Large scale automated fingerprint analysis is less than two decades old and the national system is only 10 years old. Prior to that, the FBI had 200 million plus fingerprint cards on file, all analyzed manually.

I read a Writer's Guide to Crime Scene Investigation by a woman who used to do all that sort of thing, and she said she was one of the few people who could easily match by eye from a card without lots of magnifying equipment.

I would be much more impressed if criminal profiling weren't, you know, hokum.

Hee. You've got to give the writers credit for some touch with reality, though; I think there are more CM episodes where the profile is TOTALLY WRONG than ones where they nail it from the beginning. Like that article said, different people may do the same things for very different reasons.

As for profiling and cold reading, I've been convincing people I'm psychic for years. I once guessed a guy's name and "sun sign" having known him for about five minutes. He almost wet his pants. (George, Taurus.)

I think there are more CM episodes where the profile is TOTALLY WRONG than ones where they nail it from the beginning.

yes, they often get it wrong on the first go.

No, they showed the season opener again.

Thank you, ita.

And a jaunty raspberry to Zenkitty

Sad, predictable so not-that-spoilery, picture from the next Criminal Minds episode.

Aw, sad. What's the site where you got that, ita?

Spoilertv.com.

Homicide: The Complete Series for $60 on Amazon. Fantastic deal.

Does Erika have that? If not, someone needs to let her know.