Criminal Profiling

Criminal Profiling

Welcome to Criminal Profiling

An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis

What is criminal profiling? Probably not what you think it is, at least not what you may have learned from movies and books. For this class, criminal profiling is a discipline that requires careful evaluation of physical evidence, collected and properly analyzed by a team of specialists from different areas, for the purpose of systematically reconstructing the crime scene, developing a strategy to assist in the capture of the offender, and thereafter aiding in the trial.

Profilers are not forensic psychiatrists or psychologists. Both can perform clinical interviews for the purpose of diagnosis, treatment, and courtroom competency/sanity assessment, but few are qualified to do the work of a criminal profiler. Certainly, both can contribute to the criminal profile but still they are only one member of a team. The same can be said of police officers, crime scene investigators, criminalists, sociologists, medical examiners, and detectives.

The profiler is simply another component in the criminal investigation process, they are advisors - the cops still solve the case and make the arrest. You should also keep in mind that there are several different types of profiling, the area we concern ourselves with in this class is not clinical. The focus is on weeding out suspects, developing investigative strategy, linking crimes and suspects, and assessing risk. In other words, it about catching criminals, not analyzing them.

That being said, you will be learning the techniques of socio-psychological (behavioral) and geographic profiling used to establish leads and detect patterns in unsolved cases and/or classify and predict the behavior patterns of repeat offenders, particularly serial murderers, arsonists, rapists, and child molesters.

Topics include case management, database development, typology validation, motive and pattern analysis, personality assessment, forensic demography, principles of geocoding, statistical prediction, and the ethics of provocation, and interview and interrogation strategies. Four case studies are analyzed in detail. There are a few pictures (of a graphic nature), and you are expected to demonstrate a theoretical as well as practical understanding in assignments involving writing, role-playing, simulation, and scenarios.

Be forewarned, this textbook is not for casual or marathon reading. It requires concentration and diligence. There is a redundancy throughout the text meant to clarify and reinforce important points. Don't be fooled, the chapters are brief, this allows you to assimilate the information. Also, make use of the wide margins, it is intended for note taking.

Dr. Michael Thompson

Overflow Page

History of Profiling

Chapter 1: History of Criminal Profiling…
By: Betsy Liebau, Lindsay Frahm, and Becca Theimer

Introduction:
According to Brent E. Turvey, “inferring the traits of individuals responsible for committing criminal acts has commonly been referred to as criminal profiling. Professionals engaged in the practice of criminal profiling have historically included a broad spectrum of investigators, behavioral scientists, social scientists, and forensic scientists. Their involvement in unsolved casework has most commonly been concerned with criminal investigative efforts and suspect identification. In that capacity, a wide variety of faith-based inductive, and deductive criminal profiling techniques have been sought out to help identify criminals, narrow suspect pools, assist with case linkage, and develop investigatively relevant leads and strategies with respect to unsolved cases.”

o A few documented uses of criminal profiling in cases from past history are:
Blood Libel: is a false accusation of ritual killing made against one or more persons, typically of Jewish faith. The idea of ritual abduction and murder by depraved Jews took particular hold in the 1100s because of widespread European anti-Semitism, and because of one monk’s desire to martyr a slain child. The blood libel is an early and persistent form of criminal profiling because it involves a predetermined set of crime- related characteristics used to infer and consequently accuse a particular suspect pool-namely the Jews (Turvey).

Witches and the Medieval Inquisitions: One of the first published texts that offered explicit instruction on the subject and practice of profiling criminal behavior is The Malleus Maleficarum. The two Dominican monks, Henry Kramer and James Sprenger, professors of Theology of the Order of Frairs Preachers, originally published this work around 1486. Written in Latin, it was intended as a rationale and guide for those involved with the Inquisition to assist in the identification, prosecution, and punishment of witches. Upon publication, the Malleus Maleficarum was fully sanctioned by the Catholic Church in fear of being made impotent by the existence of heretics, nonbelievers, and the failed Crusades against the Muslims, which had been waged in vain to occupy and control the Holy Land. When The Malleus Maleficarum was written, and in years since, the Catholic Church held that witches and other heretics were in league with the Devil and, moreover, that they were fanatically bent on the destruction of God, the Catholic Church, and the domination of Western civilization. Witches and other criminals may be identified by specific circumstances, abilities, and characteristics (Turvey).

The Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834): The Spanish Inquisition was originally ordained by the Catholic Church to assist the Spanish government with the identification of conversos, mainly Muslims who had pretended to convert to Christianity but secretly continued the practice of their former religion. To help Catholics better inform on their heretical neighbors, religious behavioral profiling was one of the tools of choice (Turvey).

Witches and Puritans (1688-1692): Goodwife Ann Glover and the Salem Witch Trials- In 1688, it was alleged that Mr. John Goodwin’s children had become possessed by demons because of witch in their midst- their widowed Irish house keeper, Ann Glover. According to Martha (John Goodwin’s eldest daughter) had confronted Ann Glover about stealing the linens. Martha and several of her siblings subsequently fell violently ill, suffering “The Diseases of Astonishment.” Over the course of a few weeks as the children’s symptoms worsened, various doctors were consulted, including family friend named Dr. Thomas Oake. After examining the children, Dr. Oakes bravely ruled out all natural causes, declaring that “nothing but an hellish Witchcraft could be the Original of these Maladies.” Salem Witch Trials- The events in Salem, from June through September of 1692, followed naturally as a result of Ann Glover’s witch trial in Boston and the publication of Rev. Mather’s sensational true crime memoir detailing his involvement. The Salem Witch Trials are a dark and painful bruise on the history of criminal profiling. Not just because of what was done under the guise of informed justice but because forensic experts of that time were making particular errors in logic and reasoning that are repeated by profilers today. This will become evident in the later chapters of this text. Serious students are encouraged to source out the references provided in this section regarding the Salem Witch Trials in order to learn these lessons more completely (Turvey).

• The Search For Origins: Criminologists
Physical Characteristics of Criminals:
Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909) was one of the first criminologists to attempt to formally classify criminals for statistical comparison. His evolutionary and anthropological theories about the origins of criminal behavior suggested that, based on his research, there were three major types of criminals:

Born Criminals- These were degenerate, primitive offenders who were lower evolutionary reversions in terms of their physical characteristics.

Insane Criminals- These were offenders who suffered from mental or physical illness and deficiencies.

Criminaloids- These were a large general class of offenders without specific characteristics. They were not afflicted by recognizable mental defects, but their mental and emotional makeup predisposed them to criminal behavior under certain circumstances. This classification has been compared to the diagnosis of psychopathic personality disorder that came later from the psychiatric community.

There are 18 physical characteristics indicative of a born criminal according to Cesare Lombroso (1835- 1909) (Turvey):
1. Head size and Shape
2. Asymmetry of the face
3. Dimensions of the jaw and cheekbones
4. Ears of unusual size
5. Twisted or unusual size of nose
6. Eye defects
7. Lips fleshy, swollen, and protruding
8. Pouches in cheek like those of some animals
9. Peculiarities of the palate, a series of cavities and protuberances such as are found in some reptiles, and cleft palate
10. Abnormal dentition
11. Receding, long, short, or flat chin
12. Abundance, variety, and precocity of wrinkles
13. Anomalies of the hair, marked by characteristics of the hair of the opposite sex
14. Defects of the thorax, such as too many or too few ribs, or supernumerary nipples
15. Inversion of sex characters in the pelvic organs
16. Excessive length of arms
17. Supernumerary fingers and toes
18. Imbalance of the hemispheres of the brain

Some other famous investigative criminologists that studied the physical characteristics of criminals are as follows:
1. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)
2. Dr. Johann (Hans) Baptist Gustav Gross (1847-1925)
3. John J. O’Connell (1935)
4. Harry Soderman (1935)

• The Search For Origins: Forensic Scientists and Behavioral Scienctists
Forensic pathology is the branch of medicine that applies the principles and knowledge of the medical sciences to problems in the field of law. It is the change for the forensic pathologist to document and understand the nature of the interaction between victims and their environment in such a manner as it caused their death (Turvey). Dr. Paul L. Kirk (1902- 1970) was one famous forensic scientists that studied the criminal profiling of criminals.

• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
In 1972, the federal government of the United States opened the new FBI Academy. During this year, an FBI agent named Jack Kirsch started the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit (BSU). The FBI is not alone in the development of formal profiling units or research in the areas of criminal profiling theory and methodology. Many law enforcement agencies in the U.S. have their own dedicated profiling or crime analysis units, and their number has grown international as well (Turvey).

References:
Turvey, Brent E. Criminal profiling an introduction to behavioral evidence analysis. Burlington, MA: Elsevier, 2008.
Google Images www.cerebromente.org.br/n01/frenolog/lombroso.htm

Criminal Profiling Methodologies

How does profiling work?

By: Tonya Rudzick, Brianna Elliot, Skyler Weishaar

Informal criminal profiling has a long history. It was used as early as the 1880s, when two physicians, George Phillips and Thomas Bond, used crime scene clues to make predictions about British serial murderer Jack the Ripper's personality. At the same time, profiling has taken root in the United States, where, until recent decades, profilers relied mostly on their own intuition and informal studies. Schlossberg, who developed profiles of many criminals, including David Berkowitz - New York City's "Son of Sam" -describes the approach he used in the late 1960s and 70s: "What I would do," he says, "is sit down and look through cases where the criminals had been arrested. I listed how old [the perpetrators] were, whether they were male or female, and their level of education. Did they come from broken families? Did they have school behavioral problems? I listed as many factors as I could come up with, and then I added them up to see which were the most common."

In 1974, the FBI formed its Behavioral Science Unit to investigate serial rape and homicide cases. From 1976 to 1979, several FBI agents - most famously John Douglas and Robert Ressler - interviewed 36 serial murderers to develop theories and categories of different types of offenders. Most notably, they developed the idea of the "organized/disorganized dichotomy": Organized crimes are premeditated and carefully planned, so little evidence is found at the scene. Organized criminals, according to the classification scheme, are antisocial but know right from wrong, are not insane and show no remorse. Disorganized crimes, in contrast, are not planned, and criminals leave such evidence as fingerprints and blood. Disorganized criminals may be young, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or mentally ill. Over the past quarter-century, the Behavioral Science Unit has further developed the FBI's profiling process—including refining the organized/disorganized dichotomy into a continuum and developing other classification schemes.

"The basic premise is that behavior reflects personality," explains retired FBI agent Gregg McCrary. In a homicide case, for example, FBI agents glean insight into personality through questions about the murderer's behavior at four crime phases:

• Antecedent: What fantasy or plan, or both, did the murderer have in place before the act? What triggered the murderer to act some days and not others?
• Method and manner: What type of victim or victims did the murderer select? What was the method and manner of murder: shooting, stabbing, strangulation or something else?
• Body disposal: Did the murder and body disposal take place all at one scene, or multiple scenes?
• Post offense behavior: Is the murderer trying to inject himself into the investigation by reacting to media reports or contacting investigators?

A rape case is analyzed in much the same way, but with the additional information that comes from a living victim. Everything about the crime, from the sexual acts the rapist forces on the victim to the order in which they're performed, offers a clue about the perpetrator, McCrary says.

Offender profiling. Much of this work comes from applied psychologist David Canter, PhD, who founded the field of investigative psychology in the early 1990s and now runs the Centre for Investigative Psychology at the University of Liverpool.

Investigative psychology, Canter says, includes many areas where psychology can contribute to investigations - including profiling. The goal of investigative psychology's form of profiling, like all profiling, is to infer characteristics of a criminal based on his or her behavior during the crime. But, Canter says, the key is that all of those inferences should come from empirical, peer-reviewed research - not necessarily from investigative experience. For example, Canter and his colleagues recently analyzed crime scene data from 100 serial homicides to test the FBI's organized/disorganized model. Their results, which will be published in an upcoming issue of APA's Psychology, Public Policy and Law, indicate that, in contrast to some earlier findings, almost all serial murderers show some level of organization.

Organized behaviors - like positioning or concealing a victim's body - are the "core variables" that tend to show up most frequently and co-occur with other variables most often, he found. The differences between murderers, the researchers say, instead lie in the types of disorganized behaviors they exhibit. The study suggests that serial murderers can be divided into categories based on the way they interact with their victims: through sexual control, mutilation, execution or plunder.

Canter says that research like this, which uses the statistical techniques of psychology to group together types of offender behaviors, is the only way to develop scientifically defensible descriptions and classifications of offenders. "Our approach," he says, "is to consider all the information that may be apparent at the crime scene and to carry out theory-based studies to determine the underlying structures of that material." In another study, he and his colleagues collected crime scene data from 112 rape cases and analyzed the relationship among different crime scene actions—from what types of sexual acts the rapist demanded to whether he bound the victim. The researchers found that the types of sexual violation and physical assault did not distinguish rapists from each other; these were the core variables that occurred in most rape cases. Instead, what distinguished the rapists into categories were nonphysical interactions - things like whether they stole from or apologized to the victim. Canter puts little faith in the investigative experience-derived offender descriptions developed by law-enforcement agents. As he sees it, psychologists need to work from the ground up to gather data and classify offenders in areas as various as arson, burglary, rape and homicide.

Crime action profiling
Forensic psychologist Richard Kocsis, PhD, and his colleagues have developed models based on large studies of serial murderers, rapists and arsonists that act as guides to profiling such crimes. The models, he says, are similar to the structured interviews clinical psychologists use to make clinical diagnoses. They come out of an Australian government-funded research program that Kocsis ran, in which he developed profiling methods in collaboration with police and fire agencies.
Now in private practice, Kocsis says crime action profiling models are rooted in knowledge developed by forensic psychologists, psychiatrists and criminologists. Part of crime action profiling also involves examining the process and practice of profiling.

"Everybody seems to be preoccupied with developing principles for profiling," Kocsis explains. "However, what seems to have been overlooked is any systematic examination of how to compose a profile. What type of information does, or should, profiles contain? What type of case material do you need to construct a profile? How does the presence or absence of material affect the accuracy of a profile?" He has studied, for example, whether police officers perceive the same profile to be more accurate and useful when they believe it was written by a professional profiler rather than a layperson.

Kocsis agrees that the future of profiling lies in more empirically based research. He also believes, though, that just as some clinicians are better than others, there is also a skill element involved in profiling. Is profiling an art or a science? "Realistically, I think it is probably a bit of both," he says.

The psychology-law enforcement relationship
Among those in the profiling field, the tension between law enforcement and psychology still exists to some degree. "The difference is really a matter of the FBI being more oriented towards investigative experience than [academic psychologists] are," says retired FBI agent McCrary. "But," he adds, "It’s important to remember that we're all working toward the same thing."

In recent years, the FBI has begun to work closely with many forensic psychologists in fact, it employs them. Psychologist Stephen Band, PhD, is the chief of the Behavioral Science Unit, and clinical forensic psychologist Anthony Pinizzotto, PhD, is one of the FBI's chief scientists. The unit also conducts research with forensic psychologists at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. One recent collaborative study, for example, looked at the relationship between burglaries and certain types of sexual offenses, whether specific aspects of a crime scene differed in incidents that began as a burglary and ended in a sexual offense, as opposed to crimes that began as a sexual offense but included theft. Police looking at the first type of crime might want to look for convicted burglars in the area, Pinizzotto explains. The study will be published in an upcoming issue of Sex Offender Law Report, published by the Civic Research Institute.

One of the FBI's collaborators at John Jay College is Gabrielle Salfati, PhD, a graduate of the Centre for Investigative Psychology. "Whenever we do research, we try to bring in as many varied points of view as possible," Pinizzotto says. "Gabrielle Salfati's expertise on the statistical aspects of evaluating crime scenes is a great contribution." More recently, the unit has also begun to collaborate with forensic psychologists at Marymount University in Arlington, Va. - another indication that law enforcement and psychology will continue to work together.

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Criminal Profiling Methodologies

A profile as described by the authors in chapter 2 of, Criminal Profiling AN INTRODUCTION TO BEHAVIORAL EVIDENCE ANALYSIS, THIRD EDITION, “is a collection of inferences about the person responsible for committing a crime or series of crimes.” In this wiki report I will discuss one method of profiling, the Scientific Method.
The scientific method is defined in this book as a way to investigate how or way something works, or how something happened, through the development of hypotheses and subsequent attempts at falsification through testing and other accepted means. It is a structured process designed to build scientific knowledge by way of answering specific questionings about observations through careful analysis and critical thinking. This particular method has 3 steps, which I will discuss shortly. The steps being, observation, forming a hypothesis and finally experimentation.
Step 1- Observation: Taking in what happens at an event or viewing object or analyzing a fact is making an observation, which in turn leads to a question about the event, object or fact. This question could possibly be how this object obtained a certain trait, or why this event even occurred.
Step 2 – Forming a Hypothesis: The hypothesis is formed by trying to answer the question that was asked, whatever it may be, it is essentially an educated guess. More often than not, there is more than one answer to a hypothesis, which means you will have to examine or investigate each possible answer.
Step 3 – Experimentation: This is the step, or phase, that is distinctly different from the others, it separates scientific query from the first two. Contrary to what other methods people use, scientific analysts try to actually disprove their hypotheses. They develop experiments to designed to disprove, not prove there hypotheses, one of the reasons being is that it invites confirmatory bias.
Falsification is what makes the scientific method possible, it is easier to try and prove something, than to disprove, all that needs to be done is to ignore anything that does not remotely support what you are trying to prove, that is why falsification is the “cornerstone” of this method. Falsification, as defined in this book, is the act of refuting or disproving a hypothesis or theory. The extent to which any theory is scientific is a function of whether and how attempts at falsification have been made. Theories that have survived repeated vigorous attempts at falsification are considered more scientific, and more reliable, than those that have not.
I have only scratched the surface of this chapter, but more importantly this method. So, in conclusion, we have discussed several definitions and steps involved with the scientific method of profiling, so I hope you have gained a little more knowledge about profiling.

