Crime Scene Actions Research Articles

살인사건에서 관찰되는 범죄현장 위장행동 유형 분류 : 잠재계층분석방법(Latent Class Analysis)을 이용하여

살인사건에서 관찰되는 범죄현장 위장행동 유형 분류 : 잠재계층분석방법(Latent Class Analysis)을 이용하여

Typologies of Serial Arson: Explorative Study based on Latent Class Analysis

Serial arson is a severe crime than other violent crimes in severity of damage. Nonetheless, there is rarely been studied in terms of motivation and crime scene behaviors. This study empirically aims to investigate typology of serial arson based on motives and crime scene actions for helping to solve arsons. By Latent Class Analysis (LCA), a sample of 39 serial arsonists from the Korean National Data-base (i.e., SCAS) was analyzed. A cross-tabulation analysis was conducted to see relationships between offenders’ motive and crime scene information. In addition, chi-square analyses were used in between arson types and sociodemographic characteristics. As a result, types of serial arsons were classified into three classes, respectively; hybrid, revenge, release on motives and distant-inside, distant-outside, nearby-inside on crime scene behaviors. The associations by these classes possibly provide importation source to hypothesize arsons’ motive from crime scene actions for efficient policing. This empirical study could put stepstone on the offenders’ profiling to prioritize suspect especially in fire investigation.

Sexual Sadism: Its Role in the Crime-Commission Process of Sexual Homicide of Children.

This study investigates the role of sexual sadism in the crime-commission process of sexual homicide (SH) involving child victims. A comparison between sadistic and nonsadistic cases involving child victims is conducted by examining the crime context, crime characteristics, methods of killing, body recovery characteristics, and forensic awareness strategies used by offenders. The sample comes from the Sexual Homicide International Database (SHIelD) including 135 cases of solved SHs involving child victims-35 cases with sexual sadism and 101 cases without sexual sadism. The Sexual Homicide Crime Scene Rating Scale for Sexual Sadism (SADSEX-SH) scale is used to identify sexual sadism from crime scene actions. Bivariate and multivariate analysis are performed to examine the differences between the two groups. Findings indicate that sadistic SH of children are characterized by an important level of structured premeditation, the commission of more diversified sexual acts, the use of specific method of killing, and the partial use of forensic awareness strategies. Practical implications in terms of criminal investigations are discussed.

Crime Scene Behaviors and Characteristics of Offenders with Mental Illness: A Latent Class Analysis.

The current study aimed to identify distinct types of crime scene behaviors based on the criminal planning and motivation of offenders with mental illness in South Korea. Furthermore, our study examined the relationships between the identified types of crime scene behaviors in terms of the offenders' sociodemographic characteristics, modus operandi, and types of mental illness. Utilizing latent class analysis, the associations between crime scene behavior types and offender characteristics such as demographic factors, crime scene actions, and criminal information were empirically investigated. In particular, based on a sample obtained from a national police database of offenses committed between 2006 and 2014, four offense groups were identified: (i) instrumental-planned, (ii) instrumental-unplanned, (iii) expressive-unplanned, and (iv) hybrid. Additionally, significant relationships were found between offense styles and offender characteristics as well as criminal backgrounds. The findings suggest that mental disorders influence the types of actions exhibited by offenders during the commission of their crime. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical utility to criminal investigation.

Predicting the Criminal Records of Male-on-Female UK Homicide Offenders From Crime Scene Behaviors.

