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The Popular Myth of Profiling in Forensic Psychology

Submitted by afeltrin on Wed, 01/30/2019 - 13:02

We recently learned about the criminal mind in Forensic Psychology. Often, many falsely believe forensic psychologists, for example, the characters on Criminal Minds, spend a majority of their job profiling criminals to be arrested. Interestingly, their job consists of nearly no profiling. They mainly focus on analyzing caught criminals and assisting in determining competency and the legitimacy of an insanity plea. Surprisingly, and also not that surprisingly, the United States is home to 76% of the world’s serial killers. An estimated 83% of American killers are Caucasian, with men making up nearly 90% of the world wide total of serial killers.  According to decades’ worth of research, the typical serial killer is a white male in their late 20s to early 30s. Typically, they kill within their own race and utilize a method of murder that is very hands on, like stabbing, for instance. Most of the victims are selected because they all share some sort of certain characteristic. For example, Ted Bundy would choose women in their 20s that had long hair that was parted in the middle.
 

 

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