Investigative Psychology: Offender Profiling & Criminal Psychogeography ((3,4 Credits))

Catalog description

This course examines “investigative psychology”, a branch of the discipline which concerns itself with criminal action and attendant psychological processes/behavioral actions which are said to occasion or accompany such action. It has a much narrower focus than forensic psychology, being largely focused on criminal activity and police investigation, and primarily originated from the work of Professor David Canter who was invited to aid an investigation into a serial rapist in the UK. From its very outset, it was very much focused on its practical application. The entire idea of criminal profiling remains controversial. It is still far from clear whether it is a task which can be accomplished. It is often portrayed in the media as an art or an intuitive skill set. Allied of course, to a “knowledge” of the elusive psychopathology of the unknown criminal via psychodiagnostic assessment, psychobiographies and evidence from previous cases, finally contributing to the “profile”. Or, as some have objected, the “guess”. Nevertheless, offender profiling has been extended far beyond its original remit of serious crime and its original classificatory system of organized/disorganized crime. In addition, it does seem able, to some extent, to offer some insight into the mode and manner in which criminals interact with, and within, their physical environment, predicting home locations of serial offenders.