CJ 276 Empirical Profiling (5 credits)
Course Description
Examine the psychological principles behind offender profiling, including classification of crime scene behavior, behavioral change, behavioral consistency, and application of empirical profiling.
Course Content
A. Scientific method of investigative profiling
B. Advanced terms, concepts, and processes for investigative profiling (to include: signature, modus operandi, victimology, multi-dimensional scaling, sub-themes, spatial behavior, and geographical profiling)
C. Overview and application of empirical research
D. Application of empirical profiling to serial crimes (to include: homicide, sexual homicide, sexual assault, burglary, property crimes, arson)
E. Crime linkage
F. Report writing
G. Profile delivery
H. Testifying in court
Student Outcomes
1. Identify legal and societal issues relating to empirical profiling used to make inferences about offender personality and characteristics.
2. Develop empirically based profiles to analyze and implement a crime profile behavioral analysis.
3. Interpret the psychological behavior at a crime scene to define suspect characteristics.
4. Classify crime scene behaviors, behavioral changes, and behavioral consistency in order to ascertain offender differentiation and consistency in violent crimes.
5. Describe crime linkage techniques to explain the interrelations between the victim, crime scene, physical evidence, and suspect.
6. Assess bias/positionality in one’s own and others’ work and the potential impact of bias/positionality in criminal profiling.
Degree Outcomes
Program Outcomes:
Graduates will critically apply theoretically sound judgment in crime analysis techniques, criminal investigation, and empirical profiling.
Critical, Creative, and Reflective Thinking: Graduates will evaluate, analyze, synthesize, and generate ideas; construct informed, meaningful, and justifiable conclusions; and process feelings, beliefs, biases, strengths, and weaknesses as they relate to their thinking, decisions, and creations.
Effective Communication: Graduates will be able to exchange messages in a variety of contexts using multiple methods.
Intercultural Engagement: Graduates demonstrate self-efficacy in intercultural engagement to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion through reflections and expressions of cultural humility, empathy, and social and civic engagement and action. Further, graduates examine how identities/positionalities such as race, social class, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, and cultures impact perceptions, actions, and the distribution of power and privilege in communities, systems, and institutions.
Lecture Contact Hours 50
Lab Contact Hours 0
Clinical Contact Hours 0
Total Contact Hours 50
Potential Methods
A. Case studies
B. Team assignments
C. Objective tests
D. Subjective tests
E. Self-evaluation
F. Instructor evaluation
G. Peer evaluation
H. Class discussion
I. Projects
J. Presentations
K. Oral presentation
L. Portfolios
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