Study Criminal Investigation and Criminal Profiling by Remote Learning
Increase your understanding of -
- Criminal Behaviour
- Criminal Investigation
- Criminal psychology
- Victimology
This course is studied by remote learning, so you can -
- Study at a pace to suit you
- Study where you want to
- Study to fit in around your work and personal life
Increase your understanding of criminal behaviour and investigation as a way to improve your job and career prospects.
Course Content
The course has ten lessons -
- Introduction to Criminal Profiling
- Profiling Methods
- Crime Scene Analysis
- Offender Characteristics
- Victimology
- Offender Profiling – Sexual Crimes
- Offender Profiling – Violent Crimes
- Offender Profiling – White Collar Crimes
- Offender Profiling – Victimless Crimes, Consensual Crimes and Other Crimes
- Profiling in Action
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the
school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any
relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Aims
- Describe the nature and scope of criminal profiling.
- Explain different methods used for criminal profiling.
- Describe how a crime scene may be analysed.
- Describe criminal offender characteristics.
- Describe different types of victims.
- Describe the common profiles of sex crime offenders and victim profiles.
- Describe the common profiles of violent crime offenders.
- Describe common profiles of white-collar crime offenders.
- Apply criminal profiling to victimless crimes, consensual crimes, and other crimes.
- Discuss the application of criminal profiling, and its importance to society.
Sample Course Notes
Profilers may examine evidence at a crime scene or, more usually, examine crime scene photographs and evidence which has been taken from a crime scene, and relate it to specific types of behaviour. For example, they may look at the general location of the crime, how the victim was killed or assaulted, where exactly the crime took place at the crime scene, the type and location of wounds on the victim, how the victim’s body was positioned, time of day, etc. All this evidence can provide clues about how the perpetrator behaved at the crime scene which can help to narrow down the suspect pool.
Crime Scene Evidence
Physical crime scene evidence can be used to reconstruct the crime scene and to try and determine a sequence of events, where a crime took place, what happened during the commission of a crime, etc. Alternative hypotheses may be examined and abandoned during this phase. However, no matter how scientific the procedure, the conclusions are never certain. Crime scene reconstruction is beyond the scope of this course. Instead, we shall focus on crime scene characteristics. These are those elements of a crime scene which relate to offender behaviour and their actions towards their victims.
Crime scene characteristics can help with ongoing investigations, to inform research, or for case linkage purposes.
Crime Scene Location
Examining evidence from the location of a crime can be problematic for profilers. With serial crimes there are multiple locations. Also, whenever a crime takes place, there may be multiple locations which need to be examined. For example, a victim may be abducted in one location, killed in another location, and have their body dumped at a different location – so the vehicle they were transported in also needs to be examined. Therefore, profilers often refer to a ‘crime scene set’. Offenders who are more organised and who have greater mobility are likely to use multiple locations.
Locations may be described as one of four types: indoors, outdoors, in vehicles, or underwater (e.g., in water next to bridges where bodies have been thrown off).
Who Should Study This Course?
This course is great for anyone who wants to study around their existing work and home life. The course is studied online, so you can study when and where suits you, at your own pace.
It is also useful for anyone who wants to develop their knowledge or expand their knowledge of criminal behaviour and investigation, such as people working in -
- social work
- youth work
- counselling
- prisons
- criminal justice
- law enforcement
- caring
- victim support
- and more.
Enrol at any time to suit you!
