Akhila Vemulapalli

Introduction
A man, later known as Neal Caffrey, is seen shaving his beard and getting dressed. He
changes from an orange prison jump suit into a guards uniform. He uses materials from various
objects to forma a key card that gives access to the gates in the prison. He is seen using the key
card to open the exit to the prison. He successfully escapes prison and hotwires a truck and
drives out of the area. Meanwhile an FBI agent is notified about the escape. The FBI agent is
Peter Burke and he is the only one that has been able to track down Neal.
Due to the understanding of Neal, Peter was able to capture him and the cognitive
psychology of Neal helped reveal Neals plans. Peters knowledge of the cognitive psychology
of Neal gives an understanding of how differently or similarly White Collar criminals are
profiled, unlike the regular more violent criminals. The psychology of criminals and law
enforcers helps determine how criminals are profiled today versus how they are profiled in TV
shows. The psychology of criminals and law enforcement agents helps to determine how
decisions are made to either commit a crime or solve a crime. In the show White Collar the
FBI agents work with many different law enforcement agents to solve crimes and there is also a
criminal, Neal Caffrey, involved. To determine how the process of committing crimes and
solving the crime cases occur, the psychology of various communities involved in the processes
are observed. Learning the psychology of FBI agents like Peter Burke would help determine why
he let Neal Caffrey out of prison to work under him; however, the psychology would also help
determine the techniques that he uses to catch the criminals and figure out the plans of the
criminals. The psychology of art forgers would help determine how Neal Caffrey thinks because
he is an art forger himself. He studies medieval art and forges the art to steal the original piece of
art. The psychology of thieves would also relate to Neal Caffrey because he has stolen many
valuable things and has a record of stealing as well as art forgery, and many other crimes. The
psychology of mobs or gangs can be contrasted with the psychology of thieves and art forgers to
determine why Neal doesnt like to deal with violence. Neal has mentioned many times to Peter
that he never liked violence, which is interesting since he used to be involved in many criminal
activities. Even though the White Collar department deals mostly with less violent criminals like
Neal Caffrey, they also deal sometimes with gruesome criminals.
Through this paper we will explore the relationship between profiling in TV shows and in
reality, while also determining the cognitive psychology of white collar criminals as well as
other violent criminals. I have been interested in law enforcement/crime shows and have always
wondered if similar situations happen in real life. I have very minimal knowledge about the
different types of laws and their importance in profiling. However, I like to watch and read about
criminal situations, which has fascinated me into learning the difference in profiling on TV crime
shows and in reality through cognitive psychology of the actors.

Commented [AV1]: Ashlyn: Please double-space the body

of your paper; this is a requirement per the assignment two
guidelines. Also, check the formatting guidelines concerning
headers and the citation style you are using. Lastly, the
parts of the paper do not need to restart on a new page
each time; the headers provide the needed separation, so
take out the extra space
Commented [AV2]: Kalin: One thing that you are doing
well is opening up the conversation for the topic that she is
proposing. The introduction is well thought out and
describes the topic of profiling. My only suggestion would
be to give more details in the introduction to make it longer
and more cohesive as a whole. If i were Ashlyn i would be
focused on if you made your paper a cohesive unit, and you
can do that by adding more details to your introduction.
Commented [AV3]: Alex: After reading your introductory
paragraph I believe you should add something in order to
grasp the readers attention. You are just simply describing
the beginning of the series; though it is interesting it doesnt
hook readers. Perhaps you could use a statistic pertaining to
white-collar crimes, or an anecdote versus a description.
Also the ending of your first introductory paragraph seems
incomplete, you should revisit the section of your writing
and add more detail in order to strengthen the paragraph
(this is an essential part of your paper).
Commented [AV4]: Kalin: You do a good job of getting
your point across in the beginning of the paper however you
use the word psychology a lot and I would suggest just
changing the word psychology around sometimes or not
even using it in some sentences. This is just a suggestion but
overall the introduction is good. The intro describes the TV
series White Collar well.

Commented [AV5]: Alex: I find the second paragraph of

your slightly confusing. You hit a lot of key things but it
seems scrambled and lacks structure. I would advise you to
revise the paper, pay attention to syntax and organize your
thoughts to they flow adequately.

Commented [AV6]: Kalin: If I were Ashlyn responding to

this paper I would focus on adding subtitles to your
paragraph so the reader can know what section they are on.
Your paragraphs go from one to the other without telling
the reader where they are. For example you go from your
introduction right into your literature review, however it
can be inferred that you are in the literature review by the
first sentence.

