Module 5 - Criminal Profiling

General Description

Geographic profiling is a sub-type of criminal profiling. This investigative tool involves analyzing the locations of a related series of crimes to determine the most probable location of an offender’s residence or place of work. This strategy is based on the assumption that criminals do not stray far from areas familiar to them, especially routes they travel among work, home, and recreational areas.

Geographical profiling is not intended to solve a crime by identifying immediately the name of a suspect. Its methodology is based on the premise that a mathematical analysis of crime scene locations, seen through the perspective of environmental criminology, can increase the efficiency of a police investigation by focusing attention on a specific geographic area in which the suspect might live or work.