Criminal profiling is a process that depends upon the theory that the characteristics of an offender can be identified by an in depth analysis of the evidence involved in the crime committed, which is also referred to as criminal investigative analysis, investigative psychology, and psychological profiling.  In essence, the ultimate goal of criminal profiling is to determine an unknown criminal's most important personality and demographic characteristics by analyzing their crimes.

Contrary to popular belief, criminal profiling actually has a fairly long history. One of the very first criminal profiles developed was that of the "mad bomber" in 1956.  During the investigation of this case, New York City police crime lab turned to Dr. James A. Brussel; a psychiatrist who had completed counterintelligence profiling throughout World War II and the Korean War.  During the 1940s and 1950s, the "mad bomber" set off a number explosions across New York City, which were each followed along with threatening letters. Dr. Brussel analyzed the case materials, as well as these letters, to provide a profile of the likely personality characteristics of the unknown offender. Dr. Brussel was able to diagnose the offender with numerous mental disorders, and he provided demographic and physical characteristics. When the bomber was finally apprehended by the New York City police, the profile provided by Dr. Brussel was found to have a great deal of accuracy to the characteristics of the now apprehended offender.

Criminal profiling has an entire procedure that must be followed in order to complete a full profile of an unknown offender. The process begins with the organization of the evidence found at the crime scene and then, the evidence is categorized into patterns, which are analyzed to predict characteristics of the offender.  Then, once you have re-done all of your own interviews of people connected to the case, you put together a case linkage analysis, which talks about each victim and specific details found at each crime scene. In addition, you try to find a link between each crime scene by trying to define signature behaviors. All of this information is consolidated and an official profile is formed; this profile is then sent to those investigating the case, in hopes that it will aid the continuation of the investigation.  After the offender is apprehended, the accuracy of the profile is determined.

Despite the seemingly well-developed procedure for criminal profiling, there are many people who say that because criminal profiling is not an exact science it should not be a valid form of assistance during the investigation of a criminal case. One conclusion that the “belief that profilers can accurately and consistently predict a criminal’s characteristics based on crime scene evidence” is illusionary because there is a lack of “theoretical grounding and empirical support” of criminal profiling. In turn, they conclude that until criminal profiling is supported by scientific research, it should be approached with a “critical mind.”  A second source states that the “greatest mystery surrounding criminal profiling has been its growth despite an absence of robust scientific evidence to validate it.” This source, then concludes that “further research is required to enable objective validation of this practice in its different forms” and “until more is known, there is a case for caution in the acceptance and use of offender profiling.”  A third sources takes a more explanatory approach to explaining the accuracy of criminal profiling saying that; criminal profiling alone does not solve a case. Police work and forensic evidence help to solve a crime however, since personality does reflect behavior, one’s behavior at a crime scene can determine information about the unknown offender. 

Maybe criminal profiling does not of significant scientific basis but, it is something that advances based on other cases and past experiences. Human beings are always changing so, no one can predict what one will do while being 100% sure. Profilers may not be 100% accurate in their predictions but they work with basis on the thousands of cases they have seen, their years of experience, and their education. Criminal profiling is a tool that is used to help solve cases and will maybe even help to narrow the investigation. In 1997, a study to determine the statistical accuracy of criminal profiling was conducted and it concluded that of those who responded, 5.4% said that the profile helped apprehend the suspect, 82.6% said that the profile was operationally useful, and 60.9% said that the profile helped them to more fully understand the case at hand. ,  These percentages may not be extremely high however, criminal profiling should not be looked at as though it is some sort of clairvoyant ability that magically solves cases.  Criminal profiling is a tool, just like DNA comparison or fingerprint analysis, that aids in solving a case and it should be seen that way.

In the public eye, criminal profiling is seen very differently than it is on the television. Television shows like Criminal Minds and CSI create what is called a ‘CSI Effect’. In television shows like these, cases are portrayed as though they are solved within only an hour, when it actually takes weeks. Likewise, criminal profiling is seen as some exact thing that always catches the killer when, in reality it should not be viewed as though it should do the same.