Criminal Profiling

This is an advanced or upper level undergraduate course designed to teach students the techniques of psychological, socio-psychological (behavioral), and geographic profiling, which are used to establish leads and patterns in unsolved cases or cases with unknown perpetrators. It also classifies and predicts the behavior patterns of repeat offenders, particularly serial murderers, arsonists, rapists, and child molesters, as well as other types of offenders. Topics include case management, database development, typology validation, motive and pattern analysis, personality assessment, forensic demography, principles of geo-coding, statistical prediction, the ethics of provocation, interview and interrogation strategies, and working or consulting with government agencies. Some case studies are analyzed in detail, but this is not a case studies course, as it is an overview course.