LECTURE No. 6. Domestic work in the field of psychological diagnostics

1. Materialistic basis in Russian experimental psychology. Works of I. M. Sechenov and I. P. Pavlov. “Reflexology” by V. M. Bekhterev

A feature of the development of psychology in the last quarter of the 19th century. experimental research methods were introduced into it. This feature is also characteristic of Russian psychology of that time. Typically in psychology, the period of development of experimental methods is determined by the works of Wilhelm Wundt and his school. Meanwhile, a study of the history of Russian psychology shows that experimental work developed there, too, and went mainly in a materialist direction. In this way, domestic research in experimental psychology differed from the work of the school of Wilhelm Wundt. As already mentioned, in this school it was proposed to study mental phenomena themselves using introspection, and apply the objective experimental method only to physiological and lower mental processes.

In contrast to Wundtian psychology, many experimental studies in Russian psychology were carried out under the sign materialistic ideas. At the origins of this direction were two of the greatest luminaries of science - I. M. Sechenov(1829–1905) And I. P. Pavlov(1849–1936) .

In the works of Sechenov, starting from 1863, a materialistic understanding of mental activity was consistently formed. Studying the material substrate of mental processes - the brain, Sechenov proposed a reflex theory of mental activity. His work was continued by I.P. Pavlov, who created the theory of conditioned reflexes and paved the way from objective research on the functional physiology of the central nervous system to the study of the material foundations of mental phenomena.

The views of Sechenov and Pavlov had a decisive influence on the worldview of a prominent representative of the natural science trend in psychology V. M. Bekhtereva . All reflexology of V. M. Bekhterev was the implementation of Sechenov’s reflex theory. Bekhterev sought to identify the connection between mental activity and the brain, nervous processes, and called mental processes the neuropsyche. In his opinion, the study of the psyche cannot be limited to its subjective side. Bekhterev argued that “there is not a single conscious or unconscious process of thought that would not be expressed sooner or later by objective manifestations” (Bekhterev V.M. Objective psychology and its subject // Bulletin of Psychology. 1904. No. 9-10. P. 730). He argued that objective psychology should use only an objective method and characterize the mental process only from its objective side.

Combining the talent of a psychologist, physiologist, psychiatrist and clinical neurologist, Bekhterev was at the same time an outstanding organizer of psychological science, one of the leaders of its progressive wing. Having headed the Psychoneurological Institute in St. Petersburg, he assembled a team of researchers who carried out a number of experimental works.

At the same time, with all the progressiveness of Bekhterev’s struggle for objective methods of research against subjectivist psychology, he could not overcome the attitude towards mental processes as epiphenomena (side, accompanying phenomena that do not affect the main process) of acts of behavior and, protesting against metaphysical concepts (“memory ", "feelings", "attention"), wrongfully ignored those real processes that are reflected in them.

2. The first experimental psychology laboratories in Russia. Work by G. I. Rossolimo “Psychological profile of personality.” “Scientific characterology” by A. F. Lazursky

The first experimental one in Russia psychological laboratory opened in 1885 at the clinic of nervous and mental illnesses of Kharkov University; experimental psychology laboratories were set up in St. Petersburg and Dorpat. In 1895, on the initiative of the largest Russian psychiatrist S. S. Korsakova A psychological laboratory was created at the psychiatric clinic of Moscow University. Korsakov’s closest assistant, A. A. Tokarsky . All these laboratories were staffed by neurologists and psychiatrists, who combined their psychological research with medical practice in the clinic, as well as medical students. The exception was the psychological laboratory at Novorossiysk University (in Odessa). Unlike others, it was created at the Faculty of History and Philology by a professor of philosophy N. N. Lange .

Central to the experimental studies conducted in psychological laboratories was the problem of the dependence of the psyche on the brain and the outside world. Research work was closely related to medical practice and served the purpose of diagnosing mental and nervous diseases.

In these studies, objective signs of certain mental phenomena were studied (for example, changes in pulse and breathing as a reflection of emotions), the objectivity and objectivity of our perceptions were proved, the dependence of memory and attention on experimental conditions was clarified, etc. In addition, in all experimental laboratories Research was carried out on the speed of mental processes.

So, in the second half of the 19th century. was introduced into domestic psychology experiment. But for the emergence of psychological diagnostics it was necessary, in addition, that practice would require knowledge about the individual psychological characteristics of a person. The first domestic works on psychological diagnostics were carried out in the first decades of the 20th century.

Probably one of the first significant pre-revolutionary domestic works on psychological testing, representing a complete independent study, was carried out G. I. Rossolimo in 1909 at Moscow University. G.I. Rossolimo, a leading neuropathologist and psychiatrist, set out to find a method for quantitative study of mental processes in normal and pathological states. Essentially, this method, which became widely known both in Russia and abroad, was one of the early original test systems for measuring mental giftedness. This examination system, called the individual psychological profile technique, boiled down to identifying eleven mental processes, which were assessed on a ten-point system based on answers to 10 fairly randomly selected questions. The power of the innate mind (the “primary mind”) was established, which, as a certain stable quality, was contrasted with the “secondary mind”, which is constantly improving under the influence of external influences. Mental processes measured by the Rossolimo method also generally comprised three groups: attention and will, accuracy and strength of perception, and associative activity. He proposed a graphical form of representing measurements of mental processes - drawing a psychological profile, which clearly demonstrated the relationship between these processes. A distinctive feature of the psychological profile method is its independence from the age of the subject. Profile shape has proven to be a reliable criterion for diagnosing mental retardation.

Rossolimo's works were greeted with interest by both psychologists and psychiatrists specializing in the problems of mental retardation. Such profiles have since become firmly established in psychological diagnostics.

Interesting opinion P. P. Blonsky , expressed regarding the methodology for determining the psychological profile: highly appreciating this methodology, he recognizes the work of G.I. Rossolimo as the most successful among all domestic works, since it selected tests that are very indicative of mental development. According to P. P. Blonsky, Rossolimo’s research was also positive in that, unlike Western testing, he strived for a holistic assessment of personality, a synthetic way of depicting its strengths and weaknesses. Only later did the synthetic method of personality research, which Rossolimo strived for, begin to gain a foothold in psychological diagnostics in the West and the USA.