Offender profiling follows the idea that if offenders' crime scene actions can be empirically linked to their background characteristics, it will be possible to predict one from the other. There is a lack of research exploring whether homicide offenders' crime scene actions are predictive of their criminal histories, despite the potential utility of such information. The current study addresses this gap in the literature. A sample of 213 adult male-on-female homicides with sexual or unknown motive was drawn from a U.K.-wide database. Relationships between 13 preconviction variables and 29 crime scene behaviors were explored using a bivariate statistical approach. Subsequently, binary logistic regression models were used to predict the presence, or absence, of specific preconvictions based on a combination of offense behaviors. Analyses highlighted 16 statistically significant associations between key offense behaviors and previous convictions, these associations were often "less likely" to result in previous conviction. The analysis failed to find any association for various other variables, most notably sexual preconvictions. Results indicate offenders' criminal histories can be predicted from their offense behaviors, though not all preconvictions may be similarly suited. Implications for practice are discussed.

Coercive Sexual Sadism: a Systematic Qualitative Review.

Coercive sexual sadism can be distinguished from consensual BDSM (bondage discipline/dominance submission/sadism masochism) role-play and from everyday sadism, a personality trait. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic qualitative review of the pertinent literature on coercive sexual sadism from the last three years. Clinical assessment of sexual sadism can be made more objective through behavioral checklists based on crime scene actions. The latent structure of sexual sadism is likely dimensional, placing the disorder at the upper end of a continuum of sexually aggressive behavior. Sexual sadism does not seem to increase the risk of violent offense recidivism (including sexual contact offenses) above and beyond the risk implied by established risk factors of delinquency. Coercive sexual sadism denotes a disposition for sexually aggressive behavior. Whether this disposition is put into practice is likely due to other trait and state variables. Treatment studies are completely lacking in the recent literature.

Profiling Korean sex crimes: Offender characteristics and crime scene actions

AbstractThe present study aimed to examine the demographic information of sex offenders in South Korea and explore whether a U.K. thematic model of criminal behaviour could be replicated in the Korean context. The 27 variables of crime scene actions derived from 50 Korean sexual offences through a content analysis were analysed with smallest space analysis. Chi‐square was also administered to explore the differences in offender characteristics among behavioural themes. Consequently, three separate action themes, hostility–involvement, theft, and control, were revealed. Next, each case was assigned to one of the dominant or hybrid themes, with 84% of the total cases being classified to the dominant themes. Moreover, there were significant differences in four offender characteristics between the themes: “previous conviction of robbery,” “previous conviction of sexual crime,” “knowing the victim,” and “vehicle use.” These outcomes have implications for the development of the Korean profiling system.

Stranger sexual homicide: an exploratory behavioural analysis of offender crime scene actions

ABSTRACT This study explores the role and function of homicidal and sexual violence in cases of stranger sexual homicide. The aim was to determine whether the instrumental/expressive hypothesis of physical violence and the overt/covert hypothesis of sexual violence applies to this crime. The method involved an analysis of the crime scene actions of 81 British stranger sexual killers using multidimensional scaling. Results suggest the instrumental/expressive hypothesis of physical violence and the overt/covert hypothesis of sexual violence does apply to stranger sexual homicide but they manifest as instrumental/overt and expressive/covert superordinate themes comprising four sub-themes reflecting rape, impersonal sexual assault, overkill and control. Although these superordinate themes can explain some stranger sexual homicides, a key hypothesis of this study is that the four sub-themes can also combine into different superordinate themes, knowledge of which can aid our understanding of this serious and deviant form of interpersonal violence.

Sex Worker Homicide Series: Profiling the Crime Scene.

Contrary to popular misconceptions, offenders who kill sex workers as part of their series exhibit substantial variability in their victim selection and behavioral patterns, thus creating additional issues for the investigation of these crimes. This article first aims to outline differences in the demographics of crime scene actions present in homicide series with exclusively sex worker victims and series that includes both sex worker and non-sex worker victims, with the aim of understanding the crime scene aetiology of these two different types of series. Second, the research aims to determine between-series differences of victimology as well as crime scene action between sex worker series and mixed-victim series. Third, the research focuses on mixed-victim series and aims to determine the within-series similarities of victimology and crime scene actions, that is, what factors link sex worker victims and non-sex worker victims in the same series. Data were collected through a large-scale review of international media sources to identify solved serial homicide cases that have included at least one sex worker. Of the 83 series looked at, 44 (53%) included sex worker victims only, and 39 (47%) of the series included both sex worker and non-sex worker victims. The findings highlight the challenges that these types of crime present for investigation and the implications they have on current crime analysis research and practice, and results are discussed in line with theoretical and psychological issues relating to understanding differentiation and similarity, as well as investigative implications relating to linkage blindness and linking of serial crimes.