Petherick, Wayne A., and Brent E. Turvey. "Criminal Profiling, the Scientific Method, and Logic." Criminal Profiling: AN INTRODUCTION TO BEHAVIORAL EVIDENCE ANALYSIS. 3rd ed. San Diego: Academic, 2008. 1-753. Print.

http://www.easybib.com/cite/form/book

http://colbycriminaljustice.wdfiles.com/local--files/criminal-profiling/profilingtext.jpg

By Matthew Espinoza

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Forensic Psychology, Forensic Psychiatry & Profling

By Trey Hamilton & Holly Younger

Forensic psychology, psycharity and criminal profiling are the application of the behavioral sciences to legal issues. (Turvey) First of all lets clarify the difference between the three categories. Psychologists have no medical degree and only are allowed to assess the mental state of a person. Psychiatrist are licensed physicians that can asess both mental and physical states. A profiler often has no educational background in the behavior science (or at least they don’t need one) but do look for patterns in behavior to make an assessment on the type of individual that committed a crime. All of these people play a major part in answering the most common psychologal questions: If there is a risk of a sexual predator re-offending if put back in society. If an offender is competent to stand trial. And the question or not an offender was sane/insane at the time of the offense.

To clarify, competently to stand trial and the question of determining scrutiny are not the same thing. The question of competency to stand trial is a question of an offender’s current state of mind. This assess the offender’s ability to understand the charges against them, the possible outcomes of being convicted/acquitted of these charges and their ability to assist their attorney with their defense (Turvey). The question of sanity/insanity or criminal responsibility is an assessment of the offenders state of mind at the time of the crime. This refers to their ability to understand right from wrong and what is against the law. (Turvey) Contrary to popular belief fueled by television and film, the insanity defense is rarely used, as it is very difficult to prove. Another myth is that when the insanity defense is successfully used, a criminal “gets away with it.” This is also not the case. If declared insane, an offender is committed to a secure hospital facility for much longer than they would have served in prison. (Turvey.)

There are different standards for what is considered insane in different jurisdictions. An example of a successful insanity defense was that of Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children in the bathtub, claiming she was saving them from damnation because she had the devil inside her. As state this was difficult for her defense to prove and was only ruled so after the case was heard on appeal. An example of an unsuccessful use of the insanity defense is the Jeffery Dahmer case. Dahmer murdered at least seventeen people, engaged in cannibalism, and was a necrofile. Although these behaviors seem insane and count did not see it that way and sentenced him to serve fifteen consecutive life sentences in prison where he was then stabbed to death by another inmate (turvey). According to Turvey, when Dahmer was examined by other mental health professionals, he was thought to be a “mixed” offender. They stated that at the beginning he was sane but towards the end of his killing spree he was clearly sane.

There are many problems and difficulties faced when practicing forensic psychology/psychairaty and criminal profiling: Psychologists and psychiatrists are not allowed to give both treatment and a forensic evaluation of the same person. This makes it difficult to remain objective and then it would also put into jeopardy their patient/doctor confidential arrangement. When conducting treatment the therapist must also be aware of the following dangerous behaviors. Transference is when the patient reacts to the therapist in a manner that mimics a past relationship. The opposite of this is counter-transference, this is when the therapist reacts to a patient in a matter that mimics one of their past relationships. Another problem is projection. This is where either party projects one’s own thoughts or feelings or motives on to others. As these problems are unique to those in patient treatment, Psychologists/Psychiatrists and criminal profilers performing the forensic evaluation hold a new set of problems. They must avoid relying on their own personal opinion and bias. Also they must make an independent evaluation; they must resist pressure to find what the investigators what them to find opposed to actual fact. They also must not identify a person specifically by name (Turvey). And the main problem among criminal profilers specifically is that there expertise is dependent on practice more than education and is not something that can be learned from a text book.

Another subject that needs to be touched upon is that of the use of psychics in criminal investigations. Psychics are often called upon as a last resort when the case has gone cold and usually at the request of family members. Although Turvey dismisses psychic ability in criminal cases as nonsense, Dr. Pisorius, of the South African police force, where she works as a profiler, claims that the ability is a developed sense and it is very real and accurate. She also claims to have that ability. This subject remains up for debate Forensic Psychology/psychiatry and criminal profiling are a very important tool in the criminal justice system. They play an important role in assisting investigators and forensic scientists. These practices help narrow the field of suspects and answer questions of legality are answered as thoroughly as possible.

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Insanity and Competency to Stand Trial
By: Rachel Montgomery

Criminal Profiling, authored by Brent Turvey, talks about many aspects of crime methodologies, theories, arguments, and many other subjects. One major subject, which Turvey used as an entire chapter, is centered around the insanity and competency to stand trial idea. There are a lot of factors to this whole idea and they include the difference between psychology and psychiatry relating to criminal cases, and it ultimately displays how they work as profilers in the criminal justice system. First things first though, so we must look at psychology and psychiatry as their own separate entities, because both practices are very different.

According to Turvey as well as other professionals , psychology and psychiatry are two closely related fields but have very important different. One similarity is that both fields deal specifically with behavioral sciences. Another similarity is, psychiatrists and psychologists both are extremely educated people, but one major fundamental difference between them is, psychiatrists go to medical school whereas psychologists get their doctorate degree but is not allowed to administer prescriptions or medical care. Regardless of their differences in education though, each field requires training, continual education, and a lot of experience to become an expert. An expert’s main role in either field in the criminal justice system is assessing whether an individual is competent to stand trial. Forensic psychologists/psychiatrists are there for either a therapeutic role or a forensic role but never both according to Turley’s writings. A conflict of interest will arise if the two are mixed, because not even a mental health professional can stay objective and impartial to their client for very long if they try and fill both roles. A therapeutic role for either professional would require them to be a confidant to their client, perform tests to decide their mental state, and many other things. The forensic role is when the professional examines the outside life of the client, a good example would be their financial position or their job status. At the end of either role though, the expert must identify if the person is legally insane or not, and if they are competent to stand trial.

Now, to clear up any misconceptions, the inability to stand trial is often equated with insanity when that is not the case. Competency to stand trial relates to a defendant’s current ability to understand his or her legal situation, and to assist as attorney with his or her defense (Turley, 103). According to pbs.org and Michael Perlin, a finding of incompetence signals a stop in criminal proceedings. The defendant will receive treatment until he/she is well and then they will return to regular trial and court proceedings. Nobody gets off free even if they are mentally ill. Insanity is directly linked to the offender’s mental state at the time of the offense. Also, according to Perlin, he addresses the fact that most people think if someone “gets off” on the insanity plea it means they’re acquitted and done. Wrong! Perlin points out that they will actually venture to a mental hospital until the mental health professionals decide the patient is well enough to survive in the outside world. Once they decide that, that person will be transported to a regular jail or prison facility. A couple of major cases where the insanity defense was used was in the case of Andrea Yates and Jeffrey Dahmer. Both of them were deemed competent to stand trial, but Andrea had to receive treatment whereas Dahmer went to prison and received medical pills and everything that was necessary. Both spent time behind bars for their crimes, and Dahmer was there until he was murdered.

Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/crime/trial/faqs.html
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/andrea_yates/index.html
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/dahmer/index.html

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Crime Reconstruction

Betsy Liebau, Lindsay Frahm, and Becca Theimer

An Introduction to Crime Reconstruction

Introduction:
Crime reconstruction is the determination of actions and events surrounding the commission of a crime (Turvey). Crime scene reconstruction is sometimes confused with putting the crime back together as it was. Conversely, crime scene reconstruction is more like putting pieces back together through witness statements, living victims, and the assessment and analysis of physical evidence. Crime reconstruction is like that of criminal profiling. It is forensic discipline based on forensic sciences, scientific method, analytical logic, and critical thinking.

There are many different approaches to reconstruction. They all however, follow the below considerations. “Each of the following shapes and influences the analytical methods used and the behavioral inferences made.” (Turvey)
· Ethics
· Bias
· Practice standards
· Crime scene investigation
· Evidence dynamics
· Other issues that have been and will be discussed further in the text

Crime reconstruction is premised on “good science and clear logic and all evidence must support or fail to nullify the reconstructionist’s final conclusion. Furthermore, crime reconstruction is based off of Locard’s Exchange Principle, as stated by Dr. John Thornton (Thornton, 1997, p 29):

“Forensic scientists have almost universally accepted the Locard Exchange Principle. Edmund Locard, the director of the first crime laboratory, in Lyon, France, enunciated this doctrine early in the 20th century. Locard’s Exhange Principle states that with contact between two items, there will be an exchange of microscopic material. This certainly includes fibers, but extends to other microscopic materials such as hair, pollen, paint, and soil.” (Turvey)

Basically, Locard’s Principle goes on to further discuss that every crime has evidence that can be detected and eventually help to put the pieces back together, eventually helping to reconstruct and solve crimes.

More often, the most common method of reconstruction is experience. Dr. Hans Gross emphasized this type of learning, because he thought investigators must question everything, and then investigate. Gross made it clear that he was not promoting the importance of inexperience, but rather “encyclopedic knowledge”. He felt that experience was not unimportant, but that it often times lead to lack of knowledge or useless reconstruction. With that being said, it is unacceptable to gather evidence and argue your point based on “experience”.

Reason, Methods, and Confidence:
Critical thinking seems to overwhelmingly be the one trait a re-constructionist’s should have. A few things a re-constructionist’s should be able to do is the following:
· Discern fact from speculation
· Postulate or theorize alternative solutions for events
· Be able to connect facts together
· Further make informed judgments about what questions are important to ask of the evidence in the case at hand.

Crime reconstruction requires that evidence be broken down and examined in a different mode, and with a different goal, than may be familiar to many forensic specialists. There are eleven types of evidence classifications. (Turvey)
1.) Sequential- anything that establishes or helps to establish when an event occurred or the order in which two or more events occurred
2.) Directional- anything that shows where something is going or where it came from.
3.) Locational- anything that shows where something happened, or where something was, and its orientation with respect to other objects at the location.
4.) Action- anything that happened during the commission of the crime.
5.) Contact- demonstrates whether and how two persons, objects, or locations were at one point associated with each other.
6.) Ownership- helps answer the “who” question with a high degree of certainty. It includes evidence.
7.) Associative- a form of trace evidence that can be identification or ownership evidence.
8.) Limiting- is important because it helps establish whether there are secondary crime scenes and whether the evidence search are must be expanded to include other nearby locations.
9.) Inferred- anything that the reconstructionist thinks may have been at the scene when the crime occurred but was not actually found.
10.) Temporal- anything that specifically denotes or expresses the passage.
11.) Psychological- is any act committed by the perpetrator to satisfy a personal need or motivation

Evidence Dynamics:
There are several aspects to the dynamics of evidence. Crime recontructionists have the responsibility to discriminate between pre-existing evidence and actual evidence. They must also decide what evidence is relevant or unrelevant. The dynamics of the case in general is divided into several categories. You must take into consideration the type of offender you are dealing with: Precautionary Acts, Ritual/Fantasy, or Staging. The victim’s actions are just as important and may result in artifacts that are mistaken for evidence related to the crime. The actions of a victim during an attack and in the post-offense interval can also influence the nature and quality of evidence that is left behind (Turvey). Witnesses can also be very influential in offering evidence to a case.

There are many things that help solve crimes. Reconstructionist must take every aspect of a crime into consideration. Secondary Transfers are one type of evidence. Secondary transfers refer to an exchange of evidence between objects or persons that occurs subsequent to an original to an original exchange, unassociated with the circumstances that produced the original exchange “Fibers can also transfer from a fabric source such as carpets, beds, or furniture (Turvey).” Weather and climate is another type. Body temperature, decomposition of the body, and destruction of the crime scene due to weather can complicate a case as well as insects activity. Insect activity can destroy evidence or determine length of decomposition. In the end, there are so many things, instances, and aspects of crime reconstruction. Evidence dynamics that are present have much room for questioning. For each item of evidence involved in the reconstruction of crime, the reconstructionist must inquire about eh history of the item by asking many question. If the questions cannot be answered, it represents a broken link in the chain of evidence (Turvey).

The Future:
Collection of all aspects of evidence will increase with time. As stated in the book, as time goes forward, so will technologies, and with technologies improving our ability to recognize, collect, preserve, and extract information form evidence grows with each technological breakthrough (Turvey). By not considering evidence dynamics and crime reconstruction to be intermingled, misinterpretations or inaccurate information can be assumed.

References:

Turvey, Brent E. Criminal profiling an introduction to behavioral evidence analysis. Burlington, MA: Elsevier, 2008.

"3DEyeWitness User's Center." DesignWare Inc. Software Home Page. 07 Mar. 2009 <http://www.designwareinc.com/3d_lib.htm>.

Wound Pattern Analysis

Wound Pattern Analysis

By: Jay Wessel

Wound Pattern analysis involves the recognition, preservation, documentation, examination, and reconstruction of the nature, origin, and intent of physical injuries. The first thing to establish when examining wounds is what type it is. There are five basic types of injuries/wounds: blunt force trauma, burns, sharp force injury, gunshot wounds, and therapeutic and diagnostic wounds. Some of these can also be broken down more as to what specific type of wound they are.

1. Blunt Force Trauma – caused by force. The mechanisms of injury in blunt force trauma can be described as impacts delivered by weapon’s forceful contact of part or the entire body against an unyielding surface and combinations of impact and forceful contact. These can be divided into the following:
• Abrasions – an excoriation or circumscribed removal of the superficial layers of skin.
• Contusions – blood vessels are broken, but skin is not (usually caused by a blow of some kind). Can be patterned (imprinted, not directional) and nonpatterned.
• Lacerations – are torn or jagged wounds that tend to have abraded and contused edges.

2. Burns – to damage by heat, fire, or chemical. Burns can be caused by the following:
• Direct exposure to open flame
• Contact with hot objects
• Radiated heat waves
• Scalding hot liquids/steam
• Chemicals
• Microwaves
3. Sharp Force Trauma – caused by pointed, bladed, or edged objects and weapons. These can be divided into the following categories:
• Stab wounds – are the result of being pierced with a pointed instrument. The depth of the injury into the tissue is usually greater than its width in the skin.

• Incise wounds (cuts) – are the result of sharp instruments being drawn across the surface of the skin, even into the tissue, and are longer than they are deep.
• Chop wounds – are the result of heavy instruments with a sharp edge. They go deep into the tissue, can be associated with fractures, and can have a combination of incised and lacerated characteristics.
4. Gunshot Wounds – purpose of a firearm is to deliver force from a distance with a single projectile or multiple pellets. Gunshot wounds can either penetrate (entrance wound only) or perforate (entrance wound and exit wound). Entrance wounds can be divided into the categories of contact, near contact, intermediate, and distant. Included in gunshot wounds are exit wounds and atypical entrance and exit wounds.

5. Therapeutic Diagnostic Wounds – are injuries inflicted by emergency medical service personnel during treatment. Included are things like needle marks, various incisions and puncture marks, and even bruising. A complete record of the activities of EMS personnel in important when interpreting wounds to separate those injuries unrelated to the crime.
6. Postmortem versus Antemortem Wounds – an important, but often overlooked, behavioral consideration in wound pattern analysis is whether or not wounds were inflicted before, during, or after the onset of death.
• Antemortem wounds – are those that occur during the period of time before death. These tend to be associated with injuries that result in a lot of bleeding.
• Postmortem wounds – are those that occur during the period after death. These are commonly associated with very little or almost no bleeding.
• Perimortem wounds – are those that occur just before or just after death.

Wound patterns can originate from a variety of intentional and accidental sources. Where the source is disputed or there is more than one potential source is referred to as equivocal wound patterns (a wound of unknown origins). We must remember and consider that wound patterns are most often the result of interaction between any combination of objects, weapons, individuals, and their respective environments in order to analyze an equivocal wound.
1. Weapon to Victim/Offender – any item found in the crime scene or brought to the crime scene by the victim or the offender that is used for the purpose of administering force.
2. Restraint to Victim – any item found in the crime scene or brought to the crime scene that is used to physically control, limit, contain, or restrict a victim. Used to make living victims more compliant and less of a threat to the offender. Used to make deceased victims less unwieldy and more compact for transport.
3. Environment to Victim/Offender – can result from any item in the crime scene that comes into contact with the victim/offender in such a manner as to cause an injury.
4. Victim to Offender and Offender to Victim – Person-to-person wound patterns result when a victim or an offender causes direct injury to the other using a part of their body as a weapon. Items worn on the body can be a defining part of the wound pattern and add not only to its recognizability but to its distinctiveness as well.
Once the nature and physical origin of a wound pattern have been determined, it may be possible to make an assessment as to the general motivation for inflicting the wound. Wounds are the result of behavior involving the use of force. As behavioral evidence, wounds can help suggest offender motive and intent, among other characteristics. The types of intentional force most commonly found in criminal cases included the following:
1. Lethal Force – used to describe physically aggressive behavior that is sufficient to kill.
2. Administrative Force – used to describe behavior that is focused on the delivery of a specific, purposeful amount of injury in order to accomplish a particular goal.
3. Brutal Force – used to describe physically aggressive behavior that involves the onset of one or more injuries that inflict tremendous damage, often until death results.
4. Overkill – is injury beyond that needed to cause death. It involves the repeated infliction of injury subsequent to the application of lethal force.
5. Control-Oriented Force – used to describe physically aggressive behavior that is intended to restrict victim movements.
6. Defensive Force – used to describe physically aggressive behavior that is intended to protect the individual administering it from attack, danger, or injury.
7. Precautionary Force – used to describe physically aggressive offender behavior that results in wound patterns that are intended to hamper or prevent the recognition and collection of physical evidence and thwart investigative efforts.
8. Experimental Force – used to describe behaviors involving force that fulfill nonaggressive, often psychological, and fantasy-oriented needs.
9. Physical Torture – is the intentional and repeated infliction of nonlethal injury to a victim. The victim must remain alive and conscious during the initial infliction of the injury so that he or she can experience the pain that follows.

