Investigative Relevance

Abstract

Criminal profiling is one tool available to investigative agencies that may assist in narrowing suspect pools, linking crimes, providing relevant leads and new investigative strategies, and keeping the overall investigation on track (Turvey, 2008). However, like a flashlight in a darkened room, profiling may not always provide valuable assistance if it shines in the wrong direction or fails to shine at all. In a perfect world, profiles are intended to provide investigators with a set of refined characteristics of the offender for a crime or a crime series that will assist their efforts. In contrast, it could be argued that profiles are not intended to provide information that may be irrelevant, unclear, confusing, or distracting to these efforts. Any information provided within the profile that does not assist in narrowing suspect pools or providing new avenues of inquiry is left open to misinterpretation and is therefore potentially damaging (Turvey, 2008). The degree to which information provided in a profile can actually be utilized by investigators to meet their goals is known as investigative relevance. This chapter examines whether criminal profiles actually provide the assistance they are meant to provide - that is, whether they are investigatively relevant or whether they are distracting and of little value to investigators. This chapter discusses some of the critical issues in investigative relevance and presents the results of research conducted by the author. It is shown throughout that the various types of profiles differ greatly in how much they acknowledge, and strive toward, investigative relevance. Before examining the research on investigative relevance, the goals of profiling and the information used and subsequently provided are examined.