Assessment Guide Book for a Homicide Murder

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Other important profiling elements
Conclusion
References

Introduction

A criminal profile is a well developed psychological sketch of the offender based on the state of the scene of the crime. Criminal profiling is normally the third wave of investigative science. It comes after the study of clues and crime itself.

In many instances, behavior reflecting personality is a basic premise. It is therefore important to collect information on the personality of the offender through questions about their behaviors at four stages. Each phase has a unique contribution in the court presentation process.

Criminal profiling involves crime scene analysis which links the behavioral evidence present at the scene of the crime to the personality attributes of the suspected offender, and diagnostic evaluation used to determine the motive behind the killing. (Koscis, 2007, p.280). Offender profiling therefore reflects the various disciplines used in it. (Palermo, 2005, p.5)

Antecedent

As an investigator at this initial stage, there is need to understand the plan or fantasy that the murderer had in place before he/she acted. It is important to get to an understanding of what triggered the offender to act on some occasions and not others. Understanding the previous events before the murder helps the investigator gain a clear insight on how and why the crime occurred. For example, if the offender had disagreements with the victim over land boundary issues; this could be the source of the plan put in place to murder the victim.

Method and manner (modus operandi)

It is extremely important to make sure that the victims murdered by the given killer have been properly analyzed. The way and style through with the murder was conducted is an important aspect that should be fully understood by the investigator. For instance, did the killer shot or strangle? Operation mode is so crucial in linking cases but it has to be examined carefully.

Operation methods change and as victims commit more offences they learn more operation techniques (Ebisike, 2008, p.2), and there are several things that determine the offender’s choice of a method at a given criminal instance.

The method used in the killing is very important to the investigator in offender profiling.e.g. in an instance where an offender is found illegally handling a fire arm; he can be easily connected to a shooting killing case.

Body disposal

Coming to a clear knowledge of whether the murder and disposal of the body occurred at the same scene is very important to the investigation process. Multiple scenes mean that the victim was murdered and disposed at different places, and this is always an act of organized crime. Body disposal helps the investigator determine the type of crime under investigation.

Body disposal can also help link the murderer with the crime for instance a case where the body is disposed in a river, yet the murderer is seen spending some time along the river bank the day the crime is perpetrated.

Post-offence behavior

Post-offensive behavior can be used to find out whether the offender is interfering with the process of investigations. This can be obtained from the way they respond to media reports or some of them could even go to an extent of carrying out investigations on their own. Such a behavior if noticed is always an indication that the suspect knows much about the killing.

An investigator needs to understand the behavior of the suspected murder after the offence, in order to determine whether it can be linked with the offence or not. However, this is not always perfect because many organized offenders know how to act in a manner de-linking them from the offence.

Other important profiling elements

Blind folds

There are various forms of blind folds and an investigator needs to understand whether any one of them was used in perpetrating the crime. Blind folds may include clothes pieces, masks, rags or simply keeping the offender in total darkness. (Holmes, 2002, p.127-136). Blindfolds hide the identity of the offender from the victims. Blindfolds also depersonalize and objectify the killer.

Presence of blind folds signifies an offender who knows what he/she is doing. Blind folds are meant to keep the victim in total darkness so that the murder can not be identified. This may be used by offenders who are well known to the victims in order to hide their identity.

Weapons

Weapons used by serial killers are carefully selected, and hands-on weapons are preferred because they touch, terrorize and degrade the victim. Such weapons may include straps, hammers, knives, hands, hand guns among other weapons that can be used in close contact. A weapon can be directly linked to the harm caused on the victim e.g. blood deposits on an offenders knife.

Bondage

Bondage is mainly used in organized killings. The motivations of bondage are to hold, hurt and place the offended in a degraded position. If a victim is found harmed, then he should have been harmed by experienced criminals.

Position of the body

The body position of the victim reveals very important information about the serial killer. Body positioning may be attributed to the intention of the offender. However some killers may change the body position in order to divert the attention of the investigators.e.g. disposing the victim on a busy highway.

Duct tape

The background of the offender can be closely associated with the use of a duct tape. Duct tapes are mainly used by former prisoners, who are mainly taught by other criminals on the reasons and type of duct tape use. Use of duct tape mainly implies the offender could be a jail bird or former prisoner.

Crime scene staging

This is the deliberate and well calculated act of altering the scene of the crime before the policemen arrive. Its mainly denotes an organized killer who knows that he has to divert the attention of the investigators. Any conscious attempt by the criminal to divert the attention of the investigation can be referred to as staging. (Ebisike, 2008, p.2).

A murderer may for instance light a charcoal cooking tool in the victim’s bedroom and place the dead body on the bed in order in order to bring out a picture of suffocation.

Souvenirs

One reason why victims take souvenirs is to have a reminder of what took place. Many organized killers know that taking the victims property can expose them to undue risk. The decision to take a souvenir is therefore made rationally by the offender. Sometimes the victim’s body can be mutilated and no personal belongings of the victim on the crime scene to make it hard to identify the victim.

Evaluation of souvenirs found in possession of the suspected victim might help in determining the background and motive of the crime. They also link the suspected offender to the given offence. (Ebisike, 2008, p.1)

Trophies

In murder cases, this is something that has intrinsic value e.g. a body part, the victim’s valuable property among others that serve as a reward and a reminder to the offender of the killing experience. Trophies found with the offender are a clear linkage with the killing.

Linkage analysis

This refers to the comparison of behavioral patterns and other aspects of two or more offences committed at different scenes to ascertain if the offences were committed by one criminal. Consistency requires the investigator to perform a complete reconstruction of the crime. Furthermore, consistency between two or more crimes does not necessarily mean that they were committed by one suspected offender. (Patherick, 2009, p.45)

Offender’s signature o calling card

This comprises of elements in the character of the suspected offender that may appear at the scene of the crime. This is the driving force and method of the perpetrator and it can change. Signature is the mark of the murderer and can be learned from other killers, reading books, experience, television, and criminal investigations. However, it’s important to note that the evidence of trait or character of an offender at the crime scene is not enough to link the suspected offender with the given crime

Conclusion

This research paper has explored the development of a case assessment guide for a homicide murder. The paper has put into consideration the specific components to be considered in building a criminal profile for a homicide murder case to be used in a court room. It also focuses on prioritized categories of evidence to be used and the rationale for using each category. As an investigator, the research paper can be used in a court room.

References

Ebisike. N (2008). Offender profiling in the court room. West port: green wood Publishing group.

Holmes. R. M. (2002). Profiling violent crimes, London: sage publications ltd.

Koscis. R.N. (2008). Serial murder and the psychology of violent crimes, New Jersey: Humana press.

Palermo. G.B (2005). Offender profiling. Spring field: Charles.C. Thomas Publisher.

Patherick. W. (2009). Theoretical and practical issues on behavioral profiling, Burlington: Elsevier academic press.

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