Some basic guidelines to follow when analyzing wound patterns is that it relies on competent, thorough documentation of injuries, as well as the same for the environments in which any injuries occurred. Perform wound pattern analysis on victims and on offenders and suspected offenders. Examine and interpret wounds in the context of the event in which it occurred. Establish whether an injury was inflicted antemortem, perimortem, or postmortem. Establish the origin of an injury and whether and how the wound is associated with the crime at hand. Use multiple forensic disciplines to analyze extensive, complex, or questioned injury patters. Establish the motivation and intent of an injury in its context.

As with any type of physical crime reconstruction, wound pattern analysis in partly science and partly art. It requires not only rigorous methodology but multidisciplinary expertise. Above all, however, it is firmly grounded in the scientific method and the Locard's exchange principal which asserts that anyone, or anything, entering a crime scene both takes something of the scene with them and leaves something of themselves behind when they leave. Any victim, and the injuries that he or she suffers (or does not suffer), is an extension of the crime scene.

Sources:

Turvey, Brent E. Crimian Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis. Third. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier, 2008. 223-39. Print.

Welner, Michael, M.D. "Wound Analysis." The Forensic Panel. N.p., 2010. Web. 1 Nov 2010. <http://forensicpanel.com/expert_services/pathology/criminal_law/wound_analysis.html>.

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Types And Interpretations Of Wound Patterns

By: Brady Rundel

A wound is a "disruption of the continuity of tissues produced by external mechanical force". Medicolegal death investigators commonly perform wound pattern analysis. The findings by investigators can be crucial in identifying cause and manor of death. By establishing evidence as to what the weapon was and how it was used can be essential in the convicting of the offender.
Wound pattern analysis involves the recognition, preservation, documentation, examination, and reconstruction of the nature, origin, and intent of physical injuries (Turvey p. 223)
Wound types may vary from bullet, stabbing, blunt force, rape, poisoning (considered to be toxicological domain), burn, or traffic fatality. Regardless of the type of wound, experts can establish clues to the manner of death. Expert pathologists from the Forensic Panel are able to analyze whether the wound was received perimortem or postmortem

Firearms account for almost two-thirds of the homicides committed in the United States so essentially pathologists must be well trained in gunshot wounds. The Forensic Panel employs highly skilled pathologists who are able to distinguish the subtle differences between contact and near contact gunshot wounds, medium range gunshot wounds, and distant gunshot wounds. This process involves both technology and experience to determine various relevant details such as the trajectory, or range of the bullet. The path traveled between entry and exit wounds; the likelihood of survival after sustaining a gunshot; make and model of the gun; and especially the specific manner of death.

The following is not an all inclusive list, but rather a general overview of wound types.

Blunt Force Trauma: Blunt force trauma is the impact or contact of a weapon on part of, or all of one’s body. It can vary by the location of the trauma, the weapon used, and force behind the weapon. Blunt force trauma is further analyzed into three sub-categories.
Abrasions - which is the removal of the superficial layers of skin. This could be caused by the body being drug across the floor or even the severe friction caused by clothing if the body was forcefully moved.
Contusions - injuries that cause a break in blood vessels but not the skin. Most commonly known as bruises and hemorrhages.
Lacerations - torn jagged wounds that tend to have abraded edges and are different then sharp force injuries.

Fractures that can occur to the skeletal system are:
Focal Fractures: Small amount of force applied to a small area.
Crush Fractures: Large amount of force applied to a large are of the body
Penetrating Fractures: Large amount of force applied to a concentrated area.

Other common forms of wounds are, burns - which are caused directly or indirectly by heat, fire, or chemicals; Sharp force injury‘s - caused by pointed, bladed or edged objects; gunshot wounds; and finally therapeutic/diagnostic wounds - injuries inflicted by EMS personnel during treatment.
Its extremely important to document all actions performed by any emergency personnel to differentiate those wounds from wounds inflicted prior to their arrival.

Not always, but sometimes bruises can be a great indicator of points of injury, force, and size of object used. However a great deal of experience comes into play in determining their validity to the victim. First an investigator must determine if the bruised area was inflicted peri or postmortem. Then differentiating between postmortem bruising and postmortem lavidity has to be made. After the body has set for a period of time the blood begins to settle. This causes a purplish discoloration of the dependent parts of the body with sparing of areas of pressure contact (Turvey). Bruising can vary by age, sex, skin color/race, location of impact. Infants and elderly tend to bruise more easily then do young to middle aged. Women bruise more easily then men because they have more subcutaneous fat, this is especially true of obese women. Skin color plays a factor bruising can be more easily seen in red heads and blondes rather than tanner individuals; in blacks even extensive bruising can be masked by natural skin color.

Sources Used:
http://www.forensicpanel.com/expert_services/pathology/criminal_law/wound_analysis.html
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/forensicmedicine/notes/woundsdjp.pdf
Death Investigation: A guide for the scene investigator
Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis by Brent Turvey

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Blunt Force Wound Patterns
By: Sadie Jarrett :)

There are many different forms of wound types that vary anywhere from bullets and stabbing to blunt force and burns. No matter the type, each leaves a different pattern and tells about the victim’s manner of death. A forensic pathologists job is to investigate what the wound ‘tells’ about how and what caused it. Though blunt force wounds don’t always leave the same evidence of diffusion as a gunshot or knife, pathologists may still be able to complete conclusive determinations about the trauma. Pathologist can deter from the wounds if it was caused by any of the following:
Contusion: bruises
Abrasion: skin essentially shaved off
Laceration: tear of the skin
Fracture: broken bone
(or) Hematoma: Presence of blood in tissues or body cavities
Not only would they assess the wound, but also examine the force and magnitude of infliction, which would lead to a conclusion of the cause of injury or death.
“Blunt force trauma is-as its name would suggest- a severe traumatic episode caused to the body or head with the sudden introduction of a blunt instrument used with great force.” This could be caused by an attacker striking out at a victim with: hands, a large piece of wood, baseball bat or other such item that could cause severe damage to a body or skull if impacted quickly. Experimental studies have shown, by analyzing forces generated by punching and kicking a ‘punch-ball’ that men can punch up to a force of 500-750 N and kick between 750-1200 N, while women can only punch up to 350-550 N, and kick 500-750 N.
Now though most cases you may see involve blunt force being caused by a person’s hands, feet, head, or even a bat, or other foreign object; it can also be seen being caused from a car accident, such as from the dashboard, steering wheel, or even the rear of the driver and passenger seats from victims not wearing their seatbelts. Blunt force could even happen without the result of many visible indicators. Individuals who die from this do so because of internal injuries received from the force, resulting in nothing more than exterior bruising that may not seem alarming.

Sign of Blunt Force Trauma can be noticed by several different signs such as:
Bruising: Shows good indicator that there are broken blood vessels under the skin’s surface. Although some bruising may occur, this is not technically a definite indicator of how much damage that may have occurred deeper within the body, such as in the chest cavity and even around the lungs.
Related:
Asphyxiation
Bite Marks
Defensive Wounds
Abrasions: Cuts, grazing of the skin or friction burns which can be caused by the victim being beaten, dragged or kicked. These wounds can sometimes indicate that a victim hit against something or was hit with something and it can also be used to measure how much of a struggle the victim put up against his or her attacker.
Lacerations: This is the tearing of tissue underneath the skin. An individual may be beaten severely or have sustained a severe bump against a stationary object and underneath the skin there may be severe damage caused to tissue and organs. Visual examinations do not always show this to be case and if the victim has died an autopsy will most certainly be carried out.
It’s also worth mentioning that the above do not always have to be present on the body of the victim of an attack to prove that blunt force trauma has been the root cause. This is because of the differences in the varying areas of the body relating to softness of tissue and mass of bone. In all aspects of blunt force, it’s a given that whether the cause of death can be visually recorded or not an autopsy will be carried out to prove definitively how the victim died.

Sources:
Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis by Brent Turvey
http://www.exploreforensics.co.uk/blunt-force-trauma.html

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Staged Crime Scenes

Betsy Liebau, Lindsay Frahm, and Becca Theimer

Staged Crime Scenes

Introduction:
A simulated crime scene is one in which the physical evidence has been purposefully altered by the offender to mislead authorities or misdirect the investigation. (Turvey) In this chapter, the main objective is for all aspects of investigation/law enforcement to gain knowledge and tools to correctly investigate and reconstruct staged crime scenes, while preparing them to better explore this subject.

The Literature:
There have been many people who have contributed to learning and knowledge presented on staging crime scenes. One of the first to provide insight was Dr. Hans Gross. In 1924, gross prepared reports in his journals to carefully reconstruct evidence. Gross was one of the first to touch on crime staging. His opinions about it were direct and justified. One of his strongest opinions was to leave all opinions about the case out of the case. He believed failure to leave behind the necessary and logical evidence of the crimes would only show the lack of experience of the person committing the crime.

In 1936, a group of guys by the names of O’Connell and Sonderhome started to further investigate crime staging and had their own outlook of it. They began to research the evidence additionally and decided that crime staging could present some great facts concerning the case. They realized that hanging a murdered man would leave practically the same marks as strangulation marks would have (Turvey). This would lead to even greater implications.

A guy by the name of Gerberth, in 1996, was the next to really touch on the literature of crime staging. He came up with a list of 10 things that helped investigators when working a “potentially staged crime scene”. They are as follows: (Turvey)
1.) Assess the victimology of the deceased
2.) Evaluate the types of injuries and wounds of the victim in connection with the type of weapon employed.
3.) Conduct the necessary forensic examinations to establish and ascertain the facts of the case.
4.) Conduct an examination of the weapons for latent evidence as well as ballistics and testing of firearms.
5.) Evaluate the behaviors of the victim and suspects.
6.) Establish a profile of the victim through interviews of friends and relatives.
7.) Reconstruct and evaluate the event
8.) Compare investigative findings with the medicolegal autopsy and confer with the medical examiner.
9.) Corroborate statements with evidential facts
10.) Conduct and process all death investigations as if they were homicide cases.

Gerberth has very confrontational viewpoints. It is noted in the book that Gerberth ultimately thinks that the increased number of staged crime scene cases is correlated to the public’s access to information about the crime through the news, crime books, television, and the movies. He presents “no evidence to support the notion that such cases are actually on the increase, let alone that such offences positively correlate with increased offender knowledge gained from the media sources. In fact, there are no citations presented in this section at all (Turvey).”

Ad Hoc Reconstruction:
Ad Hoc Reconstruction is something that has been arranged for a specific purpose, case, or situation at hand and for no other reason. In crime staging, the US department of justice, in 2005, started to define what type of people should be in charge of the investigation or crime scenes. The designation of a specific person to a crime scene concludes that investigators or technicians will be proficient at interpreting the scene, evidence, and put all information together creating a logical, truthful conclusion. Numerous courts, as stated in the book, have allowed law enforcement officers and crime scene investigators to serve as “ad hoc” reconstructionists and even appear as experts in the determination of whether or not scene staging is present. This means, that the courts allow a specific arrangement of law enforcement personnel gather together for the sole purpose of determining whether a crime scene has been staged. With time, experience, and loyalty to their division, these personnel become experts in their field.

Appears Staged:
Subjectivity is one component that is discovered with crime scene staging. Circumstantial evidence is considered in the judgment of the scene. Many things are noted such as (Turvey):
· There is no sign of forced entry
· Forced entry is not evident
· The drawers in a room have been removed and carelessly dumped out to give a “ransacked” appearance
· The drawers in a room have been removed carefully stacked to protect and preserve the content.
· No search for valuables is apparent.
· Only particular items have been stolen
· No items have been stolen
· The victim had life insurance
· The victim’s death profited a family member, household member, or intimates in some way other than life insurance.

Any one of the above circumstances can lead investigators to believe that the crime scene was staged, however, all of the above circumstances can lead the same investigators to believe that the events happened in an un-staged crime scene. Although these are all possibilities to elude staging, it is emphasized that all contexts must be considered. Valuables are also always considered in whether or not staging may have occurred. A motive is always important when solving crimes. Think of it this way, would a man have hung himself in his bathroom, and his safe be scattered throughout his bedroom? Most likely, the man was strangled, hung to give a “suicide” appearance and then robbed.

Case Examples:
There were many cases noted in the text about how the knowledge and truth of crime staging was discovered, tracked, and became relevant in solving crimes. Based off 25 real cases, a national database was created for a “control” when determining cases. There were 33 offenders and 31 victims. It goes on to discuss the offenders and victims’ characteristics, as well as the offense and motivation characteristics. The findings of the study showed that an action, event, or series of events, such as staging, is a form of crime reconstruction (Turvey). Staging is said to be a possibility in every single case. The text stated that it must be considered before excluding it as an explanation.

References:

Turvey, Brent E. Criminal profiling an introduction to behavioral evidence analysis. Burlington, MA: Elsevier, 2008.

"Death by Hanging." The Pathology Guy. 10 Mar. 2009 <http://www.pathguy.com/~dlaporte/hanging.htm>.

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Staging occurs when an offender tries to make the scene look like something else than what actually occurred. The most common staging scene happens when somebody tries to make a murder look like an accident or a suicide. The perpetrator may move the body to a different location or clean particular places. Supposed a boyfriend, for instance, strikes his girlfriend in the back of the head with a tire iron, killing her. Then he cleans up the living room, moves her body to the basement, leaves her body at the bottom of the stairs, and calls 911. Then he claims that she fell while walking down the stairs. This is a good example of a staged crime scene.
Other examples of staging crime scenes include the following:
A killer stages a crime scene by breaking a window or ransacking the drawers to ensure that a purse is missing in an effort to make it look like a burglar killed the victim.
A wife underhandedly spikes a drink with poison and serves the drink to her husband. Then she forges a suicide note to make his murder look like a suicide.
A jewelry store owner, with the intent of defrauding an insurance company, stages a burglary in which a diamond necklace is missing, and a glass window had been broken. He is well aware that the jewelry is fully insured.
The offender starts a fire in an effort to cover up another crime such as a murder, theft, or even a break-in. The offender mistakenly believes that the fire, which is a staged crime scene, will burn up evidence of the underlying crime.
by Terry Steiner

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Criminal Motivation
By Trey Hamilton & Holly Younger

First of all motivation is defined by Turvey as “the forces acting on or within an organism to initiate and direst behavior and also is used to explain the intensity of the behavior.” Second of all, determination of motive is not necessary for prosecution in a court of law, but can be relied on by the prosecution if they have very little or no hard evidence against a person. An example is the classic insurance pay out murder. A woman is found dead in her home, apparently stabbed, strangled or whatever. There are no strange fingerprints and nothing is missing or out of the ordinary except that she is dead. The husband’s alibi isn’t great but not unlikely either. Except he was recently taken a large life insurance policy on his wife. This automatically makes him a suspect even though there is no hard evidence against him because he had the motive to kill her even though their life insurance could be coincidence. And this would probably hold up in a court and get a conviction.

As shown above there are advantages for investigators to determining motivation here are some more: This also narrows the suspect pool and assists in case linkage with unsolved crimes. It also provides circumstantial bearing on the offender’s identity and state of mind, as well as, means, opportunity, and whether or not a crime actually occurred. Motive is the “emotional, psychological, and material needs that are satisfied by behavior and intent is the aim that guides the behavior.” (Turvey)

Motive can be influenced by several conditions which can be classified as either internal, which are unique and individual, and external which are condition influenced by the environment. Any of these conditions can be either proximate (immediate) or pathological (long term). Turvey uses a chart called “yarvis’s Table of Proximate Cause factors Relevant to Homicidal Behavior to show some examples. All these causes are internal and apply to all violent crime. Here are some examples: status of relationships with friends, family and community. Mental state ability to rationalize and to distinguish reality from imaginary. Values of an individual degree of self image and how much they have to lose. Decision making skills. And the presence of substance abuse problems (drugs, alcohol) and significant stresses (Turvey). Some external examples can natural disasters and influence from another individual (abuse). Most external conditions help manifest internal ones. Hurricane Katrina was an external condition that helped manifest the internal conditions of helplessness and people lost their ability to rationalize which lead to an increase in violent crime.

Behavior motivational Typology is the immediate manifestation of behavior at the time of an offense. This is not an assessment of an offender’s behavior over time (Turvey). This is called crime scene motivation. This is opposed to offender motivation, which remains abstract and is attached to the individual’s perceptions of what they are doing. IN criminal profiling there has been a shift from classifying offender behavior to crime scene behavior and it appears it is more useful in the investigative sense. Although according to the Expectancy Value Theory which states that “ all motivated behavior is a result from the combination of individual needs and the value of goals available in the environment. So it appears that both types still need to be studied.

Here is some accepted typed of common motivation in criminal behavior according to turvey: There is power-reassurance behavior; these are intended to restore the offender’s confidence and self-worth. This type tends to be low in aggression. Power-Assertive behaviors show a great deal of anger/rage toward something specific. Sadistic behaviors indicate that an offender get sexual gratification from a victim’s pain and suffering. And finally there are profit-motivated behaviors that are material or personal gain.

