Profiling violent crimes : an investigative tool /

Holmes, one of the few academic experts in this field, contends that profiling crime with the assistance of computerized monitoring can become a scientifically sophisticated method for criminal investigation. He draws upon his experience with more than 50 homicide and rape cases and interviews with convicted murderers, framed within concepts from the behavioral sciences (frustration/aggression, the criminal personality, psychopathy, and strain theory) to support his thesis. Arguments for a wider employment of profiling are prefaced with caveats: "Profiles are not as neat as in fiction. . . . There is little empirical data to substantiate a criminal syndrome"; the FBI found profiling useful only 15 of the time. The author notes that profiling is not suitable for all cases, yet he contends that it may be practical in assisting the police in those cases where "motives of normal' killings are absent" and where the "unknown perpetrator has exhibited signs of psychopathy." Despite this flawed assumption (i.e., the validity of psychopathology), the book is well written albeit with fascinating and chilling descriptions of heinous crimes, and it provides models for the analysis of crime scenes--serial murders, rape, satanic murder, and the role of the victim--in criminal investigation. Community college, undergraduate, and public libraries. P. M. Wickman SUNY College at Potsdam