PSYC 2400 Lecture Notes - Offender Profiling, Geographic Profiling, David Canter
19 Feb 2014
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Document Summary
One of two fictitious crime scenarios: homicide (n = 116, sexual assault (n = 121) Some categories much lower (e. g. , weapons, biological evidence) Criminal profiling is a technique for identifying the personality and behavioral features of an offender based on an analysis of the crimes they have committed. Used in serial crime investigations (serious crimes) What + why = who: what (whatever you have at the investigation autopsy report, photos, victim description, why motivations (why they committed crime, who (general description of the type of person you think committed the crime) Pseudosciences are disciplines that possess the superficial appearance of science but lack its substance. Appears to be a science, however doesn"t go through peer-review process (which is the science process: do not play by the rules of science, can easily mislead untrained observers into concluding that they possess scientific merit. Not about what is being studied, but how.