Another Russian psychologist who held similar views on the study of personality, A. F. Lazursky , at about the same time he created a new direction in differential psychology - scientific characterology. Strictly adhering to experience and experiment as the main methods of research, he at the same time stood for the creation of a scientific theory of individual differences. He considered the main goal of differential psychology to be “the construction of a person from his inclinations,” as well as the development of the most complete natural classification of characters.

Dissatisfaction with laboratory-experimental methods prompted Lazursky to look for other methods. He advocates a natural experiment in which the deliberate intervention of a researcher in a person's life is combined with a natural and relatively simple experimental setting. Thanks to this, according to Lazursky, it is possible to study not individual mental processes, as is usually done, but mental functions and the personality as a whole.

Important in Lazursky’s theory was the position of the closest connection between character traits and nervous processes. Moreover, this was not a resurrection of Gallian phrenology (localization of abilities in the form of externally expressed development of individual isolated areas of the cerebral hemispheres), but an explanation of personality traits by the neurodynamics of cortical processes. So, Lazursky’s scientific characterology was built as an experimental science, based on natural experiment and the study of the neurodynamics of cortical processes. Not initially attaching importance to quantitative methods for assessing mental processes, using only qualitative methods, he later felt the insufficiency of the latter and tried to use graphic diagrams to determine the child’s abilities. But he did not complete the work in this direction; the researcher’s premature death (1917) prevented him.

3. Development of psychodiagnostics and psychotechnics in the Soviet period (20-30s of the twentieth century). “Measuring scale of the mind” by A.P. Boltunov. Works by M. Yu. Syrkin. Pedology. Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks "On pedological perversions in the system of People's Commissariat of Education"

With the development of differential psychological research, psychology as a whole has been enriched with a number of new methods and approaches. Its connections with practice have become quite feasible. All this served as the basis for the emergence of psychological diagnostics. Actually, psychodiagnostic work in Russia, with few exceptions, began to develop in the post-revolutionary period. Especially many such works appeared in the 1920-1930s. in the field of pedagogy, medicine, pedology. The vast majority of methods were copies of Western psychological tests. Minor differences manifested themselves in the forms of testing, processing and interpretation of experimental material.

Of particular interest from the point of view of the development of new forms of testing is Boltunov's "Measuring Scale of the Mind"(1928), who based his work on the Binet–Simon scale, translated and adapted P. P. Sokolov to test the mental talent of Russian schoolchildren. In fact, the Boltunov scale is an independent development of a new set of tests. Despite the well-known analogy with the Binet-Simon scale, the Boltunov scale has specific features: most of the tasks have been modified, completely new tasks have been introduced, new instructions and a form of its use have been proposed, the time for solving test tasks has been determined, and indicators for age levels have been developed. The fundamental difference between the Boltunov scale and the Binet-Simon scale is the ability to conduct group tests. Nevertheless, this work is typical of traditional psychological testing. It strongly influences the utilitarian mechanistic approach to the use of diagnostic techniques.

This approach was characterized by the desire to introduce methods of variation statistics into test processing and, at the same time, to carefully develop formalization techniques in processing results. The study of the content side of the diagnosed psychological processes has not received any serious attention. In this regard, psychodiagnostic research in Russia was a definite departure from the traditions of Russian psychology, which has always strived for theoretical and methodological elaboration of its experimentation.

Work on testing children has essentially replaced the search for theoretical principles and prospects for improving experimental techniques and mathematical analysis. Instead of studying the content of psychological testing, testologists only carefully practiced techniques for formalizing and processing the results.

A special place in domestic testological research is occupied by the works M. Yu. Syrkina , who specifically studied the problem of the correlation between indicators of giftedness tests and signs of social status (a fact established in Binet’s first works). The connection between the characteristics of speech development and test results had been proven experimentally by that time (the very first works of testologists recorded this dependence). However, over time, the social aspect of the existence of intellectual differences between layers and classes of society for testology became increasingly acute and significant.

In this regard, Syrkin’s work is extremely important, since in domestic research on psychological testing he was the first to prove how contradictory the test diagnosis of individual differences is, allowing for the exact opposite interpretation of research results. Syrkin’s independent experimental work shows that there is a linear form of connection between test scores and the social characteristics of subjects, in some cases quite close, and also with high temporal stability.

In the 1920s in our country, work psychology and psychotechnics have received significant development (works I. N. Spielreina , S. G. Gellershtein , N. D. Levitova , A. A. Tolchinsky and etc.). Within the framework of these branches of psychology, psychodiagnostics developed, the results of which found application in a number of areas of the national economy, primarily in industry, transport, and in the vocational training system.

In many cities of the country, psychotechnical laboratories operated, personnel of psychotechnicians were trained, the All-Union Society for Psychotechnics and Applied Psychophysiology was created, the magazine “Soviet Psychotechnics” was published (1928–1934), and psychotechnical conferences and congresses were held.

Psychotechnics was institutionalized as a special branch of Russian psychology by 1927–1928. She has done a lot in the field of searching for rational methods of psychotechnical and vocational training, organizing the labor process, and developing professional skills and abilities.

At the same time, psychotechnics has been criticized, especially for the formal use of some theoretically unfounded tests. The result of this was the curtailment of work on psychotechnics by the mid-1930s.

The negative attitude towards psychotechnics intensified during the period of widespread criticism of pedology, with which it had much in common.

Pedology was conceived as a comprehensive science dealing with the holistic, synthetic study of children. But the scientific synthesis of data from psychology, physiology, anatomy and pedagogy was not carried out within the framework of pedology.

Claiming to be the only “Marxist science of children,” pedology mechanistically understood the influence of two factors (environment and heredity) that determine the process of mental development, reduced the qualitative characteristics of a developing person to a biological characteristic, was keen on the use of tests, considering them as a means of measuring mental talent and a method selection of mentally retarded children.

In this regard, in the early 1930s. a fundamental criticism of many provisions of pedology began, culminating in the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of July 4, 1936 “On pedological perversions in the system of People's Commissariat of Education.”

The sharp criticism of pedology that unfolded during this period was accompanied by the denial of everything positive that had been done by scientists in one way or another connected with pedology in the field of psychology and psychological diagnostics.

The resolution imposed a ban on the use of tests in schools. In essence, this stopped all psychodiagnostic research. It took about 40 years for this area of ​​research to be fully restored to its rights. Only at the end of the 1960s. Works on psychological diagnostics are beginning to appear again.

Summing up the consideration of domestic works in the field of psychodiagnostics, it should be noted that, despite the large number of secondary studies copying Western ones, in history there were also interesting independent works trying to solve scientific and methodological problems of diagnosis.

