Running Head: Psychological Autopsy and Profiling

Psychological Autopsy and Profiling

Dr. Lansana Bockarie

PhD.
 Psychological Autopsy and Profiling

Psychological Autopsy (PA) has been regarded as one of the most important tools for

conducting research on a suicide. With the help of this method every data and information

regarding the deceased can be collected by conducting structured interviews on the members of

the family of the deceased, their acquaintances, relatives or friends or the primary caregiver who

had been attending the deceased (Zhou et al., 2019). Furthermore, certain data and information is

extracted from the previous records of general health and psychiatric issues as well as documents

including the forensic reports. The aim of this study is to analyze the importance of

psychological autopsy and profiling as an investigative tool and tracing its significance in the

current research.

1 Psychological Autopsy and Profiling

A psychological autopsy is a synthesis of the data that has been gathered from multiple

sources like interviews, documents like forensic and health reports as well as other informants.

With the help of this information an investigation is conducted to analyze the role of the

deceased for their demise. The data and information that has been collected through the

psychological autopsy helps in reconstructing the background of the deceased in the sense that it

traces the interpersonal relationships, the character, habits, and coping mechanisms of the

deceased. The aim of conducting a psychological autopsy is to understand the connection

between the patterns of life of the deceased and their death (Gelles, 1995).

One more important tool in the field of investigative analysis is known as criminal

profiling. This is also known as the Criminal Investigative Analysis. In the realm of forensic
 criminology profiling is used in order to analyze the patterns of behavior of a certain criminal

offender. With the help of profiling inferences are drawn about the habits of the criminal,

whether it is physical, psychological or vocational (in rare cases). Criminal profiling can be

conducted in various ways, and every way can be distinguished clearly from the other. While

certain methods are more generalist and abstract and can be effectively used in predicting

characteristics of the criminal offenders, others appear to be more concrete and static in

description (Yatsenko, 2021).

Psychological profiling of criminals has been used as a tool to conduct an examination of

the patterns of behavior in a criminal scene or in case of a series of crimes to help in the

construction of an illustrative pattern of behavior by the probable criminal. Law enforcement

agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has conducted criminal profiling cases in

2 order to get to the root Autopsy

Psychological of the crime
and and narrow down the process of investigation (Neal, 2018).
Profiling

Criminal profiling cannot help in providing the particular identity of the criminal; however, it

aids the investigative process by describing certain traits and behavioral patterns of the probable

criminal such as age or status of employment. It helps in the process of identification of the

major traits in terms of behavior and personality on the basis of conducting a thorough

examination of the criminal acts committed by them (Mérelle et al., 2020).

Investigations around death usually makes use of the two techniques (criminal profiling

and psychological autopsy) to trace out evidence in patterns of behavior that can act as a cue to

the investigative process and help in providing the missing pieces for the successful completion

of the investigation. Both of these tools help in reconstructing the incident of death which can

help in determining the way in which the investigation should progress and also helps in
 prioritizing and specifying leads for the purpose of understanding the manner of death.

Oftentimes the psychological dimension is neglected by the investigators, however it is this

dimension which helps in the identification of cues, providing accurate leads and correcting

baseless assumptions of the criminal act (Baugerud et al., 2020)

On certain rare cases it becomes impossible to chalk out the manner of death, and

sometimes it so happens that people are categorized as victims by error of investigative process.

There are many places where jurisdictions are unable to hire professional consultants for

conducting these analyses, and in those cases past research work around the same provide help.

In case the incidents that surround the incident of death are deemed to be equivocal,

psychological autopsy is often done by hired behavioral consultants (Binghampton et al., 2009).

3 Since there are aAutopsy

Psychological huge number of labels as well as notions, the realm of criminal profiling
and Profiling
has sometimes been regarded to be less credible within the jurisdiction and more often the public

domains. In addition to this, oftentimes, the results of the investigative process are not uniform.

As an outcome of this, a good deal of ethical concerns is raised regarding the conceptual

framework of criminal profiling. Behavioral psychologists work in conjunction with law

enforcement agencies for the integration of behavioral science into the investigative process of

profiling. In the recent era, profiling has been seen to be resting somewhere in between

behavioral psychology and legal enforcement. As a domain of science, it can still be considered

to be new and it is hedged within the boundaries and restrictive notions (Kocsis, 2018).

