CRIM 454 Final

staging

purposeful alteration of a crime scene in attempt to mislead investigators

reasons for staging

1. Self-preservation


1. Direct the investigation away from suspect
2. Embarassment/shame


1. Protect the victim

staging motive behaviours

1. The original act
2. The staging itself

types of staging

1. attempt to make the crime appear to be a suicide or accident
2. attempt to make the crime appear to be a sex-related homicide
3. arson

investigative strategies for staging

1. assess the victimology of the deceased
2. establish a profile of the victim through interviews with friends/family
3. reconstruct & evaluate the event
4. compare investigative findings with the autopsy
5. corroborate statements with facts 
6. conduct & process all death investigations as if they were homicide cases

in staging investigation, assessing the victimology of the deceased includes

1. evaluate the injuries of the victim in connection to the weapon used
2. conduct forensic exams to establish the facts of the case
3. conduct an exam of the weapons for evidence
4. evaluate the behaviours of the victim & suspects

geographic mobility principles

1. nearest of least-effort principle
2. distance-decay function

nearest of least-effort principle

* people choose the least expenditure of effort
* interaction close to the home base is the result of **biased spatial knowledge**

distance-decay function

* people interact more with things that are close to their home
* due to time & money

the distance an individual travels depends on

1. means of transport
2. attractiveness of the destination & pathways to get there
3. knowledge of roads & highways
4. obstacles
5. alternative routes
6. the real distance

difficulties investigating violent crimes with geographic profiling

1. difficulty linking crimes
2. learning the process of the offender
3. false confessions
4. copycat crimes
5. fear in the community
6. logistical problems
7. coordination of multiple agencies

geographic profiling

predicts suspects’ home/workplace from crime locations

Rigel

geographic profiling system used to analyze crime patterns and predict the most likely locations of future crimes

CGT

Criminal Geographic Targeting

jeopardy surface

in CGT, a 3D probability distribution from spatial data related to a series of crime locations

geoprofile components

1. objective
2. subjective

**objective** component of a geoprofile includes…

spatial relationships between crime locations, and of streets & highway

**subjective** component of a geoprofile includes…

reconstruction & interpretation of the offender’s mental map

* ex: sexual murderers who select prostitutes as victims seek victims in neighbourhoods where prostitution occurs

important locations to geographic profiling

1. **encounter location**
2. attack location
3. crime location
4. **victim release location**
5. locations where objects/vehicles have been abandoned

geographic profiling is subject to

* minimum 5 crime-related locations
* credit cards used, phone calls made, vehicles borrowed/abandoned, objects/clues found, victims met, criminal acts committed, bodies abandoned
* more locations the better
* serious crime
* not useful for commuters

poacher/commuter

* crimes occur in a small area
* specific & rare target/victim type
* crimes occur in the central business district/non-residential area
* crimes occur in wealthy neighbourhoods
* crimes occur along a major highway
* alternate route possibilities exist (ex: freeway exit)
* spatial displacement
* less than 5 crimes in the series
* travel pattern is directional
* offender is a professional criminal
* offender is a stalker

geographic profiling compliments traditional investigative tools when

* series of crimes
* traditional techniques not useful
* crime linkage
* psychological profile

geographic profiling process

1. Examination of the file
2. Investigation of the crime scene
3. Discussion of the file
4. Visit crime scene
5. Analyzing neighbourhood statistics
6. Studying streets, zoning, map
7. Analysis
8. Writing the report

other uses of geographic profiling

1. prioritization
2. stakeouts & police patrol
3. polygraphy
4. government & commercial databases
5. predicting next offence location

peak-of-tension polygraphy

recording suspect’s reaction to pictures, maps, and objects

the Reid technique

* Inbau and colleagues


* interrogation strategy using techniques of trickery, deceit and psychological manipulation to obtain confessions from offenders

