ethical, and professional. First, addressing professionals outside law enforcement agencies is regarded as a vulnerable practice (Alison and Canter, 2018a). Numerous psychologists provide consultancy services to investigators, but in many cases, the credentials of these practitioners can be hardly seen as appropriate. Some may lack the necessary training, but their profiles are still utilized as an important set of data. The existing laws and policies (such as Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act or Race Relations Act 2000) have numerous gaps that leave some uncertainty that has to be eliminated or, at least, minimized (Alotaibi, 2016). The issue related to the lack of expertise and credentials is being addressed by the creation of the UK Register of Expert Witnesses or the Institute of Expert Witnesses (Cox, 2018). Nevertheless, these are only initial treads in the right direction, and the lack of standardization is still apparent.

As mentioned above, several methodologies and approaches to offender profiling exist, so law enforcement professionals, as well as lawyers, the media, and the public often question the validity and reliability of the obtained information (Kapardis and Krambia-Kapardis, 2016). There is a growing concern that innocent people can suffer due to the lack of a single clear and transparent standardized system. Canter (2018) states that some profiling techniques can be utilized for limited samples and some methods need further validation. The insufficient validity can lead to detaining innocent people or unexpected results in the court where juries have to make their decision based on the provided evidence.

Legal and ethical issues are often related to human rights protection, as well as the focus on unbiased and transparent practices. These aspects are central to racial profiling since minorities are often prone to prejudice existing in the UK among law enforcement professionals and the larger society (Alotaibi, 2016). The use of force is one of the urgent problems that require the specific attention of law enforcement professionals and policymakers. The characteristics described by profilers tend to affect police officers’ attitudes towards suspects, making them less impartial. Hence, it is critical to address all these issues to make the use of such an effective investigative instrument as offender profiling applicable in diverse settings.

Possible Strategies to Enhance the Validity and Reliability of Offender Profiling

In order to address the issues mentioned above, it is necessary to undertake some measures. The development and implementation of the corresponding programs and incentive requires close communication and collaboration of the primary stakeholders, including but not confined to psychologists, scientists, police, policymakers, communities, and the media. Some recommendations regarding the areas to be addressed are provided below. It is noteworthy that considerable transformations in the field are urgently required.

• Standards . The establishment of clear standards regarding profiling, addressing profilers, and using data are necessary for the most recent future. Although some attempts have been made, these efforts are insufficient (Ormerod, 2018). The collaboration of law enforcement professionals, psychologists, and policymakers can result in the development of clear standards and policies regulating offender profiling. Transparency and clarity should be the central principles for the new standards (Farrugia and Gabbert, 2020). The development of standards will help in addressing legal and ethical challenges since prejudice and bias can be minimized.
• Awareness . During the process of the development and implementation of sound methodologies and standards, it is important to make sure that the public and other stakeholders mentioned above have the necessary information on the matter. A wide public discussion of the relevance of offender profiling is critical for the appropriate use of the technique (Alison and Canter, 2018). Lawyers, prosecutors, judges, as well as the public (potentially, the jury) should have the necessary understanding of the peculiarities of the investigative tool in question.
• Methodology . Clearly, it is important to continue the development and evaluation of the existing and new methods and approaches to offender profiling. The instruments should be applicable in specific or different settings (Cox, 2018). They should also be appropriate for use with different populations as well. At that, the focus should be on the validation of the proposed methods as profilers should be certain that sound methods are employed.

On balance, it is necessary to note that offender profiling has proved to be an effective investigative tool. Diverse methods and techniques have been developed and widely utilized. The use of profiling led to locating criminals and their prosecution, so this approach is gaining momentum. However, numerous gaps related to its application are still apparent. The availability of diverse methods mentioned above is a benefit but is also a limitation since the validity of these methodologies is often questionable. Some people find this kind of evidence insufficient for the court. Ethical issues also arise as the impartiality of people involved in decision-making often deteriorates, which can lead to unjust decisions. Irrespective of the existing challenges, offender profiling displays substantial potential, and the development of technology and science contributes to the evolvement of the investigative technique under consideration.

