Criminal Profiling: Principles and Practice / Edition 1

by Richard N. Kocsis

Overview

Criminal Profiling: Principles and Practice provides a compendium of original scientific research on constructing a criminal profile for crimes that are not readily resolvable by conventional police investigative methods. Leading profiling expert Richard N. Kocsis, PhD, utilizes a distinct approach referred to as Crime Action Profiling (CAP), a technique that has its foundations in the disciplinary knowledge of forensic psychology.

The initial four chapters examine the skills, accuracy, components, and processes surrounding the construction of a criminal profile. The next two chapters focus on CAP research, the methods developed for the profiling of violent crimes and describing a systematic method for the interpretation and use of the CAP models. The subsequent three chapters canvass the respective CAP studies undertaken for crimes of serial rape, serial/sexual murder, and serial arson. An explanation for how each of the models is developed is also given. The final chapters of the book are devoted to the geographical analysis of crime patterns and to a discussion of the format conventions and procedural guidelines for developing a criminal profile.

Offering a scientifically grounded method for the construction of a criminal profile, Criminal Profiling: Principles and Practice provides law enforcement personnel, forensic psychologists and psychiatrists, criminologists, and forensic investigators with a step-by-step, practical guide for understanding and applying CAP techniques for the construction of a criminal profile in a systematic and replicable manner.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617376894
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	11/05/2010
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 2006
Pages:	274
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.03(d)

Table of Contents

What Is Criminal Profiling?.- Smoke and Mirrors.- Rhetoric vs Reality.- The Components and Processes of Criminal Profiling.- Defining Serial Violent Crime.- Operational Interpretation of the CAP Models.- Criminal Profiling of Serial Rape Offenses.- Criminal Profiling of Sexual Murder Offenses.- Criminal Profiling of Serial Arson Offenses.- Offense Location Patterns.- Procedural Considerations and Format Guidelines.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"This book contains an extremely valuable compendium of knowledge about offender profiling." -International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology

"The book is divided into eleven chapters and contains an epilogue and several appendices. … Criminal Profiling: Principles and Practice is a comprehensive presentation of the research, theorizing, and productivity of Richard N. Kocsis, PhD. He is on fire with profiling, and the reader can feel his passion and dedication within the pages of this book. He offers strong opinions and a prolific body of research to back up his ideas. The serious student and/or practitioner of profiling should avail himself of this book." (James S. Herndon, Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, Vol. 22, 2007)

From the Publisher