On the other hand, psychological autopsy also comes with its inherent shortcomings.

Most of the problems or controversies regarding psychological autopsy stem from issues in
 methodology. Oftentimes biases arise with respect to the sampling techniques and on the basis of

the criteria for selecting control subjects, the impact of extraneous variables are often

confounded as well as the reliability of the instruments used during the process of investigation.

The lack of homogeneity in the previous research data and in studies that have been conducted

over time in relation to the procedural employment along with the dearth of definitive guidelines

for conducting an inquiry of this nature have been deemed to be the major shortcomings of this

investigative process (Gelles, 1995).

However, with a huge rise in the number of research and studies on psychological

autopsy in the recent era, even with all the methodological shortcomings, a pertinent question

is whether or not there is a prevalence of cases of a specific number which constitutes the

basis of evidence (Ireland et al., 2017). It has been opined that the most serious

4 Psychological
methodological Autopsy
concerns andinProfiling
evident PA studies have not been subjected to the amount of

attention they are deserving of. Since the studies of psychological autopsy have been

regarded as the most essential contributor for the creation of an “evidence base” for detecting

or diagnosing the connection between mental illness and suicide, it is important to conduct a

thorough examination of the ways in which information is collected and the ways in which

psychiatric diagnoses are allocated in studies like these. Past studies which took on the task

of investigation of the reliability and authenticity of psychological autopsy, might have

overlooked or neglected one of the major fundamental issues within research, which is the

significance of selecting a method which can be appropriate for answering the major

questions of research (Crawford, 2020). The most pertinent as well as relevant question is

whether or not it is possible to make psychiatric diagnoses regarding a person who has
 already been deceased by conducting interviews of other people related to that person (the

deceased).

There are a huge number of studies that have pointed out the fact that maximum

number of psychological autopsies have made use of lesser known or non-standardized

instruments for the diagnosis that have been established particularly for these individual

studies. More often than not notions of these instruments are not up to the mark and

oftentimes even ambiguous and therefore there is not a lot of data or knowledge regarding

their reliability and validity which affects the results of these studies and makes them

questionable. Though there are certain cases in which standardized instruments have been

used for the purpose of diagnosis for example, varied versions of the Schedule in case of

Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (Fischler, 2001).

5 Psychological Autopsy and Profiling

The psychology of investigation which has been developed by David Canter is reliant

upon the data that already exists and its quality. Predicated by empirically vigorous examinations

of the traits of criminals, Investigative psychology (IP) holds the stance that it can be possible to

advance certain theories and hypotheses on the basis of a large number of violent actions of the

criminal offenders. Therefore, it appears to be possible to establish a relation between actions of

the criminal offender and the characteristics that have been identified or established. Modus

operandi, traits of the offender, psychological theories regarding behaviour exhibited by the

criminal and examination of the scene of criminal act have all been regarded to be the basis for

conducting the investigative process of criminal profiling (Bartol & Bartol, 2017). Therefore,

Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) has often been used in this method. In addition to this, in case
 of IP, Crime Scene Analysis (CSA) can be used to examine the relationship between the

criminal’s behavioural traits and the crime that has been committed. Many scholars have opined

that one more pertinent issue is that psychological autopsy studies do not consider

presuicidal syndrome or the situation of crisis into consideration and the fact that these

circumstances cannot be divorced from depression studies like these. To draw a distinction

between normal sadness and depression can also be hard, even in case of screening studies

therefore it must be even tougher in Psychological Autopsy studies ( Kõlves et al, 2017).

