Offender profiling

Those investigating crimes have always tried to formulate some idea of the characteristics of unknown culprits as an aid to finding and convicting them. This parallels the generals of Ancient Rome building a picture of the Barbarian leaders they would face in battle. It is therefore not surprising, as discussed by Canter (1995a), that as long ago as 1888, when Jack the Ripper stalked the streets of London, some attempt was made to produce a description of the person who had committed these still unsolved crimes