Profilers Review
Profilers: Leading Investigators Take You Inside The Criminal Mind
Published by: Prometheus Books (2004)
Review by Katherine Steck-Flynn
The title of this book is somewhat deceiving. "Profilers: Leading Investigators Take You Inside the Criminal Mind" is what the cover reads. I expected a true life recounting of the fabulous adventures of the world's leading profilers. I guess I thought this might be an inside look at the true life stories of the people on which many movies and TV programs are based. I expected to read about the cases in which the profilers were involved and how they used their skills to develop profiles of unknown killers. The book is not in the least what I expected. This is not to say that I was disappointed with this book. I quite enjoyed some of the articles. I am, however, accustomed to reading and deciphering scientific and statistical jargon.
The Profilers is a compilation of 22 articles which range from some of the classic studies done in the early eighties to more modern research projects. The subject matter ranges widely from serial killers behavioral traits to geographical profiling. All of the research papers in this book were produced with some affiliation to the F.B.I.'s behavioral science unit.
Many of the articles are based on the same study done by the F.B.I. profilers in the early eighties. The various articles use data collected through a series of interview of 36 convicted killers. Each article approaches the data recovered from a different scientific standpoint. Each author uses the data retrieved from this project to create various models and statistical results.
Some articles deal with very specific behaviors such as sexual homicide, sexual homicide of elderly women and eye gouging as a behavior associated with violent attacks.
One article reviews methods and statistics which can be used to develop profiles in the case of an arson or bombing.
This book is a valuable tool for anyone who has already studied many of the classic cases which are being evaluated in these articles. This however is not a book which the average person would pick up for a light read. The articles are written in scientific jargon and style meant originally for publication in scientific journals. Although interesting, the content and conclusions require some previous knowledge of statistical and scientific methodology. Some articles are easier to read than others due to individual style of the authors.
If mental acrobatics are not your idea of time well spent then a less scientific book might be more fun. This book might serve well as a text book in introductory criminology or psychology.
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