Abstract
Professor Canter’s impact is illustrated by how he has taken the Hollywood-style mysticism of “profiling,” and reframed it into a systematic, scientific discipline, a process grounded by a solid theoretical framework, appropriate methodologies, backed by empirical data. Investigative psychology is his creation; an applied, problem-solving field about how psychology can contribute to our understanding criminal actions and how this understanding can contribute to issues faced by police and the courts. Behavioural Analysis of Crime: Studies in David Canter’s Investigative Psychology is for those seeking a philosophical, empirical, and technical understanding of Investigative Psychology.
As editor, Donna Youngs has skillfully orchestrated a collection of important research studies by international researchers. This book, while not casual or undergraduate reading, is well suited to criminologists, forensic psychologists, law enforcement, graduate-level students, and researchers in crime-related fields. A distinct advantage is this book’s organization as a collection of well-written studies by different authors thereby allowing research interests, expertise, and different writing styles to best illustrate this field.
Behavioural Analysis of Crime is structured into four sections, each consisting of chapters written by those who have worked with Professor Canter. This structure focuses the reader on particular components of Investigative Psychology (i.e., “On David Canter’s Methodologies” and “IP: A problem-solving Discipline”) while covering areas such as homicide, sexual assault, hostage incidents, and arson.
Section 1 discusses David Canter’s theories and models. Canter approaches violence as an interpersonal transaction, reflecting the ways in which the offender deals with people; underlying this transaction is how an offender makes sense of his world. This criminal self-narrative is key to understanding patterns of criminal actions. Maruna and Butler’s chapter on criminal narratives departs from the traditional focus on modus operandi, offender personality traits, and sociodemographic variables. This approach opens up possibilities for understanding change and development in criminal behavior as well as practical implications for intervention and rehabilitation strategies.
Central to research in Investigative Psychology is criminal differentiation. Action Systems is one theoretical framework used to interpret patterns of behavior and develop practical strategies for targeted intervention and incident management. Separate studies by Fritzon (Action Systems Models of Criminal Differentiation) and Yokota (Hostage Barricade Incidents) demonstrate how this framework can be applied to criminal behavior and form the basis of decision-making tools to identify offences, offenders, and to inform incident management strategies.
Looking further into victim–offender interaction among youths who sexually harm, Almond’s clear, concise chapter draws upon Canter’s adult sexual behavior model, demonstrating how this framework is a powerful tool for youth offender differentiation and reveals practical applications for identification and targeted intervention strategies.
Prior to Canter’s research, there had not been systematic studies into the offender’s emotional experience of crime. From this perspective, Ioannou examines the meaning and significance of the offense. Her findings reveal distinct advantages of research in this area and potential applications to clinical, judicial, and police settings.
Section 2 examines specific methodologies used in Investigative Psychology. Working in an area in which data are frequently collected for purposes other than research, Professor Canter has pioneered ways of revealing trends using methods which are sensitive this type of material.
Of particular significance is the use of multidimensional scaling to identify replicable structures in crime scene data. Hammond’s chapter, using data on sexual assaults, eloquently discusses key issues surrounding data exploration and the importance of choosing an appropriate intervariable association coefficient. Making a complex topic accessible, he discusses his new index of intervariable similarity, the Jaccard-Canter Index, specifically developed for Investigative Psychology.
Salfati’s chapter on homicide profiling describes how her early work with Professor Canter on crime scene behavior analysis using IP methodologies reveals thematic differentiation between crime scenes and related offenders. This work serves as a solid empirical foundation upon which further research can be based, particularly in areas of linking homicide as her recent work has shown.
Facet theory is another methodology used by Professor Canter. Giles, in her examination of coroner’s reports, applied this approach to develop a multidimensional model of suicide precursors. This has the potential to inform decision making, as it relates to investigations questioning a possible murder or suicide.
Lee’s chapter is an excellent discussion on the marriage of Facet Analysis and Investigative Psychology. This approach, using of nonmetric multidimensional scaling procedures, has been integral in allowing models of offender behavior to be developed.
Section 3 situates Investigative Psychology as a practical, problem-solving discipline with examples in the areas of geographical profiling and linking crimes, as well as examining the complex nature of the profiling process. In their chapter on geographical profiling, Hammond and Youngs describe how the relationship between criminal behavior and offence locations are analyzed to understand the psychology of crime. Further developments of Canter’s geographical profiling work, decision support software development, and the ways in which these tools can inform police investigations are discussed.
While geographical profiling has grown rather rapidly, advancement in other areas is more challenging. The first empirical tests of behavioral linkage analysis were conducted by Bennell and Canter. Canter, having identified key components to linking crimes set the stage for Bennell’s innovation to apply these principles using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis to determine if crimes have been committed by the same offender. Traditional linking techniques vary in accuracy based upon the specific threshold to determine if two crimes are linked or not. ROC analysis is a unique and powerful tool that voids limitations used in traditional linkage analysis
Youngs and Spruin’s chapter focuses on the core conceptual issues of Investigative Psychology. It is a call to researchers to distill the essence of the problem and to ground research in an appropriate theoretical and methodological framework.
Section 4, featuring commentary by Professor Canter, highlights key points in geographical profiling and evaluation of profiles. The additional chapter by Canter and Youngs discussing narrative psychology is a powerful argument for those who may not yet fully appreciate its utility.
In summary, Youngs has edited a collection of clear, concise studies situating Investigative Psychology as a field of applied research making groundbreaking contributions to the study of crime and criminal behavior. Each author has included a reference list; professor Canter has provided a carefully selected bibliography of his books and publications. These extensive, valuable resources will be of great interest to those looking to gain deeper knowledge in specific areas.