Criminal Profiling of Satanic Followers Research Paper - 1

Criminal Profiling of Satanic Followers - Research Paper Example   Ã‚   However, from the law enforcement perspective, it is not easy to classify a criminal activity as a satanic crime and, thus, reduce an investigation only to the suspects who claim to be Satanists (Lanning, 89). To start with, while there are several criteria that can help law enforcement officers to classify a crime as satanic, none of them is reliable enough to clearly define such a criminal activity. To start with, while some argue that the presence of certain symbols, such as inverted crosses, pentagrams, or 666 makes a crime satanic, from the law enforcement perspective â€Å" unless there is a legal-valid perspective for doing so, police have no authority to seize any satanic or occult paraphernalia they might see during the search (Lewis, 2001). The symbols or signs have no any significance for the investigation unless they prove a criminal activity. If a victim includes a Satanic symbol when describing the instruments or a location of the crime, then the symbol can se rve as an evidence. However, many cases reveal that despite the presence of certain symbols in the possession of the offender, the crime had no Satanic relation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Furthermore, signs, symbols, and rituals cannot always be interpreted clearly as their meaning may change over time, place, and circumstance (Lewis, 2001). As an example, a swastika can represent either prosperity and good fortune, or Nazism and anti-Semitism, or – currently – hate, paranoia, and adolescent defiance. Especially in cases involving dabblers, teenagers, and other self-styled Satanists, who give the symbols their own meaning, the analysis of symbols and signs may only have a limited application.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are also cases of offenders leaving satanic symbols on the crime scene deliberately in order to make the crime look â€Å"satanic† and, thus, confuse the investigators. Thus, when law enforcement officers investigate alleged satanic crimes, they need to be objective fact finders (Lanning, 89). While law enforcement officers need to be trained to recognize the possible investigative significance of satanic symbols, rituals, and paraphernalia, it is impossible for one person to know the meaning of all the symbols and rituals of every spiritual belief system. Therefore, symbols cannot be used to clearly classify a law enforcement problem as a satanic activity (Kennedy, 2006).