Academic International Conference on Interdisciplinary Legal Studies (AICILS 2016, Oxford) March 1-3, Oxford, United Kingdom CRIMINAL PROFILING OF PSYCHOPATHS: THE INDIAN SCENARIO Dr Priya Sepaha* Renaissance Law College India priyasepaha@gmail.com Abstract Criminal Profiling is an important investigative technique for identifying the psyche of offenders who commit heinous offences. It not only resolves the crime but also assists in revealing the causation of crime. Psychopathy is considered the most dangerous of all mental diseases and therefore it is necessary to recognise it. This study aims to explore the common traits of the psychopaths by reviewing ten case studies from India and outside. The most common features in criminal profiling which help us to judge any psychopath are modus operandi and psychological factors. An attempt has been made to identify these traits through these case studies. It is a common practice in the UK and USA to use criminal profiling for scrutinizing psychopaths. Special Laws have been enacted to deal with the emerging problem. There is an urgent need in India also to use criminal profiling in the investigation of crimes committed by psychopaths. Keywords: Criminal profiling, psychopaths, Law, modus operandi, psychological factors. INTRODUCTION Criminal Profiling is the identification of specific characteristics of an individual committing a particular crime by a thorough systematic observational process and an analysis of the crime scene, the victim, the forensic evidence and the known facts of the crime. The profiling technique has been used by behavioural scientists and criminologists to examine criminal behaviour and to evaluate as well as possibly predict the future actions of criminals. 1 To understand the nature of any crime it is necessary to identify the causation of crime. There are many investigating modes which are used to identify the exact reason behind any crime, for instance, social, economic, anthropological and psychodynamic. Psychodynamic is one of the most accurate approaches to understand the psyche of any criminal. Whenever any crime is committed by any mentally ill criminal it becomes more difficult to identify the reason for the crime and the category of mental disease. There must be different * Dr. Priya Sepaha, MPhil (English), LL.M (Criminology), PhD (Law), Renaissance Law College, Principal. 1 What Is Criminal Profiling And Why It Is Important,[online],Psychological Disorders, Available from: http://twistedminds.creativescapism.com/psychological-disorders/profiling/, [Accessed on 4 January 2016].