Offender Characteristics Research Articles

Knife crime offender characteristics and interventions – A systematic review

Knives and sharp objects are tools used in a wide range of violent offences. However, knife offending may have different risk factors than general violence, thus requiring tailored interventions. This systematic review aims to synthesise evidence on the characteristics of knife offenders and interventions aimed at the reduction of knife crime. After screening 1352 titles and abstracts, 344 articles were fully considered of which 21 papers met the inclusion criteria and were quality assessed. These consisted of 15 offender characteristic studies and six intervention studies. Findings suggested that knife crime may be associated with illicit drug use, exposure to any violence as a witness, victim or perpetrator and mental health problems. Males were more at risk of engaging in knife crime in the community and females in domestic settings. Different risk factors were found between gang involved and non-involved knife offenders. Primary prevention strategies, such as stop and search, knife amnesties, media campaigns and curfews did not show a significant impact in reducing knife crime. By contrast, increasing offenders' access to tailored support regarding housing, education, and employment showed an impact in reducing weapon carrying. Further research is required in the area to support the reliability of outcomes. • Drug use, mental health issues and exposure to violence were risk factors for knife crime. • Males were more likely to carry out knife offences in the community. • Primary prevention strategies did not show a significant impact in reducing knife crime. • Providing tailored support to knife offenders significantly reduced weapon carrying. • Further research into knife offender characteristics and interventions is needed.

Killing your children to hurt your partner: A South African perspective on the motivations for revenge filicide

AbstractThe aim of the study was to investigate the offence characteristics and motivations for revenge filicides. Revenge filicide is an act where one parent kills their own offspring for retribution to hurt and upset the other parent. The cases of 20 revenge filicide murderers (14 male and six female) were analysed to determine the motivations and offence characteristics of revenge filicide offenders. It is the first South African study to highlight the motivations and associated characteristics in revenge filicides. Themes such as a loss of social identity due to rejection; extreme rage type anger; external locus of control; sadism; a desire to cause pain and a need to inflict harm are highlighted in this article. The initial emotional response may escalate from mild anger to a level of narcissistic rage which eventually culminates in the murdering of the child to punish and hurt the other parent and to restore control.

Personal insult disrupts regulatory brain networks in violent offenders.

The failure to adequately regulate negative emotions represents a prominent characteristic of violent offenders. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we used technical, nonsocial frustration to elicit anger in violent offenders (n = 19) and then increased the provocation by adding personal insults (social provocation). The aim was to investigate neural connectivity patterns involved in anger processing, to detect the effect of increasing provocation by personal insult, and to compare anger-related connectivity patterns between offenders and noncriminal controls (n = 12). During technical frustration, the offenders showed increased neural connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex compared to the controls. Conversely, personal insults, and thus increased levels of provocation, resulted in a significant reduction of neural connectivity between regions involved in cognitive control in the offenders but not controls. We conclude that, when (nonsocially) frustrated, offenders were able to employ regulatory brain networks by displaying stronger connectivity between regulatory prefrontal and limbic regions than noncriminal controls. In addition, offenders seemed particularly sensitive to personal insults, which led to increased implicit aggression (by means of motoric responses) and reduced connectivity in networks involved in cognitive control (including dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, middle/superior temporal regions).

Violence against on-duty police officers: the role of criminal motivation and premeditation in offenders' choice of weapons

PurposeThis research uses rational choice theory to analyze the effects of motivation, premeditation and offender characteristics on offenders' weapons during decision-making processes when they are violent towards on-duty police officers. The paper aims to discuss the aforementioned issues.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers examined 597 cases (n = 597) of violence against the police in the China Judgments Online (CJO) database, and analyzed the data using multinomial logistic regression methods. Rational choice theory was used to explore the offenders' weapons decision-making process.FindingsThe research results showed that offenders with premeditation were more likely to use a weapon, and tended to choose sharp weapons; offenders motivated to “escape arrest” were more likely to use a weapon, and tended to choose a vehicle as a weapon; and offenders motivated by “conflict resolution” were more likely to choose a sharp or blunt weapon.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings have limited applicability to other countries and must be considered in the local background of violence against police.Practical implicationsThrough the rational choice theory analytical framework, this study clarifies how motivation and premeditation influence offenders' weapons decision-making processes.Social implicationsAlso, this study may provide support for frontline police officers' law enforcement.Originality/valueThe research identified some specific connections between offenders' weapon choice preferences, their motivation for the violence and whether or not there was premeditation. The findings provide guidance for police agencies developing preventive policies, and for frontline officers in interpreting and managing the situations they face.

