Profiling in Policy and Practice

'Profilers' and 'Profiling' are now widely discussed, often with almost mythical respect. This is the first volume to cut through the confusions and misunderstandings surrounding this topic to report on detailed, original, scientific research that examines the variations in criminal behaviour from which any 'profile' must be derived. The studies included examine both early approaches to the field and the future problems and potential for an Investigative Psychology approach of offender profiling. This book will be of great value to all those who have been waiting for a scientific, psychological basis to police investigations. It will be read with interest by those who want to get behind the rhetoric and controversy that surrounds 'offender profiling' and require an up to date account of current research and recent discoveries.

Contents: Profiling in policy and practice, Laurence Alison and David Canter; Professional, legal and ethical issues in offender profiling, Laurence Alison and David Canter; Mobsters are human too, Petrus van Duyne; Social science perspectives on the analysis of investigative interviews, Nigel Fielding; False allegations of child sexual abuse, Ray Aldridge-Morris; Equivocal death, David Canter; Approaches to the scientific attribution of authorship, Joy P. Aked, David Canter, Anthony J. Sanford and Nichola Smith; Psychologists as expert witnesses, Kathleen Cox; Criminal profiling: trial by judge and jury, not criminal psychologist, David Ormerod.

David Canter, Laurence Alison