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Criminal Profiling And Its Relevance In The Nigerian Criminal Justice System
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Holmes and Holmes have outlined three major goals of profiling as follows.25
(1) Social and Psychological Assessments of Offenders.
This
involves an evaluation of the social and psychological characteristics
of the offender. In fact, “a profile should contain basic and sound
information concerning the social and psychological core variables of
the offender’s personality, including the offender’s race, age,
employment status and type,
21 ibid
22 Steven A. Egger, 1999, Psychological Profiling: Past, Present, and Future, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice,
vol. 15, No.3, August 1999,243.23 ibid
24Janet
L. Jackson, and Bekerian D. A. (eds), 1997, Criminal profiling: Theory,
Research and Practice, 3, Chichester, John Wiley.
25Ronald. M.
Holmes., and Stephen T. Holmes, 1996, Profiling Violent Crimes: An
Investigative Tool, (2nd ed. 1996) Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications.
religion,
marital status, and level of education. This psychological information
will help to focus the investigation by allowing police to narrow its
range, which in turn will have a direct effect upon the number of days
and weeks the police could spend on the caseâ€.26 It may also help the
police to predict possible future attacks;
(2) Psychological Evaluations of Belongings Found In the Possession of Suspected Offenders.
This
involves the evaluation of items found at the suspect’s home, such as
souvenirs taken from the crime scenes, pictures, videos, books,
magazines, items of pornography or other items that might point to the
background and motives for the crimes, as well as link the suspect to
the crime. Such physical evidence could be listed on a search warrant so
the police take particular care to look for them. Holmes and Holmes
noted the case of Jerry Brudos a sadistic serial killer in the United
States who had such a fetish about his victims’ high heeled shoes. He
took their shoes, wore and stored them at his home.27
(3) Suggestions and strategies for interviewing suspected offenders when they are apprehended.
Another
primary goal of profiling is to suggest the most effective interviewing
strategy to be used once the offender has been arrested. As there are
different types of offenders, one interviewing/interrogation strategy
may not be suitable for all the different types, especially when dealing
with rapists. As Holmes and Homes have pointed out, “not all people
react to questions in the same fashion. For one type of offender, one
strategy may be effective, but it is a mistake to assume that all those
who commit similar crimes will respond to the same interviewing
strategy. For example, not all serial murderers kill for the same
reasons, and not all respond to the same type of interviewing strategy.
Violent personal offenders also vary in their motives as well as their
responses to interrogation.28 A good profile can provide the police with
strategies that may be effective for a particular offender.
It has
been observed that criminal profiling is usually taken up late in an
investigation. It tends to be normally taken up as an alternative where
DNA profiling is impossible because there were no samples
26 ibid27David Canter, 1994, Criminal Shadows: Inside the mind a/the serial killer, 12.
28
David Canter and Rupert Heritage, 1990, “A Multivariate Model of Sexual
Offence Behaviour: Developments In Offender Profilingâ€, Journal of
Forensic Psychiatry.
8 left at the scene of crime.29 There are
obviously certain dangers with this approach. It is therefore suggested
that in serious/major crimes, criminal profiling should be used at the
onset, along with the other techniques. It should not be left till later
in the investigation when we have come to realize that no physical
trace has been left at the crime scene, bearing in mind the issue of
‘staged crime scenes’. Important details might be lost later in the
investigation and as we know, crime scenes can be tampered with, by both
weather conditions and human tampering.
Brent E. Turvey divided
criminal profiling into two separate but equal contexts, divided not by
the method that is employed to arrive at conclusions, but rather by
their divergent goals and priorities.30 Turvey continued that ―these
goals and priorities are dictated by a necessity that is dependent upon
when, in a given case, a profiler‘s skills are requested‖.31 The two
time frames typically include the investigative phase, before a suspect
has been arrested (or before a defendant is taken to court with a
lawsuit), and the trial phase, while a suspect is being tried for a
crime (or put on trial for damages).
Investigative Phase
The
investigative phase involves behavioural evidence analysis of the
patterns of unknown perpetrators of known crimes. Criminal profilers
tend to be called in to extremely violent, sexual and/or predatory cases
when witness testimony, confessions, and/or physical evidence have not
been enough to move the investigation forward.
Primary Goals
1. Evaluating the nature and value of forensic and behavioural evidence in a particular crime or series of related crimes;
2. Reducing the viable suspect pool in a criminal investigation;
3. Prioritizing the investigation into remaining suspects;
4.
Linkage of potentially related crimes by identifying crime scene
indicators and behaviour patterns (i.e., modus operandi and signature);
29 Ebisike Norbert, 2001, ―An Appraisal of the Forensic Science Evidence In Criminal Proceeding†London Greenway Press, 2001.
30Turvey,
B., 2011, Criminal Profiling, 4th Ed., London: Elsevier
Sciencehttp://forensicvictimology.blogspot.com/2013/07/Criminal-Profiling-Behavioral-Evidence-Analysis.html31
ibid
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5. Assessment of the potential for escalation of nuisance
criminal behaviour to more serious or more violent crimes (i.e.,
harassment, stalking, voyeurism);
6. Providing investigators with investigatively relevant leads and strategies;
7. Helping keep the overall investigation on track and undistracted by offering fresh and unbiased insights;
8. Developing communication, interview, or interrogation strategies when dealing with suspects
Trial Phase
The
trial phase of criminal profiling involves analysis of known crimes for
which there is a suspect or a defendant (sometimes a convicted
defendant). It takes place in the preparation for hearings, trials, and
post-conviction proceedings. Guilt, penalty, and appeal phases of trial
are all appropriate times to use profiling techniques, depending on the
evidence at issue.
Primary goals
1. Evaluating the nature and value of forensic and behavioural evidence to a particular crime or series of related crimes;
2. Helping to develop insight into offender fantasy and motivations;
3.
Developing insight into offender motive and intent before, during, and
after the commission of a crime (i.e., levels of planning, evidence of
remorse, precautionary acts, etc.);
4. Linkage of potentially related
crimes by identifying crime scene indicators and behaviour patterns
(i.e., modus operandi and signature).
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Criminal
profiling has been used successfully by law enforcement in several
areas and is a valued means by which to narrow the field of
investigation. Profiling does not provide the specific identity of the
offender. Rather, it indicates the kind of person most likely to have
committed a crime by focusing on certain behavioural and personality
characteristics. This technique has been proven to be very
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effective
in various criminal investigations and in various criminal offences.
Violent and sexual offenders lend themselves to profiling techniques.
Through careful interview of the rape victim about the rapist‘s
behaviour, law enforcement personnel begin to build a profile of the
offender. The rationale behind this approach is that behaviour reflects
personality, and by examining behaviour the investigator may be able to
determine what type of person is responsible for the offence.
It is
no news that the Nigerian criminal justice system faces some major
setbacks especially the Nigerian police force in their investigation
processes and inability in apprehending the right perpetrators of
criminal acts and bringing such offenders to justice. The significance
of this study is that showcases how and why the technique of criminal
profiling is important and helpful to the police and law enforcement
agents in Nigeria in determining criminal offenders and also in crime
detection and prevention and reasons why it should not be overlooked as a
resourceful tool in criminal investigations.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The Nigerian criminal justice system is not entirely ignorant or unaware of the use and the merits of the application of criminal profiling as a tool in crime investigation. However, criminal profiling in Nigeria has not nearly reached the level of recognition, functionality or institutionalization that it has attained in other jurisdictions.This study aims to increase the awareness, explore the import, feasibility and the practicality of offender profiling in criminal acts especially those of v ... Continue reading---
