Psychological Characteristics of Criminal Profiling

The article suggests applying criminal profiling as the most effective method used for investigating crimes. It describes the main stages of its development, the experience of colleagues abroad and some tasks that can be solved with the help of this approach. The article describes profiling techniques such as crime reconstruction and analysis of the victim's wounds; it gives examples of using profiling for determining the personality of the offender, his motives, the crime method, professional skills and for predicting possible models of behavior. The article touches upon some questions of victimology and suggests studying the personality and behavior of the victim as a source of information about the offender. The aim of this publication is to present the main directions in which psychologists are engaged in the field of crime investigation work, and to invite specialists interested in this topic to discuss the problem of criminal profiling in Russia.

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