Reference List

Alison, L. and Canter, D. (2018a) ‘Professional, legal and ethical issues in offender profiling’, in Canter, D. and Alison, L. (eds.) Profiling in policy and practice . London: Routledge, pp. 21-54.

Alison, L. and Canter, D. (2018b) ‘Profiling in policy and practice’, in Canter, D. and Alison, L. (eds.) Profiling in policy and practice . London: Routledge, pp. 1-20.

Almond, L. et al. (2018) ‘Assisting the investigation of stranger rapes: predicting the criminal record of U.K. stranger rapists from their crime scene behaviors’, Journal of Interpersonal Violence , 36(3-4), pp.NP2005-2028NP.

Alotaibi, F. A. (2016) ‘Racial profiling as a counter-terrorism tool: to what extent has racial profiling contributed to the security of the United Kingdom since the London bombing of 7 June 2005?’, Public Policy and Administration Research , 6(6), pp. 106-112.

Amankwaa, A. and McCartney, C. (2019) ‘The effectiveness of the UK national DNA database’, Forensic Science International: Synergy, 1 , pp. 45-55.

A smarter approach to sentencing (2020).

Button, M., Pakes, F. and Blackbourn, D. (2016) ‘All walks of life: a profile of household insurance fraudsters in the United Kingdom’, Security Journal , 29(3), pp. 501-519.

Canter, D. (2018) ‘Equivocal death’, in Canter, D. and Alison, L. (eds.) Profiling in policy and practice . London: Routledge, pp. 123-156.

Canter, D. and Youngs, D. (2017) ‘Geographical offender profiling: origins and principles’, in Canter, D. and Youngs, D. (eds.) Principles of geographical offender profiling . London: Routledge, pp. 1-18.

Cox, K. (2018) ‘Psychologists as expert witnesses, in Canter, D. and Alison, L. (eds.) Profiling in policy and practice . London: Routledge, pp. 189-206.

Doorewaard, C. (2017) ‘A guessing game or a useful tool? Utilizing criminal profiling in forensic investigations – a short overview’, Servamus Community-Based Safety and Security Magazine , 110(2), pp. 54-55.

Farrugia, L. and Gabbert, F. (2020) ‘Vulnerable suspects in police interviews: exploring current practice in England and Wales’, Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling , 17(1), pp. 17-30.

Fox, B. et al. (2020) Evidence-based offender profiling . London: Routledge.

Goodwill, A. et al. (2016) ‘An action phase approach to offender profiling’, Legal and Criminological Psychology , 21(2), pp. 229-250.

Home Office. (2021) Forensic information database service (FINDS): International DNA and fingerprint exchange policy for the United Kingdom .

Kapardis, A. and Krambia-Kapardis, M. (2016) ‘Applying evidence-based profiling to disaggregated fraud offenders’, in Dion, M., Weisstub, D. and Richet, J. L. (eds.) Financial crimes: psychological, technological, and ethical issues . Cham: Springer, pp. 269-294.

Long, M. et al. (2016) ‘KIRAT: law enforcement’s prioritization tool for investigating indecent image offenders’, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law , 22(1), pp. 12-21.

Ormerod, D. (2018) ‘Criminal profiling: trial by judge and jury, not criminal psychologist’, in Canter, D. and Alison, L. (eds.) Profiling in policy and practice . London: Routledge, pp. 207-261.

Pecino-Latorre, M., Pérez-Fuentes, M. and Patró-Hernández, R. (2019) ‘Homicide profiles based on crime scene and victim characteristics’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 16(19), p. 1-13.

Petherick, W. and Brooks, N. (2020) ‘Reframing criminal profiling: a guide for integrated practice’, Psychiatry, Psychology and Law , pp. 1-18.

