Different Methods of Psychological Portrait Preparation for an Alleged Offender: A Comparative Analysis ²⁹⁰⁴

This article presents a comparative analysis of different methods for the psychological portrait composition of an unknown criminal. The analysis was carried out on 40 portraits of an alleged offender by two groups of students using two different models - the FBI model (USA) and the model adopted in Russia. The participants were 40 students in 4th and 5th year of study, divided into two groups of 20 people based on their specialization: psychologists and legal psychologists. The objective of the study was to identify the most effective model of psychological portrait preparation of an alleged offender. The hypothesis of the study: the Russian model for preparing psychological profile contains the most diverse number of different aspects that have the implication for solving the case and thus, makes it more effective. This study analyzed the existing approaches, identified the strengths of different methods for preparing psychological portrait of an alleged offender and proposed further steps in creating a qualitatively new method that would take into account the advantages of previous models.

Keywords: violent crime, method of compiling a psychological portrait of a criminal, offender’s psychological portrait, profiling.

Column: Forensic and Clinical Psychology in Legal Context