Akhila Vemulapalli
Literature Review
The major themes in my literature review are psychology of both violent and non-violent
criminals in order to profile, the psychology of law enforcement officials in order to profile, and
the similarities and differences between profiling in crime shows and in reality.
Non-violent criminals tend to be more like white-collar criminals. According to (Perri
2011), white-collar criminals are not as violent because they usually have financial damage, and
either emotional and/or physical harm to themselves or others. They commit crimes that seem to
be not as violent as street criminals, who would risk everything. White-collar criminals or nonviolent criminals tend to stay away from guns and other weapons. (Perri 2011) suggests that
white collar-criminals may have similar behavioral traits, but may resort to violence as a last
resort. The cognitive psychology of white collar criminals ties into how they are profiled. The
little things that the criminal does is used to profile the criminal without knowing him or her.
According to the observations that I made based on the show White Collar, the main character
Neal Caffrey, a white-collar criminal, stays away from guns and tells the FBI agent that he does
not like to use weapons, and that violence is not his forte (Vemulapalli 2014). Based on crime
shows non-violent criminals tend to be not as violent as violent criminals or mobs/gangs, but
they can resort to violence to save themselves.
A violent criminal can also be associated with mobs and gangs. The criminal can vary in
age. They can be as young as ten years old to as old as fifty years old. According to (Dupr,
Vitaro, Tremblay, Lacourse and Willms 2007), teenage activity in gangs/mobs can affect the
development of certain cognitive regions in the brain. Many gangs/mobs all over the world use
children to communicate with other parties and the effects of this usage can be drastic on the
children. Children can turn into their bosses as time goes on. The children are basically told that
the right way to live and act in the society is to be in a mob/gang and do all of the activities that
are done by the older members of the mob/gang. The brain tends to develop as we age, it never
stops developing, so the effects of the environment can change the rate of the brains
development as well as how the brain develops. Another example of mobs in association to
violent criminals is from the article by Lawler. In the article (Lawler 2002) gives information on
how the behavior of some mobs is way too violent compared to street criminals. In most Mobs
there is a hierarchy established that is mostly unstable. Mobs in reality are just groups of people
fighting together to reach the top spot on the ladder of violence. Not all violent criminals are in
mobs, but the most known violent criminals are those who are associated with mobs. In the
article by (Lothane 2006), he suggest that mobs today are more violent and also suggests that
politics also have a part in the relationships between the members that make up the group. The
article suggests that mobs are more violent and the aftermath of the crime is as effective as the
crime itself. In relation to mobs and gangs, criminals that are not part of these organizations may
know how to act like they are members of the organization. Deception is a key member in
criminals. According to the authors (Andersson, Strmwal, Hartwig, Granhag 2004), based on
surveys prove that criminals have knowledge about the art of deception. They know how to do it
and what makes people deceive their gut feelings.
To capture the different types of criminals the law enforcement agents need to know the tactics
that criminals typically use. According to the authors, (Mann, Vrij, Bull 2004) the tactics used by

Commented [AV7]: Alex: When you state, Based on

crime shows non-violent criminals tend to be not as violent
as violent criminals or mobs/gangs, but they can resort to
violence to save themselves I find this slightly redundant.
Perhaps you can modify the words used to make this sound
less repetitive. You do not have to say, non-violent
criminals tend to be not as violent as violent criminals or
mobs/gangs this is expressed in the phrase non-violent
criminals. You could however say Non-violent criminals
may resort to violence in the given situation to save
themselves. This extracts filler text and allows you to get
to the main point you are trying to make.

Commented [AV8]: Alex: I find some of the diction used

throughout your paper is weak. Though you do exhibit good
usage of diction words or phrases such as children can turn
into their bosses as time goes one and top spot of the
violence ladder doesnt achieve a good depiction or exhibit
strong diction. The mention that children can turn into
their bosses as time goes on doesnt seem very important.
I would suggest perhaps gutting this from your paper unless
you plan to expand upon this throughout your
paper/argument.

Akhila Vemulapalli
police officers or law enforcers in criminal situations are mainly drawn from the interrogation of
suspects/victims/witnesses. Information gathered from interrogation better helps profile the
criminals and determine they type of criminals and the criminals psychology. Every bit of
information on the case can help prepare the law enforcers about the criminal and the next move
the criminal may make. The information helps in profiling and in understanding how law
enforcers like the police officers take into account the behavior of their interviewee during the
interrogation to profile the criminal. To further investigate and capture the main culprit of a
crime the author, (Canter 2010) suggests that the information gathered by the profilers is used to
profile the criminal. Strategies on how to separate the criminal from other criminals determines
how the cognitive psychology of one criminal differs from the rest of the criminals. The use of
this information would help in relating the differences between how different types of criminals
think. For example, an art thief may make his plans differently compared to a gangster. Profiling
uses many observations. It uses interrogations as points of focus, the crime scenes, as well as the
plan of a criminal. Profiling in reality can vary from profiling in TV shows. In reality the
criminals are not as easy to discover as it is shown in crime TV shows because in reality people
can change. According to the author (Bloom [date unknown]) suggests that criminals may have a
difference in there cognitive psychology which explains why some criminals enjoy what they
have done, whether its a petty theft or a murder. Some criminals tend to feel guilty, while others
feel happiness. The mind of a criminal and how it works helps profile criminals for the certain
investigation. The information aides in understanding the process of profiling and how it is
portrayed through media.

