like FBI, investigators and such....profiling is a valuable tool. There is a pattern among certain kinds of killers, a type to look for, when you don't know who is, for example, a serial killer.
Professionals know from the victims, the M.O., and such, what type the killer is likely to be. Race is just one of many things the killer is likely to be. Race, gender, age, sociableness, I.Q., success or vocation, etc. I've seen that on those crime shows.
Their profiling is based on historical data. And it's usually correct...at least from what I've seen. (I admit I watch a lot of those shows, and I've read quite a few true crime books, as well....sort of a hobby.)
It's pretty amazing how close they can come to what the actual killer is, when he is found.
This was done in that famous Russian killer case (a really good movie was made about it, with Stephen Rea...I think it's called Citizen X):
Andrei Chikatilo is the worst serial killer in Russian history. He murdered at least 53 young girls and boys starting and 1982, and ending in 1990, when he was captured.
A psychologist, Dr. Bukhanovsky, was hired to help with the case. He did a major profile of the killer, and called him Citizen X. The doctor said X was a homosexual, possibly had a wife and children. He called the killer a necrosadist, and by mutilating his victims organs, he showed his control.
Bukhanovsky read his paper Citizen X to Chikatilo, who confessed it was true, and told where, when, and who he murdered. He got sexual gratification from murdering and could only reach orgasm if he killed his victim.
Chikatilo admitted to at least 53 murders, and led police to some undiscovered victims. Chikatilo believed that the eyes of the victims kept an image of the killer frozen in them after death, and that is why he gouged his victims' eyes out.
http://serialkillr.tripod.com/SerialKillersExposed/chikatilo.html
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