Geographical Offender Profiling: Theory and Practice

‘Crime Hot-Spots’ and ‘Repeat Victimisation’ are eye-catching subjects in the wider study of where, and to a lesser extent when, individual criminals choose to commit their crimes. This field of work is now commonly referred to as ‘geographical profiling’ and throws light on the psychology of criminality, as well as offering various forms of support to many aspects of police investigations and the management of crime. This book brings together the disparate research and varied opinions that are relevant to an understanding of criminal spatial activity. Subjects covered include a review of: the historical development of geographical profiling, the concepts and theories that are fundamental to all considerations of human spatial behaviour, the sources of spatial and geographic information on which researchers and police investigators can draw for GOP, how the principles of GOP can be applied in practice, how development and change manifests itself in spatial behaviour and how this impacts on GOP, the computer-based tools available for GOP, recent developments in theory and practice. This book provides a perfect introduction to geographical profiling for graduate students taking courses in forensic and investigative psychology, criminal investigation and police and crime science.