Criminal Psychology 1

An Evaluation of Criminal Psychology and How it is Portrayed on Television

Tatem Crenshaw
Glen Allen High School

Criminal Psychology 2
Introduction:
As technology is on the rise, cable TV has vastly grown and produced countless amounts
of programs all competing for viewers. A recent trend in the creation of new TV shows has been
the thriller and/or mystery genre, thus producing the rise in shows featuring criminal
investigations and trials. Attempting to demonstrate the processes of investigations, the people
involved such as policemen, forensics teams, investigators, and more are shown playing their
part in the process. Through this portrayal, the audience is exposed to a very serious and
important occupation in law enforcement. Sparking an interest for the viewers, the profession of
criminal psychology has begun to grow with popularity as it is influenced from the media after
they are researching it and trying it out for themselves. As TV shows like Criminal Minds and
CSI gain ratings, there is an important question to be asked on behalf of the audience. What
exactly is criminal psychology and how accurately is it portrayed on TV?
Job Requirements of Criminal Psychology:
A criminal psychologist is someone who assesses the mental state of an individual who
has committed a criminal offense and creates a profile used for investigations (Criminal
Psychologist Career Info, 2003). A criminal profile consists of information about the crime and
suspect which helps investigators find, and/or prosecute a suspect. It includes details about the
suspect and the crime, especially focusing on their mental state or motive. It provides law
enforcement with an idea of what kind of criminal they are dealing with and helps to solve
crimes by looking into the details of the case.
While it is closely related to forensic psychology, it is less geared towards the science of
dealing with DNA and more toward the psychology aspect. While forensic teams do work with

Criminal Psychology 3
criminal psychologists, they both have separate agendas. Started during the 1940s, criminal
psychology and profiling was used in World War II and is currently used by the FBI and other
law enforcement agencies ranging from county to national levels (Cherry, n.d.). Criminal
psychologists focus on looking into the mental tendencies and behaviors of the suspect. If they
do not have a suspect, they will study the scene and methods of past criminals to try and find a
suspect who fits the profile. This profession is taken very seriously and it takes years of
education to obtain a good position.
Requirements for the job normally include a doctorate in psychology for professional
jobs. It is mandatory that people working in the field have at least a bachelors degree. Each state
has different licensure and certification requirements that criminal psychologists have to meet in
order to obtain their license to work. Not all criminal psychologists get certified in a specialty
area, but most all of them get their license as it is usually required. On top of this, candidates
must have a year of professional experience before working alone. There are fourteen different
certifications that may be received in psychology specialties that require a passing examination
score to receive, as do licenses. Some of these include different types and focuses of psychology.
The specialties which psychologists can be certified in open up more doors for very specific jobs
in the psychology field, they help Criminal Psychologists are employed on the federal, state, and
local level and some may be self-employed independent consultants (Cherry, n.d.).
Job Duties in Criminal Psychology:
Criminal psychologists begin their job with a new investigation. Like local law
enforcement, they go to the scene and assess all of the aspects of the crime. They take
information on the body to see what kinds of injuries were inflicted that are visible. They note
the gender of the victim, the specific position the body is in, age, build, and any other small

Criminal Psychology 4
details on the body or the scene that seem suspicious in any way. Next, they work with police to
assess the crime scene and any clues that were left there. The crime scene investigators report
things found at the scene and take them as evidence. Any weapons recovered are noted by the
criminal psychologists and pictures of the scene or a 3D scan can be obtained for use later on.
After this evaluation is done, the forensics team steps in. If a case has not produced many
leads, it is very important that the forensics team collects evidence at the scene so they can
analyze DNA or any fingerprints. Upon recovering any findings, the criminal psychologists can
use this information to help put together a profile faster with sufficient evidence. It is also
important that the autopsy report is examined to determine if any substances were a factor and
what the exact cause of death was in the crime. Autopsies can provide additional clues that were
not visible at the original crime scene which may be influential on where the criminal
psychologists go next with their investigation. When any of this information is missing, it makes
the job even harder for criminal psychologists because they are left to try and piece together the
information as the investigation goes on. There could be tips that come in years after a crime has
occurred, showing the reality of how long the investigations really take and how often they may
or may not be successful. After all of this information is collected, the next and most important
step is criminal profiling.
Criminal profiling is the largest component of what criminal psychologists do in a
criminal investigation and in their work on a daily basis. The basic principles they begin with are
figuring out if there was planning of the crime. More often than not, criminal psychologists are
creating profiles for homicides. However, it does not always have to be a homicide. It could be a
series of burglaries, or other incidents where it is necessary to find the suspect. Criminal
psychologists work all different types of cases. Any type of incident where it takes a team to

