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Offender Profiling and Psychological Differentiation
Abstract
Purpose. The psychological hypotheses that form the foundations for ‘Offender Profiling’ are identified and the research that has tested them is reviewed. Argument. ‘Offender profiling’ is taken to be the derivation of inferences about acriminal from aspects of the crime(s) he or she has committed. For this process to move beyond deduction based on personal opinion and anecdote to an empirically based science, a number of aspects of criminal activity need to be distinguished and examined. The notion of a hierarchy of criminal differentiation is introduced to highlight the need to search for consistencies and variations at many levels of that hierarchy. However, current research indicates that the key distinctions are those that differentiate, within classes of crime, between offences and between offenders. This also leads to the hypothesis ofa circular ordering of criminal actions, analogous to the colour circle, a ‘radex’. The radex model, tested using Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS) procedures, allows specific hypotheses to be developed about important constituents of criminal differentiation: Salience. MDS analyses reveal the importance of the frequency of criminal actions as the basis on which the significance of those actions can be established. Models of differentiation. The research reviewed mainly supports distinctions between criminals in terms of the forms of their transactions with their explicit or implicit victims. Consistency. Offenders have been shown to exhibit similar patterns of action on different occasions. The most reliable examples of this currently are in studies of the spatial behaviour of criminals. Inference. Under limited conditions it is possible to show associations between the characteristics of offenders and the thematic focus of their crimes. In general these results provide support for models of thematic consistency that link the dominant themes in an offender's crimes to characteristic aspects of his or her lifestyle and offending history. Implications. Much of what passes for ‘offender profiling’ in practice and as reported in the factual and fictional media has no basis in empirical research. However, there are some promising results emerging in some areas of study. These results are most likely to be of value to police investigations when incorporated into decision support systems and the training of police officers. The results doalso provide new insights into the psychology o crime.
... This process can be seen as the flipside of the risk assessment coin (Salfati, 2015). Instead of predicting unknown future behavior from the characteristics of the offender, it aims to predict characteristics of an unknown offender from the known actions they engaged in at the crime scene (Canter, 2000(Canter, , 2004. As part of the process, offender profiling aims to examine the actions at the crime scene and categorize these into different behavioral subtypes, which are predictive of separate and distinct sets of offender characteristics. ...
... Due to the increasing questions being raised in the field relating to the lack of an empirical basis to the practice of behavioral crime scene analysis, the new field of social science of Investigative Psychology emerged in the early 1990s, which aimed to examine the evidence for offender profiling and behavioral crime scene analysis to explore how much we actually knew about what offenders do, how much of our understanding of human behavior we could use to understand criminal behavior specifically, and how we could ultimately use all of this to reliably profile an offender's actions and link that to the type of person they may be, and use this in an investigative context (see Canter, 1994Canter, , 2000Canter, , 2004. ...
... The hypothesis is that a person who commits a particular type of crime scene will be a specific type of person. This is what has been referred to as the A → C equation, or the Actions to Characteristics equation (Canter, 2000(Canter, , 2004. By using this stepwise system, an empirical basis can be established on each step in the process, which will make the process more valid, and the application of it reliable across practitioners. ...
... Despite these cautions, the FBI along with other practitioners and academics used this model as a base for much of the early training and practice in profiling. As this original model grew in popularity and started being integrated in other work (see Meloy, 2000, for an overview), authors (e.g., Bateman & Salfati, 2007;Canter, 1994;Canter, L. J. Alison, Alison, & Wentink, 2004;Salfati & Bateman, 2005;Salfati & Canter, 1999) started highlighting that, although the approach of using the crime scene as a starting point was indeed a very useful one, there was now the need not only to test the validity of crime scene profiling models but to test many of the early assumptions in the literature regarding differences between offenders (see Canter, 2000). ...
... But underpinning this applied work are key theoretical and methodological issues. The research field has generated three interlinked areas that have been the focus of recent profiling research: individual differentiation, behavioral consistency, and inferences about offender characteristics (Canter, 2000;Salfati, 2007). ...
... These studies highlight how important it is to identify the commonalities in the sample before attempting to identify the variables that are most effective in differentiating between subtypes of homicide. The study by Salfati (2003) is the only one to date that highlights this simple yet important issue by providing data to determine which types of homicide can more easily be profiled; it also supports what Canter (2000) outlined in his review of theoretical and methodological issues relating to individual differentiation. Thus, it is the less common subgroup of behaviors that may prove more useful in differentiating between types of crime scenes. ...
... Dvorsky (2012) states that « these profiles are compiled by referring to years of accumulated data, along with the insights gleaned from psychologists and neuroscientists ». The research questions that they face then cover a wide range of issues to be solved (Canter, 2000); the analysis of behaviors (what are the behavioral features of the crime that can help identify the perpetrator?), the distinction between offenders (what are the appropriate ways to distinguish the crimes and the offenders?), inferences of characteristics (what inferences can be made about specific characteristics of the offender?) ...
... The implications of offender profiling vary from case to case, but generally, there is proof of some great advance and promising results that are currently emerging in some areas of study. These results are shown, for instance, in police investigations when it comes to the training of officers and decision support systems (Canter, 2000). These same results also provide new insights and different views into the psychology of crime itself. ...
... When it comes to expert deduction on how to catch a criminal, it is argued that the approach presents weaknesses, as there is a fundamental need of empirical evidence about the prevalence of a particular feature or pattern (Canter, 2000) and as this leads to too much generalization and unsuccessful profile creation. Holmes and Holmes' typology of killers has been subject to criticism, and more generally, any typology of killers. ...
Offender profiling has been well known for the general public because of how it is portrayed and represented in media, movies, TV shows and in the news. However, the reality is sometimes far behind the myths and that is one of the reasons why it is often misinterpreted and misunderstood. Moreover, even though it has been well developed, researched and successful in some cases, profiling still has its limits and has been criticized a lot, mostly because of its lack of evidence and accuracy, as well as the lack of empirical research (but the other reasons will be developed in the last part of the literature review). As there is so much to say about profiling, this dissertation will look at three different linked topics in order to come up with three research questions to be analyzed and answered. Thus, the purpose of this study is to take a closer and deeper look at general profiling, especially in the United States, the United Kingdom and France, and extend the research on the matter, as well as analyze how it affected (both in a good way and also how it was criticized) the criminal justice system and the psychology fields. The second purpose is to rely on how the media portrayed criminals and how it created such fascination and myths behind what it is actually in reality; why is criminal profiling and investigative techniques such a big deal for the general population and why is it a fear but yet a fascination for them? Fueled by media, shows and movies, crime is an interesting and intriguing topic for a lot of people, and especially how to get inside the criminal mind. Where is profiling going to? Why and how is profiling not standing still? Finally, the study will try to propose alternatives and solutions to improve its use internationally and in different fields. To this end, the research questions are as follow: • Is offender profiling still a credible method of investigation? • To what extent does the media oversell the ability of profiling? • What can be done in the future to improve and enhance the use of profiling methods? Forensic psychology is such a broad and diverse field, as well as the offender profiling topic. The three research questions that I have chosen would help me define the outline of my dissertation, as well as divide the different chapters. The research questions will be answered through the use of secondary and qualitative research, more specifically with documentary analysis primarily. That is to say, the review and analysis of documents (physical evidence with handbooks and training materials, personal documents such as newspapers, posts, reports, previous classes, and public records). After analyzing all the data and information collected through secondary research, there are a lot of common opinions on the subject, and the will to improve the methods, as well as informing the general population more on both the criminal justice system combined with the role that psychology plays in finding perpetrators of crimes and prevent them from happening in the near future. Critiques on profiling usually agree on the same issues and flaws, such as how the methods are conducted, how the topic is portrayed and influential, and most of the time, far from the reality.
... Another reason is that risk assessment in relation to threats often makes use of the experience, knowledge, and intuition of the assessors. Aside from the usefulness of these aspects, such a -from a practical point of view often unstructured -approach also constitutes a risk, as it leaves room for divergent interpretations [7]. ...
... The letters were assessed by two independent assessors [3]. 7 The Cohen's kappa was used to visualise the degree of agreement between several assessors. All calculated kappas combined together, resulted in a kappa of 0.74 (Appendix). ...
