LS372 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Whitechapel Murders, Hans Gross, Boston Strangler
3 Apr 2016
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January 6th 2016: a brief history of profiling. Criminal offenders might have the hunter/tracker pattern in their criminal activity. It works for offenders but also for people trying to profile. It is about grouping similar people into categories based on observation. There is this lay concept that emerges that they constitute a category, a type, a species. Once you have this you can assume a type of similarity across individuals that belong to the group, even ones you have not observed yet. (observation+classification+assumed similarity=prediction/generalizability) In early history we begin to see the beginning of forensic science/profiling. An example is the discovery that every individual has fingerprints that are individual to them. Not long after this we begin seeing the misuse and abuse of the principles being talked about. The malleus maleficarum, the first profiling manual was a diagnostic manual used to identify witches.
