Offender Profiling: Theory, Research and Practice (Wiley Series in Psychology of Crime, Policing and Law) [Paperback]

Janet L. Jackson (Editor), Debra A. Bekerian (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471975656 | ISBN-13: 978-0471975656 | Publication Date: January 1, 1998 | Edition: 1

Most incidents of violent crime occur between people who know each other, but in other cases (fortunately much less frequent) there are no obvious ties between the victim and the criminal, and these cases cause a great deal of social fear and uncertainty. They also result in large-scale, costly investigations and, increasingly, police are collaborating with other professionals in a process of offender profiling which might help their investigation. This book is a substantial, unique and critical account of the scope and practice of offender profiling, and its limitations. Professionals worldwide, from psychiatry, psychology, criminology and policing, have contributed accounts of their experience and knowledge across a range of approaches to offender profiling. Some use a clinical approach, based on the application of established theories of personality and psychopathy. Others argue for the effectiveness of the objective analysis of offence records to predict future offending. Some of the police contributions provide a frank description of their methods, others address the difficult issues relating to the use of offender profiling. This is a controversial subject, full of potent myth, and the object of this book is to provide a cool overview of the related scientific knowledge, now spread over many journals and reports, as well as accounts of the process and difficulties of offender profiling. It will be useful and interesting to most scientists and professionals in the field of criminal justice. This book is in the Wiley Series in the Psychology of Crime, Policing and Law.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Most incidents of violent crime occur between people who know each other, but in other cases (fortunately much less frequent) there are no obvious ties between the victim and the criminal, and these cases cause a great deal of social fear and uncertainty. They also result in large-scale, costly investigations and, increasingly, police are collaborating with other professionals in a process of offender profiling which might help their investigation. This book is a substantial, unique and critical account of the scope and practice of offender profiling, and its limitations. Professionals worldwide, from psychiatry, psychology, criminology and policing, have contributed accounts of their experience and knowledge across a range of approaches to offender profiling. Some use a clinical approach, based on the application of established theories of personality and psychopathy. Others argue for the effectiveness of the objective analysis of offence records to predict future offending. Some of the police contributions provide a frank description of their methods, others address the difficult issues relating to the use of offender profiling. This is a controversial subject, full of potent myth, and the object of this book is to provide a cool overview of the related scientific knowledge, now spread over many journals and reports, as well as accounts of the process and difficulties of offender profiling. It will be useful and interesting to most scientists and professionals in the field of criminal justice. This book is in the Wiley Series in the Psychology of Crime, Policing and Law.

Product Details

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471975656
• ISBN-13: 978-0471975656
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,139,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful scholarly work on behavioral profiling., April 23, 1998

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[e-mail] (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Offender Profiling: Theory, Research and Practice (Wiley Series in Psychology of Crime, Policing and Law) (Paperback)

An excellent read for anyone who is interested in the science of profiling. Contains techniques and approaches that are unique to the field.

3 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A general overview of profiling, but has its weaknesses, June 7, 1998

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[e-mail] (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Offender Profiling: Theory, Research and Practice (Wiley Series in Psychology of Crime, Policing, and Law) (Paperback)

Generally, the book presents an average overview of offender profiling. However, the Editors give credit to the FBI in several passages for the rape model, power assertive, anger retaliatory, etc, but it was in fact Prentky and Knight who first developed this type of rape classification scheme. Also, the book claims to represent researchers' opinions from all around the world on 'profiling,' however, the fact is, there is not one American author in the book.

Maurice Godwin PhD

4 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Correction, February 5, 1999

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[e-mail] (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Offender Profiling: Theory, Research and Practice (Wiley Series in Psychology of Crime, Policing and Law) (Paperback)

In response to the below comment to my book review - I did not have an "out of print" of older edition of the book.

Generally, the book presents an average overview of offender profiling. However, the Editors give credit to the FBI in several passages for the rape model, power assertive, anger retaliatory, etc, but it was in fact Prentky and Knight who first developed this type of rape classification scheme. Also, the book claims to represent researchers' opinions from all around the world on 'profiling,' however, the fact is, there is not one American author in the book.

Maurice Godwin PhD --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.