The Criminal Profile is a new behavior-tracking system in Grand Theft Auto 6 that sits alongside the returning Wanted system. Instead of scoring you on kindness the way Red Dead Redemption 2’s Honor meter did, it judges how cleanly or how brutally Jason and Lucia carry out their crimes, and it quietly shapes how the world treats the pair over an 80-hour playthrough.
Quick answer: Your Criminal Profile is a hidden rating that only records crimes you are seen or reported committing. It drops when you escalate with needless violence, rises when you keep a low profile or help people, and can shatter permanently if you sink it too low.
What the Criminal Profile actually measures
The Criminal Profile is essentially a running record of how the two protagonists handle their crime sprees. It is a more nuanced take on the Honor system, and its defining trait is that it reads context. Robbing a store quickly and getting out without hurting anyone is treated very differently from lighting up a room full of bystanders.
Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson framed it around the story of a couple on the run. In his words, if you commit a crime and move on before the cops arrive without shooting people or escalating, “you’re generally going to be fine.” The rating only swings when you go beyond what a situation requires, or do unnecessary damage on a consistent basis.
Note: This is still a game about two criminals, so the system does not push you toward being a model citizen. It rewards being an efficient criminal rather than a merciful one.
Only crimes you get caught for count
Unlike Red Dead Redemption 2, where nearly all of your deeds were logged, the Criminal Profile only registers crimes that are witnessed or reported. If nobody sees the act and no alarm goes off, it does not stain your record.
Witnesses matter in a very literal sense. Police won’t materialize out of nowhere; a crime has to be seen or triggered first. That witnessing can even happen through NPCs posting about you on in-game social media, which then feeds back into your rating.
What raises and lowers your rating
| Lowers the Criminal Profile | Raises the Criminal Profile |
|---|---|
| Being witnessed committing crimes | Laying low and staying out of trouble for a while |
| Unnecessary escalation and excessive violence | Pulling off crimes cleanly without collateral damage |
| Mindless or needlessly cruel killings | Helping others and doing good deeds |
| NPC social media posts reporting your actions | Acts of kindness such as feeding stray animals |
Self-defense is treated fairly. Fighting back in an altercation or returning fire at pursuers won’t drag your profile down. The penalty applies when you push a tense moment further than it needed to go, and you keep doing it.
How the world reacts to a low profile
Push the rating low enough and the change becomes visible in the streets. Ordinary NPCs start behaving very differently toward Jason and Lucia, in the same spirit as the reputation system in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2.
Places you have terrorized turn into hotspots. Return to an area where you have done the most damage without a disguise, and you can trigger an immediate reaction from the people there. Nelson stressed there is no single correct way to play, but consistent behavior shapes both how the world responds and how the narrative unfolds.
The point of no return
There is a hard floor to the system. If your Criminal Profile drops to a specific low point, the badge representing it breaks, and it becomes unrecoverable for the rest of that playthrough. In other words, relentlessly terrible behavior can leave a permanent mark you can’t undo, no matter how long you keep playing afterward.
Where to check it and how it ties into the Wanted system
There is no on-screen meter for the Criminal Profile. It stays hidden during normal play, but you can view the Criminal Profile rating inside the dedicated Jason and Lucia stat menu.
The profile works next to the classic Wanted system, which returns with its full six-star scale. Police descriptions have grown sharper and now factor in what you are wearing, the car you are driving, and whether you were spotted alongside your partner. That connection gives you concrete ways to shake pursuit without piling on more violence.
- Swap your vehicle for a different one to break the reported description.
- Change your outfit so you no longer match what the police are looking for.
- Go on foot into a busy area to blend in.
- Split up from your partner when the description calls for a couple.
Taken together, the Criminal Profile turns restraint into a real gameplay choice rather than a moral one. You can escalate whenever you want, but the system quietly keeps score, and the smartest way to protect your standing is to hit hard, hit clean, and disappear before anyone can call it in. Grand Theft Auto 6 releases November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