What American experts once called a psychological profile in Russia was called a psychological portrait of a criminal. Being one of the varieties of forensic mental models, the “profile” (“portrait”) of a wanted criminal is a system of information about the psychological and other characteristics of a given person, significant from the point of view of his detection and identification. Since this system includes signs not only of a psychological nature, but also legal, socio-demographic and other signs, it seems more accurate to define the object in question as a forensic “portrait” or a forensic characteristic of a criminal. There are three types of such information models. Some of them contain reliable (positive) knowledge about the characteristics of the desired object (such models are formed on the basis of the testimony of victims, eyewitnesses of the crime, and other data collected on a procedural basis). Others consist of conjectural knowledge that needs to be verified. And finally, there are combined models that contain reliable knowledge (information) about some and presumptive knowledge about other characteristics of the criminal. These forensic models (“profiles”, “portraits”, characteristics) are mainly used to identify offenders who fled the scene after committing a crime. This is done by identifying persons whose characteristics are similar to the characteristics of a person recorded in the model, and “sifting” them - checking for involvement in the crime being solved. Sokol V.Yu. Features of the formation of a criminal profile in the USA and Germany // Society and Law. 2009. No. 3. P. 257 - 263..

The method of psychological portrait differs significantly from the traditional method of verbal portrait. Unlike a multifunctional verbal portrait that describes external signs, a psychological portrait reflects the internal, psychological, and behavioral characteristics of a person. Its main function is to be a means of searching and identifying a criminal whose identity has not been established. A psychological portrait is formed not on the basis of reliable knowledge about the characteristics reflected in it, but on knowledge of a probabilistic nature. It is also important that this method does not “work” in every case of solving crimes. The field of its application is only certain groups of cases and, above all, those related to the disclosure of serious crimes against the individual. There is another important limitation on the possibilities of its application. The method of psychological portrait is implemented in cases where the scene of the incident and the condition of the victim allow us to conclude that the unknown criminal has any deviations in behavior, psyche, or emotional state. These limitations, however, do not detract from the importance of this method as a highly relevant means that allows one to overcome with honor the most complicated dead-end situations in which other methods are simply useless. What has been said, first of all, concerns the problem of solving serial murders committed in different places and at different times by persons with psychosexual anomalies.

In recent years, the problem of combating serial murders of this type has been discussed by scientists and practitioners in many developed countries, although until recently it was believed that the phenomenon of the serial killer was a purely American concern. And this is by no means accidental. Sexual aggression, like an infection, is spreading throughout the world, shaking the imagination of the legal community, paralyzing the hearts of ordinary people with fear and horror. A sexual serial killer is not a terrorist, not a bandit. He is worse and more dangerous than both of them combined. In many times. His main distinguishing feature is that, having embarked on a criminal path, he will never leave it, will never stop. He will kill and kill until he gets caught.

For reasons of safety and due to current life circumstances, he can only suspend his “craft.” Taking pauses, drowning out the aggressiveness in himself for a while, nevertheless, even at such moments, he waits in the wings, the next opportunity for emotional release on the blood of those with whom his fate collides.

Another thing is also characteristic: in everyday life, a serial killer does not stand out from his environment at all. He is the same in appearance and behavior as all ordinary people. This circumstance creates the main difficulty in identifying it. This is where the psychological portrait method comes to the aid of law enforcement agencies.

The idea of ​​recreating a person's psychological and physical appearance from traces left at a crime scene is not new.

However, as a method of searching for an unknown criminal, the “psychological profile” began to be used only in the 50s of the last century. The first such case is described in the book of the American psychologist James Brussels (1968). In the late 50s, New York lived in constant fear of bomb threats: a man nicknamed the “mad bomber” carried out 32 bombings in 8 years. In the search for the criminal, the official investigation has reached a dead end. Then the police turned to a psychiatrist for help to draw up a “personality profile” of a person of the type who would be capable of these “crazy explosions” Sokol V.Yu. Features of the formation of a criminal profile in the USA and Germany // Society and Law. 2009. No. 3. P. 257 - 262..

After analyzing the materials presented to him, Dr. James Brussel concluded that “the age of the person sought is somewhere between 40-50 years old, that he is a native of Eastern Europe, and is currently living in Connecticut with either a sister or unmarried aunt. As a child, he had a bad relationship with his father, but he loved his mother very much and lived in harmony with her. Psychiatric diagnosis - paranoid personality. He is very attentive to detail. On the day of arrest, he will be dressed in a double-breasted suit, buttoned up with all the buttons.”

After Brussels compiled this profile, Georges of Metes, a Slavic man, 50 years old, unmarried, living in Connecticut with his two unmarried sisters, was arrested for the bombings by the New York City police. At the time of his arrest, he was wearing a double-breasted suit, buttoned up with all the buttons.

There is no mysticism in this seemingly fantastic coincidence. The method, called a criminal or psychological “profile,” allows predictions to be made to a fairly high degree of accuracy.

Developed and tested at the FBI Academy's Behavioral Sciences Division in Quantico, Virginia, this method was first used in 1971 in the investigation of murders committed with extreme cruelty. In 1984, the National Center for the Study of Violent Crime was created at the FBI Academy, which identifies and searches for criminals who have committed serial murders and other particularly serious crimes against individuals. The creation of the Center became an additional impetus for the widespread implementation and improvement of the method. This is facilitated by a unified national computer system. According to a special program, data on all serious violent crimes committed in the country, both solved and unsolved (about 15 and 5 thousand annually, respectively), is entered into it. Along with research work, the Department of Behavioral Sciences undertakes commissions to compile criminal profiles to track down unknown criminals.

The method has received international recognition and is being implemented in a number of countries in Europe and America, whose senior police officers have undergone training at the FBI Academy in Quantico.

The material needed to build a “profile” is collected through a thorough examination of the victim and the crime scene. The forensic pathologist uses the tools of his science to answer the question of how the murder was committed; the investigator, having complete data about the crime scene and the victim, answers the question: what type of person committed this act.

The FBI's "psychological profile" procedure consists of five steps, or stages:

A detailed study, analysis of the nature and essence of crime and criminal types of persons (psychological and psychiatric typology of persons who committed similar acts in the past);

Exhaustive analysis of the crime scene under investigation;

An in-depth study of the immediate environment, activities and hobbies of the victim (victims, if there are several of them) and the suspect (suspects);

Formation of possible motivating factors for all persons involved in the investigation;

Description of the criminal (based on external behavioral manifestations of his probabilistic psychological essence).

