Summarize Chapter 5 - First of all, this chapter is definitely one of my favorites, on a personal note. I am fascinated with the whole process of profiling and the psychological autopsy aspect as well.
The chapter began with a brief introduction about a movie, which most people interested in psychology probably have seen, The Silence of the Lambs. It was a great attention grabber and reminded me of what I believed or thought to be the basic idea of what a criminal profiler does. And then it continued through to three famous profiles as to give the reader a full view of the process of profiling and how it definitely made a difference in all three cases; Jack the Ripper, the Olympic Bomber & the Mad Bomber. Soon after that you found yourself reading through a section about the Characteristics of Serial Killers which is where you find the definitions of what an organized killer compared to a disorganized killer, which there are definitely very noticeable differences in the crime scene which is shown on a table/graph that was very basic and easy to read. The chapter then shifts to the Research of profiling and then to a section about the problems and promise, assumptions. Because things are not always organized or disorganized they had to come up with alternative ways to profile them. The chapter talks about the cross-situational consistency and the utility of inferences which I found unbelievable especially with the persistent problems, like tunnel vision for example.
The next very important section was about geographic profiling, which is considered an alternative to intuition. This section described this type of profiling involves and relies of maps and mathematics more so than instinct or intuition. This type of profiling uses the different computer programs and computerized maps with very detailed information that help investigators with anchor points, buffer zones and so forth. With the use of these programs the distance of decay can be established which is very useful in solving a case. There was also a brief “Hot Topic” section over racial profiling which I found very information and necessary to complete the section over profiling.
The last section was over the Psychological Autopsies, new terms and new definitions necessary to understand what efforts go into the dissection and examination of the psychological state a person went through prior to his or her death. It explained the NASH system which is the basis for death classification, a death can fall into one of four types: natural, accidental, suicide or homicide and that’s it. It describes a 16-issue checklist that was developed to assist psychologists in making the determination whether a person has committed suicide or not. The uses of pathological evidence or toxological evidence are the top two and it filters done to the decedent’s history of their physical health. The chapter concludes with the different legal statutes of psychological autopsies and how the courts have been open to expert testimony based on the psychological autopsy in some civil cases.
The chapter concluded with an overview of even though profiling is important there is still no good estimate of how often they have really been useful compared to the times that they have not been. And finally, it finished off by stating that though there are a variety of profiling techniques it will only be through continued research that will allow the specifications of the conditions at which they will be useful in helping investigations, cases, and crimes getting solved.
What information was most surprising or interesting to you?
It was something that I read on the sixth page under the “Characteristics of Serial Killers” section. It stated that although this is not real list of characteristics that would describe serial killers in a general manner although research has revealed that there are some recurring patterns within serial killers. It stated that many of them suffer from some form of brain injury that impairs rational thinking. I knew that most serial killers have had some experience with physical, sexual, and/or psychological abuse during childhood but not about the brain injury.
What do you know now that you did not know prior to reading these chapters?
I did not know of the classification scheme proposed by Ronald Holmes and his colleagues which identifies serial killers one of four classifications: 1) visionary types – who are usually psychotic; have visions or believe they hear voices from God, 2) mission-oriented – who are less likely to be psychotic and are more motivated by a desire to kill people they regard as evil or unworthy, 3) hedonistic types – they kill for the thrill and take sad*stic sexual pleasure in torturing their victims, & 4) power-orientated – which is pretty self-explanatory, they kill for the satisfaction of kidnapping and controlling the victim and then eventually killing them just to kill them.
How have your views about criminal profiling changed (or not) through these readings?
They did not quite change but rather only intensified because now, I am only more intrigued by the subject and want more information about how one becomes a profiler and how long does it take to go through the ranks to be considered a great profiler.
Had you even ever heard of psychological autopsies?
Honestly, I had only heard and seen them on TV and knew that they had to be real but I really didn’t know if there truly existed. Then one day my cousin was murdered and it was through a psychological autopsy that they discovered evidence linking the victim and killer; like maybe friends or that she knew who her killer was. I don’t know how they did that but they were right. It ended up being a very close friend who even went to the funeral and stood by next to us. It may have taken 7 years but eventually he was convicted and currently resides in some prison somewhere.
Why are they important?
It may have taken 7 years but without that piece of information they wouldn’t have kept looking at her friends and continuous checking the status of certain individuals waiting for them to make another mistake. That information was from a psychological autopsy.
Terms: process of profiling, profiling, psychological autopsy, psychology, criminal profiler, serial killer, disorganized killer, organized killer, crime scene, victims, cases, research, assumptions, organized crime scene, geographic profiling, intuition, instinct, investigators, anchor points, buffer zones, distance of decay, NASH system, natural death, accidental death, suicide, homicide, pathological evidence, decedent, courts, toxological evidence, investigations, crimes, civil cases, vision-types, mission-orientated, hedonistic types, power orientated, kill, kidnapping, criminal, evidence, convicted, and prison.