... As Hicks and Sales (2006) emphasize, for police investigations internal or latent variables simply do not offer the same utility as overt behavioral manifestations. Thus, subjective terms and concepts that refer to an individual's psychological needs and desires such as "power" and "control" (e.g., Groth, 1979) are not commonplace in police practice and do not typically exist in the motives they record (Canter, 2000). Rather, to establish motive, investigators will account for the entire homicide event, including situational aspects (e.g., location, the use of a weapon) as well as victim characteristics (e.g., relationship to perpetrator) (Parker & McKinley, 2018). ...
... Past motiveless homicide research has mainly come from case studies or small samples and has had an almost exclusive focus on the offender's mental state prior to or during the offense (e.g., Holcomb & Daniel, 1988;Ruotolo, 1968;Satten et al., 1960). More recently, however, homicide researchers have argued that a traditional focus on the offender and their underlying psychological processes can be counterproductive and tends to be at odds with investigative practice (e.g., Canter, 2000), and instead have proposed that homicides be examined as violent encounters involving interactions between two or more actors bounded by space and time (see Crabbé et al., 2008 for a review). This event-based approach offers several advantages to the study of motiveless homicide. ...
The phenomenon of “senseless” or “motiveless” homicide
refers to homicides that lack an objective external motivation.
Despite the unique challenges these homicides pose
to police, few empirical studies have been conducted on the
topic and are limited to clinical studies
using small samples. To overcome existing empirical
shortcomings, the current study used a sample of 319 homicide
cases where no motive was established during the
investigation to describe the “who” (offender and victim
characteristics), “what” (modus operandi, crime characteristics),
“where” (encounter, crime, and body recovery
associated locations), and “when” (time of the crime) of the
entire criminal event. Findings provide insight into the
entire crime‐commission process and suggest a different
dynamic to “senseless” homicide from what has been
described in previous literature. Implications for police
investigative practice are discussed.
... Here it will mostly be called DA, but other terms are also used where appropriate. DA behaviors are those which an offender employs to hide, destroy or manipulate evidence in order to avoid detection or apprehension by police Beauregard & Martineau, 2012Canter, 1989;. Forensic psychologists and criminologists have long recognized the use of DA and the challenges they pose to investigations. ...
... After Canter (1989) and described adaptive behaviors and what they mean to profiling offenders, discussion on the use of DA by homicide offenders was scant until about 2005. At this point, discussions of offender countermeasures were reinvigorated when they were couched within broader concerns regarding the CSI Effect. ...
... This issue has been raised in the behavioral profiling literature. The ability to infer an offender's characteristics from attributes of the crime relies on core assumptions of homology and differentiation [31][32][33]. Homology means offenders sharing certain crime attributes will also share certain personal characteristics; differentiation means differences in crime attributes indicate differences in offender attributes. The more distinctive (i.e., differentiating) the attribute(s)-of crime and criminal-the more reliably suspect pools can be narrowed [31,33]. ...
... Homology means offenders sharing certain crime attributes will also share certain personal characteristics; differentiation means differences in crime attributes indicate differences in offender attributes. The more distinctive (i.e., differentiating) the attribute(s)-of crime and criminal-the more reliably suspect pools can be narrowed [31,33]. ...
It is well established that offenders' routine activity locations (nodes) shape their crime locations, but research examining the geography of offenders' routine activity spaces has to date largely been limited to a few core nodes such as homes and prior offense locations, and to small study areas. This paper explores the utility of police data to provide novel insights into the spatial extent of, and overlap between, individual offenders' activity spaces. It includes a wider set of activity nodes (including relatives' homes, schools, and non-crime incidents) and broadens the geographical scale to a national level, by comparison to previous studies. Using a police dataset including n=60,229 burglary, robbery, and extra-familial sex offenders in New Zealand, a wide range of activity nodes were present for most burglary and robbery offenders, but fewer for sex offenders, reflecting sparser histories of police contact. In a novel test of the criminal profiling assumptions of homology and differentiation in a spatial context, we find that those who offend in nearby locations tend to share more activity space than those who offend further apart. However, in finding many offenders' activity spaces span wide geographic distances, we highlight challenges for crime location choice research and geographic profiling practice.
... Es una técnica psicológica dirigida a servir de ayuda a la identificación y detención de delincuentes dentro del proceso de una investigación criminal. Trata de predecir las características de un delincuente desconocido a partir de aspectos del crimen (Escena del crimen, víctima, situación geográfica) (Canter, 2000;Farrington y Lambert, 2007). ...
... Perfilación criminal es el proceso por el que se establece una potencial vinculación entre (Canter, 1995): ...
... A hypothesis, that is, central to offender profiling and consequently to the provision of BIA refers to the possibility that an offender will have some characteristic similarities in the manner she or he carries out a crime, and that variations in such will relate to the individuals who commit them (Canter, 2000). There are two main assumptions underlying the hypothesis at the heart of offender profiling . ...
... These two assumptions are used to validate the "profiling equation", abbreviated as the "A → C equation" (Canter, 2000). In this equation, the A(ctions) in an offence are used to derive inferences about the C(haracteristics) of the offender. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify offender typologies based on aspects of the offenders’ psychopathology and their associations with crime scene behaviours using data derived from the National Confidential Enquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health concerning homicides in England and Wales committed by offenders in contact with mental health services in the year preceding the offence ( n =759).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used multiple correspondence analysis to investigate the interrelationships between the variables and hierarchical agglomerative clustering to identify offender typologies. Variables describing: the offender’s mental health history; the offenders’ mental state at the time of offence; characteristics useful for police investigations; and patterns of crime scene behaviours were included.
Findings
Results showed differences in the offender’s histories in relation to their crime scene behaviours. Further, analyses revealed three homicide typologies: externalising, psychosis and depression. Analyses revealed three homicide typologies: externalising, psychotic and depressive.
Practical implications
These typologies may assist the police during homicide investigations by: furthering their understanding of the crime or likely suspect; offering insights into crime patterns; provide advice as to what an offender’s offence behaviour might signify about his/her mental health background; findings suggest information concerning offender psychopathology may be useful for offender profiling purposes in cases of homicide offenders with schizophrenia, depression and comorbid diagnosis of personality disorder and alcohol/drug dependence.
Originality/value
Empirical studies with an emphasis on offender profiling have almost exclusively focussed on the inference of offender demographic characteristics. This study provides a first step in the exploration of offender psychopathology and its integration to the multivariate analysis of offence information for the purposes of investigative profiling of homicide by identifying the dominant patterns of mental illness within homicidal behaviour.
... The data collection processes can differ significantly between research and investigative concerns. As previously stated, it then stands that certain criminal and behaviourally relevant actions may not be recorded at all (Canter, 2000). With relation to sexual offences and child sex offences in particular, it has been recommended previously that more frontline members of the Irish Police Service should be specifically assigned and trained for the task of taking such victim statements and for the investigation of the offences themselves (Garda Inspectorate, 2012). ...
... What is now strived for is an empirically stringent, research-based approach to a vast range of forensic and investigative questions and applications (Canter, 2000;Canter, 2009) including a more objective and quantifiable approach to behavioural investigative advice and its evaluation (Alison, Goodwill, Almond, Heuvel, & Winter, 2010;Alison, Smith, Eastman, & Rainbow, 2003;Cole & Brown, 2014). ...
Policymakers have a duty to base their decision making in the best available evidence relevant to the question at hand. This paper discusses why it is important for policymakers to recognize the valuable contributions to be made from within the fields of investigative and forensic psychology and particularly to inform the process of policymaking and legislative frameworks currently in place regarding suspicious approaches to children offences in the Irish Criminal Justice System. Discrepancies between legal and psychological considerations infer potential issues with policymaking; resulting in evidence‐based concerns regarding how suspicious approaches to children are handled. It is argued that in cases of suspicious approaches to children, important research is available within the fields of investigative and forensic psychology that warrants adequate consideration by policymakers. Additionally, the need for further collaboration between policymakers, researchers and front‐line enforcement agencies to ensure evidence‐based approaches for dealing with suspicious approaches to children and other criminal behaviours within the Irish criminal justice system is highlighted.
