Can criminal profiling identify a killer?

Criminal profiling promises a lot — being able to piece together a picture of a suspect through clues, intuition and psychology sounds great. But how reliable is it?

In our first episode of Forensic, a four-part series unpacking the psychological tools used to solve crimes, we examine the history of criminal profiling. How it got popular in the 1950s after bombings in New York City, its shortcomings when scrutinised by researchers, and the techniques it is built on that police deploy today (but with a lot more data).

Guests:

Michael CannellAuthor, Incendiary: The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber and the Invention of Criminal ProfilingFormer Editor, The New York Times

Professor Craig JacksonProfessor of Occupational Health PsychologyBirmingham City University

Dr Victoria BerezowskiLecturer, Forensic Science, Deakin University

Credits:

• Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar • Senior producer: James Bullen • Producer: Rose Kerr • Sound engineer: Isabella Tropiano

You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.

Further Information:

Incendiary - Michael CannellThe Organized/Disorganized Typology of Serial Murder: Myth or Model?Is criminal profiling dead? Should it be? Psychology TodayGeorge Metesky, the ‘Mad Bomber’ – WikipediaUnmasking the Mad Bomber – The Smithsonian, 2017A 16-Year Hunt For New York’s ‘Mad Bomber’ – NPR, 2011An overview of offender profiling – International Journal of Police Science and Management, 2024Offender profiling: a review of the research and state of the field – Police Psychology, 2021The Grit, Glamour and Gall of Criminal Profiling – The University of Arizona, 2021Casebook of a Crime Psychiatrist – James Brussel, 1968Dangerous Minds - The New Yorker