Making sense of senseless murders: The who, what, when, and where?

Abstract

The phenomenon of senseless or motiveless homicide refers to homicides that lack an objective external motivation. Despite the unique challenges these homicides pose to police, few empirical studies have been conducted on the topic and existing studies are limited to clinical studies using small samples. To overcome existing empirical shortcomings, the current study used a sample of 319 homicide cases no motive was established during the investigation to describe the who (offender and victim characteristics), (modus operandi, crime characteristics), where (encounter, crime, and body recovery associated locations), and when (time of the crime) of the entire criminal event. Findings provide insight into the entire crime-commission process and suggest a different dynamic to senseless homicide from what has been described in previous literature. Implications for police investigative practice are discussed.