CSI: ADN
Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 8:44 pm
This is the base post, where all the vital information for the post below will go...
I want to develop a system to investigate the criminal mind...I love psychology, and I need a topic like this to stimulate my interest...Most of it is purely hypothetical, and I have NO idea if it's useful, but I'm sure some of you could use a few psyche skills...
What I want to do is develop a system that will allow us to delve off into our own investigations...Meaning, we could not know anything about a case, ask a few questions, and come up with some good info...This will be the "junk" thread, as we develop a system that works...Bascially, we want to create a bit of a Case Survey, where we find basic questions to answer...
From there, once we have this model built, we can do individual cases without reading ahead...We can introduce evidence, state case facts, clues, and then profile the killer before actually reading up...It'll be fun, and a far cry from the Social Discussion thread, for those of us that like mental rubix cubes...
Here are few basic things to consider...
Interpersonal Coherence: Refers to whether a variation in criminal activity will relate to variations in the way in which the offender deals with other people in non-criminal situations [Reference 11]. It is assumed that offenders will deal with their victims in similar ways that they deal with people in their day-to-day lives. It is further assumed that victims may represent significant people in the life of the offender outside of the criminal event, and Canter cites anecdotal evidence in support of this [Reference 13]. One such example would be Ted Bundy, whose victim selection was believed to represent his ex-girlfriend.
The Significance of Time and Place: May provide the analyst with information about offender mobility, and therefore guide inferences about likely residential location. As the time and place of the event is largely chosen by the offender, this is seen to be important as it may represent the way in which the offender views their surroundings, and may also be heavily influenced by how they view their own schedule. The time of an attack, for instance, may provide insight into their work or play schedule, and thus give clues about their personal life.
Criminal Characteristics: Used to allow researchers to develop subsystems for the classification of offender groups, which may be used to provide characteristics to investigators that are likely to be possessed by the perpetrator in the current crime. The FBI†™ ¢‚¬„¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¢†™‚¢‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦‚¡¢‚¬Å¡‚¬†™‚¢‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦‚¾¢‚¬Å¡‚¢s classification of the offender as †™ ¢‚¬„¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¢†™‚¢‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦‚¡¢‚¬Å¡‚¬†™¢¢¬‚¹¢‚¬¦¢¢¬…œorganised†™ ¢‚¬„¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¢†™‚¢‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦‚¡¢‚¬Å¡‚¬†™‚¢‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦‚¾¢‚¬Å¡‚¢ or disorganised†™ ¢‚¬„¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¢†™‚¢‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦‚¡¢‚¬Å¡‚¬†™‚¢‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦‚¾¢‚¬Å¡‚¢ is one such system used in identifying criminal characteristics, though Canter himself sees that this system is of little use considering there is so much overlap between the two classifications [Reference 7 and 14].
Criminal Career: Simply refers to an assessment that is made to determine whether the offender may have engaged in criminal activity in the past, and what kind of activity this is most likely to have been. It is closely related to the last concept, forensic awareness.
Forensic Awareness: Is any evidence that an offender has knowledge of, or may be privy to, police techniques and procedures relating to evidence collection. It may include, but is not limited to, the wearing of gloves, the use of a condom, or the removal of any items contaminated with the offender's bodily fluids.
An assessment of the criminal career may indicate the offender's skill in getting him onto the premises, which might be suggestive of previous offences in burglary, while the way in which he bathes the victim after the sexual assault might indicate this is not his first sexual assault. This information may be given to police, who take the information and compare it to known offenders, the suspects already generated, or by reducing the known suspect pool by excluding those with no prior offences in either of the two areas above.
Any thoughts, ideas whatsoever are appreciated...