... Le profilage psychologique a été souvent renommé plus tard « analyse comportementale » ou « psychologie investigative 5 » en se démarquant d'une image devenue envahissante du profiler, et en insistant sur la nécessité d'améliorer les bases empiriques et d'exprimer le genre d'inférences plus précisément (Canter 2000). La découverte tardive des séries d'homicides provient par ailleurs souvent de lacunes dans l'exploitation des traces, d'une interprétation faible des scènes de crime (Jackowski 2015), de la propension à considérer individuellement les cas par la rareté des séries ou de la difficulté intrinsèque de les lier à des disparitions inquiétantes. ...
Le rôle de la police scientifique est d’abord d’exploiter les traces laissées lors d’activités criminelles. Elle est aujourd’hui équipée de technologies de traçabilité si puissantes que celles-ci ont, en peu de temps, démultiplié la quantité et la variété de données mises à disposition de l’enquête judiciaire et du renseignement criminel. Or cette évolution rapide a paradoxalement eu pour conséquence une remise en question du rôle, du statut et de l’action de la police scientifique : qu’attend-on aujourd’hui de ces services ? Que sont-ils supposés conclure à partir de données devenues aussi considérables que spécialisées et fragmentées ? L’auteur décrit comment la police scientifique évolue vers une nouvelle discipline appelée « traçologie ». Celle-ci s’oppose à l’hyper-spécialisation en encourageant les professionnels à adopter une vision d’ensemble essentielle pour résoudre des enquêtes complexes, analyser la criminalité sérielle et renseigner l’action de sécurité. Un ouvrage manifeste, principalement destiné aux criminalistes et criminologues concernés par l’avenir de la police scientifique, mais aussi à tous les professionnels de la sécurité, qui trouveront dans ces pages des méthodes et des modèles directement applicables, aux étudiants en sciences criminelles, aux chercheurs en quête d’interdisciplinarité et au public intéressé par les méthodes d’investigation et curieux d’en découvrir les arcanes.
... It is impossible to determine the main crime determinants, as well as prevention measures without the criminal personality investigation. Studying the characteristics of criminals, scientists determine the link between the behaviour of the offender at the scene of the crime and his behaviour in society, taking into account behaviour during the previous crimes commission (Canter, 2000;Salfati, 2008). The main content of this theory is that the behaviour at the scene of the crime depends on the main character traits of such a person, which 792 Oleksandr Nazarovich Yarmysh, Serhii Ivanovych Khalymon, Yevhen Viktorovich Zozulia y Yuliia Petrivna Stepanova Personality characteristics of the participant in an armed or paramilitary unit not provided for by law remain unchanged (stable) in other aspects of the offender's life (Caspi and Bem, 1990). ...
Through the documentary-based scientific method, the article is devoted to the study of the criminological features of the personality of a participant of a paramilitary or armed unit (ULPAU) not provided by law. In addition, the formation of his criminological portrait (criminal profile) on the basis of socio-psychological and legal classification features is discussed. The value of the determined parameters of the offender's characteristics for the formation of negative social and psychological attitudes has been analyzed and their impact on subsequent criminal activity was considered. A number of conclusions of theoretical and applied character have been formulated, among which the following characteristic features of the criminological portrait (criminal profile) of a participant of the ULPAU: man aged 25-35 years who has Ukrainian citizenship and is Ukrainian by nationality, urban resident, single, childless, has general secondary or vocational education, is unemployed, has not been previously convicted; being a member of the armed unit he guarded the checkpoints and the area of location of the units.
... To this extent, the field of investigative psychology (Canter & Youngs, 2009) may provide a solid basis for the study of behavioral patterns and devising of classification models for this type of crime. Specifically, we propose that the Interpersonal Model (Canter, 2000) may be useful as a starting point. The Interpersonal Model posits that offending behaviors differ and can be classified based on the role that the offender assigns the victim within a criminal event. ...
In recent years, a new type of interpersonal crime has emerged where victimization happens through the use of technology and/or cyber space. The legal, law enforcement, as well as social scientific research fields have yet to fully grasp the scope of this modern crime type. In this paper, we review what is currently known on the issue with 5 Ws and 1 H approach, in terms of their current understanding, prevalence, victimization patterns, motivations, and relationship between violence in the cyberspace and offline. We end with a proposal for future directions and argue that a useful framework for researching this type of crime may be the interpersonal model first developed within the investigative psychology field for the classification and profiling of sexually violent offenses.
... In terms of mobility and the consistency of site selection for serial stranger rapists, most function within limited environments [10,42], pattern themselves geographically, and often are relatively consistent in their site selection across offenses [10,39,43]. The specific characteristics of the crime sites do vary across sites [9], but the type of location selected (e.g., residence, neighborhood, shopping center) tends to stay consistent. ...
Environmental criminological research on rape series is an understudied field due largely to deficiencies in official and publicly available data. Additionally, little is known about the spatial patterns of rapists with a large number of stranger rapes. With a unique integration and application of spatial, temporal, behavioral, forensic, investigative, and personal history data, we explore the geography of rape of a prolific, mobile serial stranger rapist identified through initiatives to address thousands of previously untested rape kits in two U.S. urban, neighboring jurisdictions. Rape kit data provide the opportunity for a more complete and comprehensive understanding of stranger rape series by linking crimes that likely never would have been linked if not for the DNA evidence. This study fills a knowledge gap by exploring the spatial offending patterns of extremely prolific serial stranger rapists. Through the lens of routine activities theory, we explore the motivated offender, the lack of capable guardianship (e.g., built environment), and the targeted victims. The findings have important implications for gaining practical and useful insight into rapists’ use of space and behavioral decision-making processes, effective public health interventions and prevention approaches, and urban planning strategies in communities subjected to repeat targeting by violent offenders.
... Past motiveless homicide research has mainly come from case studies or small samples and has had an almost exclusive focus on the offender's mental state prior to or during the offense (e.g., Holcomb & Daniel, 1988;Ruotolo, 1968;Satten et al., 1960). More recently, however, homicide researchers have argued that a traditional focus on the offender and their underlying psychological processes can be counterproductive and tends to be at odds with investigative practice (e.g., Canter, 2000), and instead have proposed that homicides be examined as violent encounters involving interactions between two or more actors bounded by space and time (see Crabbé et al., 2008 for a review). This event-based approach offers several advantages to the study of motiveless homicide. ...
The phenomenon of "senseless" or "motiveless" homicide refers to homicides that lack an objective external motivation. Despite the unique challenges these homicides pose to police, few empirical studies have been conducted on the topic and existing studies are limited to clinical studies using small samples. To overcome existing empirical shortcomings, the current study used a sample of 319 homicide cases where no motive was established during the investigation to describe the "who" (offender and victim characteristics), "what" (modus operandi, crime characteristics), "where" (encounter, crime, and body recovery associated locations), and "when" (time of the crime) of the entire criminal event. Findings provide insight into the entire crime-commission process and suggest a different dynamic to "senseless" homicide from what has been described in previous literature. Implications for police investigative practice are discussed.
... Los perfiles se pueden elaborar tomando por separado cada variable en estudio (Flores & Flores, 2015; ISSN online 2007-9621 Flores-Gutiérrez, J., Ortega, C., Márquez, T., Garzón-Martínez, H., & Flores, S. Caracterización multivariante y cartografía de perfiles de delincuentes ecológicos en Barinas, Venezuela | 1-18 la cual provee diversas técnicas para este propósito, tales como el escalamiento multidimensional (Multidimensional Scaling Analysis [MDS]), con aplicaciones a la criminología (Canter, 2000;Stefanska, Carter, Higgs, Bishopp & Beech, 2015) y a la criminología verde (Mesquita & Barreto, 2015;Sotoca, 2010). ...
Se realizó una caracterización multivariante y una posterior cartografía de los perfiles de una muestra de 164 delincuentes ecológicos del estado de Barinas, Venezuela, con base en información proveniente de las sentencias publicadas por los tribunales de este estado, durante el período 2005-2014. Para elaborar los perfiles se utilizó el análisis clúster bietápico. El perfilamiento sociodemográfico multivariante arrojó cuatro tipos de delincuentes ecológicos: 1) Grupo mixto (hombres y mujeres); 2) Grupo joven, que es el más numeroso con 43.5% de individuos de la muestra; 3) Grupo de casados; y 4) Grupo de extranjeros, que es el menos numeroso (12.9%). El otro resultado evidencia que la comisión de los delitos ecológicos presenta una acentuada dependencia geoespacial, pues tienden a concentrarse en los municipios del centro y del suroeste del estado.
