Milestone One Guidelines and Rubric
Overview: The final project for this course is the creation of an executive summary report. You will write a summary, conduct a crime assessment, and create a
profile of a criminal. You will then develop a conclusion and consider the investigative use of the information you have compiled.
Criminal psychology encompasses a wide range of information about someone that can be drawn together, synthesized, and written into a format used by the criminal justice system
prior to an arrest. Typically, criminal psychologists are called upon to provide advice and consultation when the crimes are not straightforward. Law enforcement officers are experts at tracking data and looking for crime‐related clues to help them solve a case.
However, when they need assistance determining who a
criminal is, or what a criminal’s motivation might be—in a predictive sense—they rely on the capabilities of professionals who are versed both in criminology and psychology. A criminal profile emerges as data comes together and is an important tool. This is not the same as the information you see on the news; rather it is
a comprehensive look at the biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors that make a person unique to a criminal case. Some of the information is based on empirical data and some is based on educated assumptions made by the criminal psychologist.
You will look at a variety of factors and work to answer the question, “who is this person?” You will examine criminal statistics, lifestyle, upbringing, medical and
mental health information, along with a range of other information, that will help you answer the “who, what, when, where, and why” of your chosen case. It
will be your job to draw from your previous education and training to learn how to understand what information is relevant to your case. There is no piece of
information that is too small to help you build the mosaic of how past activity can help predict future activity. Your profile will be thorough, addressing all of the
areas and questions above for the aim of assisting investigators to understand the criminal and his or her motivations and motives as well as the risk of the
criminal activity continuing in the future. Through prompts and independent research outside of the text, you will peer into the world of investigative profiling.
For this Milestone One task, you will complete the summary and crime assessment portion of the final project assessment.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
I. Summary
a. Summarize the case provided. In your summary, include key facts and demographic information.
b. Develop an initial hypothesis about the potential motivation to commit the crime. As you consider the motivation, identify the type of crime
that was committed.
II. Crime Assessment
a. Compare data and evidence of similar crimes.
b. Identify patterns found in similar crimes.
c. Make inferences about motivation of the identified individual based on case evidence and comparison to similar crimes.
Criminal psychology Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Your paper must be submitted as a 2‐ to 3‐page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12‐point Times New Roman font,
one‐inch margins, and at least three sources cited in APA format.
| Critical Elements | Exemplary (100%) | Proficient (85%) | Needs Improvement (55%) | Not Evident (0%) | Value |
| Summary: Summarize the Case | Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates an advanced ability to distill key details from a provided case study | Summarizes the case study and includes key facts and demographic information | Summarizes the case study but summary is missing key facts or demographic information | Does not summarize the case study | 18 |
| Summary: Initial Hypothesis | Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates a sophisticated awareness of the potential motivation to commit the crime | Develops initial hypothesis about the potential motivation to commit the crime | Develops initial hypothesis about the potential motivation to commit the crime but the hypothesis is cursory or lacks detail | Does not develop an initial hypothesis about the potential motivation to commit the crime | 18 |
| Crime Assessment: Compare | Meets “Proficient” criteria and comparison is exceptionally clear and includes exceptional detail | Compares data and evidence of similar crimes | Compares data and evidence of similar crimes but comparison is cursory or contains inaccuracies | Does not compares data and evidence of similar crimes | 18 |
| Crime Assessment: Identify Patterns | Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates keen ability to identify patterns | Identifies patterns found in similar crimes | Identifies patterns found in similar crimes but response is cursory, illogical, or lacks detail | Does not identify patterns found in similar crimes | 18 |
| Crime Assessment: Motivation | Meets “Proficient” criteria and inferences show advanced ability to draw connections from evidence in multiple cases | Draws inferences about the motivation of the individual to commit the crime based on evidence in multiple cases | Draws inferences about the motivation of the individual to commit the crime but response is cursory, illogical, or lacks justification | Does not draw inferences about the motivation of the individual to commit the crime | 18 |
| Articulation of Response | Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy‐to‐read format | Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization | Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas | Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas | 10 |
| Total | 100% |
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted use for identifying patterns in similar cases