Differentiating Contract Killers: A Narrative‐Based Approach

AbstractPrevious attempts to determine contract killers’ behaviour have not benefited from any formal psychological framework of behavioural distinction. The Narrative Action System model (NAS model; Canter and Youngs 2009) offers an empirical basis for differentiating contract killings and examining the psychological underpinnings of different contract killer styles. The model identifies four major narrative offender types: Professional, Revenger, Hero, and Victim. The present study aims to examine whether these themes can be applied to contract killing. Content analysis of 75 contract killer cases identified 56 crime scene actions. Data were subjected to a non‐metric multidimensional scaling procedure, namely Smallest Space Analysis (SSA‐I). Findings revealed four distinct types of contract killers that could be related to the four modes of offending proposed by the NAS model. Differences in the thematic structure of contract killing offences are discussed, and implications are offered for clinical and investigative purposes.

An action phase approach to offender profiling

Purpose Continued debate surrounds whether or not offender profiling is a valid practice. Critics have mainly contended that few studies have produced clear, quantifiable, evidence of a link between crime scene actions (A) and offender characteristics (C). Arguing that this is due to a failure to study offender actions as part of a dynamic decision-making process, this study sought to identify action phases that are representative of the general decisions an offender must make during the commission of a sexual offence, and relate these decisions to known characteristics of the offender (C). Methods Two-step cluster analyses were performed on data from 347 stranger sexual offences, committed by 69 serial sexual offenders, by action phase: (1) search; (2) selection; (3) approach; (4) assault; and also for an offender's (5) characteristics. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was then utilized to investigate the inter-relationship of action phase clusters and offender characteristics. Results The MCA results indicated that specific behavioural macro-clusters formed across the various actions phase and offender characteristic clusters in a meaningful way. Additionally, the macro-clusters themselves corresponded to the extant literature on sexual assault, revealing several points of congruence between offender crime scene actions and offender characteristics. Conclusion The results of the study demonstrate that when crime scene behaviours are interpreted within a dynamic decision-making process (i.e., utilizing action phases), reliable and valid empirical links may potentially be drawn between an offenders behavioural actions and their characteristics.

South African Serial Homicide: Consistency in Victim Types and Crime Scene Actions Across Series

AbstractKey to understanding the significance of behavioural evidence for linkage purposes is in establishing how consistently an offender displays the same or similar behaviours across their series. There have however to date been very few studies aiming at identifying salient components of offending behaviour that can be used reliably for linking individual crimes as part of a single series. In addition, studies that have been conducted have all dealt with serial homicide in the Western world and have been based on small samples of cases from each country. Some of the recent literature has started to disentangle some of these salient features, notably the victim, violence levels, control, and planning. The current study focused on evaluating the consistency of these features across series, using a sample of serial homicides from South Africa consisting of 30 offenders with a total of 283 victims and 235 crime scenes. Results indicate that the level of interaction with the victim may be influential to the stability or instability of offending patterns across the series. How offenders approach planning in their offence also showed a certain degree of consistency, with patterns of violence being the least consistent across the series of all components tested. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

South African Serial Homicide: Offender and Victim Demographics and Crime Scene Actions