Criminal Psychology 5
figure out the motive and the mental status of a person before, during, or after the crime, the
criminal psychologists are asked to step in to help investigations.
There are two types of profiling, inductive and deductive. Inductive allows for the rapid
generation of leads about the unknown subject, while deductive produces fewer leads and is
often more accurate (Huet, 2012). Inductive profiling is based on broad generalizations as well
as statistical analysis of collected data on methods and mannerisms of criminals. Deductive
profiling is based on a more forensic approach. This approach often looks more at physical
and/or behavioral patterns that may have occurred in a series of crimes. Deductive profiling also
utilizes theories that are acquired at the crime scene which may be more obvious. Because each
situation is different, criminal psychologists use whatever method is best for the case at hand.
Each crime scene is different, the people working on the case all work separately to
benefit each other (Winerman, 2004). For example, the forensics team attempts to find DNA to
provide for criminal psychologists and law enforcement so that the information of the suspect
can be sent to the criminal psychologists to get the profile going. In addition, criminal
psychologists are often asked to evaluate the risk of recidivism and make educated guesses of
how they could potentially react.
When there is not any DNA evidence or other evidence at the scene pointing towards a
suspect, criminal psychologists are forced to use a different method. They use victimology. This
is the study of the victim at the crime scene and the state at which they were in. This is used in
homicide cases for the most part. What the criminal psychologists will do is take all the notes
they have on the body and their belongings and study them. They can then look into the
background of the victim. They will start by identifying them and looking to see if they had any
conflicts in their daily life. They can also look at people who they are surrounded by like

Criminal Psychology 6
coworkers and friends to see if any stick out as potential suspects in the case. Cold cases often
come to dead ends when no leads come up even after using the backup plan of victimology.
Criminal Psychologists are also often asked to provide expert testimony in court or to
assist in the interviewing processes. This is a common job as many suspects in crimes plead to
being mentally ill, but this has to be assessed by the criminal psychologists and is different for
every person and every case. An extension to this job that has been recently created in computerrelated fields where some criminal psychologists are studying internet predators and
investigating online fraud (Cherry, n.d.). This is becoming such an important job that is quickly
acquiring new employees because technology is expanding rapidly and people put a lot of
information about themselves on line, and things can be traced. This is helpful in cases when
police run out of leads because it can open new doors by tracing the suspects computer activity
as well as tracing their messages and phone calls.
Fact vs. Fiction:
The truth is no amount of episodes, or even seasons can portray every detail of the jobs
criminal psychologists do. But of what they do show, how accurate is it? Most law enforcement
TV shows are particularly misleading when it comes to criminal profiling, the most important
and detailed part of the job (Huet, 2012). Huet goes on to say, the reason you dont see more
programs dealing with actual profiling is that its rarely exciting.
Criminal Minds focuses on criminal profiling more often than other shows, yet it still
does not give it more than a few minutes of air-time. In the show, the team of criminal
psychologists are portrayed to be the BAU or behavioral analysis unit from Quantico. The
criminal psychologists themselves are the ones who solve the crimes and are portrayed to arrest