Most often, the “psychological profile” describes and evaluates the following characteristics of the criminal: gender and age range: marital status, educational level, occupation (general information about work), how he will react to the situation of investigation and interrogation, level of sexual maturity, whether he will be able to commit again something similar, the likelihood that the desired criminal could have committed similar crimes in the past, is there a police file on him Sokol V.Yu. Features of the formation of a criminal profile in the USA and Germany // Society and Law. 2009. No. 3. P. 257 - 262..

To compile a “psychological profile” the following materials are used:

1. Photographs of the crime scene, color, enlarged photographs of wounds on the victim’s body, photographs of victims taken from different positions and angles. With the help of extensive photo documentation of the criminal technical service, also using maps, plans, diagrams, everything found by the police directly at the crime scene and around it is analyzed in a comprehensive manner. In this case, maximum attention is paid to every detail visible in the photograph, to every object recorded in the photographs or the position in which the body was found, the logical connection of the objects with the alleged course of the crime is determined. This is why it is so important to keep the crime scene intact. It happens that the police who conducted the initial inspection of the crime scene make some changes to it. Such changes, if unavoidable, should be carefully documented and reported, otherwise there is a risk of drawing false conclusions about the mechanism of the crime later. Well-designed crime scene fencing and cleverly laid out walking paths are essential prerequisites for the success of the scene when investigating a serious crime. Along with preserving traces at the crime scene, the task of the forensic technical service is to create extensive and detailed photographic documentation. In each case, color film is used.

Under no circumstances should you skimp on photographs. It is important that both the surroundings close to and distant from the scene of the incident are represented by a sufficient number of photographs. So, when committing a murder inside a building, it is not only the room where the body was found that is of interest, but also photographic photographs of all other rooms of the house and its surroundings. Along with overview photographs, photographs of parts recorded from different directions and at different angles are also desirable. Photographic documentation of the crime scene and its surroundings is a necessary condition for creating a “psychological profile” of the criminal.

2. Materials from the autopsy and examination of the autopsy results. The autopsy is performed by a specially trained physician with expertise in pathology and forensic medicine.

It is often necessary that the doctor who will have to perform the autopsy be first called to the scene of the crime so that he can have an idea of ​​​​what happened and draw certain conclusions. During the autopsy, an employee of the criminal-technical service must be present, recording on photographic film the various stages of the autopsy and examination of the corpse. Analysis of the autopsy results is focused on obtaining answers to the following questions: with what instrument, where, in what sequence and with what force were inflicted the injuries that caused death. The exact location of the injuries on the victim's body allows us to make an assumption about whether the victim was taken by surprise by the killer or whether the murder was preceded by a struggle. Of interest is also the number of injuries, whether they were and what kind of damage were inflicted posthumously, whether the injuries were inflicted through clothing or in areas of uncovered skin of the body. The overall picture of the injuries allows us to draw a conclusion about the state of mind of the killer at the time of the crime and whether there was any relationship between him and the victim.

3. Plan of the victim’s movements before death: place of work, place of residence, where the victim was last seen before she was discovered at the crime scene.

4. Documents containing information about the identity of the victim. In the criminal "psychological profile" method, the study of the victim is given the same importance as the study of the criminal. To obtain a “psychological profile” of the offender, it is necessary to have a “psychological profile” of the victim. Additional employees specializing in the field of forensic victimology are allocated to carry out this work. These officers deal exclusively with the victim for as long as necessary to obtain an “accurate picture of the victim.” What is this picture made of? Age, gender, physical characteristics, including clothing at the time of the incident, marital status, social adaptation, intelligence, school performance, relationships at school, lifestyle and recent changes in lifestyle, personality and temperament, demeanor, place residence (former and present), reputation at home and at work, medical history (physical and mental characteristics), personal habits (alcohol, drug use), social habits, hobbies, addictions, friends and enemies, police record.

5. Information about the full picture of the crime and the reconstruction of the mechanism of the crime (information about the place, time, date of the event, testimony of witnesses, the type of weapon with which the crime was committed, etc.). Using the characteristics of the victim, analysis of the crime scene and injuries on the victim’s body, it is possible to reconstruct the presumably external sequence of the crime event. This often helps to clarify why the offender chose a particular course of action. Reconstruction of the mechanism of the crime allows us to diagnose the psychological state of the criminal at the time of the crime, to get an idea of ​​the level of natural intelligence and education of the criminal. Of particular interest is the behavior of the criminal in the so-called “situation after the murder” (whether he hid the victim’s body, destroyed other material evidence, or left the scene of the crime in panic, leaving a variety of traces) Sokol V.Yu. Features of the formation of a criminal profile in the USA and Germany // Society and Law. 2009. No. 3. P. 257 - 263..

Having the information mentioned above allows us to answer the questions: what happened at the crime scene and why did it happen? The main premise on which the “psychological profile” method is based is that the answer to the first two questions leads to the answer to the third - who could commit such a crime, that is, to the compilation of a “psychological profile” reflecting the essential characteristics of personality and behavior killer signs. This “profile” describes the person who committed the crime as if it were a well-known, familiar person. However, the profile does not “name” specific names. The information contained in it is equally applicable to a large number of people of a certain category.

It must be emphasized that the “psychological profile” method is only one of many investigative tools. The "psychological profile" method is an attempt to use the behavioral and psychodynamic principles of psychology in an applied field.

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PSYCHOLOGIES №29

Specialists of a mysterious “profile”

Why does a maniac kill? This is an intrapersonal, psychological question, and only profilers - professionals, the elite of the investigation - can answer it. What are they?

The young FBI agent needed a meeting with this prisoner: he was the one who could tell about the killer of women. The prisoner was deadly even when talking through prison bars and definitely did not know the killer - prisoner Hannibal Lecter, Dr. Lecter, the cannibal Lecter, famous for eating the liver of one of his victims. And he washed it down with Chianti... But he could know why the one the FBI was looking for cuts off the skin of the dead, why he puts a moth pupa in the larynx of each of them and, in the end, why he kills.

"Why does he kill?" - the very question the answer to which leads to solving the crime. Only a profiler investigator can answer this question. We will talk about them - people of a unique profession who put psychological science at the service of the search. Profilers are those who recreate the psychological appearance of the killer based on evidence, signs and signs that sometimes seem to be irrelevant to the case.

