Criminal profiling as expert evidence? an international case law perspective

Abstract

This chapter will focus on international case law concerning criminal profiling and the legal framework of (novel) evidence admission. Various cases from US, Canadian, Australian, UK, and German courts will be considered to show how they legally evaluate criminal profiles offered as evidence or, in the case of Switzerland, how such profiles would presumably be treated. It is argued that criminal profiling is currently with good reason failing the legal tests for admissible expert evidence and that judges should therefore not admit criminal profiles, not even as circumstantial evidence. © 2007 Humana Press.