The usefulness of profiling for investigation of serial murders

Fenomen serijskega umora spremlja človeštvo že od nekdaj, kljub temu pa je bil kot tak definiran šele v drugi polovici prejšnjega stoletja. Serijski morilci so med slavnejšimi kriminalci pa vendar o njih in razlogih za njihovo početje vemo zelo malo. V diplomski nalogi obravnavamo osnovne dejavnike morilske osebnosti in morebitne razloge za njihovo početje. V Združenih Državah Amerike, kjer so serijski morilci najdejavnejši (oz. vsaj največkrat zaznani) so pri FBI razvili metodo, ki naj bi bilo učinkovito sredstvo v preiskavah morilcev, ki morijo brez vidnega motiva. Nastalo je profiliranje, ki je temljijo na intervjujih z obsojenimi večkratnimi morilci. Po začnetnemu zanosu je metoda hitro postala tarča kritik strokovne javnost, med tem ko je bila laična javnost profilerjem zelo naklonjena (verjetno tudi kot posledica propagande v filmski industriji). V diplomski nalogi spoznamo različne pristope k profiliranju in glavna načela na katerih temeljijo ter skušamo ugotoviti utemeljenost zaupanja, ki ga laiki in tudi preiskovalci imajo v to metodo. Skozi teorijo, znanstvene raziskave in analizo uporabe v praksi spoznamo, da profiliranje nima pomembnejšega pridonosa k razrešitvi serijskih umorov kljub občasni točni napovedi karakteristik iskanega zločinca. Razloge za neuporabnost vidimo v neprofesionalizaciji profiliranja samega, utemeljitvah na podlagi netočnih ali nepodprtih predpostavk o serijskih morilcih ter preveliki posplošenosti opisov. Kljub trenutni neuporabnosti profiliranja smo mnenja, da je nadaljnji razvoj profiliranja smiseln, vendar s podporo ostalih ved na področju preiskovanja serijskih umorov, ki bodo pripomogle k večji uporabnosti te razvijajoče se metode.Serial murder as a phenomenon has always followed Mankind, however was not defined until the second half of the previous century. Serial murderers are amongst the most famous criminals, yet we know very little about the reasons behind their actions. In this thesis we present and analyse factors of a murderous personality and probable reasons for their actions. In the United States of America, where serial murderers are most active (or at least most often detected), the FBI developed a method, which is supposed to be an effective tool when investigating murderers who are killing without an obvious motive. This is how criminal profiling began. It was based on interviews with convicted serial murderers. After a promising beginning, criminal profiling quickly became a target of critics by the experts in the field, while the lay public was still very much in favour of criminal profilers (probably due to the propaganda in the movie industry). In the thesis we get to know different approaches towards criminal profiling as well as the main principles on which they are based on, furthermore we try to re-evaluate whether the confidence, shown by the lay public and certain investigators, in this method is justified. Through theory, scientific researches and analysis of practical applications we realize that criminal profiling does not have significant influence towards solving serial murders even though there were occasional accurate descriptions of offender’s characteristics. Reasons for its uselessness are seen through non-professionalism of criminal profiling itself, through conclusions that are derived based on inaccurate or unsupported assumptions regarding serial murderers, and overly generalized descriptions. In spite of current inapplicability of criminal profiling, we believe that further development of criminal profiling makes sense but only with the support of other sciences in the field of investigation of serial murders, which will contribute towards greater applicability of this evolving method