Module 5 - Criminal Profiling

Lesson 2 - The Use of Criminal Profiling in Homicide Investigations

Combination Offenders

	Some crime scenes demonstrate elements of both criminal sophistication and chaos. These point to an offender with a combination of organized and disorganized characteristics. Although criminals have one or even two characteristics that fit the opposite offender profile, they are considered a combination offender only if they have an equal number of characteristics from both offender categories. Criminals with combination or mixed characteristics may be described as an offender with a short temper, but enough self control to avoid taking unnecessary risks an offender unable to control the victim, resulting in a change of behaviour a young offender making the transition from disorganized to organized assisted by other offenders, each fitting a different behavioural category Some believe that the perfect crime is one committed so well that no evidence is apparent and, therefore, the culprit cannot be traced. The most likely individuals to commit perfect crimes include suspects who picked victims they do not know and suspects with no criminal records. Nothing is stolen during the crime, and the culprits have told no one about the crimes. Some examples are the Black Dahlia murder, the Zodiac murders, and the Chicago Tylenol poisonings. The possibility remains that a culprit for these so-called perfect crimes may someday be identified.

Some crime scenes demonstrate elements of both criminal sophistication and chaos. These point to an offender with a combination of organized and disorganized characteristics. Although criminals have one or even two characteristics that fit the opposite offender profile, they are considered a combination offender only if they have an equal number of characteristics from both offender categories.

Criminals with combination or mixed characteristics may be described as

an offender with a short temper, but enough self control to avoid taking unnecessary risks
an offender unable to control the victim, resulting in a change of behaviour
a young offender making the transition from disorganized to organized
assisted by other offenders, each fitting a different behavioural category

Some believe that the perfect crime is one committed so well that no evidence is apparent and, therefore, the culprit cannot be traced. The most likely individuals to commit perfect crimes include suspects who picked victims they do not know and suspects with no criminal records. Nothing is stolen during the crime, and the culprits have told no one about the crimes. Some examples are the Black Dahlia murder, the Zodiac murders, and the Chicago Tylenol poisonings. The possibility remains that a culprit for these so-called perfect crimes may someday be identified.

Glossary Term: Flash Point

The lowest temperature at which the vapour of a combustible liquid can be made to ignite momentarily in air

After studying Lesson 2, you should be able to…

compare the traits of an organized offender with those of an disorganized offender
identify a given criminal suspect(s) as being an organized, disorganized, or combination offender
describe the contents of a criminal profile report and explain the characteristics included in the report
analyze or create a criminal profile of a criminal suspect from a mock crime scene