A Brief History of Profiling

Formal psychological profiling began during WWI.  The military required a rapid and brief system to determine which candidates were psychologically unfit for service. As a result, questionnaires were developed to help weed out those with mental health issues.  Thereafter profiling moved formally to medical evaluations, then to school based educational evaluations, and finally to industry for personnel purposes,   As it has grown throughout the mental health industry, lessons there have found their way to forensic evaluations. Here the goal is understanding and identifying criminals.