• To understand the major approaches towards investigation
• To understand the phenomenon of profiling and issues involved in profiling
Investigative Psychology is the term given to a new area of applied Psychology. It brings together issues in the recovery of investigative information, the drawing of inferences about that information and the ways in which police decision making can be supported through various systems derived from scientific research.Inferences about the characteristics of the offender are made to identify him. Like what type of persons can commit some specific type of crimes. Important behavioral features of crime are identified that may help make out and prosecute the crime successfully.
For instance:
A dead body is found with knife in right hand along with suicidal note. While investigating, it was uncovered that murdered man was left handed, although knife was found in right hand. At the same time when interviewing family only wife stressed that her husband was under stress and was not mentally healthy.Whereas other sources like friends, family members, neighbours and written records (diaries, letters) were depicting that murdered man was quite happy and satisfied. So, these behavioral features lead to the incorporation of his wife into the list of suspects.
There are two approaches to investigate a criminal case
1. Clinical /Subjective Approach
2. Empirical and logical approach
- Clinical /Subjective Approach
Traditional police profiling which grew out of the experience of police officers offering opinions and making judgments to their colleagues about the possible characteristics of unknown offenders and criminals. This approach emphasizes subjective processes such as "thinking like the criminal phenomenon”.
- Empirical and logical approach
In contrast investigative Psychology originates directly out of empirical research and logical illation to cover the full range of investigative activities not only the preparation of 'profiles'. Important behavioral features of crime are identified that may help make out and prosecute the crime successfully. The assumption processes at the heart of Investigative Psychology contrast with the subjective approach, the Investigative Psychology stresses that the results of scientific psychology can contribute to many aspects of civilian and criminal investigation, including the full range of crimes from robbery to terrorism, not just those intense crimes of violence that have an obvious psychopathic component.
Investigations are done with the help of research findings and statistical analysis. The contribution to investigations draws on the extent to which an offender displays various tested characteristics. Investigative psychology research is determining behaviorally important and empirically supported information regarding the consistency and variability of the behavior of many different types of offenders.
Criminal investigation done by forensic psychologists is normally the kind done by detectives in police departments. Broadly investigative psychology encompasses all the ways that psychology can be used or integrated with the processes and procedures of criminal investigation. A criminal investigation roughly consists of the following eight steps:
1 - Determine if a crime has been committed.
2 - Verify the jurisdictional and statutory authority before beginning a thorough and systematic inquiry.
3 - Discover all the facts and collect the evidence.
4 - Recover any stolen property, if any.
5- Identify the executors or culprits.
6 - Locate and apprehend the culprits.
7 - Aid the prosecution by providing evidence of guilt admissible in court.
8 - Testify effectively as a witness in court.
Narrowly investigative psychology is a term referring to methods of identifying key features of a crime and the likely characteristics of the perpetrator. In short, investigative psychology is profiling, and in some instances, profiling is used to summarize the psychological features of persons who may commit a crime, and in this sense, profiling is prediction. So, Inferences about the characteristics of the offender are made to identify him. Assumptions are made and chances are viewed that are there any other crimes likely to have been committed by the same person.
• To understand the phenomenon of profiling and issues involved in profiling
Investigative Psychology is the term given to a new area of applied Psychology. It brings together issues in the recovery of investigative information, the drawing of inferences about that information and the ways in which police decision making can be supported through various systems derived from scientific research.Inferences about the characteristics of the offender are made to identify him. Like what type of persons can commit some specific type of crimes. Important behavioral features of crime are identified that may help make out and prosecute the crime successfully.
For instance:
A dead body is found with knife in right hand along with suicidal note. While investigating, it was uncovered that murdered man was left handed, although knife was found in right hand. At the same time when interviewing family only wife stressed that her husband was under stress and was not mentally healthy.Whereas other sources like friends, family members, neighbours and written records (diaries, letters) were depicting that murdered man was quite happy and satisfied. So, these behavioral features lead to the incorporation of his wife into the list of suspects.
There are two approaches to investigate a criminal case
1. Clinical /Subjective Approach
2. Empirical and logical approach
- Clinical /Subjective Approach
Traditional police profiling which grew out of the experience of police officers offering opinions and making judgments to their colleagues about the possible characteristics of unknown offenders and criminals. This approach emphasizes subjective processes such as "thinking like the criminal phenomenon”.
- Empirical and logical approach
In contrast investigative Psychology originates directly out of empirical research and logical illation to cover the full range of investigative activities not only the preparation of 'profiles'. Important behavioral features of crime are identified that may help make out and prosecute the crime successfully. The assumption processes at the heart of Investigative Psychology contrast with the subjective approach, the Investigative Psychology stresses that the results of scientific psychology can contribute to many aspects of civilian and criminal investigation, including the full range of crimes from robbery to terrorism, not just those intense crimes of violence that have an obvious psychopathic component.
Investigations are done with the help of research findings and statistical analysis. The contribution to investigations draws on the extent to which an offender displays various tested characteristics. Investigative psychology research is determining behaviorally important and empirically supported information regarding the consistency and variability of the behavior of many different types of offenders.
Criminal investigation done by forensic psychologists is normally the kind done by detectives in police departments. Broadly investigative psychology encompasses all the ways that psychology can be used or integrated with the processes and procedures of criminal investigation. A criminal investigation roughly consists of the following eight steps:
1 - Determine if a crime has been committed.
2 - Verify the jurisdictional and statutory authority before beginning a thorough and systematic inquiry.
3 - Discover all the facts and collect the evidence.
4 - Recover any stolen property, if any.
5- Identify the executors or culprits.
6 - Locate and apprehend the culprits.
7 - Aid the prosecution by providing evidence of guilt admissible in court.
8 - Testify effectively as a witness in court.
Narrowly investigative psychology is a term referring to methods of identifying key features of a crime and the likely characteristics of the perpetrator. In short, investigative psychology is profiling, and in some instances, profiling is used to summarize the psychological features of persons who may commit a crime, and in this sense, profiling is prediction. So, Inferences about the characteristics of the offender are made to identify him. Assumptions are made and chances are viewed that are there any other crimes likely to have been committed by the same person.
