Inside Your Mind

3 - Aizawa

Pick your path and I'll pray

"So, to repeat some of our main points. Why is it just as important to have a profile of the victim as having a profile of the perpetrator?"

Aizawa let his eyes wander through the rows of students. Most of them were still jotting down notes. One student had her hand up. Aizawa acknowledged her, but decided to ignore her hand. He knew that she would have the answer - and she'd also have the best answer possible. Precise, to the point and entailing all the things he wanted to hear. He would not call on Kaori Shinsou right now.

His eyes stopped at a student chewing on her pencil and looking like she was focussing on something she had written down. She wasn't. Aizawa knew exactly that she was hiding her phone behind her book and was texting someone. He could see the damn reflection in her glasses.

"Nishiyama. Enlighten us." he said. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Shinsou drop her hand and shoot Nishiyama an annoyed glance. He didn't show any sign that he had noticed, but inwardly he smiled. He got some strange kick out of her annoyance about someone else being called on.

He focussed on Nishiyama again. She looked taken by surprise for a second, but quickly got a hold of herself. She put down her pencil and looked straight at him, not breaking eye contact. He had caught her and she knew that he knew. He raised his eyebrows at her, waiting for an answer.

"Uhm... the victim profile... well, it's important to find out why the perpetrator chose a certain victim... establish a motive." she answered and gave him a smile full of fake confidence. Aizawa nodded.

"Correct. But incomplete. Miss Shinsou, you wanted to answer up, didn't you?" he replied without looking at her. He could hear some movement from the other side of the room, as he turned to look at her. She had a smile on her face and leaned back in her chair, a pencil between her thin fingers.

"Yes, Sir. We need victim profiles to assist with contextualizing allegations of victimization and to help support or refute allegations of victimization. It is also needed to help establish the nature of a victim's exposure to harm or loss. We don't only care about the perpetrators, we also care about their victims. Victim profiles help to establish an investigative suspect pool and they can help with linking unsolved crimes. And of course, as Nishiyama already mentioned, they can give information on an offender's modus operandi and on his motive." she explained, as if she had known all this all her life. If Aizawa had to name anyone that was going to be a promising Criminal Psychologist later on in life, it would be her. Kaori Shinsou.

"Excellent, Shinsou. It seems you actually prepared for the lesson today. I wouldn't expect any less from you." he commented. For a second there was a wholehearted smile on her face, as she heard his praise. She quickly composed herself and nodded with a neutral expression, as Aizawa noted with a hint of disappointment.

"Now, there are two types of exposures linked to crime. Anyone want to summarize what they are?" he asked the class. Of course Shinsou's hand was up again. She had gotten her time to shine already, however. No matter how much Aizawa enjoyed hearing her eloquently summarize what he just taught them.

"Kawano." he said. Kawano was a tall and lanky young man, who was usually dragging behind the rest of the class. His problem was how easily he got distracted. He could be reading a chapter in the textbook ten times and he'd only really get half of it. Aizawa didn't like judging anyone as a hopeless case, but he was very much inclined to do so with Kawano.

"Lifestyle exposure and situational exposure. Lifestyle exposure are potentially dangerous choices in a victim's everyday life because of biological and environmental factors and past choices. Victim situational exposure is the amount of actual exposure to harmful elements experienced by the victim that results from their environment or their personal traits at the time of the victimization." he answered.