Co-offending and police notification: the differential reporting of young groups to the police

ABSTRACT Despite a wealth of research on the decision to notify police following victimization, there has been relative inattention to the role of a basic feature of crime: the tendency for individuals to offend in groups. Following this, the current research examines the influence of co-offending on the decision to notify police using information from the National Crime Victimization Survey. Results indicate that the co-offending is significantly and positively related to the likelihood of notification. Findings further indicate that this relationship is moderated by co-offender characteristics, such that young co-offenders and, to a lesser extent, male co-offenders are more likely than their counterparts to be reported to police. These results have important implications for understanding the invocation of both formal social control and disparities in these processes, indicating that co-offending not only has a direct effect on notification, but that it also changes the effect of offender characteristics on this decision.

ШЛЯХИ ВДОСКОНАЛЕННЯ ШТРАФУ ЯК ВИДУ ПОКАРАННЯ НЕПОВНОЛІТНІХ У КРИМІНАЛЬНОМУ ПРАВІ УКРАЇНИ

The article analyzes the problematic issues of applying criminal punishment in the form of a fine to minors, compared to community and correctional works. There is an opinion that the fine as a type of punishment has a rudimentary character and therefore has lost its relevance. However, any type of punishment must be considered based on the very phenomenon of punishment and its features, the juvenile offender, who in most cases is a victim of brutal treatment, involved in begging, drunkenness or other anti-social activities, or is generally a victim of criminogenic influence before convictions. The characteristics that affect the development of the personality of minors and the state of criminal behavior of minors were considered, this is determined by the psychophysiological and socio-psychological characteristics of the minor offender. That is why the biosocial and psychophysiological characteristics of minors must be taken into account in legislation and law enforcement practice when deciding on the admissibility of a particular type of punishment for minors. Psychophysical characteristics of a minor include emotional lability, lack of critical thinking, lack of ability to timely and fully assess the situation, biosocial ones include lack of physical ability to cause resistance, etc. Today, the state shows humanism, thereby giving priority to the best interests of a minor who has come into conflict with the law. The author is convinced that such reformation of the criminal legislation would significantly improve the work with juvenile offenders and would provide the desired results, since, based on the frequency of punishment in the form of a fine to minors, its presence in the Criminal Code is only nostalgia and conservatism of the domestic legislator. Each person must be personally responsible for the committed socially dangerous influence and, if he cannot fulfill the punishment in the form of a fine, the legislator provided, although not ideal, an alternative – community and correctional works. It is manifested in this the principle of individualization of punishment. Key words: correctional works, public works, institution of juvenile punishment, court practice, fine.

Victim reactions to being stalked: Examining the effects of perceived offender characteristics and motivations.

The current research utilized the National Crime Victimization Survey Supplemental Victimization Survey to investigate stalking in the United States. These data, collected from stalking victims, address the relationship between victims' perceptions of the stalker's motives on two post-victimization outcomes. Specifically, we examined the relationship between the victim's assessment of motive and the degree of harm they reported, along with exploring the relationship between harm and the likelihoods of engaging in self-protective behaviors. Here, harm was measured through an index of specific fears, concerns, and emotional distresses. We found that the frequency of stalking behaviors, the duration of the stalking experience, and the overall invasiveness of the victimization, in addition to certain motives, were positively correlated with harm. Furthermore, we found that harm was positively correlated with a number of protective actions. For researchers, this work may serve to provide entry points in the development of new grounded theory. For practitioners in law enforcement, this work may provide insights into the invasive nature of stalking and the fear and harm caused to the victim.

Criminal mutilation homicides in Japan: Corpse dismemberment and disposal pattern types, and offender characteristics.

