Talk:Offender profiling

Question

Isn't "Offender profiling" known more widely simply as profiling? Maybe this page should be a redirect to an article titled profiling. Qaz 13:41, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

Slightly related, the article says "Psychological profiling is not the same as offender profiling and the two should not be confused.", yet "Psychological profiling" redirects to this page. Very confusing. 198.123.41.42 (talk) 06:25, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

Agreed it's confusing; is discussed at "Unmerge request" a few sections below. --CliffC (talk) 12:36, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

Merge request

Would someone please help me merge the two similarly titled articles?

• Offender Profiling
• offender profiling

Possibly other contributors were unaware that the Uppercase Title and lowercase title were two pages with precisely the same topic. Elabro 15:16, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

Support. According to naming convention 1.1, "Offender profiling" is the correct title. -MPD 00:22, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Consider it done. Other than the link and stub, the entire smaller article was contained within the larger, word for word. Not really a controversial decision. Deadsalmon 02:18, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

Another merge request

The Investigative psychology article appears to describe one method of offender profiling. Can somebody with expertise in the area determine if this is the case, and if it is appropriate to merge the content of the Investigative Psychology article into this article? Sagsaw 01:03, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Merge Request

I think we should let the investigative psychology stand as an individual article. We can give a "Main Article" link to it. --Cyril Thomas 15:27, 9 March 2007 (UTC) See Beyond Offender Profiling: The Need for an Investigative Psychology by Canter and Youngs 2004

Trivia

Can we have a trivia section and use Sherlock Holmes as an example of someone who used this techniques... 80.255.47.250 10:46, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Investigative Psychology is the science of Offender Profiling as I understand that Professor David Canter has developed. I don't think experts in this science use the term Offender Profiling anymore.

Good New Yorker article on profiling

[1] Remember 23:14, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Looks like Gladwell's been reading Wikipedia; I don't see anything in the Brussel/Metesky section I haven't seen elsewhere. --CliffC 14:27, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

I just finished this article and in spite of my above quibble about the first section, it's very interesting. Anyone wanting to read it should do so soon; the New Yorker only keeps its articles online for a few days. The title is Dangerous Minds: Criminal profiling made easy. Gladwell pretty much paints profiling as a bogus science. He talks about the incorrect BTK profiles and several other cases. About the Metesky case he criticizes Brussel's after-the-fact editing of his predictions and says, "Brussel did not really understand the mind of the Mad Bomber. He seems to have understood only that, if you make a great number of predictions, the ones that were wrong will soon be forgotten, and the ones that turn out to be true will make you famous.... It’s a party trick." --CliffC 17:51, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Unmerge request

I would like to reverse the redirect which is currently in place from "Psychological Profiling" to here: "Offender Profiling". Even in the first paragraph of this article it states:

 Psychological profiling is not the same as Criminal profiling and the two should not be confused

The article is about criminal profiling. No alternative entry exists, because of the merging, and therefore the confusion warned about in the first para is achieved and reinforced.

Also, why is this article within the WikiLaw project rather than the psychology project?

LookingGlass 10:37, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

I support your request, the two subjects are not the same. But to unmerge, someone would need to write a "Psychological Profiling" article to replace the current redirection here. A Google for that phrase suggests there is lots of material available, although many articles, including the one at the top of the list treat the two subjects as the same. As for 'Offender profiling' being in the Wikilaw project, to me that makes sense. --CliffC 16:26, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Paul Britton

Could it be possible to make an article from "Paul Britton" to this section on this article? I lack the skills on how to do so. Thanks. Halfang (talk) 01:38, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Subtle Vandalism?

Hitler always walked diagonally from one corner to another when crossing a room, and he whistled a marching tune. He feared syphilis, germs and moonlight, and loved severed heads.

Are these rather unlikely statements bona-fide contributions from the OSS profile, or has someone tried to sabotage the article? Textor (talk) 21:46, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

And who's to say that he didn't?

No, kidding, kidding... Good question; that text seems to have been there since the article was first written (as Offender Profiling, note capital P) on 27 September 2005. The article says these (rather annoying!) Hitler habits and beliefs were part of a "...profile of possible behavioural traits of Hitler, and his possible reactions to the idea of Germany losing World War II". I do not doubt that all of this is in Langer's report, and it just seems to lend weight to Malcolm Gladwell's above-mentioned opinion that profiling is a bogus science. Regards, CliffC (talk) 00:25, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

Adolf Hitler

The article states He feared syphilis, germs and moonlight, and loved severed heads. Having read the whole OSS psychological profile of Adolf Hitler I have issue with the latter part of this claim. No where, unless hidden in a German form of this document, does the writer claim that Adolf Hitler was afraid of Moonlight or that he enjoyed severed human heads... Unless someone can provide the source of these claims I think that it should remain Syphilis and germs only. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.200.162.14 (talk) 11:08, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

Profiler

I was surprised the TV show Profiler wasn't listed, since it's the show that really shined the light on the technique long before Criminal Minds existed. Consequently, I added it to the list. 71.202.238.214 (talk) 03:05, 1 October 2008 (UTC)