Analysis of a Profiling Case

Running head: ANALYSIS OF A PROFILING CASE 1

ANALYSIS OF A PROFILING CASE 3

Topic

Name

Institution

The Case involving Casey Johnson and the murder of her two year old daughter, Caylee, ended in an unexpected acquittal much to the anguish of the general public. The accusations on the table were that Ms. Johnson had murdered her daughter by suffocating her with a tape and then dumping her body in the trunk of the car.

After a while the body started stinking which forced her to dump the body in the woods close to her home where the remains of the girl’s body were found. The verdict from the jury in Florida was that she wasn’t guilty of murder. Instead, she was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for giving false information to law enforcers with regards to disappearance of her daughter which she did a full month after Caylee had disappeared.

There are several sides of this case that led to the ruling from the jury. Her profiling indicated several issues to do with the positive ruling. First of all, Casey Johnson was relatively young at 25 years of age. She liked partying and shopping, an issue that was treated by the jury as more of an allegation than a truth given the hype that the case had been given by the media. This was a reason that could have been used against her with an allegation from the jury of a will to be more negligent and self-centered rather than care much about her responsibilities as a parent. This was used by her attorney Mr. Jabez to label the jury – or rather caution – of understanding the likely misuse of the allegation as a result of the intensity that had been bestowed upon it by media.

Ms. Johnson came from a family that was disturbed mentally. (2011, July 10. Star Tribune, p. 26). The family of Cindy and George Anthony has had to do with allegations of incest, rape and adultery (. Being a daughter of the family, Ms. Johnson wasn’t spared the trauma of being a associated with such an immoral background. This so strongly could have made her have a negative attitude towards her own family, whether her parents, siblings or offspring. That is to say, from a psychological perspective. This probably partially explained Ms. Johnsons love for shopping and partying.

Witnesses described her as a mother who cared for and loved her daughter. She had severally been seen playing with her daughter. This also put the jury in a dilemma with regards to who to see between a parent who loved and cared for her child or a murderer who killed her child for her freedom from social probability. The location of her home in Florida wasn’t a factor in determining either her behavior or the verdict (.Cole, 1975).

Ms. Johnson too had two sides of her life; woman that could be aggressive and seem to be bitter. On the other hand there was the cool and collected but emotional Ms. Johnson. Both of her sides were evident during her trial as she aggressively shouted for her rights by claiming not to be guilty of the offense. On the other hand was an emotional mother that kept on mourning her departed daughter even in the court sessions. The profilers basically used other people to get to know the lady more. They also used the records from the police about her as well as from her trusted friends besides the media.( Buckingham, 2004).

The profile is just a little bit accurate. However, it didn’t help much in looking for any further evidence against her. What made it even worse was its amplification by the media which made it lose its original weight. Besides, it was exposed long before the right time to make use of it, which is in court. This gave the defense team an upper hand in defending the client. The profile was rather a selling tool and a reverence point for the defense such as attorney Boaz.

The inaccuracy of the profile was first of all made to be there due to the fact that everyone involved reacted when it was too late. Besides, there were a lot of interferences from the media and this manipulated even the profiling itself leave a lone the court proceedings.

References

Buckingham, J. I. (2004). "Newsmaking" Criminology or "Infotainment" Criminology?. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 37(2), 253-275.

Cole, G. F. (1975). The American system of criminal justice. North Scituate, Mass.: Duxbury Press.

NEWS ABOUT: Casey Johnson. (n.d.). Casey Johnson – News Stories About Casey Johnson. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from http://www.newser.com/tag/5862/1/casey-johnson.html

Trial by media; Justice is best decided by juries, not talk shows and tabloids.(NEWS). (2011, July 10). Star Tribune, p. 26.