A criminal profiler examines criminal cases and creates criminal behavioral and personality profiles. A person in this field has typically spent a significant amount of time studying psychology and criminal behavior in order to gain a better understanding of how the criminal mind works and the patterns of behavior that criminals exhibit. A person who becomes a criminal profiler, on the other hand, does not solve crimes. Instead, he provides profiles of the perpetrators to those attempting to solve crimes, assisting them in identifying the type of person who commits specific crimes and, ultimately, catching criminals.
A criminal profiler may be called in to create a profile of a serial killer on occasion. In order to do so, he may examine details of crime scenes as well as information about the victims in order to draw important conclusions about the criminal. For example, a serial killer may appear to target victims of a specific race and hair color, as well as victims of a certain height. Details about the victims, how they were killed, and clues left the criminal may aid a profiler in drawing conclusions about the perpetrator. Even the location where the bodies were discovered can aid a profiler in determining the criminal’s race, age, and motivation.
Criminal profilers typically spend the majority of their time at work in their own offices, poring over data gathered law enforcement agencies or conducting other research. Criminal profilers, for example, may devote a significant amount of time to researching and studying previous crimes. They may be able to draw conclusions about criminal behavior as a result, which will aid in the creation of criminal profiles in future cases.
Though profiling criminals is usually the most important aspect of a criminal profiler’s job, he may also be assigned other duties. A person in this field might, for example, instruct law enforcement officers on how to use profiling to solve crimes. A criminal profiler may also instruct psychologists and students who want to work as profilers in the future. He might even give training to people who work in crime labs.
A criminal profiler may also testify as an expert witness in court. In this case, he may be able to share his expert knowledge of the situation. He could also provide some background information on criminal profiling in general.
A person who wants to work as a criminal profiler should get a degree in psychology or criminology to get started. He could then choose to work as a freelancer or pursue a career in law enforcement. It’s worth noting that people who work in this field are frequently referred to as investigators rather than profilers.