this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2022
0 points (NaN% liked)

memes

22761 readers
348 users here now

dank memes

Rules:

  1. All posts must be memes and follow a general meme setup.

  2. No unedited webcomics.

  3. Someone saying something funny or cringe on twitter/tumblr/reddit/etc. is not a meme. Post that stuff in [email protected], it's a great comm.

  4. Va*sh posting is haram and will be removed.

  5. Follow the code of conduct.

  6. Tag OC at the end of your title and we'll probably pin it for a while if we see it.

  7. Recent reposts might be removed.

  8. Tagging OC with the hexbear watermark is praxis.

  9. No anti-natalism memes. See: Eco-fascism Primer

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

One of the things that scares me about the US criminal justice system is that it relies almost entirely on magical thinking and torture to secure convictions. I don't believe anyone is guilty unless they were literally photographed holding the bloody knife while standing over the body and even then I'll need some convincing to rule out potential mitigating circumstances.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

There was a criminology professor at the university I attended that achieved minor renown for a book he had written on abnormal psychology and serial killers. He often flew around the country providing expert trial testimony for prosecutors.

During the DC sniper attacks the fucking guy must've been invited on 50 national broadcasts in the span of a week (and according to him was even tapped by the FBI) to leverage his "expertise" and provide a suspect profile. Every appearance his claims would become more and more outrageous and sensationalized until he was basically just describing Vincent D'Onofrio from that shitty 2000 movie The Cell.

Man, I thought it was funny when the suspect was revealed to be suspect(s) and basically the exact opposite of his expert profile in every way.

I also recall reflecting on the likelihood that this was probably not the first time he had ever been so absolutely wrong. I wonder how many people with harmless sex things or autism or just run of the mill weirdos have been locked up for murder without a shred of physical evidence because a criminal psychologist phantasied a profile to fit them?

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The one time I've really heard of a profile being accurate is Richard Chase(Big CW if you google him for mutilation, sexual assault and harming children), and thats cause some random cop who took a course in profiling once just made some kinda reasonable guesses like "this guy is probably really fucking filthy and covered in blood!" or "he's probably white cause if he was black and skulking around white middle class neighborhoods we would have been called immediately" and "he's probably done something weird and fucked up before this".

And the profile also literally didn't even fucking matter or make a difference in the slightest, because he just flat out left handprints and shoeprints all over, plus he was wandering around in a blood caked jacket, so IIRC someone just gave a tip about this dirty blood smelling weirdo going around bothering people and they checked him out. What a success story for the field of criminal profiling!