Who is capable of murder

It is widely believed that murderers most often become people whose mothers rejected them from early childhood. “But not everyone who has suffered such psychological trauma becomes criminals,” reflects psychologist Sergei Enikolopov***. - 11-13 years old is the age when ideas about morality and morality are formed. And if during this period the child was subjected to physical and psychological violence from adults, then the influence of these actions has a much stronger impact on the development of his personality than early rejection.” In addition, one should not underestimate some of the characteristics that are inherent in each of us from birth. For example, such as the excitability of the nervous system. “Only a combination of all unfavorable factors: the characteristics of brain activity, the degree of excitability, disruption of relationships with the mother at an early age and difficult teenage experiences - leads to the fact that a person becomes a criminal,” Sergei Enikolopov is sure. VITA MALYGINA

First episode"

The ending of Thomas Harris' thriller The Silence of the Lambs is well known. Through psychologically risky contacts with Dr. Lecter, FBI agent Clarice Starling unraveled the secrets of the pupae in the larynx, the identity of the killer, and even her own personality. For us, the most interesting thing is that the heroes of “Silence...” have real prototypes. Clarice Starling worked at the FBI in the behavioral science department, headed by Jack Crawford. His prototype, John Douglas, founded the actual department of behavioral science. In the late 70s of the last century, he was the first in the world to introduce psychology into the practice of investigating murder cases - unexplained, serial, especially cruel or in any way related to sexual motives. While working at the FBI National Academy, he independently explored the possibilities of using psychology in criminology: he studied statistics on serial murders in the United States, talked with convicts... He tried to understand the pattern: who commits heinous crimes and why. The FBI leadership took notice of this work, and Douglas headed the “Criminal Profiling” research program. The term “profiler” appeared (from the English profile - “psychological profile”). And this profession itself.

Thanks to the work of profilers, the first serial killer, David Carpenter, was detained in the United States at the end of 1979. Today, the method of solving crimes by creating a psychological portrait (profile) is recognized by the majority of criminologists in the world, and the FBI's behavioral science department handles more than 300 cases annually received by dozens of investigator-profilers. From 60 to 80% of criminal cases referred to this department for consultation are solved. In 67% of cases, the created psychological portrait coincides with the real appearance of the criminal*. The FBI Academy in Quantico (USA) and its branches in Budapest (Hungary) and Bangkok (Thailand) train professionals from different countries - some employees of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs also completed 8 weeks of training. The main goal of research by profilers, wherever they work, is to find out why people become serial killers, to understand what motivates them and what should be the methods of investigation in cases of this kind.

The art of raising lambs

The work of profilers has become a real Klondike for novelists, screenwriters and directors. In films, investigators with a “psychological bent” are increasingly reserved for leading roles. We must acknowledge the merit of “The Silence of the Lambs”: the film introduced the fashion for this type of hero. Profiler methods were used by Mulder and Scully in The X-Files, the characters of Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in the thriller Seven, and the hero of Kevin Kline in The January Man. Psychotherapist Bruce Willis solved the mystery of the men's murders in The Color of Night. The profiler was Sigourney Weaver in Copycat; forensic psychologist - the heroine of one of the most popular TV series in America, “Profile of a Killer.” And Lance Hendricksen from Millennium, before solving mystical mysteries, also served as a profiler in the FBI. But it’s especially pleasant that our Russian psychological pioneer Alexander Bukhanovsky also found himself at the center of the film. And American. Citizen X is based on the story of the investigation into the Chikatilo case. And only two heroes act under non-fictional names - the maniac himself and professor Alexander Bukhanovsky. He is played by the famous Max von Sydow. This is the only deviation of the film from the “truth of life” - Alexander Olympievich is much younger than the great Swede. V.B.

Portrait against background

“Most profilers do not go to the crime scene,” says Oleg Brodchenko, psychologist, police colonel, head of the group for studying the problems of psychological support for solving and investigating crimes at the All-Russian Research Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. “We study photographs from the crime scene, forensic reports, and work with information on other crimes. For us, not only the details are important, but also the method and order of the criminal’s actions. We analyze, compare facts and draw up a psychological portrait of him.” Profilers describe the character traits, personality traits, behavior of the criminal, make assumptions about his age, race, gender, marital and professional status, sexual maturity, name his habits, inclinations, describe his style of behavior in everyday life, relationships with the victim, and predict his next steps. “The conclusions we draw are only assumptions that help the investigation narrow the search,” continues Oleg Brodchenko. “And this, of course, is just a general scheme of work.”

Many profilers have their own individual approach to the matter. Micki Pistorius, one of the few female profilers in the world, works for the South African police. She cannot imagine an effective investigation without action directly at the crime scene. Pistorius, a doctor of psychology, graduated from the FBI Academy, but her first profession is a journalist. Perhaps her individual method reflects the reporter's desire to be present at the epicenter of the event. She needs to “get into the shoes” of the killer. This is how she solved the “case of the Phoenix,” who killed women in the sugar cane fields. “I arrived at the crime scene and decided to walk through the field,” Miki says. “It was simply swarming with snakes, insects... I felt uneasy, but I moved forward because I wanted to feel what the killer felt, to inhale the smells that he inhaled, to hear the same sounds. It is very important to go through the entire path of the criminal in order to understand what he was thinking about at that moment and what he planned to do. Without this, you won’t be able to catch his train of thought, his state.”

“IT WAS IMPORTANT FOR ME TO GO HIS ENTIRE PATH TO CATCH HIS TRAIN OF THOUGHTS, HIS STATE”

And then at the scene of the murder he smoked 15 cigarettes: he felt safe and knew the area well. The victim's shoes were carefully placed to the side. Perhaps the killer is a perfectionist and it is important for him to leave the crime scene in perfect order. If so, then he is like that in life: he has order at home, and he takes care of his appearance. The killer made his way through the field, cutting the reeds. The nature of the knife cut - typical of some local tribes - led Miki to the trail of a Zulu killer. She accurately described his profile, and the culprit was found. Investigator Pistorius's method is largely based on intuition. Unlike most of her colleagues, they tend to rely on logic and analysis of data on similar cases.

About it

• John Douglas, Mark Olshaker "Mind Hunters: The FBI Versus Serial Killers", Crown Press, 1999.
• Oleg Brodchenko, Olga Logunova “Psychological and forensic support for solving serial sexual crimes”, All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2004.
• Victor Obraztsov, Sappho Bogomolova “Criminal Psychology”, Unity-Dana, Law and Law, 2002.

