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Abstract The extrapolation of characteristics of criminals from information about their crimes, as an aid to police investigation, is the essence of ‘profiling'. This paper proposes that for such extrapolations to be more than educated guesses they must be based upon knowledge of (1) coherent consistencies in criminal behaviour and (2) the relationship those behavioural consistencies have to aspects of an offender available to the police in an investigation. Hypotheses concerning behavioural consistencies are drawn from the diverse literature on sexual offences and a study is described of 66 sexual assaults committed by 27 offenders against strangers. Multivariate statistical analyses of these assaults support a five-component system of rapist behaviour, reflecting modes of interaction with the victim as a sexual object. The potential this provides for an eclectic theoretical basis to offender profiling is discussed.
Canter et al. (Sat,) studied this question.