This study examined the offender characteristics of criminal mutilation homicides in Japan for offender profiling. The current sample (N= 108) showed that the most typical offender was a male, in his 30s (age that observed most often), one-person, and acquainted with the victim. This study highlighted that the cases of mutilation homicide differed in comparison with the regular homicide group in terms of the victim-offender (VO) relationship and the number of offenders. Furthermore, the multiple correspondence analysis classified mutilation homicides into four behavioral pattern types based on two dimensions (level of "efforts of corpse dismemberment" and "efforts of corpse disposal"). In the first type "high evidence destruction effort (n = 29)", having the greatest efforts to destroy evidence, all offenders were men. The rates of no VO relationship and serial murders were higher. In the second type "convenient disposal (n = 32)", likely to abandon victim body in home and trash, the rate of female offenders who assaulted family members was statistically significantly higher among the four types. In the third type "high geographic distance (n = 23)", traveling long distances for corpse disposal, the percentage of cases by co-offenders was likely to be higher than in the other types. Lastly, the offenders in "low evidence destruction effort (n = 24)" were likely to kill other acquaintances and have the least efforts for corpse dismemberment and disposal. From these results, the criminal profilers can estimate mutilation homicide offenders on the basis of efforts of corpse dismemberment and disposal.

Overview of Filicide: Characteristics and Classification

Child murder is most common at the hands of a biologic or stepparent. Attempts to better understand filicide, or child murder by a parent, has resulted in several proposed classification schemes. Like most of the research in this area, the proposed classification schemes provide a conceptualization to understand why filicide occurs but have several limitations. Resnick's classification by motive, developed in 1969, is the most widely cited. A child is at highest risk of filicide within the first 24 hours of life. Mothers are responsible for more neonaticides than fathers, but filicides after the first day of life are committed equally by mothers and fathers. In many cases mental illness was present in filicides as well as suicide attempts following the filicidal act. This paper provides an overview of filicide including classification schemes and offender characteristics.

Manifestations of sexual sadism in child sexual assault and the associated victim, offender, and offense characteristics: A latent class analysis

BackgroundAlthough sadistic child sexual abuse (SCSA) is rare, existing typologies of child sexual abuse have identified the existence of sadistic subtypes in child molestation, as well in the sexual homicide of children. Nonetheless, no study has sought to determine whether there is heterogeneity in the manifestation of sexual sadism between sadistic child abusers. ObjectiveThe present study seeks to examine how SCSA manifests differently between offenders, and whether these differences are associated with specific victim, offender, and offense characteristics. Participants and settingThe current sample includes adult males (N = 101) who were involved in a child sexual assault and scored at least a 4 on the Severe Sexual Sadism Scale (SeSas). All offenses take place in France between 1990 and 2018. MethodsLatent class analysis was used to analyze the sample for heterogeneity. Bivariate analyses were conducted to identify external variables associated with each of the latent classes. ResultsThree distinct latent classes were found: the sadistic kidnapper; the sadistic torturer; and the sadistic ritualist. External validity testing also revealed distinctive characteristics associated with each class. ConclusionsSCSA involves a heterogenous population with distinctive sadistic behavioral manifestations that vary in severity and relate to differences in crime-commission processes and offender characteristics. These findings offer important insights for crime prevention and correctional practice.

Effects of Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors on Public Perceptions of Offenders: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITB) are prevalent within the criminal justice system, and formal justice involvement exacerbates SITB risk. Nevertheless, there is a lack of understanding about public perceptions of offenders with SITB. Using a sample of 2,097 U.S. residents, this randomized controlled trial evaluates public perceptions of relevant criminal justice outcomes and offender characteristics when an offender exhibits or reports SITB. Participants were more likely to endorse arrest for offenders–particularly violent offenders–who exhibited or reported SITB. Respondents were also more likely to believe offenders who exhibited or reported SITB–particularly violent offenders–would recidivate. SITB was associated with perceptions of increased dangerousness to self and others, which were explanatory mechanisms for why SITB was associated with endorsement for arrest and perceptions of increased likelihood of recidivism. These findings offer important insights into the general concern from the public to maintain public health and safety. Policy implications and future directions are discussed.

Exploring offending characteristics of young people with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder in Western Australia

Neurodevelopmental impairments resulting from Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) can increase the likelihood of justice system involvement. This study compared offence characteristics in young people with FASD to demographically matched controls (n = 500) in Western Australia. A novel approach (i.e. association rule mining) was adopted to uncover relationships between personal attributes and offence characteristics. For FASD participants (n = 100), file records were reviewed retrospectively. Mean age of the total sample was 15.60 years (range = 10–24), with 82% males and 88% Australian Aboriginal. After controlling for demographic factors, regression analyses showed FASD participants were more likely than controls to be charged with reckless driving (odds ratio, OR = 4.20), breach of bail/community orders (OR = 3.19), property damage (OR = 1.84), and disorderly behaviour (OR = 1.54). Overall, our findings suggest justice-involved individuals with FASD have unique offending profiles. These results have implications for sentencing, diversionary/crime prevention programs and interventions.

