D#7, HW#2

the Heather Morris
10/11/07

When there isn't enough evidence for investigators to come with a suspect, what do they do?There has recently been a new form of technology that investigators have been turning to, crimnal profiling. Unfortunately, due to fictional media the public now has a skewed view of what profilers do. Profilers seemed to have lost almost all credibility with the public because they just don't stack up to the misconception created by movies and novels. They have now voiced the opinion that profilers should not be used to aid in investigations. They feel that they tethe nd to lead investigators away from capturing a suspect. The question that is now being widely asked, "Should Criminal Profilers be used in criminal investigations?"
Here are a few sources that give information related to the subject:

http://www.angelfire.com/sc3/cjrp/criminalprofile.html
The information in this site is very refreshing. Most of the sites have seemed to be repetitive in their information. This site has given me new information that I haven't read on any other site. It explains lables given by profilers, their definitions, and even examples of personalities or traits of people related to specific labels. Like most other sites, this one is directed more at informing then giving or supporting an opinion.

Douglas, J. and Olshaker M. (2001) The Cases That Haunt Us: From Jack the Ripper to Jonbenet Ramsey, the FBI's Legendary Mindhunter Unravels the Mysteries That Won't Go Away. Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group

The interesting thing about this book is that it only discusses about eight or so real life cases of profiling. The author goes into detail about what techniques were used to identify a suspect, what forms of evidence are used to create a profile and much more. The author of this book is very much for the use of profilers. He used to be a profiler for the FBI and can even be said to be the man to bring profiling to the attention of the public.

http://www.corpus-delicti.com/prof_archives_media.html

This website is the largest source as of yet on the internet. It has links to multiple other websites for articles written on profilers in newspapers and magazines. Once properly researched, there should be numerous articles that can be used to support both the opposed and for sides.

http://www.criminalprofiling.ch/introduction.html

This website was made to specifically inform the general public. It gives an introduction and overview of profiling and the purposes. It has links to scientific articles, research links and also has briefing boards. This site also has links for students. There is a lot of good information given including cases and examples of profilers being used.

Glazer, S. (2003, October 31). Serial killers. CQ Researcher, 13, 917-940. Retrieved September 6, 2007, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2003103101

This source was the primary article that gives an opposing view to the use of profilers. I haven't really found any other source so far that gives an extremely strong view against profilers. It's very useful in the fact that it has a timeline from the start of profiling until now. It also gives examples of cases where a profile was inaccurate. This will be the most helpful when it comes to researching the opposing views.

Petherick, W. (2005) The Science of Criminal Profiling. Barnes & Noble Books.

This has been the primary source used so far. It goes into depth about not only profiling itself but all aspects affected by profiling. Without completly understanding the history of profiling, the techniques used and exactly what they do, an educated opinion can not be made as well as supported. A subject can't be written on and supported if the person writing about it doesn't know a thing about the subject. The author here doesn't really have an opinion on the subject. He just seems to want to inform his audience.

Cambell, J. and DeNevi, D. (2004) Profilers: Leading Investigators Take You Inside the Criminal Mind. Prometheus Books.

This book will most definitely be used to support evidence I give. It has a few chapters in the beginning that give a lot of fact and fiction information based on books, t.v., shows and media. It will be great to quote to help support any opionions for the positive side profiling. It also has profilers interviewing criminals such as Jeffery Dahmer.

Bennett, W. and Hess, K. (2006) Criminal Investigation. Wadsworth Publishing Company.

The best thing about this book is that unlike the ones previously mentioned, this one discusses investigative responsibilties and how they are carried out in certain types of investigations. This can be used to inform the audience of the procedures involved when investigating, how it supposed to be done, and how it is used in court.

All of these resources will be helpful in completing my final writing project, though some will be more helpful than others. Research has been done to try to get as equal information on both sides of the spectrum. Most of the sources have information on both which is very nice because it reduces having to research numerous sources.