Offender profiling aims at generating information of an offender based upon the crime committed and the goal is to be an adjunct in the crime invesigation process. The aim of the study was to examine crime scene characteristics and corroborating evidence and their associations with offenders' interrogation behavior. Results from 207 analyzed police files indicated that reactive (impulsive) offenders confessed more often when there was technical evidence against them compared to instrumental (calculating) offenders. Reactive offenders also had more injuries. Injured reactive offenders were more inclined to deny, whereas injured instrumental offenders claimed amnesia more often. When comparing the confessions injured reactive offenders were more inclined to confess than injured instrumental offenders. There was also a strong tendency implying more confessions with witness reports. The findings point towards the practical usefulness of information of crime scene characteristics and corroborating evidence in the interrogation phase by better tailoring the interviewing strategy.

Gärningsmannaprofilering (GMP) är en polisiär metod som används vid svårlösta utredningar. I Sverige praktiseras metoden av en central grupp vid Rikskriminalpolisen, den såkallade GMP-gruppen. Studiens övergripande syfte är att förstå och förklara GMP som polisiär metod, samt undersöka metodens effektivitet, korrekthet och vetenskaplighet. Ett särskilt syfte är att testa inlärningsteorin och rutinaktivitetsteorin gentemot GMP-metoden för diskutera eventuella samband. Studien är kvalitativt orienterad och bygger på den hermeneutiska teorin om tolkning av källor. Studien bygger på en omfattande systematisk litteraturstudie i kombination med två intervjuer. Sammanfattningsvis kan man säga att de slutsatser som analysen har är att GMP är en metod som i många fall tycks vara effektiv och som ofta genererar korrekta gärningsmannaprofiler. Dock behövs det mer kunskap om GMPs vetenskapliga förankring. Det har även visat sig att det finns ett samband mellan GMP och både rutinaktvitetsteorin och inlärningsteorin. Sambandet med inlärningsteorin är dock marginellt.

Offenders who target children are a negative phenomenon in our society. These offenders are often seen as the worst of the worst of criminals and are therefore a priority for investigators trying to solve these crimes as fast as possible. The purpose of this thesis is to see if there are common denominators among these offenders in their modus operandi (MO) and their spatial patterns. If similar patterns emerge amongst these offenders, that would be of investigative importance for those who work with crimes against children. In Study I, a group of child molesters and their MO were studied in order to see how they found their victims and where they committed their crimes. The results were consistent with previous studies on child molesters in that they all committed their crimes at home or close to their homes. In Study II, a geographical profiling tool was tested in order to see if such a program could be used to find an offender who made obscene phone calls (OPC) to children. The results showed that the geographical software based on spatial behaviour, was able to narrow down the search area in which the offender actually lived when he committed his crimes. In Study III, the focus was on the potential witnesses/victims and how much a child could remember correctly of a staged event simulating a potential child molester looking for new victims. The results showed that the children’s event memory were comparable with an adult control group. The combined results could be summarized as follows: offenders who target children usually commit their crimes at home or close to home (or base), they tend to lure children to go with them by using bribes or the recruitment of former victims. Girls seem to be the preferred sex over boys. Children could be used as accurate witnesses in these types of crimes.

The aim of this project is to ascertain whether the data in existing Police recording systems can be used by existing mature data mining techniques in an efficient manner to achieve results that are more accurate than those achieved by Police specialists when analysing crime. The Police Service has no formalised methodology of recording and analysing crime data and it is incumbent on each Force to train and develop appropriate personnel to provide operational analysis. Police data is inconsistent and, frequently, incomplete making the task of formal analysis far more difficult and current analytical practices are semi-manual and time consuming producing results of limited accuracy. These analytical processes would benefit from using data mining techniques within a structured approach as discussed within this thesis. The usage of supervised and unsupervised learning techniques within a structured methodology to mining Police data is evaluated. The research demonstrates that data mining techniques can be successfully used in operational policing. High volume crimes such as burglary that have been committed by one or more known offenders can be classified and the model used to attribute currently undetected crimes to one or more of those known offenders. Burglary crimes that previously had no overt relationship and the identity of the offender is unknown can be clustered with the ability to suggest one or more offenders who may be responsible for committing the crime. The same techniques used in analysing high volume crime can be used to link low volume major crimes such as serious sexual assaults. The recognised benefits include an improvement in the accuracy of results over current semi-manual processes and a reduction in the time taken to achieve those results.

Název diplomové práce v anglickém jazyce, abstrakt v anglickém jazyce a tři klíčová slova v anglickém jazyce Psychological profiling of an offender Abstract The subject of this diploma thesis is the method called psychological profiling (also called criminal profiling or offender profiling), which was created in the 1970s by the American FBI to help investigators to solve serious violent crimes, such as serial murders or rapes. It involves working out the characteristics of an offender by examining the characteristics of the crime scene and the crime itself. Its aim is to create a profile of a likely offender, therefore it is usually perceived as a useful tool by law enforcement agencies when regular forensic methods fail to reveal the indentity of an unknown suspect. The main goal of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive view of this method, including its advantages and disadvantages, free from media distortion. The thesis consists of four main chapters. The first chapter explains the term psychological profiling and its roots and definitions, focuses on the history of the method and its most significant approaches - crime analysis, investigative psychology and behavioral analysis. Further in this chapter, I describe the ideal characteristics and background of an expert creating a profile. The last...