He saw the maniac in profile

Several years before the arrest of the Rostov maniac, psychiatrist Alexander Bukhanovsky* created his psychological portrait. In his basic characteristics, he looked like this: “Age - over 40. Height 170 plus or minus 10 cm. Discreet appearance. Closed Fascinated by horror films. Asthenic. No difference in physical strength. Chronic gastrointestinal diseases, tuberculosis in the past. Possibly married, although he decided on it quite late; secondary technical or higher education. I worked as a teacher or educator for a long time. The nature of the work is traveling, for example in a supply organization. Not homosexual, not schizophrenic. Psychopath based on personality changes that have reached a degree of morbidity. He can stop only for a short time, sensing an escalation of danger.”

A brutal murder was committed in Sacramento (USA). After examining the crime scene, comparing this murder with other similar ones, and studying the results of a medical examination, investigator Robert Ressler** came to the following conclusions: “The criminal is a white male, approximately 25-27 years old, thin, poorly nourished. He is a bachelor and has no friends. His apartment is a complete mess. If he does not live alone, then most likely with his parents, but this is unlikely. He may have been treated by a psychiatrist in the past. It is possible that he uses drugs. Unemployed. Possibly receiving a disability pension. Didn't serve in the army. I quit my studies very early. Suffering from paranoid psychosis, that’s absolutely certain.” This is what the psychological portrait of Richard Shaz looked like, who went down in the history of criminology as the “Vampire of Sacramento.” Shaz was arrested a few weeks later - the profile turned out to be accurate. And it was based on purely logical reasoning.

Man The killer who commits sexual mutilation is always a man. White Such crimes, as statistics show, are committed by a person of the same race as the victim. Age - 25-27 years By the nature of the crime, the killer belongs to the type of people suffering from psychosis. This disease usually begins to develop during adolescence. It takes approximately 10 years for the disease to reach its critical point. Thin Most people with psychosis have poor nutrition. Idle Patients of this type do not care about personal hygiene and appearance. Women do not agree to live next to such a person. Didn't serve in the army For health. Dropped out of school early Also because of illness. Unemployed For the same reason, he cannot find a permanent job and has to live on a disability pension. Consequently, he is also unable to drive a car. Therefore, we can conclude that the killer lives in the same block as the victim.

Our compatriot from Rostov-on-Don, psychiatrist Alexander Bukhanovsky*, was also guided by logic when creating one of the most famous psychological portraits - the profile of Andrei Chikatilo. If the police had listened to the psychologist in time, there would have been no false arrests and innocent executions in this case... And it was Alexander Bukhanovsky who managed to “talk” Chikatilo during the investigation.

Recognition... of merit

Knowledge of the intricacies of psychology allows profilers not only to help in finding killers, but also to extract confessions from them - already arrested. American investigator Robert Keppel talks about one interrogation tactic: “An 11-year-old girl disappeared in Canada. It was known that a man invited her to get into his car. The suspect was detained. It was necessary to resort to cunning to get his recognition. I asked the police to contact me when the body was found. I needed to find out what he did to the girl. It turned out that she had been strangled, raped, and her face had been brutally beaten. Then the criminal only covered the victim's head with earth; the body remained on the surface. I assumed that the killer was very angry, but he did not have the courage to turn his rage on the one who caused his anger, and he chose a defenseless child. During the interrogation, it turned out that on the day of the murder his girlfriend kicked him out. She was a slender woman of small stature. Maybe her refusal pushed him to kill? I latched on to this assumption and tried to convince him that I understood: his anger was justified, moreover, the girl herself could be to blame for what happened to her. These words provoked him - made him relive the attack of anger, which is what I was hoping for. And he admitted...”

Creators of "Monster"

In the USSR and Russia, the profiling method was never denied. Even in the stagnant years, psychologists compiled psychological profiles of foreign leaders arriving in the country for the special services... Today, psychologists who help investigators in the most complex cases work at the All-Russian Research Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Several years ago, they developed an automated information retrieval system called “Monster” to create a psychological profile of the criminal in serial murder cases. The search was based on a set of features describing the event and its main forensic characteristics. But no money was found to implement this system. There is no single database in Russia where all information about serial killers would be stored. Several years ago, the Main Directorate of Criminal Investigation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia prepared a proposal to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation on a separate procedure for recording cases of serial murders and the creation of a separate data bank, at least for new cases. No decision has been made on this issue yet...

“THEY HELP NOT ONLY FIND A CRIMINAL, BUT ALSO GET A CONFESSION FROM HIM”

Other countries were more mobile and far-sighted. In 1983, the FBI established the National Center for the Study of Violent Crime at the FBI Academy. At the same time, a unified national computer database was created - ViCAP (Violent Crime Apprehension Programme) - a database of arrests for violent serial crimes. In 1986, a computer database of sexual homicide and child abduction cases was compiled in the UK. It was found that people who committed such crimes have common features, they have similar marital status, age and other characteristics... To be continued?

About it

On the website www.trutv.com/library/crime, registered by the Courtroom Television Network LLC (Court TV channel), a unique section “Criminal Mind” has been created. It brings together rare facts, accurate information, and describes the experience of profilers in many countries of the world in the sections “Forensic Psychology”, “Profiling”, “Litigation and Investigations”. All information is in English.

Text: Maria Kozhevnikova, Victoria Belopolskaya

The increase in the number of violent crimes, the investigation of which often leads the investigation to a dead end due to the lack of necessary information about the persons who committed these acts, has made it possible to introduce new psychological methods into the practice of crime investigation, which have been actively used in Russia.

One of these methods is the development of a psychological portrait of an unknown criminal. The term “psychological portrait of a criminal” implies a reflection of psychological characteristics. But practice shows that the psychological portrait also includes information related to other characteristics, for example, gender, age, socio-demographic. Today, one of the most complete is the definition of A. I. Anfinogenov: “The psychological portrait of a criminal is a psychological and forensic method and the result of cognition of a criminal event, focused on identifying a complex of information about the individual characteristics and personality traits of the subject of the crime, manifested in the totality of circumstances and traces criminal activity, where a person is described in terms of his stable psychological and civil state."

