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 Cannell Author, Incendiary: The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber and the Invention of Criminal Profiling Former Editor, The New York Times Professor Craig Jackson Professor of Occupational Health Psychology Birmingham City University Dr Victoria Berezowski Lecturer, 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 Cannell The Organized/Disorganized Typology of Serial Murder: Myth or Model? Is criminal profiling dead? Should it be? Psychology Today George Metesky, the ‘Mad Bomber’ – Wikipedia Unmasking the Mad Bomber – The Smithsonian, 2017 A 16-Year Hunt For New York’s ‘Mad Bomber’ – NPR, 2011 An overview of offender profiling – International Journal of Police Science and Management, 2024 Offender profiling: a review of the research and state of the field – Police Psychology, 2021 The Grit, Glamour and Gall of Criminal Profiling – The University of Arizona, 2021 Casebook of a Crime Psychiatrist – James Brussel, 1968 Dangerous Minds - The New Yorker