Despite the increased use of criminal profiling by law enforcement agencies, few studies examine factors impacting profile accuracy, and only one has evaluated profiler training. The present study examined the efficacy of profiler training on profile accuracy for sexual homicide offenders. Participants (N = 198) were randomly assigned to the training or control condition. Participants in the training condition learned inductive and deductive profiling techniques for sexual homicide offenders, whereas control participants learned about sexual violence prevention. Results indicated that participants’ self-reported use of combined profiling methods produced more accurate profiles. Differences between gender and training groups were also present. These findings suggest brief psychology-based training can be used to teach police officers and detectives to more accurately identify and apprehend criminals.

Swedish national statistics suggest that the number of reported stranger rapes is steadily increasing. Stranger rape is one of the most difficult types of crime for the police to investigate because there is no natural tie between the victim and offender. As a result, there is a need for more knowledge about how crime scene features could be used to make inferences of likely offender characteristics that could help investigators narrow down the pool of suspects. The aim in Study I was to examine how offender behaviors interact with contextual features, victim behaviors, and the assault outcome. Results suggest that the stranger rapes could be distinguished by five different dynamic rape pattern themes, which mainly differed on two dimensions: level of violence to control the victim, and level of impulsivity/premeditation characterizing the rapes. The results also highlight the importance of including contextual features when studying offender behaviors. The aim in Study II was to examine how single-victim rapists and serial rapists can be differentiated by the actions at their first stranger rape. Results suggest that three behaviors in conjunction: kissed victim, controlled victim, and offender drank alcohol before the offense, could be used to predict whether the offender was a single-victim rapist or serial rapist with a classification accuracy of 80.4 %. The aim in Study III was to examine how stranger rapists could be differentiated from a normative sample on background characteristics, and if stranger rapists’ pre-assault and initial-attack behaviors could be used to predict likely offender characteristics. Results showed that the strongest predictions could be made for previous criminal convictions, offender age, and the distance traveled by the offender to offend. Overall, the present thesis has found some scientific support for the use of crime scene behaviors to make inferences of likely offender characteristics that could be useful for profiling purposes. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Submitted. Paper 3: Submitted.</p>

This study explores the phenomenon of serial murder from the perspective of narrative psychology. Using a case study approach and a grounded theory analytical process this qualitative study utilised the narrative concept of the imago to explore the motivation and development of those who commit serial murder in South Africa. The aim is increase our theoretical understanding of serial murder in directions that support offender profiling. Semi-structured interviews with two South African men who committed serial murder were undertaken and analysed alongside archival data. Their imagoes formed the focus of the analysis. This analysis included a consideration of how the individual’s motivations and developmental patterns were reflected in their crime scenes. This study demonstrated that imagoes play a significant role in the motives for offending, and development of offence behaviours, in men who commit serial murder. The imagoes help create motives; then embody these motives by encouraging and justifying certain types of behaviour in the individual. Interactions between imagoes were particularly significant in this regard. The dominant imago associated with the individual’s self was also associated with the development of a behavioural template for offending, and was thus especially significant in embodying motive. The development of offending was further encouraged by the separation between imagoes involved in offending and those that are not. However differences between the case studies were also observed, such as the extent to which imagoes develop in interaction with others and the roles played by their imagoes in the developmental narrative of their offending. These findings shed novel theoretical light on the study of serial murder in South Africa. It suggests directions for research into the role of narrative and culture in offending, and for the study of the imago as an embodied mode of interpersonal interaction. It also offers opportunities for research aiming to support offender profiling, and proposes a possible synthesis of competing conceptions of serial murder. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Psychology / unrestricted

Thesis (Ph. D. (Criminology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / The research concerned with the aim of this study, was to assess the appli-cation of intelligence-driven investigation in combating organised motor vehicle theft. The strategic intelligence plan, information sharing and understanding of or-ganised vehicle theft, are some of approaches which will assist in dealing with the challenge of the illegal sale of vehicles and vehicle parts. There is indeed a need to address police corruption, if the battle against vehicle theft is to be realised. The objectives of this study were the following: to explain the strategic intelli-gence plan for investigating motor vehicle theft; to evaluate whether investiga-tions of organised motor vehicle theft in Thohoyandou cluster are intelligence-driven; to assess if the cluster uses intelligence offender profiling in investi-gations; to explore how intelligence-driven investigation assists in information sharing; and, to make recommendations for the improvement of intelligence-driven vehicle theft investigation. The researcher wanted to apply new research knowledge, in order to develop good practice in the field. This has been done by recommending new proced-ures to enhance performance and to improve the ways and means of combating organised vehicle theft. KEY TERMS Intelligence-driven investigation; strategic intelligence; intelligence cycle; crime investigations; modus operandi; offender profiling; organised crime; systems theory; motor vehicle theft; information sharing.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Criminology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / The research concerned with the aim of this study, was to assess the appli-cation of intelligence-driven investigation in combating organised motor vehicle theft. The strategic intelligence plan, information sharing and understanding of or-ganised vehicle theft, are some of approaches which will assist in dealing with the challenge of the illegal sale of vehicles and vehicle parts. There is indeed a need to address police corruption, if the battle against vehicle theft is to be realised. The objectives of this study were the following: to explain the strategic intelli-gence plan for investigating motor vehicle theft; to evaluate whether investiga-tions of organised motor vehicle theft in Thohoyandou cluster are intelligence-driven; to assess if the cluster uses intelligence offender profiling in investi-gations; to explore how intelligence-driven investigation assists in information sharing; and, to make recommendations for the improvement of intelligence-driven vehicle theft investigation. The researcher wanted to apply new research knowledge, in order to develop good practice in the field. This has been done by recommending new proced-ures to enhance performance and to improve the ways and means of combating organised vehicle theft. KEY TERMS Intelligence-driven investigation; strategic intelligence; intelligence cycle; crime investigations; modus operandi; offender profiling; organised crime; systems theory; motor vehicle theft; information sharing.