Criminal Psychopathology

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the elements and uses of criminal psychopathology in developing profiles to locate perpetrators of crimes. The author presents appropriate terminology and definitions throughout the paper. Two different types of criminals and their personality traits are examined. The paper further evaluates different methods of developing criminal profiles. The author concludes by calling for more research in this area, with special reference to the role of mental health professionals.

From the Paper:

"The first approach in criminal profiling, diagnostic evaluation, adapts a psychotherapeutic theory on crime by the individual investigators (Muller 2000). This approach relies mainly on clinical judgment and the investigators' individual assumptions and assessment. The second approach, crime scene analysis, or CSA, was developed by the Behavioral Science Unit of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI. And the third, called investigative psychology, was evolved by British environmental psychologist, David Canter. The CSA is mostly applicable to serial murderers. Recently, the FBI broadly categorized offenders into disorganized and organized (Muller)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Court TV. (2006). The Art of Forensic Psychology. Criminal Profiling: Courtroom Television Network LLC. http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/forensics/forensic_psychology/10.html
• Hayden, T. (2000). Offender Profiling. Murder in the UK: MurderUK.com, 2006. http://www.murderuk.com/Profiling/offender_profiling_htm
• Muller, D. A. (2000). Criminal Profiling. Homicide Studies, Vol 4 (3), Sage Publications, Inc. pp 234-264
• Strano, M. (2004). A Neural Network Applied to Criminal Psychological Profiling: an Italian Perspective. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology: Sage Publications. http://ijo.sagepub.com/cgi/reprit/48/4/495.pdf
• Turvey, B. E. (2002). Deductive Criminal Profiling. Knowledge Solutions, LLC. http://www.corpus-delicti.com/Profiling_law.html

More papers on Criminal Psychopathology:

• Research Paper # 74969 : "African American Males and the Criminal Justice System "
• Research Paper # 11164 : "Psychopathological Serial Killers"
• Essay # 48081 : "Juvenile Sex Offenders"

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