Careers in Forensics: Criminal Profiler

Almost everyone is familiar with the concept of the police sketch artist: Witnesses describe a suspect as best they can, the sketch artist draws a picture to fit this data, and the police then can use this sketch to assist them in looking for the perpetrator of the crime.

Think of a criminal profiler as an internal or psychological sketch artist. The criminal profiler takes whatever evidence is available about a suspect, and creates a profile consisting of characteristics this person probably has.

Background Needed to Be a Criminal Profiler

Academics-generally in the field of Psychology-occasionally consult with law enforcement in a criminal profiler capacity on a part time basis. But usually criminal profilers work in law enforcement directly. Sometimes they may work for a big city police force, but almost all the criminal profilers in the United States are FBI special agents.

So in order to become a criminal profiler, you will likely first have to become a police officer or probably an FBI agent, and accumulate experience in law enforcement.

As far as education, you will need a bachelor’s degree, or better yet a graduate degree. Your academic career should include extensive work in psychology, criminal justice, and forensics. You will also need to be proficient with statistics.

The FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia has a special training program in criminal profiling for interested agents.

What Does a Criminal Profiler Do?

A criminal profiler uses known correlations to construct a psychological profile of a criminal based on evidence left at a crime scene.

For example, perhaps a crime was committed with an unnecessary, sadistic level of cruelty. Perhaps a mocking note of some kind was left, indicating the criminal sees this as a game or a way to defeat the police. Perhaps the crime scene indicates a high degree of order, organization, and preparation, to the point of fastidiousness.

These and numerous other elements may be correlated with certain kinds of criminals more than others. It may be that introverts are more likely to commit this type of crime than extroverts. Or people in their 30s are more likely than people of other ages. Or people with a certain level of education are more likely than people with more or less education. There could be correlations with birth order, occupation, religious beliefs, childhood abuse, or any number of other things.

By studying the evidence and using the correlations, the profiler might determine, for instance, that the perpetrator of a given crime likely is a 25-35 year old male, was an only child raised by a single mother in a fundamentalist religious household, lives a very conformist life, gets along much better with men than with women, has a high school education at most, and did not know the victim before the crime.

It’s all inference, all educated guesses, certainly nothing infallible. The criminal may turn out to be quite different from the profile, but it’s a matter of playing the odds.

A criminal profiler’s job includes preparing paperwork and making presentations to other law enforcement personnel, appearing in court as an expert witness, and various forms of continuing research into who commits what type of crimes.

Career Prospects for a Criminal Profiler

The prospects for becoming a criminal profiler are poor, because there are extremely few of them. Even the FBI lacks full time personnel with the title of criminal profilers. What they have is special agents who after years of more general experience and then specialized training do criminal profiling as part of their broader jobs. Other people who do criminal profiling generally do it as a very part time thing while pursuing a full time career in law enforcement or academia.

Those who do manage to incorporate a significant amount of criminal profiling into their law enforcement job can expect to make $60,000 or so per year, though this certainly can vary.

Sources:

Jessica Martinez, “Education for Criminal Profilers.” eHow.
Dale Nute, “Advice About a Career in Forensic Science.” The Florida State University College of Criminology & Criminal Justice.
Margo Upson, “What Does a Criminal Profiler Do?” eHow.
“Criminal Profiler Career.” Police Academy Requirements.
“So You Want to Be a Forensic Scientist!” American Academy of Forensic Scientists.
“What is Criminal Profiling?” Wise Geek.