AbstractThere is an abundance of literature on serial homicide from a Western perspective that outlines operational definitions, types of offenders and how they prey upon their victims. However, currently, there is a lack of studies that compare serial homicide in different countries. The current study aims to give an overview of the demographics of serial homicide offenders and victims in South Africa and compare these to the demographics of offenders and victims from other currently available empirical studies of other countries. The sample consisted of 33 out of the total 54 solved series in South Africa between 1936–2007, which includes a total of 33 offenders, 302 victims, and 254 crime scenes. Results of the sample as a whole showed that South African serial homicide offenders are similar to offenders in other countries in terms of their actions at the crime scene and victim choice, with some notable exceptions. Additional analysis looked at the offender's consistency of targeting certain types of victims across their homicide series in comparison with the patterns of serial homicide offenders in other countries. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An Exploration of Rapists' Motivations as Illustrated by Their Crime Scene Actions: Is the Gender of the Victim an Influential Factor?

AbstractAn aim of this paper was to examine if the rapist's motivations of anger and power as inferred from rape crime scene behaviours differentiates between rape victim genders. In addition, it was sought to analyse the resistance strategies employed by rape victims to investigate whether gender influences victim–offender behavioural interactions. A sample of 24 female and 12 male rape victims aged from 13 to 39 years were analysed. The data were extracted from the US National Crime Survey, which contained 12 reported cases of male rape. It was hypothesised that the theme of power would be evident from the rapists' behaviour as illustrated by the crime scene actions and victim–offender interaction. Smallest Space Analysis, a multi‐dimensional scaling technique, was employed to identify the themes present in the perpetration of rape. The crime scene actions illustrated several distinctions relating to the theme of power present in the offender's motives irrespective of the victim's gender. An additional finding was that victim resistance strategies differentiated between male and female rape victims. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sadism in sexual offenders: Evidence for dimensionality.

Recurrent and intense sexual fantasies and urges that circle around the infliction of pain or humiliation on another human being may predispose individuals toward acts of sexual aggression against nonconsenting victims. Consequently, sexual sadism is a paraphilia with particular relevance for forensic psychology and psychiatry. Using behavioral indicators derived from crime scene actions as well as clinical data, we sought in the present study to identify the latent structure of the disorder. We analyzed data from a national sample of male sexual offenders from Austria (N = 1,020). In addition to latent profile analysis, 3 conceptually different taxometric methods were applied. The results of the analyses were more in accordance with a dimensional interpretation than with a categorical distinction. That is, sadistic conduct in sexual offenses is likely an extreme form of coercion, but not a qualitatively different entity. The implications with respect to the current debate on the diagnostic criteria for sadism are discussed.

Male-on-Male Sexual Assaults

While the concept of male victimization is not a new phenomenon, the sexual assault of a male is a relatively new notion, emerging over the last 30 years in social research literature. Studies of female rape, pedophilia, and juvenile sex offenders have suggested that different styles of offending are reflected in the different types of behaviors committed by offenders at the crime scene. These studies suggest that there are three distinct themes of behavior: Control, Hostility, and Involvement. Using the crime scene actions of 305 male-on-male sexual assault from a U.K. national police database, multidimensional analysis was carried out. The proposed framework was found to be a useful way of classifying male-on-male sexual assaulters with 74% displaying a dominant theme. These resulted in 42% classified as displaying hostility, 23% as control, and 9% as involvement. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Sexual Sadism

The phenomenon of sexual sadism was first scientifically described by Richard von Krafft-Ebing in 1999 as a sexual preference disorder that focuses on the infliction of suffering, pain, or humiliation to achieve sexual gratification. The present article reviews the historical development of the term sexual sadism, including the current descriptive nosology of psychiatric classification. Despite clear definitions that specify the sexual objects, duration, and distress necessary for a disorder, evidence for the diagnostic reliability for sexual sadism in the forensic domain is mixed. We argue that the reliance on the patient's willingness to divulge corresponding violent sexual fantasies is the Achilles' heel of the diagnosis. In an attempt to improve agreement across diagnosticians, we argue for the use of behavioral indicators. We summarize the extant research on the Severe Sexual Sadism Scale (SESAS), which is a file-based observer rating of pertinent crime-scene actions. We conclude that the analysis of crime-scene behavior, as achieved with the SESAS, can provide a useful complement for the clinical diagnosis in forensic psychiatry and psychology.

