Profiling is the New Sexy

There are dozens of television shows which have commercialized the field of forensic psychology. Criminal Minds, Law and Order: SVU and CSI are just a few examples of fictionalized criminal psychology. Profiling has become a fad rather than a science. A recent article published in The Beacon-News explains this with fuller detail; “Experts arrest TV myths about how to solve crimes”, published by Mike Danahney.

“‘Apparently, it helps (investigators) to have a good pair of sun glasses,’ quipped Elgin Community College associate psychology professor Shawn Mikulay in reference to “CSI: Miami” star David Caruso’s habit on the show of using his shades for dramatic effect” (Danahney 1). This is true. Flip on the television one evening when one of these, inaccurate yet guilty pleasure shows is on (I’ll be the first to admit, I love my Law and Order), and you will see how “sexy” profiling really is.

Brent Turvey, a key speaker with Mikulay, continued on in the seminar to explain the basics of profiling. Learning as much about the victim as possible is the main goal of any investigation. One must, “build a victim’s profile” (Danahney 1). It takes time and patience, but it is the key point in any case. A profiler must check biological information of a victim, their financial status and the major question of, how did they become a victim? What did they do to become involved in this? “ ‘For the viewers, crime shows and movies tend to oversimplify things — show crimes being solved faster than they actually can and to a degree of certainty there often isn’t,’” Turvey said. “‘For professionals, the shows aren’t honest about science. But some play to those roles, which can lead to cutting corners and to being far too certain’” (Danahney 1).

So, why do these shows cut out the middleman and edit the truth with fancy clothes and inner-office romances? Part of it is the media, of course. However, speaking of psychology, I have another theory. As we learned not too long ago, those who go against the “norm” of psychology are considered in need of psychological testing. A farfetched idea as to why shows stray so far from the truth of criminal psychology could be this. My theory is that as a form of media, to make money producers and writers must create shows that relate to viewers. If three shows are preaching the appeal of profiling, how can another make a show that is similar and yet still hold valuable facts about the subject. Who (aside from me and a select group) would watch shows that are so raw? In a way, the media causes these shows to form to fit a typical, “normal” mold. Like I said, call it a farfetched idea, but I find it relevant nevertheless.


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