Criminal Profiling

Poll

How are we feeling about coming back to school

• Excited because I get to see friends

• Motivated and ready to lock in

• Sad because half way through forensics

• Grumpy - I already miss my bed

Criminal
Profiling

Group Chat


Have you heard the word profiling before?
What do you think criminal profiling might be?
What information do you think could go in a criminal profile?

We're going to watch some scenes from the show Criminal Minds.

Listen carefully and write down any pieces of information they could guess about the criminal.

​

Criminal Minds

Forensic profiling is using evidence (like behaviour, writing, location, or psychology) to build a description of the likely suspect.

What is profiling?

​The FBI formed its Behavioral Science Unit in 1974 to study serial predators. In a 2021 article it was noted that out of 243 cases, around 188 were solved with the help of criminal profiling.

Building a Profile

Criminal profiling frameworks help investigators understand offender behaviour by either sorting them into set categories (typologies) or analysing evidence more flexibly (analytical approaches).

​Typology Framework	​Analytical Framework
​Puts offenders into categories based on shared behaviours, traits, or motivations, e.g. organised or disorganised.	A flexible method used to profile offenders by analysing evidence and behaviour, without fitting them into set categories.

Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, was a former professor who killed 3 people and injured 23 others by mailing bombs to universities and airlines from 1978 to 1995.

UNABOM stands for University and Airline Bomber. He was caught after the FBI used linguistic profiling to match his writing style in a manifesto to old letters, which his brother recognised.

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Ted Kaczynski
The UNABOMBER

Multiple Choice

What does “UNABOM” stand for?

• United Bombers Organisation

• University and Airline Bomber

• Underground National Bombing

• Unknown Air Bomber

Multiple Choice

Ted Kaczynski was caught because someone recognised his handwriting.

• True

• False

Write some dot points describing who Ted Kaczynski was, what he did, and how profiling helped find him.


In 1987, someone saw a man placing a suspicious package in a parking lot in Utah. They gave the description to the police who made this sketch. It wasn't perfect, though, as two witnesses couldn't agree on some features.

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The UNAMBOMBER

Reorder

Order the steps in creating a criminal profile.

• Gather evidence and crime scene data

• Analyse patterns like timing and location

• Build a psychological and behavioural profile

• Compare findings with known suspects

1

2

3

4

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Multiple Choice

What is the main goal of forensic profiling?

• To catch criminals immediately

• To predict and narrow down suspects

• To find fingerprints

• To study dead bodies

Multiple Choice

An offender who plans their crime carefully and is socially skilled would be considered:

• Disorganised

• Organised

• Visionary

• Mission-Oriented

Multiple Choice

In BEA, what does "victimology" focus on?

• How the victim fought back

• Where the victim was found

• Who the victim was and why they were chosen

• What weapon was used

Multiple Choice

A poacher in geographic profiling is someone who:

• Commits crimes near their home

• Commits crimes far from their home

• Randomly stumbles upon victims

• Sets up traps to lure victims

Categorize

Options (8)

High intelligence

Socially competent

Crime scene is controlled

Has escape plans

Chaotic crime scene

Acts on impulse

Low IQ

Leaves evidence behind

Sort the characteristics into organised or disorganised.

Organised

Disorganised

Match

Drag the crime scene clues to their BEA categories.

• Victim’s background and habits

• How the body was left at the scene

• DNA or fingerprints found

Victimology

Crime Scene Characteristics

Forensic Evidence

• Victimology

• Crime Scene Characteristics

• Forensic Evidence

Dropdown

A ​

Select answer

finds victims by chance during their normal routine.

Dropdown

A ​

Select answer

killer acts under the influence of another person.

​​What they could tell from one page of the manifesto

FBI agent describing his profile to Ted's brother