The prospects of the method of drawing up a psychological portrait of a criminal are determined by the tasks facing law enforcement agencies, which it can help solve. At different stages of the investigation in criminal cases, there are different tasks: narrowing the circle of suspects in the case, predicting the behavior of the criminal during detention, building effective tactics for interrogating persons involved in the case, etc. The portrait method can come to the aid of law enforcement agencies at every stage of the criminal proceedings. criminal cases.

The development of a new method of solving crimes by drawing up a psychological portrait, which began in the United States, began to be actively introduced into practical activities in the 70s. The US FBI National Academy opened courses in criminal psychology (FBI Applied Criminal Psychology) for FBI agents. One of the teachers at these courses was the “father” of profiling, agent Jon Douglas, who has investigated many cases involving serious crimes. In 1979, the FBI appointed him head of the Criminal Profiling research program. At that time, the term “profiler” (from the English profile - “psychological profile”) first appeared. The method was called “psychological profile” or “psycho-profiling”, “profiling”, and the person involved in compiling such profiles began to be called “profiler”. For some time, these developments were classified. Even today, many foreign works have not been translated into Russian. There is still little information on this issue. However, taking into account the fact that over the past few years new works have begun to be actively published on the methodology of compiling a psychological portrait of an unknown criminal, we can say with confidence that this topic is one of the most relevant, which means that the amount of information and developments will be replenished.

The peculiarity of this method is that drawing up a portrait is search and reconstructive; it is based on a behavioral analysis of traces of a criminal event, the result of which is a probabilistic description of the psychologically significant characteristics of the unknown person who committed the crime.

The purpose of reconstructing the psychological characteristics of the personality of an unknown criminal is to ensure the identification and search of a criminal whose identity is unknown, as well as predicting his possible activities.

The main essence of “portraiting” is that a psychological portrait can be drawn up on the basis of a psychological analysis of the behavior, activities of the person who committed the criminal act, features of the crime scene, and the method of committing the crime. It should be noted that the portrait will only have a probabilistic description of the person who committed the crime, which will indicate the expected age, race, gender, marital status, official status, sexual maturity, possible criminal history, relationship with the victim, and the likelihood of committing a crime in the future.

The main function of the compiled psychological portrait is to identify the person who committed illegal actions, with the aim of searching for him and subsequent capture.

The task of constructing a “psychoprofile” is to make assumptions about the psychological characteristics of the criminal and determine his personal characteristics based on a psychological analysis of a criminal event.

All reliable information that is relevant to the specific case under investigation can be used as material for drawing up a psychological portrait of an unidentified criminal.

There are several different approaches to the method of drawing up a portrait: the FBI model (USA), the geographical model of D. K. Rossmo (Canada), the model of D. Kanter (Great Britain).

The FBI model is based on a computer database and uses a typology of criminals. This model requires a large amount of information on the case under investigation. In this case, the profile compiled may reflect a wide range of assumptions regarding the characteristics of the offender. To create a profile, already experienced trained specialists are involved.

Geographic profiling is a strategic information management system based on the analysis and assessment of the totality and individual details of a crime scene, victim assessment and other evidence, aimed at supporting serial violent criminal investigations. This model is not a direct way of constructing a psychological portrait, but is directly related to creating a profile of an unknown criminal. A geographic profile helps clarify the psychological profile, the focus of its application and increase its usefulness, as it analyzes various crime factors and environmental elements.

D. Kanter's statistical model uses empirical data collected over many years to create a psychological portrait. The statistical approach to criminal profiling analysis originates with the creation of the CATCHEM database. The database collected data on child sex murders and abductions in the UK since 1960. Such a database is very useful for the investigation of criminal cases, as it allows one to find similarities between solved cases and those under investigation.

The method of drawing up a psychological portrait gained recognition in Russia not so long ago. Since the 90s, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs began to introduce psychological portraits into practice in order to search for criminals. A new program was prepared for the scientific development of a method for drawing up a psychological portrait for practical use, which was officially adopted in 1992. At the Research Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, a department of psychophysiological problems of solving crimes and analyzing criminal behavior was formed, which dealt with serial crimes.

Today, Russia has created its own model for developing a psychological portrait, the developers of which are R.L. Akhmedshin and N.V. Kubrak. This method arose thanks to two researchers who, analyzing foreign approaches, and in particular the FBI model (USA), combining the typology of the criminal, using databases, and geographical aspects, and studying the full range of information on the case, as well as taking into account the individual characteristics of the criminal, created a new model of psychological portrait. Indeed, when considering the stages that are described in this model, one can note a large number of different aspects that make it possible to create the most complete psychological portrait of the alleged criminal, and therefore achieve greater efficiency in the investigation of criminal cases.

Of particular relevance, in connection with the above, is the need to conduct a comparative analysis of models for compiling a psychological portrait, which is what purpose of the study.

Object of study– various options for methods of drawing up a psychological portrait.

Item– identifying the most effective model for drawing up a portrait of an unknown criminal.

Hypothesis. The model for compiling a psychological profile, adopted in Russia, contains the most diverse number of different aspects that are important for solving a crime, which makes it more effective.

Study. 40 4th and 5th year students took part in the study. They were divided into two groups of 20 people, according to the specialty in which they were trained: psychologists and legal psychologists. In each group, two more subgroups of 10 people were randomly allocated.

For the study, two models were chosen for drawing up a psychological portrait of an alleged criminal - the FBI model (USA) and the model adopted in our country, as the most informative based on the results of theoretical analysis. Based on each of these two methods of drawing up a psychological portrait of an unknown criminal, students were asked to draw up psychological portraits for a specific criminal case, using one or another model for drawing up a portrait. In each group (psychology students and legal psychologists), out of 20 students, 10 students made a portrait using the FBI method and 10 students - using the method created in Russia.

A real criminal situation was proposed as a criminal case - the murder of a young girl, which occurred in the Bronx in October 1979. This case was described by John Douglas in his book "Mind Hunters: The FBI Against Serial Murder." This case was used as a case study at Quantico because it clearly demonstrates the technique of psychological profiling and how police can use it to intensify investigations into cases about which there is little information and, as a result, investigations are stagnant.

The essence of the task was that, based on the data presented (a criminal case, the stages of drawing up a portrait according to some model, an example of a psychological portrait and the structure of the portrait), it was necessary to create an approximate description of the criminal. In the description, indicate gender, estimated age, race, marital status, socioeconomic status, mental state, possible criminal history, relationship with the victim, likelihood of committing a crime in the future, etc.

