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spontaneity and assessment of other similar cases. The most of these crime profiling phases which professor
Modly talks about could not be performed without victimology profiling.
Betty Grayson and Morris I. Stein conducted a research and sought to find the criteria by which
perpetrators select their victims. The survey was conducted in the way that they recorded several pedestrians
in the busiest street in New York and played those recordings to the criminals who were convicted for
violent crimes (rape, murder, robbery, etc.) in order to choose persons from pictures which will be an easy
“pray” according to their opinion. In the victim selection, convicts had clear consensus among them,
although their choice had not been based on sex, race or age, but on their personal assessment of the victims‟
resistance. Perpetrators evaluated easiness with which they could overpower the victim on the basis of
several nonverbal signals, like: posture, body language, pace rhythm, stride length and public sense.
Psychologist call these signs “filters” or personal attributes which enhance possibility for someone to
become offense victim, and this research confirms that if we understand why and how the perpetrator has
selected specific person as a victim, then there is a great possibility to establish connection between the
perpetrator and the victim (geographic, business, school, social or some other) and to predict the next victim.
Thus, it is obvious that there is no crime without the victim, from which we conclude
that the victim is active
and passive source of information of crime for every criminal detective. Victimology profile creation is an
essential part of every criminal investigation.
The victimology profile is in fact an integral part of crime profiling or beginning of an investigation.
Essentially we differentiate perspective and retro perspective profiling, and both represent the perpetrator‟s
profile forming based on the collection of different knowledge, collection of facts about some case or
specific attempt to define personality and behavioral characteristics of an individual responsible for a
specific crime or series of crimes. The creation of victimology profile, weather it is perspective or retro
perspective profile is focused on identification and perpetrator arrest. Profiling also depends on two different
techniques, so we differentiate inductive and deductive profiling, which connects specificities from a crime
scene in a simple manner and enables the use of data from the past crimes and their perpetrators in order to
create assessments that point to crime perpetrators. Deductive profiling is a complex process because it
involves the use of evidence of crimes that should open a window into the mind of those who
are involved in
crime or who committed it, so it relies on other relevant evidence, such as all the details concerning the
victim, which are included and used to produce the finished profile of the perpetrator based on the profile of
the victims.
Unlike deductive, inductive profiling is based on criminological profile or profiling perpetrators.
According to the Dictionary of Criminology, a profile is “representation of characteristics (abilities or
personality attributes) of an individual, which clearly shows his strengths and weaknesses” (Modly and
Korajlic; 2002:514). The word profiling (fr. profiler, ital. profilare) implies to present a body or figure how it
looks from the side, to draw in cross-section, to derive shape or parts of buildings in cross-section. The
killings in 70s initiated the introduction of crime profiling as operational techniques.
Profilers are otherwise a very important institution in the FBI teams and they are the agents who
analyze the crime scene with a single research method and look for details which lead to the perpetrator, try
to flash how the perpetrator had thought and how he reacted on the key victim marks.
Personality profiling of
an offense assumes application of specific knowledge and knowledge of victimology and criminology.
Victimology and criminological profiling in essence contribute to the success of arrest and punishment of the
crime perpetrator. As it was proven, for more successful criminological and victimology profiling it is
necessary to possess electronic database about perpetrators, database on victim identification data, which
means that in the everyday work of law enforcement agencies, technical and technological achievements and
computerization greatly contribute in the perpetrator identification and punishment, under condition that
these databases are well designed and if they are regularly updated and new data are added. Victimology
profiling elements of crime victims include physical characteristics, occupation, medical history, last
activities, marital status, education, personal lifestyle and demography. There is probably not a single
element in criminal proceedings which is more neglected than victim; that is why FBI, i.e. its unit for
behavioral sciences, has been actively collecting data on social characteristics, victim behavior and
reputation. One of the most obvious elements in victim profiling is the physical description. Besides that, as
much as it is possible, data on victim‟s marital status and on the victim‟s everyday life and their character
should be collected. Knowing the victim and the victim‟s occupations and educational level, spreads the
networks connection. Besides that, the victim‟s residence can play a vital role in the victimization process,
while the benefits of knowing the victim‟s history of disease includes information about infectious diseases
and body identification. Through developing any victimology profile, special attention should be paid to
specific characteristic of victim and the victim‟s activities prior to the crime. The intent of this chapter is to