criminal profiling
techniques used to narrow a criminal investigation to suspects with certain personality and behavioral traits that might be inferred from the way a crime was committed, where it occurred, and other information such as the background of the victim or victims (i.e., victimology). Psychologists have played a central role in studying and developing these techniques. Although some research validates profiling as a tool that helps police concentrate their investigations, there is also controversy regarding such issues as hasty identifications that ignore or foreclose other leads, methodological flaws, and the like.