Homicide and Criminal Profiling Flashcards
First degree murder
All murder that is planned and deliberate
- also murder of law enforcement officer or during another violent act
Second degree murder
Murder that is not planned but deliberate
Manslaughter
Unintentional murder that occurs during the heat of passion or because of criminal negligence
What is sentencing for homicid
up to 25 years in prison
Homicide rates in canada
- steady decline since the 90s
- only 1% of crime in Canada is murder
Homicide classification
- Reactive aggression (affective)
- impulsive, more unplanned, heat of moment
- driven by negative emotions
- happens more with people we know or have history with - Instrumental Aggression (predatory)
- Proactive, seek out, planned, premeditated, calculated
- Goal motivated: money, power, control
- strangers more likely than those we know
- more likely in psychopaths but linked to both types
In US 80% reactive, 20% instrumental
what are the 3 theories of homicidal aggression
- Social learning theory
- Evolutionary Theory
- General Aggression Model
Social Learning Theory
Aggressive behaviour is learned through a process of reinforcement
- increase reward = increase aggression in future
Evolutionary Theory
Crime can be thought of as adaptive behaviour used to survive and pass on genes
- Homicide emerged as a strategy to deal with competition for limited resources
General Aggression Model
Integrates several models
1. Inputs
- Person: who we are and our attitudes
- Situation: Context
2. Routes: present internal state
- Affect: how we feel, ability to regulate
- Cognition: dominant vs peripheral, context
- Arousal: Physiological
3. Outcomes:
- Appraisal and decision process
- Leads to thoughtful action or impulsive action
4. Social encounter
Then cycle continues
Serial Murder
The killing of at least 2 people over time
- Usually committed in different locations
- aren’t generally connected to one another
- Has cooling off period
Cool-off period
the inactive time interval between murders, can vary in length
Mass murder
The killing of multiple victims at a single location during one event
- no cooling off period
- at least 4 victims
Spree Murder
the killing of at least 2 victims in one continuous event at two or more locations
- no cooling off period
Gender statistic of serial murder
93% male
race statistic of serial murder
52% white
41% black
- most victims are white young women
Most common killing method in serial murder
Shooting
- strangulation and stabbing also common
Most common reason for killing in serial murders
Enjoyment
- thrill, power, financial gain, anger
What are the 2 main types of female serial murders
Black widows: kill for financial gain
Angels of death: nurses who kill their patients
Comparing female and male serial murders: prior criminal history
Males tend to have prior criminal history, females tend not to
Comparing female and male serial murders: Accomplice
25% of males have an accomplice
50% of females
Comparing female and male serial murders: Murder method
Males are more likely to use a firearm or to strangle or stab
Females are more likely to poison
Comparing female and male serial murders: Murder motive
males: sexual gratification or control
females: money
Comparing female and male serial murders: victim type
males: strangers
females: family members
Comparing female and male serial murders: Geographical type
Males: geographically mobile
females: place specific
Holmes and holmes (1998) - typologies of serial murders
Used 110 case files to develop a classification system based on case study
4 major types proposed:
- Visionary: kills in response to voices or visions
- Mission oriented: targets individuals from a group they consider undesirable
- Hedonistic: murders for self-gratification (3 subcategories)
- Power/control: murders for dominance over the victim - focus on process rather than in or out
CRITISIMS
- doesn’t consider changing motivation
3 subtypes of hedonistic serial murders
- Lust murderer: sexual gratification
- Thrill murderer: excited with fear or pain reaction
- Comfort murderer: finical gain or material possessions
Characteristics of a mass murderer
- Depressed, angry, frustrated
- Socially isolated, feel rejected
- Sometimes motivated by perceived injustice
- Believe they have not succeeded, lack interpersonal skills
- Act of revenge, planned, warning signs
- Plan to commit suicide or be linked by law enforcement
Criminal profiling
Technique for identifying the major personality and behavioral characteristics of an individual based upon an analysis of the crimes they have committed
- Most commonly used for violent serial crimes
- helps set traps to flush out an offender
- determines whether a threatening note should be taken seriously
- advises on how best to interrogate a suspect
- tells prosecutors how to beak down defendants in cross-examination
Now called criminal investigative analysis
New York City’s Mad Bomber
- Unknown offender detonated bombs in public places
- Dr. James Brussel, forensic psychiatrist, developed a profile
- Dr. Brussel’s profile was largely correct, down to the double-breasted suit that Georgy Metesky wore to the police station
When was criminal profilling introduced to the FBI
1970s
When was the field of invesitgative psychology founded
1990s by david canter
Linkage blindness
inability to link geographically disperse serial crimes committed by the same offender
How was linkage blindness solved
In 1990s RCMP developed violent crime linkage analysis system (ViCLAS)
- automated system for linking serial crimes
Deductive criminal profiling
- Prediction of an offender’s background characteristics based on evidence left at the crime scene
- Relies on logical reasoning, flexible approach
Inductive Criminal Profiling
- Prediction of an offender’s background characteristic based on what we know about other solved cases
- Premise: if certain crimes committed by different people are similar, offenders must also share similar personality traits
- Arguably more objective
Goodwill, lehmann, beauregard & andrei (2016) - sexual assault characteristics
Used previously solved cases of sexual assault to develop a framework for relating categories of crime scene characteristics to categories of background characteristics
- Used cluster analysis to identify certain behaviors of search strategies, selection strategies, approach behaviours, assault, background characteristics
Search strategies of sexual assault
- Hunters: close to home
- Poachers: longer distance
- Trollers: encounter in regular routine
- Trappers: put themselves in situations with access to victims
Selection strategies in sexual assult
- Telio Specific: person with certain characteristic, often adult women
- Pedo/Hebe specific: Have a type, children and adolescence
- Non-specific: no type
Approach behaviours of sexual assault
- Opportunistic cons/tricksters: Use ruse
- Home intruder
- Persuasion: non-violent strategies to get close to victim
Assault strategies of sexual assault
- Violent + control: physical and verbal assault
- Attempt: Verbal, increase resistance
- Persuasion + sexual: no physical force, high focus
Background characteristic of sexual assult
- Socially Competent Offender: high functioning
- Antisocial generalist: antisocial personality traits, involved in other antisocial behavior
- Sexual deviant: satisfying interesting sexual desires
How did Goodwill, lehmann, beauregard & andrei correlated differnent characteristics
Used Multiple correspondence analysis which compared level of violence with victim type specificity
- Found 3 clusters
CLUSTER 1
- Home intruder
- Telio specific
- sexually deviant
- hunter
- violence and control
CLUSTER 2
- Pedo
- trapper
- persuasion and sexual
- persuasion and familiarity
- socially competent
CLUSTER 3
- Non-specific
- Opportunistic con/trickster
- troller
- attempt
- antisocial generalist
- poacher
The validity of criminal profiling
- Many profiling techniques based on a theoretical model of personality that lacks strong empirical support
- Core psychological assumptions lack strong empirical support
- Many profiles contain information that is so vague and ambiguous they can potentially fit many suspects
- Professional profilers may not be better than untrained individuals at constructing accurate profiles
Classic trait model
Assumes the primary determinants of behavior are stable, internal traits
Geographical profiling
An investigative technique that uses crime scene locations to predict the most likely area where an offender resides - used to prioritize existing suspects
- Assumption: most serial offenders do not travel far form home to commit their crimes
Geographical profiling systems
Computer systems that use mathematical models of offender spatial behavior to make predictions about where unknown serial offenders are likely to reside
- Produces output with rings of likelihood
- takes population density into consideration
- Can find where they live in 12% of the time it would normally take.
