Author: Curt and Anne Bartol
ISBN No: 9781 41298 3082
Review date: 06/12/2025
No of pages: 368
Publisher: Sage
Publisher URL:
http://www.uk.sagepub.com
Year of publication: 25/02/2013
Brief:
Criminal and Behavioral Profiling
price
££27.99
The authors begin by defining profiling, ‘as a technique that identifies behavioural, cognitive, emotional, and demographic information of known and unknown individuals’. As the book admits early on, profiling has been much fictionalised. As early cases show – American cases, as the authors are from the United States – profiling can fall into the trap of offering ‘Barnum phrases’ (descriptions that sound insightful but could apply to everyone). Also, if profilers are only called in when investigators are stumped, the prospects of success are not great. You may have psychological profilers seeking to inform investigators about a rapist, arsonist or serial killer; or geo-profilers, who will look at where a criminal may strike next. Less appreciated, perhaps because not such a good subject for movies, is profiling to detect deception. The authors are sceptical – observers may be able to spot if someone in front of them is uncomfortable or bored, but it’s wrong to suspect someone for being fidgety or avoiding eye contact in a queue at an airport – passengers may well simply be stressed before boarding. The authors run through possible new approaches to detecting lies – such as thermal imaging, and voice stress analysis. The stakes are high – could the authorities have caught the 9-11 terrorists telling lies, could a product take x-rays of our thoughts and brand them true or false? The only quibble UK readers could have with this well laid out and readable guide to the subject is that the cases (and laws and customs) are, with exceptions, American. That said, the book does draw on the work of David Canter, the UK academic and author recently of Forensic Psychology: A Very Short Introduction. To their credit the Bartols are not cheer-leaders for profiling; as they put it, ‘behavioural analysis has a way to go before being universally accepted’.
Criminal and Behavioral Profiling, by Curt and Anne Bartol. Published 2013 by Sage, 368 pages, paperback, ISBN: 9781 41298 3082, £27.99. Visit www.uk.sagepub.com.
What is the job of a “criminal profiler” really like? We see these roles played out nightly on tv shows and in the news, but how does law enforcement actually use empirical data to correctly assess behaviour and help solve crimes, particularly serial crimes?
Criminal and Behavioral Profiling, written by Curt and Anne Bartol, presents an empirically-based look at the theory, research, and practice of modern criminal profiling, or, as it’s more professionally termed, behavioural analysis or behavioural investigative analysis.
Designed for use in a variety of criminal justice and psychology courses, the book delves into the process of identifying distinctive behavioural tendencies, geographical locations, demographic, and biographical descriptors of offenders, and personality traits, based on characteristics of the crime. Literature and case studies from the rapidly growing international research in criminal profiling help students understand the best practices, major pitfalls, and psychological concepts that are key to this process.
