Criminal profiling : criminal profiling and its use in crime solving (case study)

Abstract

The topic of this dissertation is criminal profiling and its use in crime solving. In other words, the subject that will be researched is the effectiveness and value of criminal profiling in helping to solve criminal cases, its role in investigations and its level of reliability. The leading question of the research is whether profiling is helpful for investigators to identify offenders and to solve cases or not. The main objective of this dissertation is to highlight the effectiveness and value of criminal profiling or otherwise through a case study approach. This study will look at different approaches towards the investigation of crimes and will analyse different methodologies applied to profiling. To this effect many studies will be treated and data on the subject will be analysed. Additionally, to study this phenomenon, some criminal cases will be examined: Italian cases where profiling was not employed and American cases where profiling was crucial to identify the perpetrators. The research methods that will be used in this case study includes the reviewing of secondary data available in books, papers, research papers, studies, and surveys, to critically compare and contrast the results obtained. The aim is to provide guidance on the use of criminal profiling to police forces and experts on the effectiveness and importance of criminal profiling during investigations. Still, there might be a limitation to this study as it could be the case that the research could not be able to use some data to draw a definite cause-effect relationship. The reason behind this choice of methodology is that it can provide detailed and qualitative information useful for the research; the benefit of this case study, in fact, will be an in-depth understanding of this complex issue in its real-life context.