The effectiveness of psychological profiles
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Abstract
Although psychological profiling of unknown offenders is becoming a popular media topic, there has been little research on the effectiveness of these profiles. In this study, surveys were sent to 95 police departments in the United States, asking participants to indicate if they use psychological profiles to solve crimes. The survey also asked whether the profile was helpful, and in what sense it was helpful. The results from this sample indicate that profiles are used mainly in cases of rape and homicide, and that police officers view profiles as an effective tool to guide interrogations of a suspect and to guide the criminal investigation but not necessarily to identify the suspect.
Keywords
Police Department Crime Scene Criminal Investigation Child Molestation Criminal Psychology
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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References
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© Society for Police and Criminal Psychology 2001