... Ésta técnica ayuda a la investigación policial indicando qué tipo de persona habrá cometido con mayor probabilidad los hechos, según el modo en que los haya ejecutado (Douglas, Ressler, Burguess y Hartman, 1986;Hicks y Sales, 2006). Para inferir las características físicas, criminológicas y psicológicas de los individuos, la literatura diferencia dos grandes aproximaciones: la deductiva, que sólo tiene en cuenta la información disponible en el caso concreto que se esté estudiando (realizando predicciones sobre el autor teniendo en cuenta la evidencia conductual presente en fuentes de información como la escena del crimen, autopsia, victimología, variables espaciotemporales, etc.) y la inductiva, que se basa en la elaboración de tipologías tras el estudio de numerosos casos similares resueltos, de tal forma que posteriormente se puedan inferir características del autor de un delito sin esclarecer por comparación con otros que lo hayan ejecutado de manera similar (Canter, 2000;Muller, 2000;Ainsworth, 2001;Canter y Alison, 2003). Como referente y trabajo pionero en crear una tipología criminal del incendiario forestal, destaca la investigación del Instituto Superior de Policía Judiciária e Ciências Criminais y de la Universidad do Minho (Soeiro y Guerra, 2015) que ha inspirado las investigaciones realizadas en España. ...
Sólo existen dos líneas de investigación acerca del incendiario forestal, una portuguesa y otra española, que mediante la técnica del perfilamiento criminal han obtenido una tipología que informa sobre qué tipo de persona cometerá con mayor probabilidad un incendio forestal. A pesar de los avances, la tasa de esclarecimiento en este delito es todavía baja, por lo que este estudio trata de ayudar a una mejora de la investigación policial mediante el estudio de las características psicosociales de 50 incendiarios forestales privados de libertad, constituyendo un estudio pionero pues nadie se ha centrado hasta ahora en los que llegan a prisión. Los resultados acerca de su perfil muestran que predomina una baja inteligencia, consumen drogas o alcohol, han estado en tratamiento psicológico previo y destaca como motivo del incendio padecer algún tipo de trastorno. Dichos resultados dejan entrever que estas carencias podrían ser las que hacen que sean efectivamente descubiertos, ingresando en prisión.
... crime scene behaviours) but the patterns of co-occurrence with respect to these crime scene behaviours across multiple cases (Trojan & Salfati, 2008). The patterns that emerge are believed to represent underlying psychological or theoretical constructs or themes, which are in turn reflected in certain perpetrators' characteristics or types (Canter, 2000). In summary, it is believed that studying the simplest components of particular crimes will reveal, in the aggregate, different subtypes of perpetrators. ...
The murder of family members is one of the most difficult crimes to understand. This study uses Shye’s action systems framework combined with multivariate data analysis to test the hypothesis that different forms of familicide will reflect the four states an action system can take, namely: Integrative, Expressive, Conservative and Adaptive. A multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) was performed on 54 crime scene variables describing 104 cases of intra-familial homicide. The analysis revealed four distinct modes of functioning, which provided tentative support for Shye’s action system. Each of the four modes had distinct associations with perpetrator characteristics. The Expressive and Integrative modes were associated with Cluster B personality traits, and criminal and substance use histories. The Adaptive mode was associated with trauma histories, mood disorders, and personality disorder traits. The Conservative theme was associated with trauma histories and psychotic disorders. Implications of findings for risk assessment and intervention are discussed.
... The crime scene location is the best source of information, since sufficient information and evidence tends to be found here, so as to suitably reconstruct the crime events and gather information as to the identity of the potential perpetrator/s [1,2]. However, when insufficient forensic evidence is available, in the case of mortal victims who cannot provide a physical description of the offender/s, or when the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator is unknown, police investigations may be slowed down or even come to a complete halt in very complex cases [3,4]. ...
One of the current trends in the study of criminal profiling consists of developing theoretical and methodological typologies to offer information of operational use in police investigations. The objective of this work was to verify the validity of the instrumental/expressive model, so as to establish homicide typologies based on modus operandi relationships, characteristics of the victims, and characteristics of perpetrators. The sample consisted of 448 homicide cases registered in the database of the Homicide Revision Project of the Office of Coordination and Studies of the Spanish Secretary of State and Security. Through multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis, three expressive homicide subtypes were identified (expressive-impulsive, expressive-distancing, and expressive-family), as well as two instrumental homicide subtypes (instrumental-opportunist and instrumental-gratification). The expressive homicide typologies accounted for almost 95% of all of the studied cases, and most of the homicides occurring in Spain were found to take place between individuals who know one another (friends, family members, intimate couples/ex-couples). The findings from this study suggest that the instrumental/expressive model may be a useful framework for understanding the psychological processes underlying homicides, based on the study of relationships between the crime and aggressor characteristics, which may be very helpful in the prioritization of suspects.
... Three general interlinked areas have been the focus of this behavioral crime scene analysis and offender profiling research: individual differentiation, behavioral consistency, and inferences about offender characteristics (Canter, 2000;Salfati, 2008b): ...
Sex workers as a group are one of the more common targets in serial homicide, yet the most likely to go unsolved. Part of the reason for this is the difficulty in linking individual crime scenes to a series, especially in those series where offenders not only target sex worker victims but also target non-sex worker victims. Inconsistencies in both victim targeting and behaviors engaged in across series add to the difficulties of linking and solvability in these types of crimes. The current study aimed to add to the current body of literature on serial crime linkage by examining not only the most salient behavioral indicators useful for crime scene classification of serial homicides that involve sex worker victims but also examine the trajectories of behavioral change that can help link apparently inconsistent crime scenes and proposes the new Model for the Analysis of Trajectories and Consistency in Homicide (MATCH). The study examines 83 homicide series, including 44 (53%) series where all victims were sex workers and 39 (47%) series that included a mix of sex workers and non-sex worker victims. Using the MATCH system allowed for the majority of series to be classified to a dominant trajectory pattern, over half as many as a traditional consistency analysis that focusses on behavioral similarity matching. Results further showed that Sex Worker Victim series were almost three times more consistent across their series than Mixed-Victim series, not only in victim selection but also in the overall behavioral patterns. Findings are discussed in line with theoretical and psychological issues relating to understanding the nature of behavioral consistency and the importance of going beyond simple matching toward a model that allows for the identification of consistency in seemingly inconsistent series, as well as investigative implications relating to linking serial crimes.
... Three general interlinked areas have been the focus of this behavioral crime scene analysis and offender profiling research: individual differentiation, behavioral consistency, and inferences about offender characteristics (Canter, 2000;Salfati, 2008). ...
Contrary to popular misconceptions, offenders who kill sex workers as part of their series exhibit substantial variability in their victim selection and behavioral patterns, thus creating additional issues for the investigation of these crimes. This article first aims to outline differences in the demographics of crime scene actions present in homicide series with exclusively sex worker victims and series that includes both sex worker and non–sex worker victims, with the aim of understanding the crime scene aetiology of these two different types of series. Second, the research aims to determine between-series differences of victimology as well as crime scene action between sex worker series and mixed-victim series. Third, the research focuses on mixed-victim series and aims to determine the within-series similarities of victimology and crime scene actions, that is, what factors link sex worker victims and non–sex worker victims in the same series. Data were collected through a large-scale review of international media sources to identify solved serial homicide cases that have included at least one sex worker. Of the 83 series looked at, 44 (53%) included sex worker victims only, and 39 (47%) of the series included both sex worker and non–sex worker victims. The findings highlight the challenges that these types of crime present for investigation and the implications they have on current crime analysis research and practice, and results are discussed in line with theoretical and psychological issues relating to understanding differentiation and similarity, as well as investigative implications relating to linkage blindness and linking of serial crimes.