The study of motivation is not an exact science but it is important in helping profilers identify the type of people they are dealing with. This helps investigators narrow the suspect pool to arrest the right people.
Lexi David
Criminal Motivation
“Why people do what they do”

Motive is a state of mind. A general dictionary defines it as, “something that prompts a person to act in a certain way or that determines volition.” A determination of motive can only be objectively inferred by reasoning from facts developed during an investigation. In some cases, motive is readily apparent; in others it is in hidden view. A deductive approach is meant to provide an understanding of the crime and the criminal at the time the person committed the crime.

There are many things that motivate criminals. A few things that help motivate a criminal such as; profit, what are they gaining, anger and retaliation. Anger is often a motivator behind battery or simple assault, especially under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Reassurance and experimentation, making sure or testing to see if they are capable to complete the task, Assertiveness and entitlement, the gaining of power, sadistic, the sick thought that you gain in committing a crime, and desire. Desire is one of the biggest motivators a criminal has.

Classifications of Behavioral Motivation:
• Power Reassurance
o Method of approach
o Surprise
o Method of attack
o Verbal threat an weapon
• Power Assertiveness
o Method of approach
o Con or Surprise
o Method of attack
o Verbal threats, physical force, and weapon
• Anger retaliation
o Method of approach
o Blitz or surprise
o Method of attack
o Brutal physical force, extreme violence, weapons, explosives
• Sadistic
o Method of approach
o Con
o Method of attack
o Surprise, physical force weapons, explosive
• Profit
o Method of approach
o ANY
o Method of attack

Outside of these motivations there are behaviors and influences that all play a part in a criminal’s behavior during a crime. But do keep in mind each criminal has their own history along with their likes and dislikes, which all helps fuel the fire of the criminal process. So outside these motivations, behaviors, and influences each criminal background, such as their childhood plays a huge role in why they are doing this.
There are some things that separate basic criminals; as in robbers, shoplifters, etc; from killers. Kind of like what makes a killer tick. To understand this you need to look at their past, their teenage years, and their childhood years. Almost all serial killers come from a background of physical abuse, sexual abuse and addiction to drugs or alcohol. A few mindsets of a serial killer come from sexual frustration and the lack of social acceptance or ridicule. Another thing that causes a killer to tick is the addiction to kill. Killing someone gives a person a very high adrenaline rush, something that seems like a well worth excitement.
The craziest thing of all is motivation of all criminals are the same. No matter if they are robbers, shoplifters, or even killers.
So no matter what, ninety nine percent of all criminals have a similar motivation as to why they committed the crime. The only difference is you have to find the understanding and reasoning as to why they did it.

“Insecurity is important in criminal motivation; insecurity results in hostility which turns into aggression.” -Karpman

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CRIMINAL MOTIVATION
By: Brady Rundel

Why did he do it? One of the biggest questions asked in this country today. What was going through his mind? Sometimes a person does not even think about what they are doing before they do it, and a crime is committed. But what about the other people that do think about it? Do they sit around and seriously think about what they are doing? What makes them decide that the risk is worth taking and committing a crime? There are many different interesting theories on why a criminal did what he did, and I am going to try to explain a few. Just what is a person thinking when they decide to become a criminal?

There is several well known theories accompanied with criminal motivation. There's the free will theory, which is crimes that are committed because of someone exercising their free will. Next there are biological theories, theories which suggest that a person is criminal since the day that they are born, due to genetics. There are also psycho-biological theories, which say things like environment and physical trauma can make someone into a criminal. Psychological theories suggest that crime is the result of a rotten mind or wrongful behavioral upbringing. Also there are sociological theories which state that the structure of society create the crimes, as well as social-psychological theories, which state that crime is due to association with bad people and inadequate social roles. And finally there is the conflict theory, which says that regular social life needs conflict.

Motive can be described by a series of definitions. But for this we will define motive as the emotional, psychological, and material needs that impel and are satisfied by behavior. Sometimes crimes are bias motivated. Hate crime or bias motivation refers to hate-motivated violence and this type of offense is personal in nature, pertaining to one’s race, ethnicity or nationality, religion, disability, or sexual orientation. Hate crime may typically be described as criminal behavior that is motivated by a formulation of prejudice.

Most violent crime may be divided into two broad categories. First, there are crimes committed without any specific hostility or animus for the victims, who are interchangeable. This would include crimes like armed robbery, where the retail clerk in danger is only because he or she's the one there at the time. Also included are home invasions where the perpetrator may never know who the victim was, and random acts of violence, such as drive by shootings. The second category consists of crimes that are specifically motivated by the identity of the victim. This encompasses crimes of passion, revenge, or the both, where no other person could be substituted for the intended victim.

Bias-motivated crime fits into neither described category. The victim is neither random nor specific. Victims are not selected because of what they do or because of who they are. Victims are selected because of what they are. This makes the impact of bias-motivated crime different than that of other crime.
For each hate crime offense type reported, law enforcement must indicate at least one bias motivation. A single-bias incident is defined as an incident in which one or more offense types are motivated by the same bias. A multiple-bias incident is defined as an incident in which more than one offense type occurs and at least two offense types are motivated by different biases.

*In 2009, 2,034 law enforcement agencies reported 6,604 hate crime incidents involving 7,789 offenses.
*There were 6,598 single-bias incidents that involved 7,775 offenses, 8,322 victims, and 6,219 offenders.
*The 6 multiple-bias incidents reported in 2009 involved 14 offenses, 14 victims, and 6 offenders.

For criminal prosecution, no motive needs to be determined or even presented in court as long as the evidential findings comply directly with the offender in question. However, being able to tie a possible motive to the guilty offender simply solidifies current evidence and can be helpful in cases that are lacking direct evidence. Motive cannot be proven directly, its something that only the offender knows for certain, and often has every reason to lie about. 'Motive can, however be inferred from criminal behavioral evidence present within given or established circumstances.'

Sources:
-http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/Hutton_Bias_Motivation.pdf
-http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2009/incidents.html
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_crime
-Criminal Profiling – An Introduction To Behavioral Evidence Analysis – Brent TurveyCriminal -Profiling Psychology and The Law – Colby Criminal Justice Program – Dr. Michael Thompson

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Case Linkage

Modus Operandi
Signature
Content of Tab 9

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Matt Edwards
Mr. Thompson
8 Dec. 2010
Criminal Profiling
Chester the Molester
Dear Detective:
Thank you for the opportunity to review this case. I will review the interview and get as much information that I can. I have not talked to anyone else about possible suspects in this case. I will do my best at finding the best possible suspect for this case.
Age:
Mid 30’s to early 40’s
Sex:
Male
Race:
Caucasian
Intelligence:
Very intelligent, understands when to strike and find a victim
Education:
Probably high school diploma
Family:
Maybe a single child, possibly one other sibling
Residence:
Probably lives in a small low crime rate town or city, where it is easy to find and take younger kids
Vehicle:
Something that is not out of the ordinary but has enough room for a child to sit safely in it
Employment:
Something low key that is easy and flexible hours
Motivating Factors:
Possibly had this happen to him as a young child. Gets sexually turned on
Interrogation Techniques:
Be calm and don’t get worked up. Be soft spoken and just ask him straight up and study his body language.
By Matt Edwards

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Dear Detective:
Thanks for allowing me to look over this case for your department and sending as much information as possible on the case. The interview you have provided gives me plenty of details of who this person is and what he is capable of doing.

To my knowledge and experience in the field of profiling, this suspect has commited more molestions than you may even know about. This man is not stupid by any means. He has got a degree from Fort Hays University while doing his eight year sentence in prison. His study was in criminal justice, this shows me he is trying to become a better criminal and avoid getting caught again. He wants to become involved in the government from what I can see from the interview and that might allow him to fly under the radar and get away with molesting children longer than the average Joe. After he said that we would like to play softball and hang out in the park, that has raised suspicion that he would really enjoy being around people that could have children present so he can begin to pick out his victims. This man goes for very young children and has a very sick sick mind. I do not believe that he will ever get over his obsession with children. He presents a threat to society with out a doubt. This man thinks very highly of himself and does not believe that what he has done in the past was really the wrong thing. His belief was that he was just fulfilling his fantasies and sexual desires. He also thinks that the time he has served has cleaned him of his sick mind, he did not see a therapist while he jail which is telling me that he has no intentions of trying to become better and do the right thing if he were to be released from prison. He has made no steps to better himself so that society and his family portray him in a different way.

After anayling all of his crime scenes and crimes, this man has planned all of his attacks and sets them up to where children feel they are maybe safe when they are around them. He does not like to go outside of his bubble when he is commiting the crimes because he believes he knows is surroundings enough and is safe to where no one could catch him. He does intend to kill any of the victims he just wants to obsess over previous crimes and events. I believe that he may read the paper quite often and takes out the articles that include him to show pride like a trophy as if he won a tournament of some sort. This man is doing great mental damage to all the children he molest and pretty much kills the kids inner soul and does life long damaging things to them.

His friends to my belief probably have the same feelings about children as he does, though maybe none of them have acted out or have got caught. To be a friend of this man and accept what he has done you must have a sick mind as well. What he has done is unexcusable and unacceptable to anyone with the right mind. Molesters should be treated has killers because they do kill them children mentally and emotionally.

The offender fits in with society which is a scary thought. He doesn’t look like a typical rapiest or serial killer. He is of white descent and women may find him attractive. He is definitely not a creature looking human walking around in society. This has allowed him to commit so many of these crimes over and over again. He has never really maintained a steady job which I believe is due to the fact that he is always thinking about molesting and that takes most of his thinking time. It sometimes overwhelms him and cant handle being around anyone for periods of times because he his in such deep thought and fantasy though about what he is going to do next. He patrols the streets throughout the days and nights he is not trying to look suspicious to the public eye he wants to be secretive and out of the public eye.
by Terry Steiner

Victimology

Victimology

By Trey Hamilton & Holly Younger\http://janeheller.mlblogs.com/woman.screaming.jpg

As we dive deeper into the study of criminal profiling we began to see that in order to understand criminal behavior we also need to understand the victim and why he/she was victiminized.

Victimology or the scientific study of victimization has several advantages. Victimology narrows and defines the suspect pool by establishing the relationship between the victim and the offender. This also helps authorities figure out the type of victim that may be targeted next. Victimology also helps authorities establish a victim’s relationship with other societal groups/institutions and criminal just ice system which helps further narrow the suspect pool (turvey).

The science of victimology also has its challenges. No one person can be without some bias, prejudice and opinion and this creates problems in objectibility. One of these challenges is deification. Deification is a tendency to idealize victims as innocent and virtuous. This is something that we see played out in the media on almost a daily basis, especially with kidnappings and disappearances of young girls, mostly white and from affluent families. As humans, profilers cannot be completely immune to this bias but it does create problems: This removes what could be good suspects from ever being investigated this includes family members. It also opens a floodgate for false reports that will be investigated because the investigator does not what to shake the belief that these people are more than innocent (turvey).

The opposite of deification is vilification. This is the tendency of an investigator to see certain victims as disposable or worthless. This is also something that is played out in the media. Some examples of vilified groups are: minorities, prostitutes, homosexuals the homeless, drug addicts, the mentally ill and individuals with particular religious beliefs. This presents the same problems that deification does and then the extreme problem of cruel apathy. Geberthism suggests that if two less than valuable individuals kill each other in some less than productive incident than it should be considered less than a felony (turvey). Other problems arise when profilers make false assumptions about a victims and also when they objectify the victim as a coping method.

Another aspect of victimology is exposure analysis of both the victim and the offender. Victim exposure is defined as the amount of exposure to harmful elements experience by a victim. There are three types: low exposure victims, medium exposure victims and high exposure victims. Low exposure victims are those people whose lifestyle doesn’t normally expose them to pain and suffering. High exposure victims are those people whose lifestyle constantly exposes them to pain and suffering. Medium exposure victims are between these (turvey). There are some examples of high exposure victims: Children/infants, women, the elderly, the mentally ill, drug addicts/alcoholics, immigrants/minorities, the depressed or heart broken and those that have already been victimized.

Victimization also has to factor in situational exposure, which are the harmful elements experienced the time of the incident. Some of these are the victim’s state of mind, the time of the day, the location, the number of persons in the area, and the consumption of drugs or alcohol by either the victim or the offender (turvey).

Offenders view exposure differently. They view exposure in terms of discovery, identification or apprehension experienced by the offender at the time of an attack. Modus operandi exposure refers to the degree which an offender’s MO exposure. Low MO exposure refers to a high amount of planning and precautionary acts before doing and after the crime. High MO exposure refers to the lack of panning and precautionary acts before, during and after the crime.

Victimology is a very important part of criminal profiling of it is done correctly and without bias. It can also aid the investigator by narrowing the suspect pool. Victimology holds a great deal of insight on how the criminal mind works. By understanding the victim we can better understand the criminal.

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Wes Stephenson
Chapter 12 Victimology-Exposure Analysis

There are several different ways for criminal profilers analyze the victim-offender relationship in terms of exposure. They do this by examining the victim’s lifestyle exposure and situational exposure. When examining a matter of perspective because not only do you have to consider the victim exposure but you must also look at the offender exposure. They both must be used when profilers are doing any type of analysis.
There are four categories that the book suggests should be used when analyzing the exposure level and they are low exposure victim, medium exposure victim, and high exposure victim and also lifestyle exposure. In the low exposure the victim’s personal, professional and social life does not normally expose him or her to a possibility of suffering harm or loss. In medium exposure the victim’s personal, professional and social life can expose him or her to a possibility of suffering harm or loss. And in high exposure the victim’s personal, professional and social life does not continuously expose him or her to the danger of suffering harm or loss.
When you start to look at lifestyle exposure you need to take into account the amount of exposure to harmful elements that have been experience because of their unusual environment and personal traits. There are several key personality traits that can increase the victim’s lifestyle exposure: Aggressiveness, hyperactivity, depression and low self esteem. These should only be used in context with the victim’s age, criminal history, occupation mental health history and any other history of being a victim of a crime.
The next exposure that is used is the victim situational exposure and that is the amount of exposure to harmful elements experienced by the victim resulting from the environment and personal traits at the time of victimization. There are several factors that can help contribute to this and they are: the victim’s state of mind, the time and location of occurrence, the number of victims and what type if any drugs and alcohol use.
Now with these steps established you can get a long ways with the profile but you must use some general guidelines to help with gathering information and ideally should be received before an investigator arrives at a crime scene are: Did the victim know the perp., does the victim suspect anybody, does the victim have a weapon, do they have an aggressiveness personality and have they been subject to any kind of police reports. Those are some things that can help with establishing what actually happened and might have been the cause of this.
The last thing that is very important is having the victim retrace the last 24 hour up until the crime happened to them. By doing so the profiler can better understand the victim as a person, understand their relationship to the environment and how they were chosen by the offender. They do this so they can familiarize the victim with their last know activities.

References:
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Victimology
Criminal Profiling Fourth Edition

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By Tracy Earl
Victimology is the process of investigating, establishing and evaluating victim’s traits and history: learning everything there is to know about victims, who they were, where and how they spent there time and how they lived there life.

Victimology is important in the overall investigative process because it not only tells us who the victims were, their health and personal history, social habits and personality, but also provides ideas as to why they were chosen as victims. In many situations, the offender will hold back from choosing a victim until one that meets his needs comes along, possibly allowing him to fulfill some fantasy or desire he has. Because of this, the way the victim is chosen is important and gives an insight into how the offender thinks, which subsequently affects how the perpetrator acts. If we are able to determine how the offender is acting now, we may be better able to determine his future behavior, possibly leading to a successful arrest. If we know the victims personality then we may be able to determine, by the crime scene how they were approached.

Potential crime scene characteristics that must be established or that are consider include, method of approach, method of attack, method of control, location type, nature and sequence of sexual acts, materials used, any verbal activity, and precautionary acts, along with much more. Victimology is the first and foremost an investigative direction.

The goals of forensic victim logy include, help establish the context of the victim- offender relationship, determine where the specific dangers were coming from in the victim’s life, determine where the specific personal and environmental dangers were coming from at the times of the victim’s demise, define the suspect pool and Narrow the suspect pool. If we could determine why and how the offender picked his victims, we would be able to direct a link to compare the relationship between the offender and the victim. The links maybe work related, schedule oriented, school related. Hobby related, or they could be otherwise connected. Finding out how they are related then we would be able to determine who has access to the related areas. Victimology is getting to know the person as a real person.

Most people live double lives but some may live private life’s that are shared with family and friends. There Is also the sexual life, where victims lives as a function of his or her sexual relations. There is something called the Victim exposure, it’s the amount of exposure to harmful elements experienced by the victim. It can determine if the victim is exposed, therefore the offender would also be exposed. Some of the traits that will increase victims lifestyle exposure would include, aggressiveness, anger, hyperactivity, anxiety, low self esteem, emotional withdrawal,, need for attention or sympathy or history of suicide threats or attempt.

Victim Lifestyle Risk helps place the incident in context and begin in establishing victim faculties and perceptions of reality. Another thing that is very important is the victim’s state of mind before and attack. A distressed or agitated state of mind, might up the rates of victim incident exposure. The time of exposure can affect elements such as available light for certain activities and the amount of people present in public environments.

Location of occurrence can contain more criminal activities. Others may place a victim out of the immediate reach of assistance, and others may isolate a victim. Number of victims there is a safety in numbers. Those who engage in activities with other are less likely to come across harm.

Drug and Alcohol use decreases the reaction time and impair ones judgment. Either way situational exposure is increased dramatically, even for low- exposure victims.