Sexual offenders : Epidemiological and Criminological Profile

IntroductionSexual assault is a major problem in Tunisian society. There is no definitive typology of the characteristics of those who sexually assault. A great diversity of sexual aggression behaviors and different motivations can be described.ObjectivesIt is about a retrospective survey, achieved from data of Medical Expertise of the sexual offenders achieved in psychiatric departement of hospital of mahdia. This study revealed 18 cases during the period from January 2010 to December 2020.MethodsThe objective of the work was to describe the epidemiological and criminological profile of the sexual assaults.ResultsMean age of the sample was 40 years [30-61]. Aggressors were almost exclusively males, have medium socioeconomic status and without a regular job. Fifty percent of the perpetrators had a psychiatric diagnosis: bipolar disorder (27.7%), schizophrenia (11.1%), antisocial personality disorder (5.5%) and intellectual disability (5.5%). Indecent assault (27.7%) was the most frequent aggression then the rape (22,2%). Thirty three per cent of the victims were minor.Among these expertised patients, 72% were considered responsible for their actions and only one was considered irresponsible.ConclusionsStudies on the characteristics of sexual offenders have concluded to the profile of the young, single and unemployed male, but it can’t be a commun profile.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Examining characteristics of federal Veteran men offenders in Canada by duration of service

Examining characteristics of federal Veteran men offenders in Canada by duration of service

Criminological Characteristics of a Repeat Offender's Personality: Key Contemporary Trends of Changes in Parameters

A high level of recidivism is a dangerous trend in contemporary Russian crime. Of all offenders registered in 2021, 60 % had committed crimes earlier. This testifies to a strong criminal orientation of offenders, the drawbacks in the legal regulation and the practice of prevention, and a low effectiveness of punishments and other measures of criminal law impact. A criminological study of the personality of a repeat offender will make it possible to identify its characteristics and specific features which, in their turn, will help to gain a better understanding of the causes of recidivist criminal conduct and contribute to the improvement of measures of individual prevention. In spite of a considerable interest to the personality of a repeat offender in criminological publications, there is no unified approach to the definition of this concept. Authors analyze different groups of repeat offenders that are formed using certain characteristics. Some scholars believe that a repeat offender is a person who commits another crime after being sentences to the deprivation of liberty for the previous one. For the purposes of this article, the personality of a repeat offender is understood as an aggregate of socio-demographic, social role and moral-psychological features typical of people who commit repeat offences while already having a criminal record. The author analyzed the published statistical data of the Court Department of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on socio-demographic, social role and moral-psychological features of convicts with unexpunged or unexpired convictions who committed a new crime, and outlined some contemporary changes in the group characteristics of repeat offenders. It is shown that the share of women-recidivists is growing, as well as the specific weight of persons who are 30-49 years of age. The author notes a rising level of education of convicts with a previous criminal record which, however, did not affect the number of repeat offences. As a rule, repeat offences happened when the convicts did not have a source of stable income, besides, in recent years the situation in the employment sphere worsened and the share of unemployed repeat offenders rose. The identified trend of lower gravity of repeat offences could testify to a rising level of latent recidivism. It is shown that persons convicted to punishments without isolation from the society pose a higher recidivism danger, which leads to the necessity of improving the practice of imposing and enforcing such punishments.

One and a half centuries of serial homicide in Italy: offender, victim and offence characteristics

The present study reports offender, victim and offence characteristics of the entire population of known serial homicide offenders identified in Italy between 1848 and 2019 (59 offenders, 244 victims, of whom 50.4% were men, and 21.7% were sex workers). We found that most of the offenders (72.4%) had a personality disorder. The offenders’ age during their series was 35.1 (SD = 11.3) years, on average. Sexual elements were found in 28.4% of the crime scenes. The median time interval between homicides was 2.8 months. Also, we investigated the consistency of the offence characteristics over the series and found significant correlations between the offence characteristics between a previous and the subsequent homicide.