Rossmo, D. K. (2017) ‘Place, space, and police investigations: hunting serial violent criminals’, in Canter, D. and Youngs, D. (eds.) Principles of geographical offender profiling . London: Routledge, pp. 149-165.

Sahar, A. (2020) ‘Countering radicalization in the United Kingdom: a community-based approach, in Akhgar, B., Wells, D. and Blanco J. (eds.) Investigating radicalization trends . Cham: Springer, pp. 179-214.

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• The Phases of a Crime and Their Importance in Psychological Profiling
• Profiling. The American and U.K Model
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• Geographical Profiling in the D.C. Sniper Case
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Police in Australia identify the Sydney stabbing attacker who killed 6 people

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Police identified Sunday the assailant who stabbed and killed six people at a busy Sydney shopping center before a police officer fatally shot him.

New South Wales Police said that Joel Cauchi, 40, was responsible for the Saturday afternoon attack at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, in the city’s eastern suburbs and not far from the world-famous Bondi Beach.

NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Cooke told reporters at a media conference on Sunday that Cauchi suffered from yet unspecified mental health issues and police investigators weren’t treating the attack as terrorism-related.

“We are continuing to work through the profiling of the offender but very clearly to us at this stage, it would appear that this is related to the mental health of the individual involved,” Cooke said.

“There is still, to this point... no information we have received, no evidence we have recovered, no intelligence that we have gathered that would suggest that this was driven by any particular motivation — ideology or otherwise,” he added.

The attack at the shopping mall, one of the country’s busiest and which was a hub of activity on a particularly warm fall afternoon, began around 3:10 p.m. and police were swiftly called.

Six people — five women and one man, aged between 20 and 55 — were killed in the attack. Another 12 were injured and remain in hospital, including a 9-month-old child whose mother was killed in the attack.

The male victim was a security guard at the shopping center and was later identified as 30-year-old Faraz Tahir from Pakistan.

According to a written statement Sunday from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Australia, Faraz had been in Australia for a less than a year and was a “cherished member of our community.”

Video footage taken by a witness showed many people fleeing as a knife-wielding Cauchi ran erratically through the shopping mall and lunging at people.

“When I took my footage it, was about 15 seconds maybe before he was shot by the police officer and he’d already killed a number of people at that point but we didn’t know and we had no idea what was going on,” said Rohan Anderson, who had entered the shopping center just moments before the attack. “We just saw a person on the level below us, with a knife, running around and you just sit in disbelief that this is happening in Australia, in Bondi,” he said.

Other footage showed a man confronting the attacker on an escalator in the shopping center by holding what appeared to be a metal pole.

Inspector Amy Scott, who was the first emergency responder on the scene, shot and killed Cauchi.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the officer was “certainly a hero” whose actions had saved many more lives.

“The wonderful inspector who ran into danger by herself and removed the threat that was there to others, without thinking about the risks to herself,” he said.

“We also see the footage of ordinary Australians putting themselves in harm’s way in order to help their fellow citizens. That bravery was quite extraordinary that we saw yesterday,” he added.

In a written statement later Sunday, Cauchi’s family said they were devastated by Saturday’s events and they had “no issue” with Scott shooting their son, saying “she was only doing her job to protect others”.

“Joel’s actions were truly horrific, and we are still trying to comprehend what has happened,” the statement read. “He has battled with mental health issues since he was a teenager.”

Throughout Sunday, people placed a large number of floral tributes for the victims outside the now-shuttered shopping center. Police say it will remain an active crime scene for days.

Smith reported from Newcastle, Australia

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Fans will be seeing purple at the Olympics when athletes try to set records at this summer’s Paris Games

OJ Simpson’s public life crossed decades and boundaries, leaving lasting echoes. Here are a few

O.J. Simpson’s death is leaving a legacy across multiple areas of American life including sports, entertainment and the criminal justice system

Congo landslide kills at least 15 people and up to 60 others are missing, officials say

Local officials say a landslide in southwest Congo caused by heavy rains killed at least 15 people and left as many as 60 others missing