If you look at each victim individually and in a precise manner, you are more than likely to come across the information you need in a crime.
http://criminaljusticeonlineblog.com/archives/victimology-criminal-justice-course/

False Reports

False Reports

By: Brianna, Skyler, Tonya

Throughout history there have been false reports reported. Most of the false reports have been based off of sexual assaults. According to Dietz and Hazelwood when studying false reports there are 20 characteristics that appear. Some of those characteristics include: The story tends to be bizarre or sensational, the victim sometimes seriously, or simulate injury for the purpose of gaining support, the victim doesn’t initially report the incident to the police, a stranger is accused, the expected laboratory findings are absent, the victim is uncooperative with the investigations, there is a history with making false allegations, and there is a history of extensive medical care.

Investigative Suggestions

A frame-by-frame analysis:
When interviewing alleged victims of sexual assault it is the most vital part of a sex crime investigators effort to establish the facts of the case. One of the biggest faults in most sexual investigators is that they tend to accept the victims statement without question or suspicion. The reasons why the investigators tend to do this is because they are afraid of disturbing the victim and making the victims advocate look at the investigator as incorrect, or lack of knowledge about the investigation of potential false reports. When a false report is reported the investigator will go to great lengths to explain why factual inconsistencies exists. Every victims statement should be well reviewed regardless of the consequences.

False Report Interview Strategy:
False reporters often report their allegations to the police in the same manner as the victim would. When interviewing the victims investigators should confront the alleged victim with any contradictions between the statement and the physical evidence arrive. Any contradiction needs to be explained by the victim and never by the investigator. When an explanation is made by the victim and the victim is upset while making the statement the explanation should not be excepted. If the interviewer ever suspects faultiness during the interview the investigator should leave the room for a few minutes allowing the victim to think about the statement given. After the interviewer returns many victims will be found crying and the confession will be near. Even through the confession may take awhile the interviewer should remain neutral and calm to the situation.

Motivations for False Reports

Revenge:
“This includes situations where the reporter is angry at the accused and expresses that anger as a false report. Typically, a prior relationship with the accused is involved. It often occurs in child custody cases and in subordinate relationships”.

Need for Attention:
“This category may include those who are said to be “crying out for help” as well as those with some degree of personality disorder or mental illness. It can include those who want attention from friends, relatives, spouses, or even with the attention of the media”.

Medical Treatment
“Often this motivation is in play when the reporter makes a false complaint to obtain drugs or treatment related to pregnancy, AIDS, or sexually transmitted diseases. Can also be associated with malingering, when an individual exaggerates, fabricates, or stages an injury or illness for personal or financial gain”.

Profit:
Many victims will file a false report to obtain a lawsuit as well as the desire for new and better housing.

Failure of Customer to Pay/Adequately Compensate a Sex worker:
“These cases involve prostitute or other sex/erotic-related workers with such escorts, strippers, or dancers. They may not have received payment from, or may have been somehow wronged by, their customer”.

Explanation for Pregnancy or Sexually Transmitted Disease:
“An unwanted or unexpected pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease may be explained by claiming rape”.

Alibi for Inappropriate Absence:
Sometimes false reporters will become desperate for an alibi and will claim a rape has occurred when it hasn’t.

New Housing:
“A desire for new housing will often motivate individuals to falsely report a rape to authorities. This is especially common in areas where the government offers rent-controlled housing. There are long waiting lists to get into the most desirable housing projects. Some residents believe that a way to jump to the front of this list to claim that a rap or other attack occurred inside the individuals current apartment”.

Child Custody:
“Child custody battles are among the most heated and divisive legal disputes that can occur. When character and parental fitness are the issue, be ready for the accusations to fly”.

Attempt to Veil a Reoccurrence of Drug or Alcohol Use:
Some false reports are made to cover up a drug or alcohol relapse.

Change of Heart after a Consensual Sexual Encounter:
“This is common in dating situations in which one of the parties of a consensual sexual encounter later feels guilty, angry, or vexed. To conceal or explain this behavior to themselves or to others and to parental figures, these parties falsely claim that they were raped. Less commonly this situation involves adults who are trying to explain evidence of sexual behavior to a boyfriend or spouse”.
Works Cited
Turvey, Brent. Criminal Profiling An Introduction To Behavioral Evidence Analysis. China: Elservier, 2008
Google Images

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false reports by Elisabeth Jacobs

False reports or false allegations refer to any untruthful statement, accusation or complaint to authorities, and have been a problem in the criminal justice system both in the past as at present. A well-known example was the falsely accusing of witchcraft during the medieval Inquisition. Nowadays, even cases that are highly in the spotlight can turn out to be false reports. For example, Bethany Storro, who claimed to be a victim of an unprovoked acid attack, while actually she had smeared drain cleaner on her face in a suicide attempt.
Many criminal statutes address this problem, and they may be counted as misdemeanors or felonies. Besides false reporting, you also have obstruction of justice, false swearing, and perjury. False reports are a crime, even if they are reported indirectly by a third party. There is a zero tolerance policy established whereby a convicted false reporter may be fined, may be required to perform community service, and may even serve jail time. Furthermore they may also be remanded for mental health evidence and treatment. The precise number of false reports are not known but they are common enough to have become a very real problem in many jurisdictions. Every report that is made must be considered as a possibility that it is false.

There are different motivations to report a false report. Human behavior is multi-determined, and therefore multiple motives may apply to the actions of a single false reporter.
• Profit: involves financial or material gain
• Anger and revenge: involve instrumental or expressive retaliation for real or perceived wrongs; often in response to poor evaluation, social rejection, or spurned sexual advances
• Crime concealment: to hide evidence of actual criminal activity, or at least to misdirect law enforcement investigators in their efforts; another form involves a preemptive allegation or counter-allegation when a criminal investigation or criminal charges seem imminent
• Concealment of illicit activities: individuals report being the victim of a crime in order to conceal forbidden activities
• Mitigation of responsibility: involves a desire to explain or to detect scrutiny from personal failings and obvious irresponsibility; may also indicate a mental defect of some kind; this false reports are not routinely made directly to the police, but through a third party, and can be the beginning of a snowball effect that results in a wrongful arrest or even a conviction
• Mental defect - a contributing motivational factor: some false reporters suffer from personal and emotional problems, or chemical imbalance, that manifest as mental health issues; including firstly a specific personality disorder or mental illness, and secondly a cry for help or those who want attention from friends, family and intimate partners, or the media

Any crime can be falsely reported when sufficient motivations are present. There are different types of false report: false report of murder, false report of kidnapping, false report of rape and sexual assault, false report of child abuse and neglect, false report of hate crimes, false report of robbery, false reports for Insurance Fraud, false 911 calls. These are only a few examples.

False reports can be easy to miss, that’s why law enforcement has to do a thorough victimology and a thoughtful reconstruction. False reporters span all crimes, ages, and walks of life, and they are capable of both staging injuries and evidence to support their claim. Every criminal complaint must be given the same time, thorough investigation, and forensic attention. But the investigation of false reports take a lot of time for the criminal investigators what gives them less time for the investigation of crimes with actual victims. That’s why the law provides punishments for reporting a false allegation.

References:
Turvey, Brent E. Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis, Fourth Edition, Academic Press, 2012, pages 235-249
http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/documents/FalseReporting.pdf

Psychological Autopsy

Psychological Autopsy (PA)

By: Trey, Holly

The psychological autopsy (PA) is an extensive reviewing of the psychological aspects of a victims life to reconstruct the mental state at the time of death. Psychological autopsy should not be performed by anyone with a connection to the victim or to the case itself. These “autopsies” are normally done by mental health professional, who review all information present about an individual and their death. This may include reading journals, going though personal records and interviewing friends and family (Turvey).

Psychological autopsies are classified in two groups: The suicide psychological autopsy and the equivocal death psychological autopsy. The suicide psychological autopsy is conducted when the death is undoubtedly a suicide and is used to understand what psychological factors lead up to the suicide. The equivocal death psychological autopsy is conducted when the manner to death is not completely clear and this is used as an attempt to provide new information to help further the investigation (Turvey).

Psychological autopsies are not performed in the even of every death. They are usually requested by an outside consumer. Insurance companies some time have psychological autopsies performed to settle cases in which the manner of death is undertermined. The United States Military always has an equivocal death and psychological autopsy perform when there is an undermined death on base property or of military personnel. And of course courts and law enforcement request psychological autopsies to help obtain further information about a particular case (Turvey.)

Although there is no actual validation to the usefulness of the psychological autopsy it provides a valuable service to consumers as insight of the mental state of the deceased. It also provides information for the epidemiological homicide and victimology database. (Turvey)

Explosives: Behavioral Aspects

Explosives: Behavioral Aspects

By: Betsy Liebau, Lindsay Frahm, and Becca Theimer

• Introduction:
The use of fire and explosives is an extension of an offender’s will to use force. Fire and explosives are agents of an offender’s will. They injure or damage intended targets and victims and leave behind visible, recognizable patterns that can be interpreted by the nature and the extent of the resulting human damage, structural damage, and environmental damage (Turvey).
The term arson is a penal classification. Like the terms rape and homicide, it is used to refer to a certain constellation of criminal behavior. The type of behavior generally described the term arson is the intentional setting of a fire with the intent to damage or defraud (Turvey).

An accelerant is any fuel (solid, liquid, gas) that is used to initiate or increase the intensity or speed of the spread of fire. Once it has been established that an accelerant was used, it must further be determined whether or not the accelerant is native or foreign to the environment. The type of accelerant that the offender utilizes is dictated by experience, availability, motive, and intent (DeHaan, 1997, p. 415).

Some common accelerants include the following:
Gasoline Newspaper
Kerosene Accumulated Trash
Lighter Fluid Rags
Potable Liquors Clothing

The point of origin is a term used to refer to the specific location at which a fire is ignited or the specific location where a device is placed and subsequently detonated. Do not discount the possibility of multiple points of origin until all of the facts of the case are in. The point of origin is highly suggestive of the offender’s intended target and intended victim (Turvey).

• Method of Initiation
The way that an offender chooses to start, or delay, the burning of an accelerant or the detonation of a device depends on the types of fuels or explosives used, the amount of delay time that is desired, and the mobility of the target. Methods of initiation for fires, include but are not limited to the following (DeHaan (1997):
1. Open Flames (matches, lighters, and so on)
2. Fuses (any length of readily combustible material)
3. Smoldering materials
4. Cigarettes
5. Electrical arcs
6. Glowing wires
7. Chemical Reaction (commercial or improvised)
8. Black powder and flash powder

• Nature and Intent
When considering the nature and intent of any fire or explosive used by an offender, it is helpful to determine intentional versus actual damage. This means learning as much about the environmental structure and fuels in the point of origin as possible. This should be compared with the amount of accelerant or explosive used and the amount of damage incurred by the target. The more fuels or explosives the offender uses, the more damage the person intended to inflict on the target (Turvey).
Another important element to bear in mind when considering the nature and intent of any fire or explosive used by an offender is the targeting. By that it means to ask about the evidence regarding devices, initiation, and origin just what the fire or explosive was intended to inflict damage upon (Turvey).

• Motivational Aspects
Six major reasons to have proven to be helpful in identifying offender characteristics:
Revenge Profit
Excitement Crime concealment
Vandalism Extremism

• Precautionary-Oriented Fire Setting or Explosive Use
Precautionary-oriented fire setting or explosives use refers to the use of fire or explosives as a precautionary act- that is, when they are used to conceal, damage, or destroy any items or evidentiary value. This includes the partial or complete immolation of a crime scene or the victim (Turvey)

1. Conceal, Damage, or Destroy the Crime Scene
2. Setting a fire in an apartment after robbing it
3. Burning a shed to destroy blood evidence left behind from an abduction-homicide
4. Blowing up a residence with the victim inside, using the gas main, to conceal homicide

• Court Cases
1. Carolina v. Joseph Kelsey (1998)
2. Florida v. Ortiz (200)
3. Michigan v. Rossbach (2004)

References:
Turvey, Brent E. Criminal profiling an introduction to behavioral evidence analysis. Burlington, MA: Elsevier, 2008.
Google Images
http://www.carolinalive.com/uploadedImages/wpde/News/Stories/ARSON%201.0.jpg

Stalking

Content of Tab 14

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Stalking
David Bauer

What is stalking? Stalking refers to the repeated threatening behavior or harassment. There is physical stalking and cyber stalking. Physical stalking is when a person follows another person, appears at a person‘s home or work. Also this could be repeated harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing one’ s property. Cyber stalking is when the internet or other means of electronics are used to harass another. This could be over Facebook, Twitter, and other sites that allow over internet communication. In some cases physical harm is done but that is not the only harm that can be done. Psychological damage can be caused by both physical and cyber stalking. Both of the types of stalking can lead to assault or in extreme cases murder. Nearly 75% of people that are victims of stalking know their stalking in some way before the stalking began. The primary groups of victims are young adults, most under the age of 35. Women are more likely to be victims of stalking than men are. More cases of stalking are reported to the police by women than men. Around 30% of stalkers are former lovers, current or former spouses, or a previous date. People that are divorced or separated are more likely to be victims of stalking. In some rare cases stalkers may commit identity theft on their victims. This includes opening or closing accounts, taking money from accounts, or charging purchases to the victim’s credit cards. The major problem with cyber stalking is that a lot of the time the victim does not know their victim which makes it hard to catch or prosecute the stalker. A ton of people use the internet to pay bills, make friends, date, work, and find jobs. So if a cyber stalker is good with the internet they can created a lot of problems for their victims. In many cases the victim may be sent threats from multiple accounts so it’s hard to track the stalker. Also a victim can have accounts hacked and passwords changed. Cyber stalkers can also create fake social networking accounts to try and contact the victim. Stalkers also can post personal information on group discussion boards resulting in unwanted attention for the victim. The hard part about cyber stalkers is that they are hard to trace because the a lot of the time use false identity to get contact with the victim. Also they do not use the same e-mail or account so you cannot get a lock on them.

http://www.aware.org/stalking/stalkgeninfo.shtml

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Wes Stephenson
Chapter 16 Stalking

Stalking is a crime characterized by a persistent and repeated pattern of pursuit and harassment and can be categorized as a serial crime because in order to for it to be considered stalking it must occur more than once. You can classify stalking as the act of loitering near or harassing another person.
You can identify stalking by three common elements which are a pattern of conduct, implicit or explicit threats and reasonable fear. Depending on where you live and what happens, people can expect these elements to appear in whole or in bits and pieces. One of the crazy things about stalking is that what we know it as today was actually accepted in earlier history. Back then they looked at it typical and acceptable and that the so called stalkers were just on a mission to prove their love to that person. But even though back then it was alright the times have changed and now it is culturally unacceptable and can and will be punished by law.
One issue with identifying stalking is that it can be overused and in many cases some innocuous behavior can be mistaken for stalking. An example for this happening is what if you send a card to lady you like to show your affection. But when she receives the card, it causes her emotional distress and she reports the act as harassment. She then has taken something that was only meant to be harmless as something that in some states could be seen as stalking and lead to prosecution.
What most people think stalking is is not necessarily always right. Most people confuse stalking as a sexual assault but that could not be more further from the truth. In an individual case stalking does not constitute physical contact with the victim but rather aims towards the psychological torment such as threats or implied harm. But when trying to build a case against a stalker is hard because how do you prove loss of sleep or social withdrawal? It is tough and can present its own challenges and in most cases never works out because the victim cannot show that.
Even though it might be hard to prove emotional harm is not impossible. There are many way to investigate stalking and it starts with the discovery, collection, preparation, identification and presentation of evidence to determine what happened and who is responsible. In some cases this will be extremely easy to determine and prove and in others will be extremely difficult. If the victim and offender know each other or have mutual acquaintances, it will easier to establish a possible motive and a successful way to resolve the issue. If it is someone they have never met or seen then it will be more difficult to establish those issues and could possible become a more serious problem. Even though some might considered it a lesser offense, investigators will still use the usual methods to obtain evidence and to determine whether or not they have enough to build a case or just let things calm down.
Once there is enough evidence and information gathered against the offender then the investigator needs to determine what threat the offender is to the victim. The investigator does this by a systematic process of examining both the offender and the victim behavior with the hopes of reducing or ceasing the intrusion. With this in place there will be a good chance that everything will stop and go back to normal for the victim but does not always work that way.

References:
Criminal Profiling Fourth Edition
Http://annique-daniel.suite101.com/profiling-the-stalker-a286366

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by
Matt Edwards

1. What Is Stalking?
Stalking refers to harassing or threatening behavior that is engaged in repeatedly. Such harassment can be either physical stalking or cyberstalking.
• Physical stalking is following someone, appearing at a person’s home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing one’s property.
• Cyberstalking involves using the Internet or other electronic means to harass. A January 2009 U.S. Department of Justice report found that 23% of stalking victims suffered some form of cyberstalking, and 6% suffered electronic monitoring such as spyware, bugging or video surveillance. (Bureau of Stalking Statistics, Stalking Victimization in the United States)
Either type of action may or may not be accompanied by a credible threat of serious harm. But both types can cause psychological damage, and each can potentially lead to an assault or even murder.

