Practice of offender profiling in Japan
| Author | Kaeko Yokota,Kazuki Hirama,Kazumi Watanabe,Hiroki Kuraishi,Taeko Wachi,Yusuke Otsuka |
| Date | 01 September 2017 |
| Published date | 01 September 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1461355717714001 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Practice of offender profiling in Japan
Kaeko Yokota
National Research Institute of Police Science, Japan
Hiroki Kuraishi
Forensic Science Laboratory, Shiga Prefectural Police Headquarters, Japan
Taeko Wachi
National Research Institute of Police Science, Japan
Yusuke Otsuka
National Research Institute of Police Science, Japan
Kazuki Hirama
National Research Institute of Police Science, Japan
Kazumi Watanabe
National Research Institute of Police Science, Japan
Abstract
The main aim of this study was to determine the current situation of offender profiling in Japan. In addition, the accur acy
of crime linkage and inferring offenders’ profiles were examined. To evaluate offender profiling comprehensively, we
conducted a national survey of 156 people responsible for offender profiling between 2011 and 2012 to obtain their
demographic characteristics and experience related to profiling. Furthermore, we also used a sample of 296 resolved
cases to examine the content of profiling and the accuracy of predictions in offender profiling. The results of the
statistical analyses revealed that police professionals from various backgrounds were engaged in profiling in Japan; 76%
were police investigators, and 19% were professionals at forensic science laboratories engaged in psychological work.
Regarding the utilization of profiling results in police investigations, 46% of profiling ‘led to identification of offender’. As
for prediction accuracy, the rate of linkage errors (i.e. where profilers could not correctly link incidents even when they
knew of the occurrence of these incidents) was 15%. Accurately inferring an offender’s profile was found to be between
72% (means of transportation) and 100% (sex). We also discussed the challenges faced by the police who practise
offender profiling in Japan.
Keywords
Offender profiling, accuracy of prediction, crime linkage, inferring offender’s profile, Japan
Submitted 15 Dec 2016, accepted 03 May 2017
Introduction
The term ‘offender profiling’ has been widely used to indi-
cate a series of tasks to infer the characteristics of unknown
offenders by analyzing behavioral characteristics at crime
scenes. Offender profiling by law enforcement in Japan is
Corresponding author:
Kaeko Yokota, National Research Institute of Police Science, 6-3-1,
Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, Kashiwa 277-0882, Japan.
Email: sano@nrips.go.jp
International Journalof
Police Science & Management
2017, Vol. 19(3) 187–194
ªThe Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1461355717714001
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