A Comparative Study on the Traits of Sex Offences according to Crime Scene Actions by Ages of Victims

본 연구의 목적은 성범죄 피해자들이 경험한 범죄 현장 행동 특성 차이를 구분하기 위함이다. 이를 위해, 성범죄 사건 143건을 선행연구(Canter, Bennell, Alison, Reddy, 2003)에서 사용된 적대성, 통제성, 관여성, 절도 등의 행동 주제 하의 25가지 범죄 현장 행동으로 구분, 일원변량분석과 다중대응분석을 통해 아동, 청소년, 청장년, 중년, 노인 여성 피해자 연령대 별 범죄 현장 행동의 차이 및 상호관계를 살펴보았다. 연구 결과, 성범죄 행동 주제 각각은 피해자 연령대별로 유의미한 차이를 보였다. 특히, 적대성, 통제성, 관여성 관련 범죄 현장 행동은 청장년 피해자 집단에서, 절도와 관련된 행동은 중년 피해자 집단에서 발생 빈도가 가장 높았다. 25가지 범죄 행동과 피해자 연령대별 5집단과의 다중대응분석 결과, 범행 후 검거 위협과 관련된 심리적 안정성 차원과 성적 욕구를 직접적, 간접적으로 표현한 행동과 관련된 성적-분노 차원으로 구분되어졌다. 이러한 결과는 성범죄자들은 청장년 피해자들을 성적 파트너로 인식하여 성적 행위에 더욱 몰입하는데 반해, 이외 연령대의 피해자들은 성적 도구로 인식, 즉각적인 성적만족을 위한 행동 이외의 부가적인 행동들이 더욱 빈번하게 나타난다는 점을 시사한다. 본 연구 결과는 특정 피해자에게 고착된 성범죄자의 범행 동기 및 행동 특성 차이에 대한 이해 및 성범죄자 프로파일링을 위한 기초 자료로 유용하게 활용되어질 수 있을 것이다.

From Crime Scene Actions in Stranger Rape to Prediction of Rapist Type: Single‐Victim or Serial Rapist?

The differences in crime scene actions in cases of stranger rape committed by convicted offenders were examined between 31 single-victim rapists and 35 serial rapists. Data were collected from police files, court verdicts, psychiatric evaluations, and criminal records. Findings indicate that the serial rapists were more criminally sophisticated than the single-victim rapists, during their first and second rapes. The single-victim rapists were significantly more likely to engage in the interpersonal involvement behavior of kissing the victim, and to engage in pre-assault alcohol use, than the serial rapists. There was, however, no significant difference in physically violent or sexual behaviors. To investigate the possibility of predicting rapist type, logistic regression analyses were performed. Results indicate that three behaviors in conjunction, kissed victim, controlled victim, and offender drank alcohol before the offense, predicted whether an unknown offender is a single-victim or serial rapist with a classification accuracy of 80.4%. The findings have implications for the classification of stranger rapists in offender profiling.

Linking Criminal History to Crime Scene Behavior in Single-Victim and Serial Homicide: Implications for Offender Profiling Research

Research has consistently shown that the average individual who commits one or more homicides is likely to have a criminal record, but little research has focused on whether individuals behave in a psychologically or thematically consistent way in both their homicide crime scene actions and prior offending. The current study examines the crime scene behaviors of single and serial homicide offenders to identify patterns that can be compared to themes in their prior offending. The results showed that crime scene actions occurred on a continuum from hostile to cognitive actions with serial offenders concentrating at the latter end of this continuum. However, only a small group of the serial homicide offenders committed similarly themed prior offenses and homicide behaviors, which raises questions regarding the hypotheses of behavioral consistency underlying offender profiling.