Forensic science has made use of the basic principles of applied sciences as well as

pure science in order to identify behavioural patterns of the criminal or to find cue about the

act of suicide or crime. Just like forensic sciences, for the purpose of investigation of

different crime scenes forensic psychology applies and makes use of certain varied aspects of
6 Psychological Autopsy and Profiling
psychology which can be connected to the legal aspects of crime. Forensic psychology conducts

an examination of causal factors of criminal acts, therapy of victims, eyewitnesses,

acquaintances of the victim or friends or relatives who were present at the scene where the crime

had been committed. Therefore, law enforcement agencies should be conscious of the new

innovations and complex evidence in the field of forensics for the purpose of convincing the

judiciary. Therefore, in the present scenario a knowledge regarding crime scene investigation and

data collection, preservation and forwarding of evidences and data has been regarded as main

focal area of almost every law enforcement agencies. In addition to this, there is a strong

necessity of involving a forensic psychologist at the scene where the criminal act has been

committed. Criminal profiling and psychological autopsy are the arenas of forensic psychology

wherein behavioural patterns are identified in order to get to the root of the crime.
7 Psychological Autopsy and Profiling
 Reference List

Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. M. (2017). Introduction to forensic psychology: Research and

application. Sage Publications.

Baugerud, G. A., Johnson, M. S., Hansen, H. B., Magnussen, S., & Lamb, M. E. (2020).

Forensic interviews with preschool children: An analysis of extended interviews in

Norway (2015–2017). Applied Cognitive Psychology, 34(3), 654-663.

Binghampton, N. Y., Press, H., & Press, S. (2009). V On Compassion, Fatigue, Burnout, and

Vicarious Traumatization. Theory, Application, and the Best Interests of the

Child, 58(11), 321.
8 Psychological Autopsy and Profiling

Crawford, M. (2020). Exploring Workplace Wellness Programs From a Police Officer's

Perspective (Doctoral dissertation, California Baptist University).

Fischler, G. L. (2001). Psychological fitness-for-duty examinations: Practical considerations for

public safety departments. In Illinois Law Enforcement Executive Forum (Vol. 1, pp. 77-

92).

Gavin, H. (2018). Criminological and forensic psychology. Sage.

 Gelles, M. G. (1995). Psychological autopsy: An investigative aid. Police psychology into the

21st century, 337-355.

Hagaman, A. K., Khadka, S., Lohani, S., & Kohrt, B. (2017). Suicide in Nepal: a modified

psychological autopsy investigation from randomly selected police cases between 2013

and 2015. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 52(12), 1483-1494.

Hollin, C. R. (2019). Forensic (criminological) psychology. In Companion encyclopedia of

psychology (pp. 1231-1253). Routledge.

Ireland, J. L., Ireland, C. A., Fisher, M., & Gredecki, N. (Eds.). (2017). The Routledge

International Handbook of Forensic Psychology in Secure Settings. Taylor & Francis.

9 Psychological Autopsy and Profiling

Kocsis, R. N. (Ed.). (2018). Applied criminal psychology: a guide to forensic behavioral

sciences. Charles C Thomas Publisher.

Kõlves, K., Draper, B. M., Snowdon, J., & De Leo, D. (2017). Alcohol-use disorders and

suicide: Results from a psychological autopsy study in Australia. Alcohol, 64, 29-35.

Mérelle, S., Van Bergen, D., Looijmans, M., Balt, E., Rasing, S., van Domburgh, L., ... &

Popma, A. (2020). A multi-method psychological autopsy study on youth suicides in the

Netherlands in 2017: Feasibility, main outcomes, and recommendations. PLoS

one, 15(8), e0238031.
 Mo, Q., Ma, Z., Wang, G., Jia, C., Niu, L., & Zhou, L. (2020). The pattern of stressful life events

prior to suicide among the older adults in rural China: a national case-control

psychological autopsy study. BMC geriatrics, 20(1), 1-8.

Neal, T. (2018). Forensic psychology and correctional psychology: Distinct but related subfields

of psychological science and practice. American Psychologist, 73(5), 651.

Yatsenko, A. M. (2021). UNIQUENESS OF FORENSIC PROFILING AS A VECTOR OF

CRIME INVESTIGATION. In Эволюция российского права (pp. 1869-1873).

Zhou, L., Wang, G., Jia, C., & Ma, Z. (2019). Being left-behind, mental disorder, and elderly

suicide in rural China: a case–control psychological autopsy study. Psychological

medicine, 49(3), 458-464.
10 Psychological Autopsy and Profiling