Deductive and Inductive Criminal Profiling, Essay Example

Distinguish between deductive and inductive criminal profiling and provide examples of each. Explain the role Locard’s Principle plays in criminal profiling.

The intrusion of a criminal profile is simply about articulating inferences concerning the criminal’s mental and physical characteristics with the information provided through the crime scene as well as the crime scene evidence. The moment a criminal profiler detects a distinct crime scene characteristic, this is enacted to compile the intrusion of their criminal profile. In such contexts, there are two diverse classifications of reasoning in which the profile is supposed to make use and this includes deductive and inductive criminal profiling or rather reasoning. Both deductive and inductive profiling plays an essential role differently in the construction of a criminal profile. This means that is necessary for those that are in the field of profiling to be able to understand the intrusions that are involved and at the same time have the ability to differentiate between the two. Deduction reasoning is the first category aligned to reason and it is entirely based on the concept of logic as well as some conclusions developed through this type of reasoning. Such attributions that are made from the conclusion and logic are from the information attained from the crime scene and based on the scientific evidence (Petherick, 2019). But the conclusions articulated with deductive reasoning tend to make some changes with time. For instance, anytime new evidence or information emerges and comes to the light, some changes emerge based on distinctive circumstances and this can lead to changes in the conclusion. For instance, in a situation where the criminal profiler sought to take on a case of something such as murder or robbery and they have constructed their profile to comprise mental characteristics, behavior, or physical characteristics of the offender based on the victim, crime scene, or evidence. After the profiler has come up with their conclusions, they get information from the medical examiner that indicates the victim was equally assaulted. Therefore, their profile conclusions are supposed to be changed since the justification of a killer will be dissimilar from the same killer alongside the sexual deviant (Barrow, Rufo & Arambula, 2013).

Inductive profiling is the second category of reason and it is more based on distinctive assumptions instead of logical conclusions. It is based more on the distinctive factors like the type of crime, the victim (s), methods of operations, criminal behavior as well as the factors that can be essential in drawing up the characteristics of the offender. In some cases, the profiler will sometimes examine some similar cases of criminals that have similar characteristics or that have in the past been involved with crimes similar to that (Barrow, Rufo & Arambula, 2013). On the other hand, he will equally depend on the expertise based on the psychological syndromes to help in articulating inductive conclusions.

For instance, in a case where the profiler has been given the role of working on the sexual assault case, they can easily conclude that the committer is most likely to be a loner and has issues in maintaining relationships. This can be based on aspects such as having mental disabilities or low self-esteem. In such context, the inferences are mostly based on some significant personal characteristics which have been presumed from the previous sexual assault offenders. However, such inferences might not always be accurate or rather accurate since they are not made up of solid logic but instead based on general assumptions from experience and expertise (Donato, 2019).

Locard’s Principle plays an essential role in criminal profiling and he developed an essential theory that is based on forensic science. The theory is based on the Exchange Principle and this asserts that whenever an individual commits a crime, that person will most likely leave behind some sort of thing or item at the crime scene that was never in the scene before the crime took place and that can be used as evidence. On the other hand, something that was present at the crime scene might be taken away by the offender. Such exchanges can be experienced between a person and an object or between the contact of the object or the other. Locard’s Principle is therefore one of the most significant theories with consideration in the reconstruction articulated from the crime scene. The profilers are supposed to show a full understanding of the theory to carry out the process successfully. Thus, establishing the case based on the source of evidence as well as the notion in which that particular evidence was moved to the scene crucial. Every contact that is articulated will leave some sort of trace that can be used to make conclusions on the same. Such principles can often be used to investigate different crimes such as arson, homicide, sadistic sex crimes among others.