Criminal Profiling: The Uniqueness of the Killer

There aremany types of bothminor andmajor crime. In some cases, offenders are rapidly identified and apprehended and the cases are easily resolved. Others are more puzzling, and their resolution confronts us with a challenge because of their complexity and, at times, repetitiveness. Criminal profiling applies particularly to the latter because of the difficulty often encountered in identifying criminals and detecting theirmotives. Crime is frequently an interpersonal event and takes place in a given ambience. Therefore, the crime scene assumes great importance for investigators, who attempt to draw from their observations the typology of both the victim and the victimizer. One could argue that criminal profiling consists of two stages, the first being general profiling and the second specific profiling.General profiling is part of the general investigative analysis of any crime. Themeticulous collection of data at the crime scene is important to arrive at the mechanics and dynamics of the crime itself. Specific profiling becomes more refined in the collection of evidentiary facts at the crime scene, with the main purpose of drawing a typology of the behavioral characteristics and psychological makeup of the perpetrator of the crime. The resolution of crimes, such as serial killings, especially the lust type; spree killings; repetitive rape; pedophilic acting out; andmass murder, benefits from this attempt to arrive at a profile of the perpetrators of such crimes. Some crimes are committed by people who are organized, methodical, and goal directed in carrying out their antisocial acts. These people generally have a higher than average IQ and their motivations are evil. They have the capacity to escape apprehension. Their antisocial acts are not only obsessive but also compulsively perpetrated, and it is because of their obsessiveness and egomania that they frequently leave their signature at the crime scene. Especially in those crimes that are repetitive in nature, the profiler uses findings of similarities in the mechanics and dynamics of the crime in an attempt to draw an identikit of the offender. Data collected concerning the victim, such as age, sex, race,marital status, place of residence, possible IQ, educational achievements, trade or profession, lifestyle, personality characteristics, sexual orientation, and friends or acquaintances, are of great importance in profiling an offender. On the basis of the evidence at the scene of a crime, the profilermay also anticipate a psychological profile of the offender. During the last quarter of the 20th century, the FBI profiled and classified, among others, sex offenders, sadistic murderers, serial killers, domestic violence