2 processes of the Reid technique

1. decreasing suspects denials & resistance
2. increasing suspects desire to confess

non-accusatory (pre-interrogation) interview purpose

* establish rapport & trust
* trick the suspect into false sense of security
* gather info about the suspect’s background
* determine if the suspect is guilty
* offer the suspect to tell the truth

selection of interrogation strategy depends on

* suspect’s personality
* crime motive
* **the offence in question**

interrogation suspect classifications

1. **Emotional:** experience feelings of distress and remorse


1. Use a sympathetic approach
2. **Non-emotional:** do not become emotionally involved


1. Use a factual analysis approach

9 steps of the Reid technique

Step 1: Direct positive confrontation

Step 2: Theme development

Step 3: Handling denials

Step 4: Overcoming objections

Step 5: Procurement & retention of suspect’s attention

Step 6: Handling suspect’s passive mood

Step 7: Presenting an alternative question

Step 8: Having suspect orally relate various details of offence

Step 9: Converting oral confession into written

peace model

**P**reparation & planning

**E**ngage & explain

**A**ccount

**C**losure

**E**valuate

ways to establish guilt

1\. By a witness

2\. Physical evidence

3\. Offender’s confession

interrogation techniques

1. Reid (North America)
2. peace model (UK)

paths to admission of evidence

1. Profile-dependant correspondence (P-DC)
2. Profile-crime correspondence (P-CC)

Profile-dependant correspondence (P-DC)

introducing the profile to suggest that the defendant does/does not match it

ex: the offender matches the profile of a psychopath

Profile-crime correspondence (P-CC)

reporting the similarity between 2 or more crimes, indicating that the same individual has committed them

ex: case linkage

standards for admission

1. Frye general acceptance rule
2. Daubert standard

evidence hypothesis

1. denying police allegations serves little purpose
2. **suspect’s perception of police evidence**
3. suspects confess when convinced that police have evidence against them

Frye general acceptance rule

scientific techniques have to be used to gain general acceptance

Daubert standard

* witness must have expert credentials
* demonstrates falsifiability, peer review, known potential error rate
* reliability/validity should be assessed

profiling has been accepted in the courtroom for

* Linkage analysis


* Offender’s motivation
* Psychological characteristics
* Psychological autopsy
* Ultimate issue
* Staging
* Signature
* Crime scene analysis

Douglas (1981)

examined the value of profiling to police forces

* profiling reduces the scope of investigation
* leads to arrests
* reduces lengthy investigations

Britton (1992)

* profiles are imprecise
* do not lead to arrests
* only useful under certain conditions

Goldblatt

studied the effectiveness of the psychological profiling unit at University of Surrey

* based on info from Canter
* of the 57 profiles produced, 12 resulted in charges being laid
* 72% accurate, 19% incorrect, 9% could not be evaluated

NISCALE (1993)

Netherlands Institute of the Study of Criminality and Law Enforcement survey on satisfaction with criminal profiling

* investigators were satisfied with the profiling technique
* investigators learned from the profiling specialist, and stated that new ideas are upcoming for future investigations

Copson (1995)

* profiling used to obtain a predictive profile and better understand offending behaviours


* profiling advanced the investigation
* profiling more useful in advancing understanding of the crime and the offender than identifying suspects

Pinizzotto and Finkel (1990)

analyzed differences among profilers, investigators, psychologists, students

* in sexual assault cases, profilers produce detailed reports with higher validity
* no group differences for murder
* all groups the same for predicting suspect characteristics

Kocsis et al (2000)

compared groups of profilers, police officers, psychologists, students, and psychics

* profilers slightly better at identifying criminal’s cognitive processes, physical characteristics, lifestyle characteristics, social history, and offending behaviours
* profilers had the most correct predictions
* psychologists were better at determining personality characteristics

CGT hit score

a measure of geoprofile performance calculated by dividing territory investigated by total territory

what does CGT stand for?

Criminal Geographic Targeting

purposes of predicting dangerousness

1. risk assessment - protection of victims
2. threat assessment - protection of the offender from the consequences of their criminal actions
3. to answer the question: to restrict or not to restrict personal liberty?

threat assessment

* a process to determine the probability of a threat being carried out
* identify potential threats before they result in harm

risk assessment

* identify hazards and minimize risk
* identify the likelihood of future criminal activity

violence risk assessment

evaluating an individual’s likelihood of engaging in unspecified future violence in the absence of a threat

what method does threat assessment use?

professional clinical judgements

what method does risk assessment use?

