A Critical Look at Crime Studies Course Created by Self-Proclaimed Criminal Profiler Chelsea Hoffman

LAS VEGAS - Nov. 16, 2014 - PRLog -- by Ernie Ford and Beth Parks

Overview

Unlike the standard investigative feature article researched, written and syndicated by Torchmark Media, this piece is prepared as a public service. As a consequence, this story, or excerpts from it, may be reprinted in order to provide the public information about this Crime Studies Course and its creator, Chelsea Hoffman. In researching this article, it became apparent that Chelsea Hoffman and her endeavors present nothing newsworthy beyond the need to keep the public abreast of what are described as fraudulent enterprises initiated and run by Chelsea Hoffman.

The ultimate purpose of this article is to examine the contention that the Crime Studies Course represents a scam perpetrated by Chelsea Hoffman. The examination of the contention was three-fold when it comes to this article. First, we examined Hoffman’s background in relation to the Crime Studies Course. Second, we examined the claims made by uDemy and Hoffman regarding the course and Hoffman’s expertise. Finally, a member of the team investigating this story enrolled in the course itself.

The uDemy Learning Market Place

The Chelsea Hoffman Crime Studies Course is included on a platform maintained by an enterprise called uDemy. uDemy markets itself as being:

“The world’s online learning marketplace, where 4 million+ students are taking courses in everything from programming to yoga to photography–and much, much more. Each of our 18,000+ courses is taught by an expert instructor, and every course is available on-demand, so students can learn at their own pace, on their own time, and on any device.”

In researching this article, the offerings of uDemy generally were reviewed. The company does indeed maintain a wide selection of courses which do appear to be taught by clearly professional individuals who are deemed experts in their field.

The generally accepted definition of “expert” is “a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area.” The moniker “expert” is inapplicable to Chelsea Hoffman as it relates to this particular course of study. By definition, the Crime Studies Course investigated for this article is not taught by an “expert” as promoted by uDemy. This fact opened the door to a further inquiry as to whether this course represents a completely fraudulent enterprise run by Hoffman.

Beyond questions and concerns about Hoffman’s qualifications to teach the course, questions have been raised about the content prepared and presented by Hoffman in the course itself. In order to evaluate the quality of materials provided by Hoffman in the course, a reporter involved in investigating this story enrolled in the Chelsea Hoffman Crime Studies Course. Findings regarding the materials provided by Hoffman in the course are presented later in this article.

An unnamed source from uDemy advised that the platform is investigating allegations regarding the Hoffman course, including whether it is presented by a true expert in the field. In addition, the platform is looking into the quality of the content included in the course as well, according to the source at uDemy.

An accusation has also been made that Hoffman misappropriated educational materials from Ashworth College, an online school discussed later in this article, and included them in her own uDemy course without crediting them to the college. The materials from the Hoffman course are being presented to Ashworth College for review. At this juncture, nothing can be confirmed as to whether Hoffman has or has not plagiarized in regard to her course materials at uDemy.

Chelsea Hoffman and Criminal Profiling

Hoffman maintains that she is an “indie (independent) crime analyst and profiler.” The University of Maryland maintains a generally accepted definition of crime analysis:

“Crime analysis is the systematic study of crime and disorder problems as well as other police-related issues – including sociodemographic, spatial, and temporal factors – to assist the police in criminal apprehension, crime and disorder reduction, crime prevention, and evaluation.”

In order to be deemed an expert in crime analysis, a person must have an appropriate academic degree from a college or university. Hoffman does not meet the definition of a crime analyst; she lacks both an appropriate educational as well as professional background to qualify as a crime analyst. The only indicia of her standing as a crime analysts are her personal proclamations.

Hoffman’s self-identification as a being a criminal profiler is equally problematic. A criminal profiler is defined as:

“A professional involved in identifying the perpetrator of crime based on an analysis of the nature of the offense and the manner in which it was committed.” A criminal profiler has obtained an appropriate degree from an institution of higher learning, and oftentimes an advanced degree. Yet again, Hoffman does not meet these requirements. The only evidence of her standing as a criminal profiler are her own unfounded pronouncements.

Hoffman routinely touts her enrollment at an online school called Ashworth College as being evidence of her expertise as a criminal profiler. In a peculiar line of postings on the Internet, Hoffman maintains that she needed to enroll at Ashworth College because her IQ is so high, a traditional institution of higher education would be inappropriate to her significant intelligence. In fact, while Ashworth likely provides a decent curriculum in various areas of study, the school definitely is not known as a magnet for the intelligentsia. Hoffman has yet to obtain any degree from this institution, further buttressing the fact that she definitely is not an expert in the arena of crime analysis, criminal profiling and crime studies as she promotes through her uDemy course.

Chelsea Hoffman and Celebrity

Not only does Hoffman hold herself out as being an expert in the field of “criminal profiling,” she similarly proclaims that she is a “public figure” and a “celebrity.” She claims a large “fan” following.

In reality, when Hoffman wrote and posted her own Wikipedia page, (an act that underscores her own lack of a true public standing of any kind), the overseers at the online encyclopedia removed the page. The page was removed based on the determination that Hoffman had not accomplished anything of professional merit to warrant a Wikipedia page.

Moreover, the only indication that Hoffman is a so-called “public figure” or “celebrity” arises from her own Internet postings. Recently, a “Chelsea Hoffman Fan Page” was initiated on Facebook. After several weeks of soliciting fans, the page has five. Critics of Hoffman have made it known that most if not all of this fist-full of admirers are in fact people who take issue with Hoffman’s alleged unprofessionalism, dishonesty and conduct.

To be continued ...

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