Criminal Psychology 7
the suspects which creates the drama. In Criminal Minds, the criminal psychologists quickly
create a profile within a matter of hours and make many assumptions about the suspect. In reality
this process is much more intricate, but is shortened for the purposes of entertainment. In reality,
there are no exciting chases, [and] no showdowns (Huet, 2012). The largest issue in this show
is that this team of specialists are known for solving their crimes in days. They fly out to the
location with a basic profile already created and then carry out interviews and arrests. With the
combination of collecting all the information on the crime scene and crime itself, creating a
criminal profile can be an extremely grueling process. It would be highly unlikely for a team of
criminal psychologists to be able to figure out strong theories and suspects based on profiles in
this amount of time. However, one interesting true aspect of the show is a character named
Penelope whose sole job is to work via the computer to help the investigation. This science is up
and coming and because technology is more commonly used, there are many

ways to find out

information from online sources and makes things a lot more accessible for the psychologists,
making it easier for them to do their job and work with investigators and she plays an essential
part in their profiling, providing most of the information.
The hit TV show CSI portrays more action at the crime scene with the psychologists.
When asked if the show accurately depicted the job of a criminal psychologist, they answered
no. However, the long answer was that the show does accurately represent certain aspects
scientifically speaking CSI sometimes misses the mark (Layton, n.d.). Additionally, they focus
more on forensic information which is not part of the job of a criminal psychologist. The show
portrays it as they are all three in one; criminal psychologists, law enforcement, and the forensics
team. In the show, there are different members of the team who do different things. There are a
few people who go to investigate the scene, and some of those also work on forensics. They

Criminal Psychology 8
bring back things and test them themselves, whereas normally, the criminal psychologists would
just get information from the forensics team when they had finished doing their job. Their
forensics unit also uses unrealistic tools that finish DNA tests within seconds and they portray a
face-recognition system to be very accurate. Instead of relying on hard evidence, they take a
picture of the suspect and put it into the system, bringing up a previously made profile by law
enforcement. An issue with this is that not all criminals have a previous record (or have been
prosecuted for it). Many times there are no cameras around and therefore no pictures of the
suspect, making it unrealistic as well. Similar to Criminal Minds, the members of the team
actively seek out the suspect and act as police men. They chase and catch the suspects adding
drama that normally would not be involved with the psychologists at all. This makes the show
more dramatic and makes everything fit together more, but it confuses the different job
descriptions with each other.
The point of these TV shows is to portray what happens in reality to some degree, but
when the drama to create the thrill for the audience is added in, scientific details that would not
necessarily be entertaining themselves are usually lost. As Layton (n.d.) states, viewers dont
want to watch a bunch of CSIs waiting around for a warrant, the details and time range are
impossible to fit into a short episode. They combine occupations tied with crime scene
investigation that do not realistically blend, even though they do work alongside each other. The
time that it can potentially take for a criminal psychologists criminal profile to be created can be
severely cut short that it makes the work of finding suspected criminals unrealistic. It also creates
a false perception of how real investigations are composed and the difficulty that all parties
involved have with it. There is also a significant under coverage of the portrayal of importance of

Criminal Psychology 9
information about the suspects mental health which is not always addressed in television shows,
as it is one of the biggest parts of the profile.
Conclusion:
Essentially, with the details in the profession of criminal psychology there is a lot of
background knowledge and attention to detail needed when working. It can take long periods of
time to help solve cases which involves a lot of waiting and research for each individual case.
Additionally, when any details are missing in an investigation it can hold things up. Because
each case is so different, everything a criminal psychologist has to do is individualized for each
new investigation. It takes determined criminal psychologists to help create a very accurate
profile in order to help law enforcement.
With the knowledge of the profession in reality, this will lead to investigating and further
research on what is left out of the TV shows and how important those aspects are and how they
play into the job. People who are interested in the job become cognizant of these aspects as they
work towards it and learn the importance of it. Additionally, the length of the process will be
evaluated along with how the prosecuting of the criminal is and the criminal psychologists real
role in doing so.
TV shows inaccurately portray the profession of criminal psychology as they shorten the
details of the criminal profiling process and oversimplify the investigation. It is important for
viewers to know this information because it is significant to the job and would change the way
the show were to work if it were to be portrayed accurately. It could also help broaden the
amount of people interested in the job to see it more realistically portrayed. Naturally, not

