Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious problem, and the consequences extend beyond the physical damage that may occur. Police officers are often first responders, why it is important that they possess awareness and skills that facilitate them to identify IPV and the characteristics for the involved parties, in order to reduce further consequences and escalation. Aim: The aim of this thesis was to explore offender characteristics and typologies of IPV as it occurs within police reports from Funen police district, and to discuss how this information can be used in a police setting. Method: A random sample of 400 reported cases of violence were coded, and 60 reported intimate partner violence cases were identified. Descriptive statistics and a two-step clustering were used to explore the 60 cases of IPV. Results: Overall, it was found, that the offenders of the reported IPV cases in Funen's police are in accordance with studies of offenders of IPV in other contexts. A typology was developed from the clusters which resulted in three different offender types; generally violent, alcohol-related violent and family violent. These clusters also resemble groups found in previous studies. Discussion: The results can be used to give an insight into how IPV occurs in the police district, and form a basis for the understanding and developing of the prioritization of the phenomenon. However, the descriptions and typologies are to be understood as a snapshot and the results are not universal or a general description of IPV, why further and deeper investigations will be necessary.

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>

The purpose of this study is to explore the differences and characteristics between first time felony probationer and recidivist felony probation offender. The importance of said studies grows significantly, given current trends of sentencing offenders to probation. Using archived data on random sample of felony offenders in 2000 and based on information acquired and maintained by the Denton County Community Supervision and Corrections Department (CSCD), the study consists of 40 first time felony offenders and 40 recidivist felony offender placed on probation during the year 2000. The method consists of a longitudinal comparison model. To examine the research question, descriptive statistics are used to compare basic demographics. Then, in order to answer the research question bi-variate significant tests, Chi-square and Independent Sample T-tests were employed when appropriate. Results indicate differences between first time felony probation offenders and recidivist felony probationers.