Each student was given a criminal case, the stages of drawing up a psychological portrait (in accordance with a certain model), an example of a portrait and recommendations for the preparation and structure of the portrait itself.

The completed portraits were compared with each other. The initial comparison was made by the number of aspects considered in the portraits of each model. Each portrait was then compared with a real psychological portrait of that criminal to identify correct assumptions about the characteristics of the alleged criminal (the characteristics of the real person who committed the crime were compared). Then the portraits, compiled according to two different models, were compared with each other according to the previously identified characteristics.

The following main characteristics were compared, for which similarities were discovered during the comparison of the compiled portraits with a real psychological portrait:

1. Location.
2. Family status.
3. Socio-economic status ( place of work).
4. Mental condition.
5. Possibility of relapse.

In order to identify which of the methods chosen for research and comparison is most effective, that is, has the most diverse number of aspects considered that are important for solving a crime, a comparative analysis of the previously identified characteristics was carried out, in which there were coincidences with the real psychological portrait of the criminal.

The results obtained when drawing up portraits using two different models in a group of psychology students and separately in a group of legal psychologist students, as well as general results ( data are presented in the table).

Table 1

Comparison of models

Comparable characteristics	Coincidence with a real portrait
	legal psychologists		psychologists		Overall results in two groups by model
	model (Russia)	model (USA)	model (Russia)	model (USA)	model (Russia)	model (USA)
Location
Family status
Socio-economic status
Mental condition
Possibility of relapse

As can be seen from the table, the number of matches with a real portrait in different groups does vary somewhat, but not much.

The analysis showed that in the group where the portraits were compiled according to the model developed in our country, the characteristics inherent in the real person who committed this crime, as well as those contained in the real portrait used to search for the criminal, more often coincided.

The analysis of the compiled portraits showed that the model of a psychological portrait of an unknown criminal, adopted in our country, touches on more aspects than the FBI model. This can be seen in the low number of alleged criminal characteristics described in portraits compiled using the FBI model, and in the larger number of alleged criminal characteristics described in portraits compiled using another model.

Based on the comparison results in the two models, it is clear that legal psychologists made more correct assumptions about the person who committed the crime, which may be due to the peculiarities and specifics of their training and the disciplines taught.

In the group of psychology students, based on the results of comparing the compiled portraits with the real one, there was the least agreement on the characteristics of “marital status” and “socio-economic status.” This may be due to the fact that student psychologists have not previously engaged in psychological analysis of a crime and it is difficult for them to assume some signs of the person who committed the crime.

Assumptions related to the characteristic “mental state” in the portraits of psychology students had the most detailed form, in contrast to other characteristics. This may be due to good training in clinical disciplines. However, the description of other characteristics was brief and sometimes vague.

Statistical calculations were carried out using SPSS Statistics 17.0 (criterion U–Manna - Whitney (Mann- Whitney U) ). The data turned out to be statistically insignificant for the selected categories of portrait comparisons. This may depend on sample size or other reasons. Considering the results obtained, we can conclude that the methods are almost equivalent, although there are still differences. Each method relies on its own stages and characteristics considered, but at the same time leads to similar results. The emergence of new methods for drawing up a psychological portrait, created on the basis of an analysis of existing ones, allows the methods to compete with each other and thereby develop further in order to improve and highlight new stages in the construction of psychoprofiles.

After the research and analysis of the results obtained, you can make general conclusions.

1. The model for compiling a psychological portrait of an unknown criminal, developed in our country, covers more aspects than the FBI model. Portraits based on the Russian model have more characteristics described and a broader description of the characteristics of the alleged criminal than portraits compiled using the FBI model.
2. In the portraits drawn up according to the Russian model, there are slightly more similarities between the signs of a criminal assumed by students and the characteristics inherent in a real person, as well as with those contained in the wanted portrait drawn up by specialists. This was noted in both groups that participated in the study, but the significance of the differences was not statistically proven.
3. Each model used in the study has a different emphasis on certain criteria used to create a psychological profile of the offender. This was observed in all the portraits compiled. In the FBI model, more attention is given to the analysis of the crime victim, while in the model developed in our country, more attention is paid to the method of committing the crime and to the personality characteristics of the criminal himself in various aspects.

Thus, we can conclude that the research done indicates that, in general, both methods of drawing up a portrait are effective. Each method used in the study led to similar results and, in one way or another, the compiled portraits coincided with the real portrait of the criminal. However, each method differed in the approach (steps) to describing the alleged offender and relied on different features used to build a profile.

Each of the models looks at a crime from different angles, but they serve a single purpose - to help law enforcement agencies identify and search for a criminal whose identity is unknown, as well as in predicting his possible activities.

The prospects for the study are to examine and analyze both models to identify the strengths of each method. After this, it is possible to create a qualitatively new method that would not combine a random set of all possible signs of the criminal’s personality, but would represent a clear sequence of stages, each of which would take into account the signs necessary in criminal proceedings.

Based on the research, it was found that the strength of the method developed in Russia is the analysis of the mechanism of the criminal act, and the strength of the method created by foreign researchers is the analysis of the crime victim.

Thus, it is possible to develop a new model that would take into account the features of these two methods of drawing up a psychological portrait of the alleged criminal. Such a model could be effective in the practice of crime investigation and, in turn, would help the further development and establishment of the “psychological portrait of a criminal” method in our country.

The study of the method of drawing up a psychological portrait in our country and abroad (Great Britain, the USA, Holland, etc.), where this method has been actively used for a long time, led to the conclusion that the relevance of introducing psychology into practical activities is increasingly increasing.

In Russia, the use of the method has begun, but these are only the first steps. The creation of our own approach to the development of a psychological portrait and a new identification of stages (stages) of its compilation made it possible to make sure that in Russia they began to actively develop a methodology for psychological profiling, following their foreign colleagues. The emergence of new models leads to competition, which, in turn, makes it possible to improve approaches by comparing existing ones with each other, highlighting new stages and including various signs of an unidentified person that were not included in existing methods.

Compilation algorithms are imperfect, but in many ways they are already effective, as the study showed. At the moment, the percentage of crimes solved when using the “psychoprofile” method may not be very high, but if the method develops in the right direction, the result will not be long in coming.

This work and the research carried out within its framework made it possible to analyze existing approaches, highlight the strengths in different methods of drawing up a psychological portrait of an unidentified criminal, and outline further work to create a qualitatively new method that takes into account the advantages of previous models.