The Act of Profiling and the Effects on Society

Akhila Vemulapalli

UWRT 1103
PROFESSOR WALDEN
NOVEMBER 1, 2014

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Introduction
According to recent reports, more Americans are affected by white-collar crimes than any
other form of crime. There are many different types of white-collar crimes and they can be
anything from briberies to forgeries to frauds/scams. In response to the various types of crimes,
law enforcement works on profiling the criminals that would be associated with the crimes.
Hypothetically, a fraud/scam leader would have to have plenty of money or be able to bring in
that money doing various actions.
Profiling white-collar criminals can be very useful and based on my observation on the
show White Collar, the understanding of Neal helped Peter how to catch similar criminals.
Peters knowledge of Neal gives an understanding of how differently or similarly White Collar
criminals are profiled to regular more violent criminals. The psychology of criminals and law
enforcers helps determine how criminals are profiled in reality versus how they are profiled in
TV shows. This helps to determine how decisions are made to either commit a crime or solve a
crime. An example of profiling of white collar criminals comes from 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 in solving the crimes. To determine how the process of
committing crimes and solving the cases occurs, the psychology of various communities
involved in the processes are observed. Learning the psychology of law agents like Peter Burke
would help determine the reasons behind the tactics of profiling 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

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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.
Literature Review
Criminals in general exist in various types and to profile these criminals the law enforcers
have to be able to place the criminal in a certain category. To better understand how the
criminals are profiled we will look at the psychology of both violent and non-violent criminals,
the psychology of law enforcement officials, 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 can become violent to save themselves based on the situation.
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,

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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. 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 police officers or law enforcers in criminal situations are mainly drawn from the

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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.
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

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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

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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.
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
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.
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

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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. Will the act of profiling help
other fields of study?

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Bibliography

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Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling 8 (3): Location(217 241).

Canter, D. 2010. The Cambridge Handbook of Forensic Psychology Cambridge. Location(236

241).

Andersson L, Strmwal L, Hartwig M, Granhag P. 2004. Imprisoned knowledge: Criminals

beliefs about deception. Legal and Criminological Psychology (9).

Lothane Z. 2006. Mass psychology of the led and the leaders with some thoughts on current
world events. International Forum of Psychoanalysis (3). Vol(15):Location(183-192).

Lawler S. 2002. Mobs and Monsters. Feminist Theory (3):Location(103-113).

Bloom P. The Origins of Pleasure. Available from: http://www.la.ubu.ac.th/user/supath/eng

4grad/video_pleasure/The%20origins%20of%20pleasure.pdf

Mann S, Vrij A, Bull R. 2004. Detecting True Lies: Police Officers' Ability to Detect Suspects'
Lies.

Dupr V, Vitaro F, Tremblay R Lacourse , Willms J. 2007. Affiliation to Youth Gangs

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During Adolescence: The Interaction Between Childhood Psychopathic Tendencies and

Neighborhood Disadvantage. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology (6).
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Vemulapalli A. White Collar. Observational Analysis. Location(3-9).