All states have anti-stalking laws, but the legal definitions vary. Some state laws require that the perpetrator, to qualify as a stalker, make a credible threat of violence against the victim. Others require only that the stalker’s conduct constitute an implied threat. The National Institute of Justice's Model Anti-Stalking Code doesn’t require stalkers to make a credible threat, but it does require victims to feel a high level of fear.
2. Who Is Affected?
In January 2009, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released a Special Report based on a supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. 65,270 individuals participated in the 2006 Supplemental Victims Survey (SVS), from which the statistics below were derived.
SVS found that, within a 12-month period, approximately 3.4 million U.S. adults were victims of stalking. Of these victims:
• 11% of victims were stalked for 5 years or more
• Approximately 25% experienced some form of cyberstalking such as email or instant messaging
• 66.2% of stalking victims experienced unwanted phone calls or messages
• Nearly 75% of stalking victims knew their stalkers in some way
During the 12-month survey period, 14 of every 1,000 adults were victims of stalking.
Young adults are the primary targets of stalking; most victims are less than 35 years old. Women are more likely to be the victims of stalking, though stalking incidents are reported to the police by men as often as by women.
Most victims know their stalker. Slightly more than 30% of stalking offenders are a known, intimate partner - a current or former spouse, a co-habiting partner, or a date. Approximately 45% of stalking offenders are acquaintances other than intimate partners. Just under 10% of all stalkers are strangers. In approximately 15% of stalking cases, the victim does not know the identity of the stalker and thus cannot report whether he or she might be an intimate partner, acquaintance or stranger.
Individuals who are divorced or separated are at the greatest risk (3.4%) for stalking.
Financial toll. A stalking victim may need to take time from work to change a phone number, move, replace damaged property, obtain a restraining order or testify in court. Of the 79% of stalking victims who were employed during the 12 months preceding the SVC interview, 1 in 8 lost time from work. 130,000 victims reported that they had been fired from or had been asked to leave their jobs because of stalking.
About 16% of victims reported property damage in conjunction with stalking.
Stalkers may also commit identity theft against victims – including opening or closing accounts, taking money from accounts, or charging purchases to a victim’s credit card. Learn more about preventing identity theft by reading PRC Fact Sheet 17: Coping with Identity Theft.
3. Cyberstalking
In recent years stalkers have seized on the anonymity of the Internet to commit their crimes. This has added a new dimension because many victims of cyberstalking don’t know the identity of the stalkers. That can make the fear more palpable and prosecution more unlikely.

It is difficult to define cyberstalking because it can appear in so many forms. As technology evolves, so does the practice of cyberstalking. A web-savvy stalker can wreak havoc on the online life of a victim. This can be incredibly damaging, particularly as more people use the Internet to pay bills, make friends, date, work, share ideas and find jobs.
Some examples of tactics a cyberstalker may use include:
• Sending manipulative, threatening, lewd or harassing emails from an assortment of email accounts.
• Hacking into a victim’s online accounts (such as banking or email) and changing the victim’s settings and passwords.
• Creating false online accounts on social networking and dating sites, impersonating the victim or attempting to establish contact with the victim by using a false persona.
• Posting messages to online bulletin boards and discussion groups with the victim’s personal information, such as home address, phone number or Social Security number. Posts may also be lewd or controversial – and result in the victim receiving numerous emails, calls or visits from people who read the post online.
• Signing up for numerous online mailing lists and services using a victim’s name and email address.
Cyberstalking is difficult to combat because the stalker could be in another state or sitting three cubicles away from the victim. In the anonymous world of the Internet, it is difficult to verify a stalker’s identity, collect the necessary evidence for an arrest and then trace the cyberstalker to a physical location.
For a list of state cyberstalking laws, see the National Conference of State Legislature’s State Electronic Harassment or "Cyberstalking" Laws .
If you are a victim of cyberstalking, try to gather as much physical evidence as possible and document each contact. For more information and tips, visit the National Center for Victims of Crimes webpage: If You Are a Victim of Cyberstalking. You may also call the National Center for Victims of Crimes hotline at 1-800-FYI-CALL or email them at gro.cvcn|plehteg#gro.cvcn|plehteg.
The fact that cyberstalking doesn’t involve physical contact doesn’t mean it is any less dangerous than “real life” stalking. It’s not difficult for an experienced Internet user to find enough of the victim’s personal information, such as phone number or place of business, to establish his or her physical location.
Social networking, through websites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Meetup and LinkedIn, present security issues for victims of stalking. A profile on a social network might include information such as your email address, phone number, general (or even specific) address information, birthday, legal name, names of family members, and even minute-to-minute updates on your location. (Read Stalking Resource Center's Social Networking Sites: A Bonanza for Stalkers?)
If a victim has a public profile, a stalker could easily access any information posted to the social networking account. Even with strong privacy settings or a private profile, a stalker might be able to access your account. A few of the ways this can be accomplished include:
1. Hacking your account
2. Creating a false profile and sending a "friend request" or "follow request." The request may even appear to be from a known friend or family member. Verify with your friends and family members that they own the account before accepting the request.
3. Gaining access to the accounts of your already-established connections (such as Facebook friends or Twitter followers).
If you are a victim of stalking, consider suspending your social networking accounts until the stalking has been resolved. If you decide to continue to use social networking sites, here are a few tips to help keep you safe:
• Set your profile to "Private." With some social networking sites, this might entail just checking a box. With others, such as Facebook, this can be a complex, multi-step process. Read Ars Technica's Updated Guide to Facebook Privacy for a step-by-step guide to heightening security on your Facebook profile.
• Limit how much personal information you post to your account. For example, you may not want to include contact information, your birth date, the city you were born in or names of family members.
• Do not accept "friend requests" (or "follow requests") from strangers. If you recognize the individual sending the request, contact him or her off-line to verify he or she sent the request.
• Warn your friends and acquaintances not to post personal information about you, especially your contact information and location.
• Avoid online polls or quizzes, particularly those that ask for personal information.
• Don't post photographs of your home that might indicate its location. For example, don't post photographs showing a house number or an identifying landmark in the background.
• Use caution when joining online organizations, groups or "fan pages." Never publicly RSVP to events shown online.
• Use caution when connecting your cell phone to your social networking account. If you do decide to connect your cell phone to your online account, use extreme caution in providing live updates on your location or activities.
• Avoid posting information about your current or future locations, or providing information a stalker may later use to hone in on your location, such as a review of a restaurant near your house.
• Always use a strong, unique password for every social networking site. Read our 10 Rules for Creating a Hacker-Resistant Password.

• Final tip: remember, you most likely will not know if your stalker has accessed your online social networking account. Only post information that would not expose you to harm if your stalker should read it.
The reality is that both cyberstalking and physical stalking can lead to a physical attack. Always get help quickly, document all stalking incidents and take precautions to protect yourself.
Copyright © 1994-2010
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse / UCAN
Posted June 1994
Revised October 2010

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Domestic Homicide

Domestic Homicide

Tonya, Brianna, Skyler

Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, or intimate partner violence) occurs when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate another. Domestic violence often refers to violence between spouses, or spousal abuse but can also include cohabitants and non-married intimate partners. Domestic violence occurs in all cultures; people of all races, ethnicities, religions, sexes and classes can be perpetrators of domestic violence. Domestic violence is perpetrated by both men and women.

Domestic violence has many forms, including physical violence, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, intimidation, economic deprivation, and threats of violence. Violence can be criminal and includes physical assault (hitting, pushing, shoving, etc.), sexual abuse (unwanted or forced sexual activity), and stalking. Although emotional, psychological and financial abuse are not criminal behaviors, they are forms of abuse and can lead to criminal violence. There are a number of dimensions including:
• Mode: physical, psychological, sexual and/or social.
• Frequency: on/off, occasional and chronic.
• Severity: in terms of both psychological or physical harm and the need for treatment.
• Transitory or permanent injury: mild, moderate, severe and up to homicide.

An important component of domestic violence, often ignored is the realm of passive abuse, leading to violence. Passive abuse is covert, subtle and veiled. This includes victimization, procrastination, forgetfulness, ambiguity, neglect, spiritual and intellectual abuse.

Recent attention to domestic violence began in the women's movement, particularly feminism and women's rights, in the 1970s, as concern about wives being beaten by their husbands gained attention. Awareness and documentation of domestic violence differs from country to country. Estimates are that only about a third of cases of domestic violence are actually reported in the United States and the United Kingdom. According to the Centers for Disease Control, domestic violence is a serious, preventable public health problem affecting more than 32 million Americans, or more than 10% of the U.S. population.

Popular emphasis has tended to be on women as the victims of domestic violence. However, with the rise of the men's movement, and particularly masculism and men's rights, there is now advocacy for men victimized by women. In a special report on violence related injuries by the US Department of justice (in August 1997) hospital emergency room visits pertaining to domestic violence indicated that physically abused men represent just under one-sixth of the total patients admitted to hospital reporting domestic violence as the cause of their injuries (see table 7 of this report). The report highlights that significantly more men than women did not disclose the identity of their attacker.

Mass Homicide

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Mass Homicide
David Bauer

Mass homicide has different forms. They range from genocide to school shootings. There is a general protocol that people who commit theses crimes usually follow. There are always exceptions. There are five different types of mass killer: power-oriented, revenge-oriented, loyalty-oriented, profit-oriented, and terror-oriented. The power-oriented mass killers are driven by a thirst for power and control. They want to adrenaline rush of thinking they are powerful and in control of a situation. Revenge-oriented mass killers are driven by revenge. They either want revenge on society as a whole or a group or individual. The loyalty-oriented are driven by a sense of loyalty and love. They may have the desire to save a person or a family from perceived hard times. Profit-oriented mass killers are often used to eliminate witnesses, and crimes of other victims. They are paid for their murders, i.e. hit men. The last and most dangerous are the terror-oriented mass killers. They want to send a message to someone by killing a person or group of people. Usually they have more than one location they hit when committing the crime, or simultaneous actions. Over the years there are cases for all of these categories. The 9/11 attacks are a terror-oriented mass homicide. The Columbine shooting was a revenge-oriented attack because the kids wanted revenge on student who had made fun of them. Although they don’t happen very often you can usually tell right away which group these mass murderers fall into.

http://www.mayhem.net/Crime/murder.html

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Mass Homicide
By: Candy Bryant

“And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain” Deuteronomy 2;34.¹

Mass Homicide is present in many forms, from genocide to high school shootings. Though there really is not any single profile to be made that states the qualities or characteristics of a mass murderer, there is a general set of protocols followed by these personages who carry out such violence in the masses. The following come in abbreviated form from Tuvey’s Criminal Profiling text2 as a list of questions and/or tasks to be answered and accomplished while building a suspect profile, by a behavior analyst.

1. 1.) What weapon(s) was used to commit the crime? How much damage was inflicted, ammunition used, and what was the weapon’s functionality?
2. 2.) How much prior knowledge, skill, ability planning, and access was required to effectively use the weapon(s) at the crime scene in the current case?
3. 3.) Who were the actual target and/or victims? Were there any collateral victims? Were the primary and secondary targets the first to die?
4. 4.) Conduct a thorough victimology of all primary and secondary victims.
5. 5.) Conduct a damage assessment: determine the actual vs. the intended damage, the actual skill involved given the method of killing.
6. 6.) Look for messages sent of left by the offender in the 24 hours prior to the crime. These can be in a number of formats from voicemail, email, social network, video diary, to written letters. All means of communication should be considered.
7. 7.) Assess the crime scene for possible motives for the offense.

Media’s Role

Thanks to technology and the relative ease of which both the victims and the criminal tend to communicate with various forms of media during all aspects of the crime. This can be from the initial planning stages, the commission of, and the aftermath. Given that especially in the US real time coverage of such events compounds the gratification that the murder may or may not get from the notoriety that allows them to prolong the event therefore causing more suffering to family and loved ones of the victims.

Myths

Many myths occur when the general public think of mass murders. Turvey outlines three of which will be chronicled here.
First, mass murders are not a uniquely an American problem. This is evident by the fairly recent events in Norway, as well as the various historical instances of genocide.
Second, mass murders are not always the downtrodden, machine gun wielding psychopaths. In fact most mass murders are so preplanned in great detail that the perpetrator is often employed and rooted in some sort of deep belief system that only the detachment from reality calumniates in the reasoning for the murders.
And thirdly, mass murders do not just happen in a particular type of place. As shown by the Oklahoma City bombings and the World Trade Center incident, although public places are more commonly sensationalized, even the high school at Columbine Colorado is a possible target.

Mass Killer Types

Though there is no nomothetic profile for mass murderers, it is important to mention the typology as a way of classifying systematically groups of offenders. Fox and Levin3 suggest that there are five categories of motivation in which to typologically classify mass murderers.
Power-oriented
These individuals are said to be driven by a thirst for power and control.
Revenge-oriented
These individuals possibly are motivated by revenge against either the society as a whole, or possibly an individual or group.
Loyalty-oriented
These persons are driven by a sense of loyalty and love, such as a desire to save family or friends from perceived hardships.
Profit-oriented
Often used to eliminate witnesses, and victims of other crimes, these murderers are paid for their efforts.
Terror-oriented
These mass killers try to send a message through murder to a group or person through terroristic actions and multiple deaths, normally with more than one location, or simultaneous action.

Though mass murderers are hard to unilaterally identify via nomothetic profiling methods, they none they are less identifiably once they begin to reach out during the planning stages. The problem is always do you know that the person you just sold diesel to is going to blow up a building?

Sources Used
¹The Holy Bible, King James Version, Deuteronomy, Chapter 2 verse 34
71 graves from the massacre in Tuzla on May 25, 1995 [Online Image] Available at: http://www.sjodalsgymnasiet.com/foto/2005%20Resa%20till%20Bosnien/images/71%20graves%20from%20the%20massacre%20in%20Tuzla%20on%20May%2025%2C%201995.jpg, 2005-05-26 Mike Bierbrier
²Turvey, Brent E. Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis, Fourth Edition, Academic Press, 2012, pages 522-531
³Fox, J.A., Levin, J., 1998. Multiple Homicide: Patterns of Serial and Mass Murder. Crime and Justice 23, 407-455.

Terrorism

By: Tonya Rudzik, Brianna Elliot, and Skyler Weishaar

Introduction to Terrorism

Understanding and Interviewing Terrorists. Profiling is often the means to detention, prosecution, and/or deportation. On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were effectively coordinated against United States civilian and government targets along the East Coast. The terrorists consisted of 19 men affiliated with the Islamic extremist group Al Qaeda. They hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing two of the jumbo jets into the World Trade Center towers and one into the Pentagon. The fourth airliner was initially hijacked, but then passengers and crew attempted to regain control when they found out what the terrorists were planning to do. The terrorists had intended to fly the airliner into the White House. Ultimately, they crashed the airliner in a field near the town of Shanksville in rural Somerset County in Pennsylvania.

Part I: Nomothetic Terrorist Profiles: Oversimplified, Uninformed, and Unadaptive
First, nomothetic terrorist profiling models are too often based on oversimplified and uninformed prejudices, not actual insight into criminal behavior itself. In fact, we know all to well, which is why racial profiling was on track to be eradicated in the United States only a decade ago. That is, until the events of September 11, 2001. As a result of the 9/11 attack, public attitudes toward racially profiling terrorists softened as the sense of urgency regarding future terrorist attacks increased.

Part II: Interviewing Terrorists: Suggestions for investigative Interviews
This section covers three main areas: a brief look at terrorism research, the profiling of terrorists, and how to conduct interviews with terrorists.

Terrorism Research: A brief background: First, there doesn’t appear to be a consensus among experts on the definition of terrorism. Its noted that there are more than one hundred definitions of terrorism that have appeared in professional literature. Second during a five year period from 1995-1999, it was observed that an overwhelming number of articles were “thought pieces” based on open-source documents. Only 20% of those articles provided substantially new knowledge and understanding. Third, many terrorism experts have never actually spoken to a terrorist or are reluctant to reveal who their sources are or at least vaguely where they are from.

Profiling Terrorists: An Impossible Task: The early behavioral research conceptualized terrorism as psychological and behavioral deviance. The psychopathology of terrorism was believed to be driven by unconscious motives and impulses that had their origins in childhood. With greater understanding, the general consensus among modern experts is that there is no compelling reason to believe that terrorists are psychologically abnormal, insane, or of a unique psychological profile. As a consequence of their sanity, normalcy, and diversity, it is challenging to determine an accurate physical or ethnic profile of any terrorist type. This does not mean, however, that an organizational or operational terrorist profile of sorts is not feasible.

Suggested Strategies for Rapport-Based Interviews: Adopt Good Standards for Investigative Interviewing before Commencing: the first piece of advice for all interviewers is to look up, study up on, and seek out training in investigative interviewing techniques.

Torture Does Not Make for a Good Investigation: An interview is not a torture session and torture does not result in a good interview. There is the issue of efficacy. Few experienced professionals will get behind the idea that torture produces good information. There are also unintended consequences of using torture.

A Terrorist May Have Different Needs from a Criminal: While terrorist groups may undertake criminal acts, the needs that drive or create a criminal may be different from the needs of an individual terrorist or terrorist group.

Respect Begets Respect: This is especially true when interviewing certain kinds of religiously inclined terrorists who perceive themselves to be on a higher moral plane than the interviewer and can therefore sometimes appear arrogant or reticent. In such cases, and most others, it is generally ineffective and imprudent to engage in any of the following: Talking down to an interviewee, Being domineering toward an interviewee, Humiliating an interviewee, Yelling or screaming at an interviewee, Engaging in name-calling or heated arguments with an interviewee. This will vary the quality of short term information, but will destroy trust in a longer term.

Interviewer-Interviewee Matching: in instances where the interviewee is a senior or respected figure within the terrorist organization, it may be operationally advantageous to use an investigator who may be physically matched in terms of background, age, and seniority.

Attempt to Understand the Cultural Background of the Interviewee: the interviewer must make every effort to understand the background of the interviewee. This means understanding the things that are culturally important to them.

Understand Some of the Jargon or Language Used by Your Interviewee: While it is not realistic for the interviewer to understand the language that the terrorist uses, it is useful to have some working knowledge, especially when one is trying to make basic conversation.

Talk to the Individual, but Don’t Forget the Group That’s Behind Him: Terrorism is a group phenomenon. This group may be a physical one, but in today’s virtual world it can include virtual communities.