A büntetőeljárás és így a nyomozás kiemelten fontos pontja a motiváció feltárása, ami alapján egyrészt megtörténik egy bűncselekmény minősítése, másrészt a motiváció előzetes feltárása rendkívül fontos alapot adhat egy jövőbeni gyanúsítotti kihallgatás megtervezéséhez. Vannak kvázi egyértelmű esetek, ahol egy emberöléssel végződő betörés helyszíne szinte elmeséli a történteket – feszítésnyomok a bejárati ajtón, a helyszínen talált dulakodás nyomai, a betörés ideje, eltulajdonított tárgyak stb. – amelyek már a nyomozás kezdeti szakaszában engedhetnek következtetni a nyereségvágyas motivációra. De mi van akkor, ha a motiváció teljesen vagy részben értelmezhetetlen? Az FBI magatartástudományi részlegénél az ilyen nehezen értelmezhető, úgymond bizarr esetek hívták életre a profilalkotás módszerét. Jelen tanulmányban az emberölések motivációinak vizsgálatával kapcsolatos kérdésköröket járjuk végig, bemutatva hazai és nemzetközi kutatások eredményeit és részeredményeit, a profilalkotás módszerét fókuszba helyezve. A tanulmány eredményei hozzájárulhatnak a hazai profilalkotási és viselkedéselemzés alapú nyomozástámogatási módszerek fejlesztéséhez.
The article addresses to the study of the criminological characteristics of persons committed repeated criminal offenses while being registered by the authorized probation body. It was found that there are no comprehensive works devoted to the study of the criminological characteristics of persons who are registered with the authorized probation body, which in turn actualizes the need for such a study. The article makes an analyses of the socio-demographic, criminal-legal, and partially criminal-executive features of persons registered by the authorized probation bodies and committed a repeated criminal offense. Based on the analysis on the characteristics, it was found that: 92 % are male, 8 % are female. By age feature, 76,8 % belong to the group of 18–55 years (average age is 36 years), which is the most active group of people in the life space, and therefore is more prone to committing illegal acts. 75,9 % of which are not married; 64 % do not have children; 59,1 % have basic secondary education; 64,6 % are unemployed and 81,2 % of them do not want to work; health status of 96,2 % is satisfactory; 96,2 % tend to violate public order; 65,3 % committed a repeat criminal offense in the first year of registration. The ratio was established according to persons committed criminal offenses to the number of persons registered for 2018-2020. Over the course of three years, according to the records of the authorized probation bodies, the following number of persons were on average: released from serving a sentence with probation – 49,317; sentenced to community service – 3,357; sentenced to deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities – 2,930, to correctional works – 470. Applying the formula for determining the crime rate, we will calculate which persons (which punishment they are serving) most often commit repeated criminal offenses. The highest rate of repeated criminal offenses was committed by convicts serving a sentence of correctional work, namely 1.48, released from serving a sentence with probation – 0.6, community service – 0.6, sentenced to deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities – 0.5. Key words: criminological characteristics, an offender, convicted, repeated criminal offenses, the authorized probation body, punishment.
Wrongful conviction of an innocent person is an extreme type of injustice that plagues the criminal justice system today. Wrongful conviction for a sexual offense is especially traumatic for the individual due to the inherent stigma surrounding this type of crime; however, there is a dearth of research focusing on the unique aspects of both the offense and the investigation that may contribute to those convictions. The current study sought to answer the following research questions: 1-Are most sexual assault wrongful convictions in series inter-racial? 2-Does relational misattribution play a role in wrongful conviction for sexual assault? 3-Where in the series do wrongful convictions occur? 4-Do wrongful convictions in serial sexual assault cases occur primarily due to behavioral inconsistency on the part of the perpetrator (i.e., the crime for which there is a wrongful conviction appears to be significantly different from the rest of the series) leading to linkage blindness? 5-To what extent does police misconduct and other investigative issues play a role in mishandling of the offense as a one-off as opposed to part of series? Data for this study included 43 violent sexual series where a proven wrongful conviction was present for at least one of the crimes. Results suggest that thorough investigation, evidence testing, and the ability to reopen cases after similar incidents can reduce wrongful sexual assault convictions. Distinguishing between group and solo offending, stranger and acquaintance offenses, and developing investigative models that account for serial crime behavior change can improve investigative accuracy.
One of the applied areas of criminal psychology, the forensic psychology presents how the knowledge of psychology can be applied in the most optimal way in order to effectively detect individual crimes. A trend has appeared in law enforcement agencies for psychologists to carry out special activities in the criminal field. One specific activity is criminal profiling and the other is the development of the most effective interrogation techniques. Now I attempt to present these two specific criminal tasks of psychology. I present a literature review on how forensic psychology can be used during profiling and the planning of special interrogations. Despite the fact that offender profiling is not new for law enforcement agencies, its clinical trend has begun to appear and spread independently in recent years. The application of psychology in the planning of individual interrogations is a much more researched field and used during weekday work.
Defending consumer, business, and national food supply from intentional malicious attack is an essential public health and business resilience strategy that must be appropriately developed, be agile enough to address all potential threats and be built on strong knowledge of the industry sector and the mitigation strategies available. This chapter considers the present knowledge on food defense strategies, how they are developed using a risk based approach and how they can be applied within the food chain. At international, national and business level, food defense plans need to be designed, implemented and verified to ensure that they remain current and effective. There is still a significant knowledge gap when organizations are seeking to implement food defense plans and a need for greater capacity building to ensure that risk managers understand the methodological approaches that are currently being used, their value but their particular limitations too.
This study adds to the emerging literature in respect of foraging criminal offenders. Optimal forager theory is drawn from ecology where it is used to examine the movement of foraging animals. Over the past decade and a half this theory has crossed disciplines into the criminological sphere. Within the criminal context, it has been used successfully to support police crime prevention and reduction strategies, most notably within the area of domestic burglary. By identifying the presence of a foraging offender police analysts predict future areas they will target and use this information to direct police preventative patrols. Despite its widespread use within policing there is little research to support the existence of this subset of offender beyond examining their near repeat victim selection and crime scene behaviour. This study aims to build upon this previous research by using a case study approach to examine the geographical profiles, demographic and criminal conviction characteristics of police-identified foraging offenders. In doing so, it offers new insights and distinctions with existing burglary offender typologies that indicate that foragers may indeed be a legitimate typology of offender. The study also outlines its limitations and areas for future research that will enable this theory to be further explored.
Crime linkage is a systematic way of assessing behavioural or physical characteristics of crimes and considering the likelihood they are linked to the same offender. This study builds on research in this area by replicating existing studies with a new type of burglar known as optimal foragers , who are offenders whose target selection is conducted in a similar fashion to foraging animals . Using crimes identified by police analysts as being committed by foragers this study examines their crime scene behaviour to assess the level of predictive accuracy for linking crimes based on their offending characteristics. Results support previous studies on randomly selected burglary offence data by identifying inter-crime distance as the highest linking indicator, followed by target selection, entry behaviour, property stolen and offender crime scene behaviour. Results discuss distinctions between this study and previous research findings, outlining the potential that foraging domestic burglary offenders display distinct behaviours to other forms of offender (random/marauder/commuter).
Folyó év őszén a Nemzeti Közszolgálati Egyetem (NKE) Rendészettudományi Kar Kriminálpszichológia Tanszéke és Kutatóműhelye egy konferenciát szervezett, amely a bűnözői profilalkotás témája köré szerveződött. A konferencia előadói részben a kérdéskör elméleti szakemberei közül verbuválódtak, részben azok közül a gyakorlati – nyomozati – szakemberek köréből, akik egy profilalkotási folyamatnak a megrendelői és egyben haszonélvezői lehetnének. A konferencia célja egy olyan párbeszéd kezdeményezése volt, amely párbeszéd nélkül a résztvevők egyöntetű véleménye szerint a magyar profilozási tevékenység nem újítható meg. A Belügyi Szemle jelen és következő lapszámában publikálja az előadások tanulmánnyá konvertált változatait. Ebben a tanulmányban tág perspektívában vizsgáljuk meg a kérdést, mintegy alapot teremtve a következő, részletkérdéseket kifejtő tanulmányok számára.