actuarial based assessments

methods of risk assessment

1. professional clinical judgements
2. actuarial based assessments
3. adjusted actuarial based assessments

professional clinical judgements

* assess prisoners for parole, security threat group membership, and placement in administrative segregation or protective custody
* corrections rely upon this method for its most important decisions such as release to the community or placement in high security units

Pros:

* easy - all that is needed is a professional expert. no forms or tests

Cons:

* least accurate method
* gut reactions

actuarial based assessments

* identify prisoner attributes associated with misconduct, escapes, and recidivism


* risk factors are translated into a scoring system which converts into a risk category

Pros:

* reliability & validity
* not much skill required

Cons:

* may be overly rigid
* no professional judgement

adjusted actuarial based assessments

risk assessments should allow for modification and the addition of supplemental information that is not in the scoring system

types of risk factors

1. static
2. dynamic

functions of a threat assessment program

1. Identification of potential perpetrator
2. Assessment of the risk
3. Management of the perpetrator & their risk

Hazelwood & Napier (2004)

investigators should recognize motives for:

* original act (greed, anger, revenge)
* staging itself (self-preservation, embarrassment, shame)

Schlesinger et al. (2014)

* stagers were staging to redirect investigation
* staging indicated a prior relationship between offender & victim

Keppel & Weis (2004) 

posing happens for 2 reasons:

1\. shock factor

2\. pleasure

Canter & Larkin (1993)

tests various models of relationships between an individual's criminal range & location of their home base

* there is a basis to serial rapists choice of locations modelled from environmental psychology principles
* marauder model was the strongest

commuter hypothesis

offender travels to carry out crimes

maurader hypothesis

offender moves from their base to commit crime then returns

Rossmo (2011)

describes the investigative function of geographic profiling

* argues for research on actual operational cases
* approaches to evaluate geographic profiling should consider applicability, utility, and performance

Rossmo (1995) 

* geographic profiling has investigative value in certain types of criminal cases
* leads to:
* prioritization of suspects by address/area
* direction of patrol saturation efforts
* establishment of computerized database search parameters.

Beauregard et al. (2010)

* attitude of the investigator & personal consequences affect if sex offenders confess
* offender, victim, and case characteristics lead to confessions from sex offenders

Deslauriers-Varin et al. (2011) 

examines factors that influence offenders decisions to confess

* police evidence has the strongest influence on eliciting a confession

Leo et al. (1996)

* American police interrogations exploit the weaknesses of criminal suspects by:
* undermining their confidence in their denial of guilt
* offering moral justifications
* confronting them with fabricated evidence.
* detectives are successful at eliciting confessions incriminating info from custodial aspects

Bosco et al. (2010) 

reviews court opinions about reliability & admissibility of profiling

* reliability must be applied to all expert opinions on science
* profiling is judged on its scientific reliability & relevance
* must overcome Daubert test to prove methodology of profiling

Kocsis & Palermo (2016)

examines legal principles in the admissibility of profiling as expert witness evidence by testing its accuracy through scientific research

* expert evidence likely to be admitted as evidence if the profilers opinion is relevant to the analysis of crime scene behaviours

Paclebar et al. (2008) 

addresses concerns of courts that profiler testimony may disadvantage jurors in their guilt judgements

* little to no evidence that jurors found profiling testimonies persuasive
* strong case against defendant = profiling evidence increased guilt beliefs
* weak case against defendant = profiling evidence decreased guilt beliefs

Bennell et al. (2006) 

methodological & conceptual concerns in Kocsis' research

* related to the soundness of their accuracy measurement
* the biases in their methods of analysis
* validity of their data collection procedure

Snook et al. (2008) 

* profiling should not be used as an investigative tool because it lacks scientific support
* profiling is an illusion because it lacks theoretical grounding and is based on assumptions rather than data

James et al. (2011)

determined motivation and mental state characteristics of individuals who engage in stalking behaviours

* querulants are worthy of attention from those involved in risk management

Reid et al. (2011)

* high prevalence of mental illness across all studies, greater prevalence amongst approachers than non-approachers
* suggest to prioritize mental health interventions as a part of risk assessment

when crime scene staging would be unintentional

* innocent people accidentally moving evidence
* natural disasters
* inaccurate collection of events