Предупреждение насильственной преступности в интересах социально-экономического развития государства (опыт Республики Беларусь)

Abstract. Personal safety from criminal offences is highly valued by society and state and is of top priority for the criminal science and criminal law. Human life, health, sexual freedom and safety, a relevant level of public order and morals are considered the most important goals of the law enforcement, and that demands a choice of harsh punishments for murder, bodily injuries, rape etc. Among all the crimes committed in our state violent crimes are both prevalent and significant due to a heightened harm to society, since they often bring irrevocable harm. Dangerous social processes (alcoholism, marginalization, addictions to different drugs and types of behavior, a rise of mental illnesses) bolster the danger. 
 Therefore, creation and implementation of the modern ways and measures of violent offenses prevention becomes both relevant and timely. The system of prevention should be built basing on the quantitate and qualitive characteristics as a multi-level structure (general, special and individual level).
 Goal. Employing the academic research, case data, survey results the author aims at optimization of the multi-leveled system of the violent crimes and hooliganism prevention.
 Methods. The author uses comparative legal method, practical method of description, theoretical methods such as formal and dialectical logic, and surveys. Among the special scientific methods author has chosen formal legal and legal interpretation method.
 Results. Combating and prevention of crime, including violent offenses, stays a priority for every nation. It is directly related to the national safety from the domestic threats. One of the directions of state activities in that sphere is an exploration of the prevention methods.
 Collection of the analytical data on the quantitate and qualitive characteristics of the violent crimes in their dynamic, research in the sphere of personal characteristics of offenders violating life, health and sexual safety and public order allow us to create a holistic legal and scientific criminal policy in a Republic of Belarus, showing also a potential in prevention. Simultaneously a risk of recidivism among the convicted (more than 40 percent) for violence or violent threats demands our attention to the development and implementation of the multi-level prevention strategy.
 Scientific novelty. As a result of the research and accounting for the found criminal patterns the author offers an opinion of the prevention system reform in the field of violent crimes and hooliganism.
 Practical significance. The suggestions of the article in case of their implementation promise a probable decline of the violent crime rate, accounting for the optimization of the prevention activities of the different stakeholders in that field.

Evading Detection: What Do We Know about Men Charged with Extrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse following Delayed Detection?

ABSTRACT Most child sexual abuse (CSA) remains unreported and undetected. Despite this, much of what we know about perpetrators of CSA is derived from samples of convicted CSA offenders. Significant knowledge gaps remain about those who have evaded detection. This study addresses this gap with an in-depth content analysis of the case files of ten convicted child sexual offenders (CSOs) with the longest detection lag, selected from a broader group (n = 349) of men incarcerated at the Massachusetts Treatment Center (MTC). Participants were examined on a range of offender characteristics including Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), cognitive distortions, antisocial traits, indicators of pedophilia and Machiavellian or narcissistic traits, offense facilitating factors, and grooming behavior. A tentative profile emerged with the following characteristics: direct experience of childhood abuse, various cognitive distortions, specialized rather than versatile criminal history, pedophilic traits, Machiavellian traits, and engaging in a range of offense-facilitating behaviors including grooming. We provide insight into offenders who evade detection for CSA and set the foundation for further research to inform prevention strategies for law enforcement agencies and child-serving organizations.

Decision-making in an inquisitorial system: Lessons from Brazil

AbstractThis paper seeks to understand how decision-making works at the first appearance hearings (Custody Hearings) in Brazil, an initiative that intends to make the Brazilian criminal justice system more accusatorial. We used primary data gathered in the hearings between April and December 2018 in nine Brazilian states. Binary logistic regression models were applied to identify the variables that affect the odds ratios of pretrial detention. Results indicated a high level of homology between the prosecutors' requests and the judges' decisions, even when controlling for the characteristics of offense and offender, which precludes any direct openness to the defense. Decision-making in the Custody Hearing reinforces the inquisitorial characteristics and the institutional features of the Brazilian Criminal Justice System, suggesting that the reforms carried out over the last years were not able to change how actors operate on a daily basis.

Linking Foraging Domestic Burglary: An Analysis of Crimes Committed Within Police-Identified Optimal Forager Patches

Crime linkage is a systematic way of assessing behavioural or physical characteristics of crimes and considering the likelihood they are linked to the same offender. This study builds on research in this area by replicating existing studies with a new type of burglar known as optimal foragers, who are offenders whose target selection is conducted in a similar fashion to foraging animals. Using crimes identified by police analysts as being committed by foragers this study examines their crime scene behaviour to assess the level of predictive accuracy for linking crimes based on their offending characteristics. Results support previous studies on randomly selected burglary offence data by identifying inter-crime distance as the highest linking indicator, followed by target selection, entry behaviour, property stolen and offender crime scene behaviour. Results discuss distinctions between this study and previous research findings, outlining the potential that foraging domestic burglary offenders display distinct behaviours to other forms of offender (random/marauder/commuter).