RT Article
T1 An action phase approach to offender profiling
JF Legal and criminological psychology
VO 21
IS 2
SP 229
OP 250
A1 Goodwill, Alasdair M.
A2 Lehmann, Robert J. B.
A2 Beauregard, Eric
A2 Andrei, Andreea
LA English
YR 2016
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1846946220
AB 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.
NO Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 247-250
NO Gesehen am 30.05.2023
NO First published: 28 October 2014
K1 Offender profiling
K1 behavioural investigative advice
K1 Sexual Offending
K1 action phases
K1 Decision Making
K1 actions to characteristics
K1 Homology
DO 10.1111/lcrp.12069