Criminal Psychology 10
everything would be able to fit in full detail into TV episodes, but small adjustments like
redefining the specific roles of characters and what they do could be adjusted.
For example, the criminal psychologist investigators on CSI could do less forensic work
and talk more often about putting together profiles. Instead of using the facial recognition
system, they would need to show how the criminal psychologists interact with the forensics team
to get information about the things they find at the crime scene. There would also be the splitting
of different teams. This way people would not have more than one job, they would only be
focusing on law enforcement, forensics, or criminal psychology. This way the interaction
between the different groups of crime scene investigators would have a really neat and realistic
portrayal on TV.
In Criminal Minds, the criminal profiling process is focused on more by looking into
different suspects. However, they do come to conclusions too quickly. In order to make
adjustments, they would need to portray how they cannot always put together a perfect profile.
Instead of traveling to the area of the crime and solving it in a matter of days, it would have to be
on a larger scale time-wise. Like CSI, it would be important to split up the jobs of criminal
psychology and law enforcement. They would need to split the two to have a really accurate
image of how the investigations work. One thing that Criminal Minds does is show some very
realistic crimes and how forensics are used. They focus a lot more on the mental aspects of the
criminal and what the criminal may be thinking. They examine the motive and also use
victimology in the show while they combine it with profiling. The characters are addressed by
Dr. making it clear the level of education they had to get the job and how important they are.
A common misconception on all TV shows is that many of the clues are apparent and
already there. Unfortunately, this is largely untrue and in reality, many cases go cold and when

Criminal Psychology 11
investigators dont have a lot to work with they cant give a lot of information to the criminal
psychologists and therefore they cannot create a good profile which does not help the case. In
both CSI and Criminal Minds the evidence comes really easily. Whether it be online and finding
their cell phone records or location, or a perfect fingerprint at the crime scene, it is not that easy
at crime scenes for real life criminal psychologists and crime scene investigators.
Instead of accurately portraying one job, all of the jobs surrounding investigations are
often combined together. While they all give each other information they do not work as closely
as they are portrayed. They do not show all of the different aspects that criminal investigators
need to know before really launching a full investigation. The detail put into assessing the crime
scene and the state of the body should be shown more as well as any theories formed at the crime
scene upon arrival. These differences are important because they create an unrealistic expectation
of investigations in reality. With the mix of fact and fiction in TV shows, the similarities to the
real life professions that they are trying to portray are becoming more skewed and twisted. This
is done in such a way that would not be recognizable to people who are not educated on the topic
which is what creates the misconception. In order to fix the problem, the over simplification
needs to be changed and different aspects need to be addressed in a new way. Slight changes and
adjustments in TV shows will change the thriller/crime genre to be more realistic as a whole, and
give the viewers a very real experience into the life of criminal psychologists and crime scene
investigators.

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http://www.becca-online.org/images/Inductive_Reasoning_-_Benny.pdf
Cherry, K. (2015). Criminal Psychologist: A Career Profile. Retrieved March 22, 2015, from:
http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologycareerprofiles/p/criminal-psychologist.htm
Criminal Psychologist Career Info, Job Duties and Requirements. (2003). Retrieved March 20,
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http://www.drmauricegodwin.com/inductiveprofiling.html
Huet, W. (2012, October 11). Uncovering the Truth: The Reality of Criminal Profiling. Retrieved
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http://www.livescience.com/13083-criminals-brain-neuroscience-ethics.html

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Rosevear, P. (2006). Real-Life 'Criminal Minds'. Retrieved March 20, 2015, from:
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