In the decade since the publication of the first edition of The Cambridge Handbook of Forensic Psychology, the field has expanded into areas such as social work and education, while maintaining the interest of criminal justice researchers and policy makers. This new edition provides cutting-edge and comprehensive coverage of the key theoretical perspectives, assessment methods, and interventions in forensic psychology. The chapters address substantive topics such as acquisitive crime, domestic violence, mass murder, and sexual violence, while also exploring emerging areas of research such as the expansion of cybercrime, particularly child sexual exploitation, as well as aspects of terrorism and radicalisation. Reflecting the global reach of forensic psychology and its wide range of perspectives, the international team of contributors emphasise diversity and cross-reference between adults, adolescents, and children to deliver a contemporary picture of the discipline.
Investigative Psychology (IP) as an empirical field of study that focusses on the psychological input to the full range of issues that relate to the investigation of crime. IP focusses on three overall processes present in any investigation that can be improved by psychological study; 1) Retrieving information from the crime scene for the purpose of analysis and research; 2) Making decisions during criminal investigations; and 3) Analysing criminal behaviour. For this last component, three general interlinked areas have been the focus of research: individual differentiation which aims to establish differences between the behavioral actions of offenders and identify subgroups of crime scene types; behavioural consistency which aims to understand an offender’s behavioural consistency across a series of crimes; and inferences about offender characteristics, which aims to establish the nature of the consistency between the most likely characteristics of an offender based on the way an offender acts at the time of the crime, and is at the core of offender profiling.
Three general interlinked areas have been the focus of offender profiling research: individual differentiation (establishing differences between the behavioral actions of crime scene types), behavioral consistency (understanding behavioral patterns across a series of crimes), and offender profiling (linking sub-types of crime scene patterns to the most likely characteristics of an offender). Taken together, these three areas form the empirical basis necessary for use in criminal investigations. However, studies supporting inferences about offender characteristics have to date been the least developed in the field of offender profiling. For profiling to be fully useful to investigations, a clear understanding of three main elements is crucial to fully develop, notably (1) what individual crime scene characteristics are the most salient to use; (2) what elements of the full series behavioral developmental pattern are important to understand as an additional factor; and (3) what offender characteristics are the most empirically robust to focus on for investigative use. The current study examines 80 series of serial homicide, involving 302 crime scenes. Using the key elements of an offender’s crime scene behavioral patterns shown to help link and differentiate crime scenes and series, the current study linked these to sub-sets of different offender characteristics, identified as most useful for investigations. These included such characteristics such as age at the start of the series, criminal history specialization, general history of violence, mental health history, and relationship to the victims in the series. Results are discussed in the context of implications for research and practical applications in serial crime investigation and offender profiling.
In this chapter, I focus my attention directly upon facet theory and the mapping sentence. The mapping sentence is employed t as a template to account for complex behaviour in everyday scenarios. A mapping sentence is used to define the elements of a behavioural vignette. Details are given of the use of the facet theory within research studies that have incorporated the approach. Facet theory is presented as an integrated orientation to research design and analysis. Answers are provided to the questions: what is facet theory; what are facets; what are facet elements; how do facets combined in real life/what is a mapping sentence; what are facet roles; how can facet driven research be analysed?
The Internet has afforded people a multitude of opportunities to engage in crime and deviance online. Despite recent research efforts the application of criminological theories to the topic of cybercrime has returned mixed results. Furthermore, no study to date has sought to examine the effect of personality on individual differences in motivations to engage in cybercrime. In this study we use reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) proposed by Gray (1982; 1987) as a framework for explaining cybercrime. RST is increasingly being used to explain individual differences in a range of behaviors including a wide range of criminal behaviors. In this study, 577 participants reported engagement in cybercrime behaviors and completed the RST Personality Questionnaire (RST-PQ). Overall, we found support for the hypothesis that RST related traits were associated with cybercrime. The four BAS subfactors (Reward Interest, Goal-Drive Persistence, Reward Reactivity, and Impulsivity) were found to have differing relationships with cybercrime. BIS traits were also positively associated with cybercrime, possibly deriving from the effect of increased anonymity online on the role of the BIS as a conflict mediator. Overall, this study supports the application of RST to the study of cybercrime while emphasizing the need for future research to (1) disaggregate the varying effects of BAS activation on engagement in specific types of cybercriminal behaviors and (2) further explore the unique effect of online anonymity on RST processes that motivate deviant behaviors online.
Criminal profiling is a forensic technique which predicts offenders' personality patterns, behaviours and demographic characteristics. This technique gives the user an insight into and a better understanding of the perpetrators characteristics. The use of this technique in criminal investigations has increased over the years, despite the existing controversy regarding its validity. The aim of this article is to shed light on the limitations of studies carried out on the validity of criminal profiling through the analysis of eight articles selected by a systematic review of the literature. Findings reveal that this forensic technique is as yet to be statistically validated. Pre-existing attempts of validation have been analysed and major problems highlighted in an effort to improve on the results of future studies carried out in this field.
Knowledge management (KM) is a critical organizational asset predicated upon a knowledge-based perspective of the firm that emphasizes identification, sharing, and exploitation of knowledge assets. Profiling practitioners, constituting a community of practice (CoP, are compared to empiricists associated as a community of interest (CoI). The CoP operates using tacit knowledge whereas the CoI codifies knowledge to make it explicit. Within criminal profiling the CoI are severely critical of the tacit methods and typologies utilized by the CoP with the consequence being empirical divergence from practice. A research agenda focused upon a multidisciplinary approach to criminal profiling, combining the CoP and CoI paradigms is needed to bridge the gap and settle questions of criminal profiling efficacy and contribute to theory.
En la actualidad, la perfilación cumple una importante función en el campo de la criminología, ya sea en aspectos de prevención como de análisis de eventos delictivos ya cometidos. Esta revisión teórica pretende recopilar y presentar los resultados de las investigaciones más actuales en materia de perfilación indirecta de personalidad, con el fin de encontrar patrones que demuestren la utilidad de determinar los rasgos de personalidad de individuos participantes en un crimen (sean víctimas o autores). Tomando las redes sociales como contexto de investigación, y adoptando un procedimiento de revisión sistemática, fueron analizadas investigaciones de cuatro bases de datos diferentes, clasificando finalmente los resultados de las mismas y planteando conclusiones generales sobre cada uno de los factores de personalidad que componen los cinco grandes y su relación con la conducta de los individuos en redes sociales.
This study explores the role and function of homicidal and sexual violence in cases of stranger sexual homicide. The aim was to determine whether the instrumental/expressive hypothesis of physical violence and the overt/covert hypothesis of sexual violence applies to this crime. The method involved an analysis of the crime scene actions of 81 British stranger sexual killers using multidimensional scaling. Results suggest the instrumental/expressive hypothesis of physical violence and the overt/covert hypothesis of sexual violence does apply to stranger sexual homicide but they manifest as instrumental/overt and expressive/covert superordinate themes comprising four sub-themes reflecting rape, impersonal sexual assault, overkill and control. Although these superordinate themes can explain some stranger sexual homicides, a key hypothesis of this study is that the four sub-themes can also combine into different superordinate themes, knowledge of which can aid our understanding of this serious and deviant form of interpersonal violence.
The present study explored the relationship between crime scene behaviour and criminal history in a sample of Hungarian homicide offenders. While there is a multitude of studies examining the relationship between individual crime scene behaviours and offender characteristics, this is the first study that utilised a Hungarian sample for this purpose. Data were obtained from an official Hungarian police database and contained 355 solved stranger homicide cases. Chi-square analyses were conducted to analyze the bivariate relationship between 40 crime scene behaviours and 8 previous conviction variables. Results indicated that the different killing methods and the type of injuries inflicted were amongst the most important predictors, with four killing behaviours and three injury types found to be related to six different preconviction types. Significant associations revealed by the initial analyses were then subsequently entered into binary logistic regression models. All models except for one were significant, which confirms prior studies suggesting that crime scene behaviours can be used to predict offender characteristics in homicide offences. However, inconsistencies with earlier studies suggest that the behaviour of Hungarian homicide offenders is somewhat different from that observed in other countries, which warrants cross-cultural comparisons in this area.
