Where to from here?

This chapter discusses the professionalization, ethics, and accountability related to criminal profiling. One way to improve criminal profiling is to increase the standards of those who practice it. This would involve establishing standards of practice and accountability. It is suggested that one of the ways to improve profiling, and one that is sorely lacking, is to conduct research into its effectiveness and the features that have been helpful or detrimental. Research on the content and processes involved in profiling shows that there are a number of significant shortcomings in terms of explaining the reasoning behind the conclusions in the profile, as well as in the back-ground documentation regarding its construction. The Academy of Behavioral Profiling has constructed a set of ethical guidelines covering many of the ethical issues in detail, providing a useful overview of the things that profilers should heed in their own practice. It is suggested that one way to make an end run around accountability is to provide a caveat to the effect that the information provided is based on a best guess or is not to be taken as accurate and reliable.