Criminal profiling is a useful investigative technique that combines art and science. This article provides a brief overview of profiling that includes discussions of definitions of profiling, the training and expertise necessary to do profiling, how profiling can be helpful in criminal investigations, the types of crimes that lend themselves to profiling, and the profiling process. The current scientific status of profiling is reviewed, and suggestions are made for future research establishing the reliability and validity of the technique, and updating and expanding the database from which the behavioral analyses in profiling are deduced.
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