The accuracy of geographic profiling for predicting a serial offender's home/base location was compared by using three different distance measures—the Euclidean distance, the Manhattan distance, and the Shortest route distance—using the data of 1,856 crimes committed by 124 residential burglars in Northern Tohoku area of Japan from 2004 to 2015. Logarithmic and the negative exponential coefficients were estimated as the distance decay function for each distance measure by using leave-one-out cross-validation. Also, search areas were calculated to compare the accuracy of geographic profiling. Results of the Friedman's test indicated significant differences in search areas of the three distance measures for the wide area group which consisted of offenders having a long distance between crime locations. The search area when utilizing the Shortest route distance was the smallest for the logarithmic function, whereas the search areas using the Euclidean distance and the Shortest route distance were smaller than the Manhattan distance for the negative exponential function. Results of the narrow area group did not indicate significant differences in search areas for the three distance measures. Therefore, it was concluded that geographic profiling might be improved by using the Shortest route distance when calculating the probability distribution for offenders committing crimes in a wide area that includes many edges, such as rivers, railroads, and mountains, as well as paths such as bridges and railroad crossings.
This study compared the ability of seven statistical models to distinguish between linked and unlinked crimes. The seven models utilised geographical, temporal, and modus operandi information relating to residential burglaries (n = 180), commercial robberies, (n = 118), and car thefts (n = 376). Model performance was assessed using receiver operating characteristic analysis and by examining the success with which the seven models could successfully prioritise linked over unlinked crimes. The regression‐based and probabilistic models achieved comparable accuracy and were generally more accurate than the tree‐based models tested in this study. The Logistic algorithm achieved the highest area under the curve (AUC) for residential burglary (AUC = 0.903) and commercial robbery (AUC = 0.830) and the SimpleLogistic algorithm achieving the highest for car theft (AUC = 0.820). The findings also indicated that discrimination accuracy is maximised (in some situations) if behavioural domains are utilised rather than individual crime scene behaviours and that the AUC should not be used as the sole measure of accuracy in behavioural crime linkage research.
Examined outcome and process differences in criminal personality profiling among 4 profilers (PFs), 12 detectives, 6 psychologists, and 6 undergraduates, using closed police cases (1 sex offense, 1 homicide). In the written profile task (the task that is more representative of what PFs actually do), PFs wrote more detailed and valid profiles than other Ss for both cases. An analysis of correct responses concerning the known sex offender for the sex offense case revealed that PFs scored significantly better than other Ss on a variety of measures; similar results were not revealed for the homicide case. PFs did not appear to process this material in a way qualitatively different from other Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
The locations at which each of 54 US serial killers, who had each killed at least ten people, first encountered their victims (PFE) and later dumped their bodies (BD) were examined in relation to the residence of the offender in order to test three hypotheses: the home tended to be a geographical focus for the crimes; the PFE is more a part of the offender’s daily activities than the BD; and over time the PFE and BD both become incorporated into the offender’s lifestyle. Uses smallest space analysis (SSA) and t-tests to support all three hypotheses. The home is the center of a two-dimensional SSA plot. The overall mean distance from home to PFE was 1.46 miles and to BD 14.3 miles. Further, while the means of these distances were significantly different for the first eight offenses they were not for the last two. Discusses implications of these results for police investigations.
Discusses deficiencies in both the concept and actual practice of psychological autopsy (PA). Identification of these deficiencies is essential to determine whether the procedure should be retained and, if so, how it can be improved. As an organized method of investigation, PA is in its infancy. Defined procedures and criteria are necessary to prevent premature and equivocal expiration of PA. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Describes a method for analyzing criminal behavior patterns by using computerized statistical cluster analysis. Illustrations are derived from burglary methods of operation. Analysis techniques can be applied to daily incidence reports with 4 anticipated advantages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
It is hypothesized that there will be behavioural consistencies in the actions of arsonists when committing a crime that characterize them. The themes underlying these observable differences can be used to help us understand the nature of the offence. With arson, one such observable difference is hypothesized to relate to the target or focus of the attack. The study tested whether consistencies could be found that distinguish person‐oriented from object‐oriented arsons. A second proposed facet of arson actions relates to the motivational category underlying the act, being either instrumental or expressive. It was also hypothesized, therefore, that there would be a distinction in the arson actions between fires set for a clear instrumental purpose, and those which may be regarded as emotional acting‐out. The hypothesis that these four themes would differentiate arsonists was tested by analysing 175 solved arson cases from across England. The case files were content analysed to produce 42 behavioural variables taken from both the crime reports and witness statements. In order to test the hypotheses of differentiation a smallest space analysis was carried out.
The results support this framework giving rise to four distinct themes to arson from which scales with reasonable alpha scores could be derived. Two relate to expressive acts, ( a ) those that are realized within the arsonist's own feelings, being analogous to suicide, and ( b ) those that are acted on objects, like the burning of symbolic buildings. The other two relate to instrumental acts, ( c ) those that are for personal indulgence, similar to personal revenge, and ( d ) those that have an object focus such as hiding evidence from a crime. A further test of the validity of these four themes was to examine the typical characteristics of the people who committed the different types of arson. Four scales of arsonists' characteristics were developed. These were found to have appropriate, statistically significant correlations with the four themes.
The implications of these findings for understanding the varieties of arson as revealed through the actions that occur are discussed, as well as the implications for arson investigations. It is speculated that this framework may provide a general model for considering a wide range of crimes.
The present article describes the further development of the Massachusetts Treatment Center taxonomic system and its reliability based upon a sample of 108 offenders. The taxonomic system presented requires extensive cross-sample and validational scrutiny; however, the returns thus far are indeed encouraging and certainly merit clinical and empiricial follow-up.
Preliminary to the development of a stimulus-mediating response model of aggressive drive, formal definitions are given of instrumental aggressive acts and aggressive drive-mediated behavior. In defining aggressive drive, a distinction is made between expressive aggression and hostile aggression which is illustrated in the difference between the desire to "hit" and the desire to "hurt." Hostile aggression is assumed to be a learned drive whose primary antecedents are past exposure to punishment and present threats to self-esteen. Several procedures for reducing aggression other than performance of an aggressive response are described and the function of diverse measures responsive to changes in expressive aggression, aggressive drive, and aggressive response strength, particularly when evaluating the consequences of an aggressive act, are analyzed. (2 p. ref.)
This article examines the use of psychological profiling in the criminal trial. After an explanation of the manner in which a profile is constructed the article considers the admissibility of psychological profile evidence at trial focusing on difficulties of relevance, expert opinion evidence and evidence of previous misconduct.
From the Publisher:This first book to explore the application of expert systems in law enforcement activities is both practical and conceptually clear as it explains the potential utility of expert systems and their impact on operations and management. Ratledge and Jacoby have geared their discussions to a wide audience which includes both practitioners and the academic community. This handbook offers systematic explanations of the applications of expert systems to law enforcement activites, discusses the impact of these systems on traditional ways of policing and crime solving, and details a set of practical guidelines for jurisdictions considering the implementation of expert systems.
Information was extracted from police files in Nottinghamshire about 345 burglars and 310 violent offenders involved in cases where nobody (victim, witness or police) knew their identity at the time of the offence. Burglars tended to be unemployed or at school, and overwhelmingly committed their offences for material gain. Violent offenders tended to be under the influence of alcohol and commonly committed their offences because of anger or provocation. While there was a great deal of versatility in offending, there was also some specialization, since half of the burglars had a previous conviction for burglary, and half of the violent offenders had a previous conviction for violence. Overall, 90% of burglars and 80% of violent offenders had a previous conviction of some kind.
Analyzed how the rapist's travel behavior varies with the method of approach (e.g., kidnap/attack) and the number of reported rapes committed by the same offender. Data were obtained on 320 lone-assailants, including 156 single rapes and 164 serial rapes committed by 39 offenders. Results show that serial offenders tended to be strangers and showed a strong preference for blitz methods, while singles showed a stronger preference for the confidence approaches. Results indicate that the method of approach was a more significant contributor to rape-distance variation than type of offender. Single and serial offenders traveled the shortest distances to commit rapes using the illegal entry of residence method. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The circumplex model [of personality and emotion] focuses on determining how traits and emotions are structurally similiar, and its underlying assumption is that a relatively seamless circular ordering, or circumplex, is an economical description of the relations among traits and emotions.
