The present study explored the link between offenders’ prior criminal specialization (violent crime, sexual crime, or burglary/theft) and subsequent homicide crime scene type (exploit, control, distance) in 77 U.S. cases of single-offender/single-victim homicides. Specialists as compared to those with no prior criminal history were significantly more likely to engage in goal directed behaviors such as controlling the victim, controlling the outcome, and exploitative behaviors (sex and theft). Sexual crime specialists specifically were the more distinct subtype. The findings indicated differences in how first-time homicide offenders approach the crime scene and are discussed in line with the usefulness to homicide investigators.
Blumstein, A., Cohen, J., Das, S., & Moitra, S.D. ( 1988). Specialization and seriousness during adult criminal careers. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 4, 303-345.
2.
Britt, C.L. ( 1994). Versatility. In T. Hirschi , & M.R. Gottfredson (Eds.), The generality of deviance (pp. 173-191). New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
3.
Canter, D. ( 1989). Offender profiles. The Psychologist, 2, 12-16.
4.
Canter, D. ( 1994). Criminal shadows. London: HarperCollins.
5.
Canter, D. ( 1995). Psychology of offender profiling. In R. Bull & D. Carson (Eds.), Handbook of psychology in legal contexts (pp. 343-345). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
6.
Canter, D. ( 2000). Offender profiling and criminal differentiation. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 5, 23-46.
7.
Canter, D., & Heritage, R. ( 1990). A multivariate model of sexual offence behaviour: Developments in offender profiling. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry,1, 185-212.
8.
Caspi, A., & Bem, D. ( 1990). Personality continuity and change across the life course . In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 549-575). New York: Guilford.
9.
Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T.E. ( 1993). When do individual differences matter? A paradoxical theory of personality coherence. Psychological Inquiry, 4, 247-271.
10.
Davies, A., Wittebrood, K., & Jackson, J.L. ( 1997). Predicting the criminal antecedents of a stranger rapist from his offence behaviour. Science Justice, 37, 161-170.
11.
Dietz, P.E., Hazelwood, R.R., & Warren, J. ( 1990). The sexually sadistic criminal and his offenses. Bulletin of American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 18, 163-178.
Fesbach, S. ( 1964). The function of aggression and the regulation of aggressive drive. Psychological Review, 71, 257-272.
14.
Francis, B., Soothill, K., & Fligelstone, R. (2004). Identifying patterns of offending behavior: A new approach to typologies of crime. European Journal of Criminology, 1(1), 47-87.
15.
Groth, A.N., & Birnbaum, H.J. (1979). Men who rape: The psychology of the offender. New York: Plenum .
16.
Gottfredson, R., & Hirschi, T. ( 1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
17.
Hare, R.D. ( 1999). Without conscience: The disturbing world of the psychopaths among us. New York: Guilford.
18.
Holmes, R. ( 1991). Sex crimes. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
19.
Huesmann, L.R., & Eron L.D. ( 1989). Individual differences and the trait of aggression. European Journal of Personality, 3, 95-106.
20.
Klein, M.W. ( 1984). Offence specialisation and versatility among juveniles . British Journal of Criminology, 24, 185-194.
21.
Lussier, P., Proulx, J., & LeBlanc, M. ( 2005). Criminal propensity, deviant sexual interests and criminal activity of sexual aggressors against women: A comparison of explanatory models . Criminology, 43, 249-281.
22.
Lynam, D.R., Piquero, A.R., & Moffitt, T.E. ( 2004). Specialization and the propensity to violence: Support from self-reports but not official records. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 20, 215-228.
23.
Mazerolle, P., Brame, R., Paternoster, R., Piquero, A., & Dean, C. ( 2000). Onset age, persistence, and offending versatility: Comparisons across gender. Criminology, 38 (4), 1143-1171.
24.
Piquero, A. ( 2000). Frequency, specialization, and violence in offending careers. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 37, 391-418.
25.
Salfati, C.G. ( 2000). The nature of expressiveness and instrumentality in homicide: Implications for offender profiling. Homicide Studies, 4, 265-293.
26.
Salfati, C.G. ( 2003). Offender interaction with victims in homicide: A multidimensional analysis of frequencies in crime scene behaviors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18, 490-512.
27.
Salfati, C.G. ( 2006). The Homicide Profiling Index (HPI)-A tool for measurements of crime scene behaviors, victim characteristics, and offender characteristics . In C. G. Salfati (Ed.), Homicide research: Past, present and future: Proceedings of the 2005 Meeting of the Homicide Research Working Group. Chicago: Homicide Research Working Group.
28.
Salfati, C.G. ( 2008). Linking serial crimes. In J. Fossi & L. Falshaw (Eds.), Issues in forensic psychology (Vol. 8). Leicester, UK: British Psychological Society, Division of Forensic Psychology Publications .
29.
Salfati, C.G., & Canter, D.V. ( 1999). Differentiating stranger murders: Profiling offender characteristics from behavioral styles. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 17, 391-406.
30.
Salfati, C.G., & Dupont, F. ( 2006). Canadian homicide: An investigation of crime scene actions . Homicide Studies, 10, 118-139.
31.
Salfati, C.G., & Park, J. ( 2007). Korean homicide crime scene analysis. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22, 1448-1470.
32.
Salfati, C.G., & Taylor, P. ( 2006). Differentiating sexual violence: A comparison of sexual homicide and rape. Psychology, Crime and Law, 12(2), 107-126.
33.
Santtila, P., Canter, D., Elfgren, T., & Häkkänen, H. (2001). The structure of crime scene actions in Finnish homicides. Homicide Studies, 5, 363-387.
34.
Schlesinger, L.B., & Revitch, E. ( 1999). Sexual burglaries and sexual homicide: Clinical, forensic, and investigative considerations. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law, 27, 227-238.
35.
Shoda, Y., Mischel, W., & Wright, J.C. ( 1994). Intra-individual stability in the organization and patterning of behavior: Incorporating psychological situations into the idiographic analysis of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 67, 674-687.
36.
Tracy, P., & Kempf-Leonard, K. (1996). Continuity and discontinuity in criminal careers. New York: Plenum Press.
37.
Toch, H. ( 1969). Violent men. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books.
38.
Trojan, C., & Salfati, C.G. ( 2010). Linking criminal history to crime scene behaviors in single-victim and serial homicide: Implications for offender profiling research . Manuscript submitted for publication.
39.
Youngs, D. ( 2004). Personality correlates of offense style. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 1(2), 99-119. Available from http://www.interscience.wiley.com
40.
Youngs, D. ( 2006). How does crime pay? The differentiation of criminal specialism by fundamental incentive. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 3(1), 1-19. Available from www.interscience.wiley.com
41.
Wolfgang, M.E., Figlio, R.M., & Sellin, T. ( 1972). Delinquency in a birth cohort. Chicago : University of Chicago Press.
