Video Review: More on Offender Profiling

This video mainly deals with criminal profiling; a tool used by investigators to analyze criminals, find patterns in their behavior and potentially even identify them. An In depth analysis of the crime and how it was committed can also be used to determine what sort of mind set the perpetrator was in that compelled them to their actions. The video also talks particularly about profiling serial killers. If done successfully an Offender profile could potentially be used to predict the killer's next victim or actions. Profiling is also utilized when a suspect is in custody. The profile can give clues as to what sort of questions the suspect should be asked and generally how they should be handled. In a homicide case the aspects most focused on are usually: How the homicide was carried out, the type of victim, and how the body was disposed of.

Howard Teten, one of the main experts interviewed in this video, gives a very good description of the process; he says "you have to say to yourself, what kind of a person would do this? What is this person saying? Either to the victim or to the people he expects to find the victim." Teten is one of the more notable Criminal profilers. He became part of the Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico in 1972 under instructor Patrick J. Mullany. Together they came up with a method of analyzing offenders by looking for signs of mental disorders at crime scenes. Their system paved the way for future profiling techniques, programs and more sophisticated tools.

More About Howard Teten

It is interesting to hear how the men interviewed in the video regard this field. Robert Ressler claims that interviewing convicted criminals gives him insight into the mind of other offenders. However despite the knowledge that such interviews grant him, his claim that he "has to leave his psychological baggage outside the interview room" shows that dealing with these criminals can be unnerving, angering, or even disturbing to criminal profilers. Ressler also speaks about the dangers of speaking with these kinds of criminals. He says that because his job is to empathize with these people it is often hard not to get caught up in their point of view. Luckily he claims that he is able to pick up his "psychological baggage" that he must leave behind when conducting an interview. Therefore returning to a state of "equilibrium" and not getting to caught up in the criminal's lies or warped perception of reality. David Canter on the other hand says that interviewing a serial killer is one of the more exciting aspects of a profiler’s career and can be seen as a "scalp on your belt." However he does also say that this is less of a scientific advantage and more of an achievement to a profiler.