Akhila Vemulapalli
Entering the Conversation
Criminals all over the world are seen as the same type of bad people, but criminals can be
divided into many groups. The two main groups that will be mentioned are white collar criminals
and street criminals. In many cases criminals can be profiled by the law agents in a predictable
frame of time, but in the case of TV shows the case is different. TV shows profile criminals
within two days of the information given or in other cases three to four years after the crime has
been committed. Due to the difference in how profiling works in reality versus in TV shows
contributes to the fact that some criminals are not always found. Based on my observations
(Vemulapalli 2014), the act in episode 2 of season 1 of the show White Collar demonstrates
how the ability to profile their criminal did not take much planning and over-analyzing as I
expected, and in reality I believe it would take much longer to profile the criminal involved in
the crime rather than a few hours/day.
Profiling in the show Criminal Minds doesnt take much time either. In this particular
show most of the profiling is done through determining the psychology and behavior of the
criminals. While in reality the profiling is mainly done through evidence from the crime scenes
and witnesses. I believe that the psychology and behavior of criminals is used in most crime TV
shows to profile criminals, while in reality some of the techniques may be used, but they may not
be used entirely to prove a point. I believe that the TV shows have a set time frame that the show
runs, but the techniques used in the show can inaccurately depict the ability to solve cases in
reality.
What the depiction of crimes in TV shows versus reality tells us is that the public may be
more used to seeing the end of the criminals in TV shows, but get very hasty in reality when
following popular cases. For example, the Casey Anthony case was very popular a few years ago
and the public hung to every word that the prosecutor said. While some were against Casey,
others were for her. The ruling of the case did not just hurt the public, but it also caused many to
still not believe the fact that the court ordered not guilty. In some cases like these the supposed
criminal is not found guilty, while in TV shows mostly all of the criminals are depicted guilty.
Most TV shows tend to drag out the profiling of the criminal so that they reach their
suspense in time for the end of the episode. In TV shows like Revenge, even though its not a
crime TV show, in the first season there is a trial for the murder of a man. The supposed criminal
never gets the punishment. This show is an example of some cases in reality. The act of profiling
is depicted by the evidence found by the law agents and the powerful political influences in a
case. The TV show revenge also depicts this example. The main reason to why the criminal was
not punished was due to the father of the criminal having very powerful political influences.
In many cases what is perceived to be true is not true and what is not perceived as true is
true. This statement tends to explain that in reality many of the criminals are not punished
because of no significant evidence that pins the criminal to the evidence. There are many TV
shows that depict that the criminal is always given punishment for the crimes. In order to prevent
hurting the publics feelings. In reality some cases are similar to the cases presented in TV

Commented [AV9]: Kalin: You have done a great job with

the overall paper and formatting. The paper does a good job
of incorporating relevant information like the recent
television shows that have come out pertaining to your
topic including criminal minds and revenge. My only
comment/suggestion on this would be to take out one of
the TV shows that you listed because it is a lot of
information and it sounds like it is repeating itself to the
reader.

Akhila Vemulapalli
shows. The examples shows in TV shows may have come from cases in reality. There are many
different types of crime shows on TV and most of them never overlap because of the different
types of criminals out there. The show White Collar shows only white collar criminals, and the
show Criminal Minds shows only psycho criminals.

Akhila Vemulapalli
Conclusion
The purpose of this paper was to explore the cognitive psychology as a method for
profiling and capturing both violent and non-violent offenders. More specifically the purpose
was to understand how television dramas portray the psychology and capture of criminals in a
way that speaks to and challenges actual law enforcement tactics. The sources used have not
mentioned how crime shows and the act of profiling have become popular in TV shows today.
We see that crimes occur somewhere every day, but they are usually solved in a day or two. The
length of time and how they profile the criminals in TV shows is quicker and more accurate than
in reality, which skews the mental time frame. The observations made by me were helpful in
determining what tactics can be used in reality versus the tactics that cannot be used in reality.
The information from the observation can help determine how the act of profiling can be
advanced. The new advances in profiling can be used to improve and create new tactics for
profiling, which can hopefully decrease crime rates in certain areas. The act of profiling has a
huge effect on the society today. Many criminals and offenders can be captured today and given
punishment. In our society without being punished the offender tends to continue their crimes
and not know the difference between what is right for the society versus what is not right for the
society. Without the act of profiling we would not be able to capture offenders and punish them
to prevent further acts of crimes. Not only is the act of profiling beneficial to the society, but it
also is helpful in many other fields. Profiling can be used in many different ways. It can also be
used to figure out the reasons for the occurrence of certain diseases. The tactics of profiling can
be further investigated to see if they would benefit other fields of study and not just for crime
purposes.

Commented [AV10]: Alex: Your conclusion was very

strong. You restated your thesis without repeating it
verbatim. You did a successful job at summarizing your
paper adequately. You also leave readers with something to
think about which in turn is always a great way to end a
paper.

Commented [AV11]: Kalin: Overall your paper is good

the topic you discuss is very interesting and the paper itself
is well formatted. The only thing I am concerned about is
the ending part of your paper you give a lot of your opinion
and statistics at the end but you dont really pose a question
to the reader and offer a chance for the reader to add to the
conversation. Overall the ending is very thought out and
cohesive. This is a good paper.

Akhila Vemulapalli
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