Attempt to Understand the Interviewee’s Ideological Beliefs: To the average police or prisons officer, ideology is gobbledygook. But there is a need for interviewers to appreciate the ideological beliefs of their interviewee’s, whatever the nature of the ideology, be it religious, political, ethnic, or sociological.

Expect Deception and Learn to Be a Better Lie Detector: Finally, interviewers should except a high degree of deception and this is particularly challenging when terrorists can be charming, agreeable, and friendly.

Turvey, Brent. Criminal Profiling An Introduction To Behavioral Evidence Analysis. China: Elservier, 2008
Google Images

Offender Characteristics

Offender Characteristics

Becca Howard and Jessica Barker
Criminal profiling refers to the inference of offender characteristics. The analyst can predict offender characteristics based on statistical models, prior research, or experience; the analyst can use hard physical evidence to make deductions about physical characteristics; or the analyst can use analytical logic, critical thinking, and the scientific method to make deductions about offender relational and psychological characteristics based on an analysis of crime scene behavior.

“With the most faultless logic one can come to the falsest conclusions.
-Theodore Reik, The unknown murderer, 1945, p. 34

Homology Debacle
Two main features of Nomo-inductive (predictive) profiling methods are referred to by investigative psychologists as the behavioral consistency theory (the belief that the same offender will behave in relatively the same way across his or her offenses.) and the homology assumption (the hypothesis that there will be a relationship between offenders’ characteristics and their crime scene behavior). Such methods including criminal investigative analysis and investigative psychology fully embrace and to a large extent depend on these assumptions. While ideo-deductive methods such as BEA do not.

Purpose
The purpose of a criminal profile is to assist in the process of establishing those characteristics of an offender that separate and ultimately distinguish that person from the general population. It is rendered to define or refine the suspect pool in a criminal investigation. By nature, a tool intended for use in assisting the process of criminal identification. However, it is not a tool suited for the task of individuating offenders in its own right.

Criminal profiling and criminal identity
Forensic identification is a general term that refers to the methods used to classify or individuate items of evidence for court purposes. An item is identified when it can be placed e\into a class of items with similar characteristics. However, an item can only be individualized if it has some unique feature or property that distinguishes it from all other items in the universe. Crime investigation thoroughly discusses what is referred to as “the problem of identity.” There he raises valid concerns about expert testimony on the issue, including those related to bias, incompetence, and ignorance, all of which are still relevant to our concerns. Though it is a fundamental forensic concept, forensic and legal practitioners who have not heard of forensic individuation (when an item has some unique features or property that distinguishes it from all other items in the universe.) do not understand it, and subsequently do not apply it in their casework. An advocate of the investigative use of criminal profiling well before its potential was widely recognized by others, understood its limitations when applied to the issue of identity much earlier, was similar thought and argued that an offender’s characteristic method of operation should lead us by reason to investigate particular suspects, stopping short of the suggestion that the observance of characteristic offender methods could be used to individuate that offender without corroborating evidence. There is furthermore a consensus in the recent literature that behavioral evidence and criminal profiling alone should not be used to individualize a particular person in relation to a particular crime or series of crimes. They can be used to suggest the type of person but not to accuse that person.

Offender characteristics

1. The male offender
2. Belt was used because of availability
3. Belt was used because of personal preference
4. Belt was found near scene
5. Offender pulled shirt up over the victim’s hear to increase fear
6. Offender pulled shirt up to obscure identification
7. Offender pulled shirt up to provide access to breasts
8. Offender pulled shirt up to believe the victim was somebody else.

Knowledge of Victim
An offender’s choice may give us insight into the offender’s relationship with the victim. Thes may be characterized as follows:

1. Stanger
2. Relative
3. Significant other
4. Ex-significant other
5. Lover
6. Ex-lover
7. Friend
8. Ex-friend
9. Acquaintance
10. Employee
11. Former employee
12. Coworker
13. Former coworker

Knowledge of crime scene

1. Security schedules
2. Security devices
3. Employee shift changes
4. Location of valuables/safes/objects/apparatus
5. Availability of materials at the scene
6. Complex or unlighted travel routes used at night

(Brent E. Turvey, 2008) (Police Artist, 1987)

Psychopathy & Sadism

Psychopathy and Sadism
By Candy Bryant

Given that authors often have differing opinions upon which they base their definitions of both psychopathy and sadism, it is then necessary to offer up that which will be accepted in this document. For our purposes we will use a combined set of definitions deriving from Brent E. Turvey’s Criminal Profiling text¹ and J. Reid Meloy, PhD’s 1997 Psychiatric Annals submission² as follows:
Psychopathy- A personality disorder evidenced by a distinctive cluster of behaviors and inferred personality traits defined by the Hare Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R) (Hare, 1991)³
Psychopath-A social predator (diagnosed with psychopathy) who often charms and then manipulates his or her way through life. Psychopths are completely lacking in conscience and feelings for others.
Sadism- describes individuals who derive pleasure from the control, domination, and suffering of others.

In criminal profiling, these terms are often used to classify behaviors at a crime scene. One must be careful to note that at times bias in judgment can cause a profiler to over look or make assumptions which lend them to the wrong psychosis. Both psychopathic and sadistic behaviors are used when a seemingly unmotivated crime of destructive nature has occurred. Utilizing such things as listed by Hare in the Psychopathy Checklist3, the profiler can at times tend to look for things such as impulsivity, criminal versatility, and possibly even poor behavioral controls while at the crime scene. The untrained layman might thing that all crimes of horrific nature are done with a psychopathic flare, however true it may see, there are many types of psychosis that lead to the predisposition for violent tendencies.
Although psychopaths do not all have sadistic tendencies, it is often that sadists lean closer to the psychopathic side of the scale. The psychopath tends to act with lack of emotion where as the sadist finds gratification in the act of making others suffer. Both will lean toward violence to accomplish this and often the murdering of the victims is the likely outcome of an episode gone array, this is not always the case with a sadist. A sadist most often will find more gratification knowing he has tertiary victims as the suffering continues especially in the cases of rape or other such assaults that leaves their prey in a state of panic.
It must also be mentioned that the term sadist is often misinterpreted and sensationalized by authors. It makes for a good reading even if the true facts of a crime are more of the psychopathic or antisocial personality disorder criminal. That is not to say that perhaps some of these crimes are not committed by sadists, it simply means that during the act of writing, sensationalizing, and fictionalizing a “true crime” the author wants the reader to think that their offender is a sadist. Turvey¹ states that utilizing “True Crime” novels as a primary source of research as some have done in the past, undermines the credibility of legitimate research due to the issues with reliability and objectivity.

While most of society might consider both the sadist and the psychopath evil, as they do things that those who have feelings, such as compassion, empathy, remorse and guilt would never carry out, it is true that these offenders simply let loose into urges of an uncontrollable nature. Though it is not a true example, but one could think of it as that uncontrollable urge to eat chocolate for a female, or the propensity toward hunting prey during open season, it is all about how one controls themselves during the urges. That is not to say that the woman and her chocolate or even the hunter and his long hours in the tree stand would always give in to their desires, it simply means that the psychopath will at sometime not be able to control that urge and eventually do something or commit several crimes until he is identified and placed within the justice system. However, with a sadist, they might never actually become caught, because they must give in to the urge to dominate or make suffer in a way that their current life does not allow for the gratification to happen.

Sources Used
Sott_6percent_sm. [Online image] Available at http://www.sott.net/image/image/s1/33868/full/sott_6percent_sm.jpg, 27 Mar 2011
¹Turvey, Brent E. Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis, Fourth Edition, Academic Press, 2012, pages 448-479
²Meloy, J. Reid, PhD (September 1997). //The Psycology of Wickedness: Psychopathy and Sadism// “ Psychiatric Annals” 27:9
³Hare, R., 1991. Psychopathy and the DSM-IV Criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 100 (3), 391-398.

Psychopathic & Sadistic Behavior in Scenes

Psychopathy and Sadism

By Brianna, Skyler, and Tonya

Interpreting Psychopathic and Sadistic Behavior in the Crime Scene

Psychopathy:
Over 200 years ago a French physician named Philippe Pinel dealt with a case that had a man in that didn’t fit into the categories of mental disturbance. Philippe described the man using the phrase manie sans delire which means “insanity without delirium”. In today’s time the man would be describe to be a psychopath. According to Brent Turvey a psychopath is an individual capable of enjoying what most would consider horrible, heinous acts and recognizing the harmful consequences of those acts to others, but incapable of feeling remorse and unwilling to stop. People that are considered to be a psychopath according to Philippe aren’t considered to be immoral but amoral which is someone who does not care about conventional interpretations of right or wrong and gives those issues no weigh in decision. While other people consider psychopathic people immoral which is someone whose beliefs are contrary to accepted morality and are evil, which is widely debated over. It is not completely known why people became a psychopath and there is a lot of debate and confusion over it. So many mental health and criminological professions come up with their conclusion on that issue based on the person using subjective measure. Some of the definitions that fall under the subjective measures are:

Psychopathy- “A personality disorder evidenced by a distinctive cluster behaviors and inferred personality traits defined by a Hare’s Revised Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) (Hare, 1991)

Psychopath- “A social predator (diagnosed with psychopathy) who often charms and manipulates his or her way through life. Psychopaths are completely lacking in conscience and in feelings for others; they take what they want and do as they please without the slightest sense of guilt or regret (Hare, 1993). This term is used when psychological, biological, and genetic factors have contributed to the development of the syndrome, as well as social forces and early life experiences.”

Sociopath- “This term is used to describe the same behavior manifestations and inferred personality traits as are evident in a psychopath. The explicit exception is that sociopaths have a syndrome forged entirely by social forces and early experiences (Hare, 1993)”

Psychopathic Characteristics
There are many types of characteristics that define a psychopathic person. According to Hare those characteristics are callous lack of empathy, conning/manipulative, criminal versatility, failure to accept responsibility for actions, glibness/superficial charm, grandiose sense of self-worth, impulsivity, lack of remorse or guilt, poor behavioral controls, early behavioral problems, irresponsibility juvenile delinquency, lack of realistic long-term goals, many short-term marital relationships, need for stimulation/proneness to boredom, pathological lying, parasitic lifestyle, promiscuous sexual behavior, revocation of conditional release, and shallow affect. All of these traits vary in degree of intensity and by having just a few of these characteristics does not define an individual as being psychopathic. You have to combine a lot of these characteristics and intensity levels of each to become defined as a psychopath.

Lack of Empathy:
Empathy is the lack of inability to understand and identify with the situations, feelings, or motives of others. Empathy is a complex emotion. You have to understand that people can do horrible things, identify closely with their victim, and learn to live with the angst that accumulates. Many offenders aren’t concerned with the victims discomfort and even mocks the victim as they cause them pain and suffering.

Conning/Manipulative:
Conning/Manipulative is a characterizing that is intentionally done for personal gain. The offender will often get close to their victims to get what they want. They will even use their victims emotional beliefs against them for the offenders personal gain.

Criminal Versatility:
“This characteristics can be inferred when an offender evidences MO behavior that suggests competency with criminal activity other that typically necessary for a given type of offense. An example would be a rapists who evidences burglary skills like wearing gloves, disabling alarms, and stealing easily turned over, untraceable values. This characteristic may also be inferred when an offender has been linked to other criminal activity by physical evidence.” (Brent Turvey)

Failure to Accept Responsibility for Actions:
This characteristic is when the offender blames everyone but themselves for their actions.

Glib and Superficial:
These terms refer to behaviors that are done with very little thought or concern, with the intent to be evasive, deflect emotion, or conceal a lack of emotional depth.

Impulsivity:
This Characteristic is when the offender is not fully aware of the rimes consequences. Some factors that might contribute to the offender not being fully aware are drugs, alcohol, mental retardation, or an extremely low self esteem.

Lack of Remorse or Guilt:
This characteristic is when the offender shows no emotion, anger, or delight in the victims suffering. The ffender doesn’t care they did and they can do things or act like nothing happened.

Poor Behavioral Controls:
This characteristic is when the offender can’t control his actions whether violent, damaging, or reactionary.

Motivations
“Psychopaths may differ from other offenders is in the means that they will use to satisfy their needs. The psychopath uses methods that can be particularly brutal, lack of sympathy, and exploit vulnerabilities and that are carried out in the absence of any remorse whatsoever. They are not encumbered by distress or moral angst. Psychopaths do not place any value on those outside of themselves, other than as a source of pleasure, and they view the socialized world of rules and negotiation as an onerous imposition.

Sadistic Behavior
Sadistic Behavior is when a person inflicts pain on another person for their own pleasure. In most cases sadistic behavior mostly involves sexual acts. Many criminals will take their victims and do various painful things to them like using restraints, blindfolding, paddling, spanking, whipping, pinching, beating, burning, electrical shocks, rap, cutting, stabbing, strangulation, torture, mutilation, or killing.

Generalized Behavioral Assumptions

Rape:
“Forcible penetration of a victims vagina with a foreign object, forcible penetration of the victims mouth with a penis, or forcible penetration of a victims anus with a finger”.

Anal Assault:
Is any physical activity towards a victims anus.

Strangulation:
“Both manual and ligature strangulation involve the restriction of oxygenated blood to a victims brain by compressing the arteries in the neck”.

Turvey, Brent. Criminal Profiling An Introduction To Behavioral Evidence Analysis. China: Elservier, 2008

“The Top Ten Urban Serial Killers.” [07 March 09 New Criminologists.com]

Sexual Asphyxia

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Sexual Asphyxia
By: Sadie Jarrett :)
“While some sexual practices can be considered physically dangerous in a general way, sexual asphyxia stands out as having the clear potential to result in a lethal end.” Sexual asphyxia can be practiced in two ones, one as an autoerotic activity, and two as a consensual sadomasochistic act; between two or more people. Equally, nonconsensual asphyxia would be for the needs of the person restricting the other person’s oxygen source and is best described as an intentional criminal act. (Sexual Asphyxia will be referred to as ‘S/M’ from this point on.)
“S/M sex includes a wide range of sexual activities between two consenting adults that may include, but not limited to, the use of physical and/or psychological stimulation to produce sexual arousal and satisfaction. S/M sex is difficult to define precisely because of the wide range of activities involved. There are four major categories of S/M: 1) infliction of physical pain, usually by means of whipping, spanking, slapping or the applications of heat and cold; 2) verbal or psychological stimulation such as threats and insults; 3) dominance and submission, for example, one person ordering the other to do his or her bidding; 4) bondage and discipline, involving restraints such as rope and chains and/or punishment for real or fabricated transgressions.
Given the wide range of S/M, analysts have observed five features generally present in these encounters:
1) Dominance and submission- the appearance of control of one partner over the other
2) Role playing- the participants assume roles that they recognize are not reality
3) Consensuality- a voluntary agreement to enter into SM ‘play’ and to honor certain ‘limits’
4) Sexual context- the presumption that the activities have a sexual or erotic meaning
5) Mutual definition- participants must agree on the parameters of what they are doing, whether they call it SM or not.
Hazelwood and Dietz give 12 autoerotic death scene characteristics, as expanded on and discussed in Autoerotic Death by Brent Turvey, and now taken from Turvey’s Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis:
1) Location: in autoerotic deaths, the location is likely to be a secluded area with a reasonable expectation of privacy.
2) Body position: In SM hangings, the victim’s body may be partially supported by the ground, or the victim may even appear to have simply been able to stand up to avoid strangulation.
3) High-risk elements: are items brought into the autoerotic activity to enhance physical or psychological pleasure. Can include anything from drugs and alcohol to weapons. (These will increase the risk of autoerotic death.)
4) Self-rescue mechanism: is any provision that allows the victim to voluntarily stop the high-risk element’s effect.
5) Bondage: refers to the use of special materials or devices that physically restrain the victim.
6) Masochistic behavior: refers to inflicting psychological or physical pain upon sexual areas of the body, or other body parts. It’s important to look not only for indicators of current use but also for healed injuries suggesting a history of such behavior.
7) Clothing: victim may be dressed in fetishistic attire or in one or more article of female clothing. Clothing is not always a useful indication in cases of autoerotic death. It’s possible for victims of autoerotic fatalities to be fully dressed, nude, or in a state of partial undress.
8) Protective measures: victim will often not want injuries sustained during regularly occurring autoerotic behaviors to be visible to others.
9) Sexual paraphernalia and props: are items found on or near the victim that assist in sexual fantasy.
10) Masturbatory activity: absence of sperm or semen at the scene does not rule out autoerotic death. The victim may or may not have been manually masturbating at the time of death.
11) Evidence of prior autoerotic activity: includes evidence of behavior similar to that found at the scene that predates the fatality.
12) No apparent suicidal intent: victim had plans for future events, has no history of depression, and/or had recently paid monthly bills, and had spoken to friends of looking forward to a specific event. Absence of a suicide note is not necessarily an indication of an autoerotic event, if one is present, it must be determined that it was written around the time of death and is not a prop.

Sources:
Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis by Brent Turvey
http://www.forensicpsychiatry.ca/paraphilia/aea.htm

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Sexual Asphyxia
By: Rachel Montgomery

According to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Hucker autoerotic asphyxia is a potentially lethal sexual practice that cuts off oxygen to the brain during a sexual encounter. It is said to heighten the sexual experience. He claims that diagnosing sexual asphyxia is almost the same as diagnosing sexual masochism with the DSM-IV. He says the behaviors are extremely similar because both share that the practitioner has intense and recurring fantasies or sexual urges that last for more than six months which causes clinical stress and impairment. Hucker says it’s not uncommon for people to have a partner, but it is usually practiced alone in the sanctity of their home. Hucker lays out, in his article, common practices of people that participate in autoerotic acts.

