FBI Criminal Profiles

When criminologists build criminal profiles, they think about how the killer gained access to the victim, what the killer did to the victim, if the killer tried to cover his or her tracks and how, what about the victim attracted the killer to target them, and what motive or fantasy drove the killer to hurt the victim how and where they did.

The fifth step is investigation this step provides the actual profile to the agencies, which

In the past, it has been shown that criminal profiling does work and has helped to apprehend serial killers, rapists, arsonists, and other criminals, if it had proved to be ineffective the FBI would have put resources into other tactics, but they have not. That being said, it is apparent that criminal profiling does work to an extent, but the amount of accuracy remains unknown. Although there has been research into finding the accuracy of criminal profiling there has not been a lot, proving that it is a field that needs more attention. For the research that has been done, interest has tended to fluctuate because of the uniqueness of the topic. Criminal profiling has as much to do with inferences about the perpetrator as it does

Throughout the years, profiling has been successful at seeking out justice by detaining many wanted criminals, and has set the bar for many years of criminal apprehensions in many communities. Criminal characteristics are significant in all criminal investigations as much indication can reveal that the most important part for analysis is to further examine how patterns of criminal involvement emerges and transforms; this would also include examining the modus operandi (method of operation) of criminals that are relevant not only for the criminal structures, but for the general public as well (Ford, 2013).

Profiling is a tool used that emerges forensics, psychology, and criminology to understand criminals such as rapist and serial killers. This technique has been used for centuries to unveil motives, disorders, and history. Law enforcements work with the information they are given to create profiles of the criminals based on their characteristics and evidence. Law enforcement have tried to track patterns and predict the next criminal act, but with the lack of training that has been done for such rare and horrendous crimes. After many serial killers have taunted the police’s lack of intelligence when it comes to catching them from their heinous crimes, other methods where adopted or discovered to help reduce the number of crimes.

Gary Leon Ridgway has confessed to 48 killings attributed to him. His cooperation lead to finding four sets of remains. His killings spanned from 1982 to 1998. Ridgway plead guilty to murdering 48 Green River Killer victims on November 5, 2003. Ridgway says strangling young women was his "career."

Gary Ridgway grew up like any other ordinary suburban kid. He had a problem of wetting the bed which his mother would make fun of him and embarrass him in front of family and friends. As a young teen, he was always getting into trouble such as stabbing a six year-old boy in the ribs when he was a young teen. In high school Gary continued to go down hill and get bad grades. Gary graduated high school and joined the Navy. While he was in Vietnam, he discovered prostitutes and ended up getting sexually transmitted diseases. Soon after being home from Vietnam, Gary was killing and raping prostitutes on the streets of Seattle, Washington. Gary would go on to murder about 71 young women who he targeted because they were either prostitutes or runaways.

Gary Ridgeway, A.K.A, the Green River Killer, was one of the most notorious serial killers in U.S history. Over the course of two years in the 1980s nearly 50 lives were taken in the Seattle and Tacoma areas of Washington. This case was given this name because of the location of all of the bodies. Most of the bodies were dumped either in or around the Green River located in Washington. Upon discovery of these bodies, the king county sheriff department formed a task force to attempt to solve these murders. One of the interesting things the task force did was interview Ted Bundy to gain insight as to what the killer may be planning next. In 1982 and again in 2001, Gary Ridgeway, was arrested on charges that related to prostitution. This brought

Through 1980 and 1990, Ridgway was to have killed at the least 71 people. In an interview he said he killed so many that the lost count. Most of his victims were runaways or prostitutes whom he had picked up and strangled along Pacific Highway South. A majority of the murders took place in 1982-1984. A lot of the bodies were dumped along the Green River, in the wooded area, hence the name”Green River Killer.” He would always keep up with where he threw the bodies, because he would later return and have intercourse with their corpse. Sometimes he would leave the bodies in a posed, nude position. Out of all of the women Gary killed, only 4 are unidentified. Most of his bodies were left in Washington, but often to throw off the police, he would cross over into Oregon and leave a few there. He would contaminate the crime scenes by leaving gum and written material belonging to others. His murders would start by just driving along and picking up a woman, most of the time a prostitute. To make them feel more comfortable with him, he would show them a picture of his son that he carried in his wallet. He would lure them in, get them to have sex with him and then he would murder them. He would always strangle them. Never would he use anything but his hands. You could tell where the girls would struggle,because he would have bruises and claw marks on his arms. After

December 11, 1978, Robert Piest was reported missing by his mother. He was last seen meeting John Wayne Gacy for a potential job. On December 21 they searched Gacy's house finding bodies hidden under the house,garage and later found more in the Des Plaines River. The young men were lured by false jobs and were sexualy assulted and later strangled and buried. Over 33 bodies of missing boys were found in Gacy's house. Gacy is not the only one in the world who has taken the life of many innocent people. Over the many years bodies have been found mutilated and sexualy assulted. These bodies have been the subject of one hostility and violence, a killer. Serial killer have been around for very long but the secret to their wrong doing is only being opened in recent years. The advancement in technology has opened opportunities to find the cause for these awful killings.Serial killers are created from birth but proceed to rise mental illness, brain injury and child abuse corrupt their mind and life pushing them to kill.

Criminal profiling has become a very popular and controversial topic. Profiling is used in many different ways to identify a suspect or offender in a criminal investigation. “Criminal profiling is the process of using behavioral and scientific evidence left at a crime scene to make inferences about the offender, including inferences about personality characteristics and psychopathology” (Torres, Boccaccini, & Miller, 2006, p. 51). “The science of profiling rests on two foundation blocks, basic forensic science and empirical behavioral research. Forensic science includes blood spatter analysis, crime scene reconstruction, and autopsy evidence. Empirical behavioral research identifies offender typologies, relates crime behaviors to suspect

To help put this issue into perspective the Green River Killer is the center of the discussion. Gary Leon Ridge who is better known as the Green River Killer is an American convicted serial offender. It is presumed that Gary could have killed more than 90 women, most of whom were prostitutes that he had sexual relations with. However, he only confessed to having murdered 71 but the actual conviction was for 48 victims.

The process of inferring the personality characteristics of individuals responsible for committing criminal acts has commonly been referred to as criminal profiling. (Turvey) Criminal profiling can also be referred to as, behavioral profiling because when a profiler creates a profile they refer to the behavior of the offender. The general term criminal profiling can also be referred to as crime scene profiling, criminal personality profiling, offender profiling, psychological profiling and criminal investigative analysis. All the terms listed above are used inconsistently and interchangeably. Modern criminal profiling is owing to a diverse history grounded in the study of criminal behavior (criminology), the study of mental illness

In order for offender profiling to be considered useful, it must gather detailed information about the offender, victim and crime scene which can then be used effectively by police detectives to eliminate any suspects who do not match with the profiler 's offender specification and aid authorities in

Historically, crime and criminals have always caught the attention of law-abiding citizens. Whenever there is mention of serial killers or unsolved murders or abductions, psychological profiling, floats to the top of the list of concerns (Egger, 1999). Psychological profiling is an attempt to provide investigators with more information about an offender who has not yet been identified (Egger, 1999). Its purpose is to develop a behavioral composite that combines both sociological and psychological assessment of the would-be offender. The type of person who could have committed the crime can often be identified on the premise that accurate analysis and interpretation of the crime scene can point to a