Criminal profiling: is there a role for the forensic psychiatrist?

Criminal profiling is a field that has gained notoriety in the mainstream consciousness, yet few people realize what it is that criminal profilers actually do and who is doing it. Suffering from a limited applied scientific literature that seems overshadowed by memoir trade books and journalistic style research, the field lacks a consensus regarding required expertise, ethics, methods of profiling, and research needs. This would seem to beg the question, why would anyone turn to a criminal profiler? After all, what would a profiler have to offer to a police investigator? This article will examine criminal profiling from the viewpoint of what it is, what it should be, and whether or not the forensic psychiatrist has a role to play in this field. The author will also argue that, of the available profiling methods, the deductive method is best suited to the training and expertise of the forensic psychiatrist.