One experience I had that connects to my essential question was when I first learned about the Michelle O’Keefe case. In this case, Michelle O’Keefe, an 18-year-old college student, was murdered in California on her way home from appearing in a music video. A profiler who worked the case saw that her tube top was askew, assuming the incident was related to sexual assault. This is important because how a profile classifies a case (related to sexual assault, mass murder, etc.) can change/determine the type of offender who they are looking for. In the end, an innocent man was sent to prison for the crime. Learning about this case made me really interesting in studying in what ways a profile may be harmful/dangerous. This case inspired my essential question, “What are the dangers of psychological profiling”. In the upcoming weeks, I plan to explore this case more in-depth and come up with ways about how profilers can be held accountable for an inaccurate profile.
I think what you wrote about is a really great point that is often times overlooked, especially with the rise of popularity in shows like Criminal Minds. Profiling can be seen as this rock solid part of detective work, and I think it’s really important that you are researching how it is also harmful.
I echo what Gwen said. I don’t know anything about criminal psychology/profiling, so it will be interesting to learn the harmful/helpful effects from your project!