PSYC 363 -- Chapter 10 Multiple murders and school and workplace violence

Behavioral features

Important characteristics that may help identify and prosecute the perpetrator.

Psychological profiling

Identification and prediction of behavior in known individuals, can root out positive and negative characteristics.

Threat assessment

Determining if an individual poses a threat.

Risk assessment

Evaluating the risks posed by an individual.

Suspect based profiling

Identifying the psychological and behavioral features of people who may commit a certain crime.

Racial profiling

A component of suspect based profiling that involves assumptions based on race.

Geographical profiling

Helps locate where serial killers reside or other geographical locations that serve as their base of operations.

Crime scene profiling

Examines features relevant to unknown offenders based on crime characteristics.

Equivocal death analysis

Involves autopsy and reconstructive psychological evaluation to question if an individual has committed suicide.

Spree murder

Murder after murder without end, occurring in many locations.

Mass murder

Murder without cooling off but limited to one location.

Serial murder

Murder with cooling off periods, potentially occurring in many locations.

Risk factors for serial killers

Include desire for media attention, childhood abuse, and beginning killing at a later age.

Female serial killers

Often target husbands, former husbands, children, and others they know, with motives usually for material or monetary gain.

Class mass murders

Can be public, involve the use of guns, and often perpetrators do not have a criminal history.

Family mass murders

Involve at least three family members killed by a single family member.

School violence

More prevalent in the US than other countries combined, with various risk factors including peer and social rejection.

Descriptive characteristics of school shooters

Typically white and male, with a history of mental illness or conduct issues not common.

Workplace violence

Intended to cause serious physical or bodily harm to an individual within an organization.

OSHA categories of workplace violence

Includes Type 1 — Criminal intent, Type 2 — Customer or patient, Type 3 — Co-workers, Type 4 — Personal.

Disgruntled employee

Often the type of perpetrator in workplace violence, lacking social support and feeling mistreated by coworkers.