First, he says that hanging is the most common one, and he says that it is certainly the most commonly observed among the fatal cases. Other forms of performing autoeroticsm are ligatures, bindings, and suffocation. It is not uncommon to find someone has died due to suffocation or the fact that things got out of control and they couldn’t untie themselves. Hucker has had to deal with 171 cases due to death by asphyxiation, and he claims that most were pretty uncomplicated because not all of the bizarre features were necessarily present. Now, you may be wondering who participates in these acts willingly. There are demographics to this that have actually been taken by medical and criminal experts.
According to Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis, more men participate in this practice than women do. The age ranges vary significantly as well in both genders. Men usually start practicing at age 9 and can go until they die or they usually stop around 80. Women start in their early 20s and usually stop around their late 60s. The author of the book, Brent Turvey, broke down the statistics as far as sexual asphyxia and death. Dietz, a psychiatrist, assisted him in his research. He looked at 157 death cases in this line and 132 were asphyxia, 18 were atypical, and 5 were asphyxia with a partner, and 2 were autoerotic suicides. There were 117 male deaths in Canada and there were other stats reported in from around the world. When forensic professionals look at the scene of an asphyxiated death there are certain things to look for so they can rule out homicide and suicide.

According to Turvey, they look at the location. Usually it is secluded with reasonable expectation of privacy. Next, they look at body position. In an asphyxiation case the body will be partially supported by the ground or other object. Then they look at high-risk elements which are items (ropes, chains, handcuffs etc) to heighten the pleasurable experience. Officials will then look at self-rescue mechanisms which are items that the practitioner can use to stop the process at any given time. Without that evidence it makes the investigation tricky. They also look at bondage, masochistic behavior, clothing (if there is any), sexual paraphernalia or props, evidence of the person trying to masturbate, and they determine if there was or wasn’t an apparent suicidal attempt. Turvey clearly states that, at a death scene, these following findings are necessary, because they make it very evident that it was death by asphyxiation and it was accidental. There has to be an expectation of privacy, no convincing evidence of suicidal intent, no evidence of another actor, apparatus to induce hypoxia, there is an escape mechanism, and the victim could have bound himself or herself.

Sources:
Turvey, Brent. Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis. Copyright 2012. Paper
http://www.forensicpsychiatry.ca/paraphilia/aea.htm

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Serial Crimes: Patterns

Serial Crime: Patterns

By: Betsy Liebau, Lindsay Frahm, and Becca Theimer

Serial crime refers to any series of two or more related crimes. Many serial offenders, or serialists, commit crimes of multiple types in the course of criminal season or career.

Serial homicide/murder – two or more related cases involving homicide behavior
Serial arson – two or more related cases involving fire-setting behavior
Serial bombing – two or more related cases involving the use of explosives
Serial rape – two or more related cases involving rape or sexual assault behavior

Investigators and profilers alike would do well to keep two very important things in mind, placing serial rape and serial homicide behavior on the same level of priority:

1. The act of homicide is not a motive. It is a behavior that expresses an offender need. A related series of homicides can easily contain sexual aspects and motives that are expressed by sexualized behavior for which homicide is ultimately a precautionary act. A series of homicides may also contain living victims who successfully evaded capture, escaped captivity, or were released by the offender.

2. The act of rape is not a motive. It is a behavior that can express other offender needs beyond those of pure sexual gratification. Any series of related rapes may also include victims who were killed, either accidentally or intentionally, by the offender. Rape or sexual assault cases that involve offenders using any amount of force can easily become homicides given the right set of circumstances.

The term serial killer was first coined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) profiler Robert K. Ressler to describe offenders who are obsessed with fantasies that go unfulfilled, pressing them onward to the next offense.

For investigative purposes, serial homicide may be defined as two or more related cases involving homicide behavior with a cooling-off period in between. A cooling-off period, or cooling interval, refers to the psychological component that makes serial murderers so horrible to the imagination; it refers to the interval during which the offenders psychologically disconnect, separate, or compartmentalize themselves from the behaviors and motives that led to or culminated in homicidal behavior and then reintegrate back into their noncriminal lives and activities. For some, the cooling interval is immediate. For others, the cooling interval can span hours or even days. This is in stark contrast to mass murders and crime sprees, where offenders enter the psychological landscape of offense behavior, resign themselves to it, and do not come back until set tasks have been completed or they have been stopped.

A serial rapist is one who has committed two or more related offenses involving rape or sexual assault behavior. By definition, serial rapists are successful criminals because law enforcement fails to connect their crimes and fails to identify and apprehend them before multiple offenses have been committed. However, as with serial murderers, they are not limited to committing the crime of rape or even sex crimes in general. Rape is an extreme form of behavioral expression that the offender visualizes and to some degree thinks out before it happens. Before any sex crime can occur, four preconditions must exist:

1. These offenders must be motivated to commit the offense.
2. They must have some strategy for overcoming their internal inhibitions (for giving themselves permission to commit the offense).
3. They must be able to overcome any external constraints and gain access to the victim.
4. They must be able to overcome the victim’s resistance in order to engage the victim in the sexual act.

The Baker typology provides seven rapist motivations:

1. Sex and Lovemaking - For these offenders, rape behavior represents a confused attempt to experiment sexually and find intimacy. This experimentation may become coercive because many boys are taught that power, dominance, and violence may be arousing to women.
2. Sex and Shoplifting - Because we live in a culture where sex is viewed and treated as a commodity that may be purchases or used to sell other products, some offenders come to treat women similarly. When something is so devalued and objectified, it is easier to see it as a commodity that as well as being purchased may also be stolen.
3. Uniting - This motive describes certain group or gang related rape behavior. It involves rape committed out of the need to prove something to a group or to espouse a sense of belonging within a group.
4. Dividing - This motive involves the perception that women are the property of other men, and rape is used to establish power over them.
5. Power - This motive describes rape used to assert power over a particular victim. It can describe the context of many prison rapes and marital rapes.
6. Anger - The anger rapist attacks all parts of the victim’s body, forces the victim to engage in repeated, nonsexual degrading acts, and uses much more violence than is necessary to force the victim into submission.
7. Sadism - Sadism is a product of anger becoming eroticized aggression over time; that sadistic behavior develops from anger.

If we can understand how and why a serial offender selects a particular victim, then we may also be able to establish the relational links between the victim and that offender. If we can come in understand an offender’s overall strategy for the selection of victims, then we have a better chance of predicting the type of victim that the offender may select in the future. When determining how an offender may have selected a particular victim, the profiler must ask of the behavioral evidence certain basic questions in order to begin eliminating possibilities:

1. Was the victim opportunistic or targeted?
2. If the victim was targeted, what appears to be the offender’s selection criterion?
3. If the victim was targeted, what presurveillance behaviors would be required be the offender, given the activity of the victim?
4. If the victim could not have been targeted or presurveyed, then did the offender have to step outside of his or her daily, noncriminal routine to acquire victims, or was the offender likely trolling for potential victims?
5. If the offender was not actively trolling and the victim could not have been preselected, then the offender likely acquired the victim during his or her daily routine. This suggests that a reconstruction of the victim’s lifestyle, habits, and routines may give direct insight into the lifestyle, habits, and routines of the offender.

How an offender chooses to leave behind living victims after an attack is concluded gives insight into the motive and intent of the offender’s offense behavior and skill level. It may also reveal information regarding where the offender intends to go after the offense, the offender’s personal schedule, how much time the offender needs to get away, and how concerned the offender is that the victim might recognize them at a later date.

How an offender chooses to leave behind deceased victims in the disposal site also gives insight into the motive and intent of the individual’s offense behavior and skill level. Criminal profilers must try to establish the relation of the victim’s body to the disposal site, and the evidence that is in it.

1. Whether or not an offender intended for the victim’s body to be found
2. Where an offender intends for the victim’s body to be found
3. When an offender intends for the victim’s body to be found
4. Whom an offender intends to find the victim’s body

References:
Turvey, Brent E. Criminal profiling an introduction to behavioral evidence analysis. Burlington, MA: Elsevier, 2008.
Google Images: http://ebooks-imgs.connect.com/product/400/000/000/000/000/118/750/400000000000000118750_s4.jpg

Cyberpatterns

Betsy Liebau, Lindsay Frahm, and Becca Theimer

Cyberpatterns

Introduction:
As many computer systems advance their technology, new occasions for crime activity begin to increase. Criminals use the Internet for many different reasons. Finding victims, fabricating alibis, and altering their identities are all among many reasons why criminals are using the Internet as a tool to achieve cleverer, “experienced” crimes. One case made headway in helping to make investigators dive deeper into a suspect’s computer. United States v. Moussaoui; United States v. Salameh; United States v. Ramsey Yousef were amongst the cases that changed criminal behaviors on the Internet.

Crimes and Computers:
The text speaks about how the Internet has created so many crimes, but more importantly has help to solve more crimes. Offenders use the Internet to con people and to harm people. One case the author talks about is Bind Torture Kill (BTK). BTK used a disk from a computer and sent it to a television crew in Wichita, Kansas. This disk was used to ultimately catch BTK in multiple murders. BTK wanted to draw attention to himself, but did he really anticipate on being caught so quickly? Also, sexual predators used the Internet to entice their victims in. Once they have gotten their victims to agree to meet, the victim is hopelessly doomed.

The Internet gives offenders greater access to victims, extending their reach from a limited geographical area to victims all around the world (Turvey). It is no shock that the Internet provides an abundance of personal information about persons, enabling the predator to search for exact type of prospective victims. The almost humorous aspect of all these “Cyber” crimes is that most individuals don’t even realize how easy it is for law enforcement to catch a predator through Internet or computer investigations. One murderer mentioned in the book was ultimately caught when he was communicating through the Internet for dates. Web evidence and a digital recording of a woman screaming in the back ground ultimately caught him. To top it off, while confessing, the murderer stated that he even removed the woman’s nose, jaw, teeth, and most of her fingertips in an attempt to prevent her body from being identified.

Cybertrails:
“Everyday activities leave a specific amount of digital data lying around. Third parties, such as mobile telephone providers, banks, credit card companies, and electronic toll collection systems, can reveal significant information about an individual’s whereabouts and activities and are a staple source of evidence for criminal investigators (Turvey).” Our world has become very technologically suave and because of this, the people of this world have not come to realize that without thinking leave trails everyday of our lives. We stop at gas stations, get gas, and use our debit card to pay. We pay bills online, shop outrageously, and still the world continues to wonder how our “trails” are left behind us.

Online predators exploit the Internet to find victims. Cybertrails track the predators and document their activity. Some of the ways they do this is by chatting in chat rooms to find local victims, surfing American On-line (AOL) because of the high volume of new users, or random searches leading to the type of victim they are seeking, and finally posts online dating ads that pinpoint a certain type of victim.

When a predator finally finds a certain victim, they can be prosecuted for not necessarily being caught, but because of actions, positions, origins, associations, activities, and sequences useful for reconstructing the events surrounding the offense (Casey, 2006). Profiling assumptions can be applied to cybertrails because of the following (Turvey):
· Computers and networks are an extension of and another means to mediate the physical world
· Computer technology does not fundamentally change human behavior but instead is simply a tool that facilitates, and captures virtual instances of, activity.

Many people that become predators do things on the Internet that they would not do on the “physical” world, but as stated by Turvey, those online activities are still recognizable as a reflection of the person’s behavior.

Profiling Computer Criminals:
Many different studies have proven different types of profiles are categorized. One study for instance placed hackers in the following groups (Icove, Seger, and VonStorch, 1995):
· Computer crackers: groups and individuals
· Computer criminals: espionage and fraud/abuse
· Vandals: strangers and users

In another study, hackers were identified as white, middle class, obsessive anti-social males between 12-28, with an inferiority complex and a possible history of physical and sexual abuse (Rogers, 1999). Even though there are numerous different types of categories hackers can be placed in, the important thing is that 74% of the cases surveyed, helped identify the predator, while in the 30% of the cases forensic examination of the targeted network, system or data helped identify the subject.

Managing an offender’s behavior helps investigators decide whether or not attempts to contact or correspond with the offender would be detrimental or not. On the other hand the study of victims may assist investigators equally. When checking the victim’s computer, investigators need to ask many questions. For instance, did the victim have web pages he/she frequently used, did the victim use a parent’s account, from where did the victim access the Internet, or did the victim exhibit any behavior that sheds light on the case itself. Investigators should have no boundaries themselves to computer reservations. A person’s private online hangout can be the most revealing from a victimology standpoint and may be the way the offender crossed cybertrails with the victim (Turvey).

In conclusion, cybertrails and digital technology will continue to be more ubiquitous with in our society and the more common they become, the more tips for investigators to solve more crimes with. Criminals will continue to seek out victims based on their own perversions and that too will ultimately get them caught. Digital technologies will continue to advance and criminal profiling will soon become more and more studied in comparison to cyberpatterns. Criminal profiling, according to Turvey, can be so useful when little is known about the offenders, which is particularly important when offenders use the internet to conceal their identities and activities.

References:

Turvey, Brent E. Criminal profiling an introduction to behavioral evidence analysis. Burlington, MA: Elsevier, 2008.

MuggleSpace - The ULTIMATE Harry Potter Social Network. 11 Mar. 2009 <http://www.mugglespace.com/>.

Legal Issues

Profiling on Trial

Becca Howard & Jessica Barker

Admissibility of Profiling Evidence

One of the feared crimes to a community is murder (Homicide). Homicide is killing of a human or multiple humans by another human. Not all Homicides are criminal: they could be justifiable or excusable. A suicide is treated as a homicide until it can be established as a suicide. Different types of Homicide's and there definitions are Justifiable Homicide This involves the intentional but lawful killing of another. The state commits justifiable homicide in carrying out a death sentence handed down by a judge after conviction. justifiable homicide is also committed when a police officer kills a human being who shoots at the officer first: or when and individual , believing his or her family or self is being threatened with a weapon, kills the person they believe is putting them or there family in harms way.

Another type of homicide is Excusable Homicide. Excusable Homicide is where a person kills another person by accident, without intent to injure somebody or without gross negligence.

Suicide is defined as taking one's own life. Even though it is not considered a crime, it is considered as a public wrong in many jurisdictions.

The definition of Criminal Homicide is the unlawful taking of a human life. There is also two different types of Criminal Homicide; murder and manslaughter.

Murder is the unlawful killing of another person with intent or premeditation.

Manslaughter is the killing of someone without intent.

Different Investigative activities used in a Homicide:
1.Record details at the crime scene. For example: photographs, sketches, and notes of the different things you see.

2.Recognize, collect, and preserve all the physical evidence. So that you will be able to facilitate and reconstruct the crime. To link a suspect to the victim, crime scene, or both. Also identify a substance like poison, narcotic, blood, and semen, or an object like bludgeon, or a gun in order to locate the source and trace the owner.

3.Identify the victim or victims.

4.Establish the cause, manner and the time of death.

5.Ascertain the motive for the crime. From the way the crime was committed-using evidence at the scene, and trauma inflicted on the victim for psychological profiling. From those who had knowledge of the victim’s activities (social, familial, business).

Partitioning all of the responsibilities:
Evidence Technician- Recording the crime scene, Recognizing, collecting, and preserving physical evidence.

Criminalist- Recognizing, collecting, and preserving physical evidence. Sometimes responsible for: recording the crime scene.

Forensic Pathologist- Identify the victim or victims, estimate the time of death, establish the cause and manner of death, and sometimes recognize, collect, and preserve physical evidence. Forensic Pathologist also ascertains the motive for the crime.

Forensic Anthropologist- Recognize, collects, and preserves the physical evidence. Forensic Anthropologist also identifies the victim or victims.

Detective (Investigator) - Record crime scene, recognizes, collects, and preserves physical evidence. Detectives also ascertain the motive for the crime, seeks additional information, question suspects, and develops authentic information for identifying the victim or victims.

The following list covers most of the apparent reasons that impel one person to kill another. Sometimes it can be a combination of motives:

• Financial Gain
• Sexual gratification
• Apparently sex-connected homicides
• Emotional factors
• Self-protection
• Removal of an inconvenience or impediment
• Apparently motiveless crimes
• “Thrill” of killing

Some associative evidence suggests what we might be looking for at a crime scene like:
1.Traces of the person
a.Finger and palm prints
b.Blood, semen, saliva, hair
c.Bare footprints
d.Other skin patterns such as ear prints and lip impressions, or teeth marks

2.Traces of wearing apparel
a.Shoe prints
b.Weave pattern and stitching of clothing and gloves
c.Clothing accessories

3.Impressions left by
a.Weapons-firearms, cutting or stabbing devices
b.Tools- jimmies, metal cutters, hammers, metal punches
c.Shovels- used to bury a body or weapon (some types of soil, such as clay, retain striation marks left by the digging edge of a shovel.)

Answers to information entomologists may be able to provide include:
1.How did the death occur?
When the body is in an advanced state of decay, it may be possible to offer an opinion.

2.Was the body mutilated after death?
Insect secretions or bites sometimes seem to have a pattern, appearing to have been inflicted by a handmade tool. If a similar pattern were observed in another homicide shortly thereafter, investigators might infer that a disturbed person was involved. Clearly, this would be an unproductive effort if the mutilation pattern is that of insects.

3.Was this animal, especially a species protected by law, killed illegally?
A conflict regarding time of death- (1) as “told” to an entomologist by studying the insect population and (2) the story told by a suspect as to where or when the carcass was discovered-can have significance for an investigator.

(James W. Osterburg and Richard H. Ward) (James W. Osterburg and Richard H. Ward, 1992, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2007)

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Projects

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Matt Edwards

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Travis Geile

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Terry Steiner

Links

http://criminalprofiler.tumblr.com/