The circumplex model allows a broader view of personality and of the interpersonal relationships integral to understanding just what makes a personality the way it is. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This paper describes the application of navigational ideas during a late stage of the Yorkshire Ripper investigation. The conclusions reached were irrevocably recorded before the ultimate facts were established by the arrest and conviction of the killer. The reader is invited to assess the degree of success of the method and to rework the data supplied according to his own navigational ideas. The suggestion is made that navigational concepts may become a valuable weapon in the field of crime investigation.
Accounts from both offenders and victims of what occurs during a rape suggest that issues of power, anger, and sexuality are important in understanding the rapist's behavior. All three issues seem to operate in every rape, but the proportion varies and one issue seems to dominate in each instance. The authors ranked accounts from 133 offenders and 92 victims for the dominant issue and found that the offenses could be categorized as power rape (sexuality used primarily to express power) or anger rape (use of sexuality to express anger). There were no rapes in which sex was the dominant issue; sexuality was always in the service of other, nonsexual needs.
The spatial offence behaviour of 45 British serial rapists was examined in order to generate a predictive model, of use to criminal investigators. Two alternative hypotheses were explored. One predicted that rapists would commute into an area to carry out their offence. The second predicted that they would "maraud" out from a fixed location. Of the 45 offenders, 39 fitted the "maurader" hypothesis. However, the area covered by this model was an average of nearly 180 square miles. A second complementary theory, developed from facets of offenders' backgrounds, was therefore used to refine the predictions of distance travelled to and between offences. This enabled the size of the residential zone predicted from the marauder model to be reduced to a mean area of just over ten square miles. Tests of these models, combined into a small scale expert system, predicted the correct area for 82% of the cases. Suggestions for the further development of this expert system are discussed.
Approximately 85% of stranger rapists have criminal records, which usually contain a mixture of crime types. This study was designed to ascertain if inferences about such records could be made from aspects of offence behaviour, as described by the rape victims, focusing on both non-sexual behaviours and traits more obviously associated with previous criminality. The statistical technique used was logistic regression. The results demonstrated that it was very possible to obtain indications of a rapist's criminal antecedents from his offence behaviour. The three most promising models were those that predicted whether or not the offender had convictions for burglary, whether or not he had convictions for violent offences, and whether the offence was an apparent 'one-off' occurrence rather than the work of an experienced rapist.
Development and test of behaviourally based suspect prioritisation system
- T Covey
- D Canter
CoVey, T., & Canter, D. (in press). Development and test of behaviourally based suspect prioritisation system. In D. V. Canter & L. J. Alison (Eds.), Pro ling rape and murd er (OVender Pro ling Series, Vol. V). Aldershot: Dartmouth.
Criminal weapon use in Brazil: A psychological analysis
- A Lobato
Lobato, A. (in press). Criminal weapon use in Brazil: A psychological analysis. In D. V. Canter & L. J. Alison (Eds.), Pro property crimes (OVender Proo ling Series, Vol. IV). Aldershot: Dartmouth.
The social psychology of crime: Teams, groups, networks (OVender Pro ling Series
- Alison
Alison (Eds.), The social psychology of crime: Teams, groups, networks (OVender Pro ling Series, Vol. III, pp. 189–246). Aldershot: Dartmouth.
A case for special agents
- D Canter
- C Missen
- S Hodge
Canter, D., Missen, C., & Hodge, S. (1996). A case for special agents. Policing Today, 2, 3–8.
A new approach to factor analysis: The radex
- L Guttman
Guttman, L. (1954). A new approach to factor analysis: The radex. In P. F. Lazarsfeld (Ed.), Mathematical thinking in the social sciences (pp. 258–348). Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Applying psychology to the reduction of insurance claim fraud
- N J Dodd
Dodd, N. J. (1998). Applying psychology to the reduction of insurance claim fraud. Insurance Trends, 18, 11–16.
The classi cation of sexual oVenders
- D H Grubin
- H G Kennedy
Grubin, D. H., & Kennedy, H. G. (1991). The classi cation of sexual oVenders. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 1, 123–129.
Vandalism: Overview and prospect Vand alism: Behaviour and mod i cations
- D V Canter
Canter, D. V. (1984). Vandalism: Overview and prospect. In C. Levy-Leboyer (Ed.), Vand alism: Behaviour and mod i cations (pp. 345–356). Amsterdam: New Holland.
Psychological explanations of crime
- D P Farrington
Farrington, D. P. (Ed.) (1998). Psychological explanations of crime. Aldershot: Ashgate.
The social psychology of crime The social psychology of crime: Teams, groups, networks (OVender Pro ling Series
- D V Canter
- L J Alison
Canter, D. V., & Alison, L. J. (1999). The social psychology of crime. In D. V. Canter & L. J. Alison (Eds.), The social psychology of crime: Teams, groups, networks (OVender Pro ling Series, Vol. III, pp. 1–20). Aldershot: Dartmouth.
Speci c pro le analysis: A data-based approach to oVender pro ling
- A Davies
Davies, A. (1997). Speci c pro le analysis: A data-based approach to oVender pro ling. In J. L.
Geographic pro ling OVend er pro ling: Theory, research and practice DiVerentiating stranger murders: Pro ling oVender characteristics from behavioral styles
- D K Rossmo
Rossmo, D. K. (1997). Geographic pro ling. In J. L. Jackson & D. A. Bekerian (Eds.), OVend er pro ling: Theory, research and practice (pp. 159–176). Chichester: Wiley. Salfati, C. G., & Canter, D. (1999). DiVerentiating stranger murders: Pro ling oVender characteristics from behavioral styles. Journal of Behavioural Sciences and the Law, 17, 391–406.
Integration of con gurational and factorial models for family relationships and child behavior
- E Schaefer
Schaefer, E. (1997). Integration of con gurational and factorial models for family relationships and child behavior. In R. Plutchik & H. R. Conte (Eds.), Circumplex mod els of personality and emotions (pp. 133–154). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Louis Guttman on theory and methodology: Selected writing
- S Levy
Levy, S. (Ed.) (1995). Louis Guttman on theory and methodology: Selected writing. Aldershot: Dartmouth.
The centroid as a grouping variable for oVences—A cluster-analytical approach. University of Liverpool, Centre for Investigative Psychology Munsell book of colour Psychic rhetoric in psychic detection
- A Mokros
Mokros, A. (1999). The centroid as a grouping variable for oVences—A cluster-analytical approach. University of Liverpool, Centre for Investigative Psychology. Munsell Color Company Inc. (1960). Munsell book of colour. Baltimore: Munsell Color Co. Inc. O'Keefe, C., & Alison, L. (in press). Psychic rhetoric in psychic detection. Journal for the Society for Psychical Research.
Coals to Newcastle? Part 1: A stud y of oVend er pro ling (paper 7) London: Police Research Group Special Interest Series
- G Copson
Copson, G. (1995). Coals to Newcastle? Part 1: A stud y of oVend er pro ling (paper 7). London: Police Research Group Special Interest Series, Home OYce.
Clinical versus statistical pred iction: A theoretical analysis and a look at the evid ence
- P E Meehl
Meehl, P. E. (1996). Clinical versus statistical pred iction: A theoretical analysis and a look at the evid ence. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
The psychology of oVender pro ling
- D V Canter
Canter, D. V. (1995b). The psychology of oVender pro ling. In R. Bull & D. Carson (Eds.), Hand book of psychology in legal contexts (pp. 343–355). Chichester: Wiley.
Non-metric multivariate models for behavioural action systems Facet theory: Approaches to social research
- S Shye
Shye, S. (1985). Non-metric multivariate models for behavioural action systems. In D. Canter (Ed.), Facet theory: Approaches to social research. New York: Springer Verlag.
(in press) Multivariate model of serial sexual murder
- S A Hodge
Hodge, S. A. (in press). Multivariate model of serial sexual murder. In D. V. Canter & L. J. Alison (Eds.), Pro rape and murd er (OVender Proo ling Series, Vol. V). Aldershot: Dartmouth.