Humanitites and Social Sciences

Although the murders committed by serial killers may not be considered rational, there is growing evidence that the locations in which they commit their crimes may be guided by an implicit, if limited rationality.The hypothesized logic of disposal site choice of serial killers led to predictions that (a) their criminal domains would be around their home base and relate to familiar travel distances, (b) they would have a size that was characteristic of each offender, (c) the distribution would be biased towards other non-criminal activities, and (d) the size of the domains would increase over time.Examination of the geographical distribution of the sites at which 126 US and 29 UK serial killers disposed of their victims' bodies supported all four hypotheses. It was found that rational choice and routine activity models of criminal behavior could explain the spatial choices of serial murderers. It was concluded that the locations at which serial killers dispose of their victims' bodies reflect the inherent logic of the choices that underlie their predatory activities. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The application of environmental psychology principles and findings to the work of criminal investigators is gaining ground. This paper presents one particular application of these principles to the study of those very rare criminals, serial killers. An environmental psychology perspective looks on the rational processes that may underlie these disturbing and highly emotive crimes. For, although the murders committed by serial killers may not be considered rational, but rather a consequence of heightened emotion and lack of impulse control, environmental psychology hypotheses predict that their choice of disposal site location may be guided by a recognisable rationality. Support for this rationality would be evident through their spatial patterns of disposal locations, but these spatial patterns themselves would vary depending on the range over which the offender was operating. It was therefore hypothesised that their spatial patterns would reflect the importance of a) the centrality of the home location for determining the disposal site locations, b) the relevance of maintaining distance between sequential disposal site locations themselves. Further, c) the nature of the influences of home and sequence would vary with the size of the area over which the offender disposed of his victims' bodies.The hypotheses were tested by examining three sub-sets of a sample of 120 American serial murderers, each sub-set travelling a different average distance from their homes to their crimes. The Multidimensional Scaling Procedure, Smallest Space Analysis (SSA-I) was used in order to examine the trends across the distances between each disposal site and every other and their distances from the offender's homes. A three dimensional space was used so that the ‘dimension’ of temporal sequence could be revealed as well as the two dimensions of geographical distances. All hypotheses were supported. Firstly, the home was central to the SSA disposal patterns for each of the three sub-sets. Secondly, the location of each subsequent disposal location tended to be in a different direction from that immediately prior to it. However, thirdly, this sequential process was strongest for the sub-set of 36 offenders who travelled on average less than 10 km and weakest for those 40 offenders who travelled on average greater than 30 km. The implications these results have for modelling offenders' geographical behaviour are discussed.

This study examines the crime patterns of 76 New Zealand serial sexual offenders in order to determine the extent to which offenders display locational consistency in their choice of crime locations. More specifically, the hypothesis was that there would be intraseries consistency in the distances travelled (spatial consistency) and the characteristics of the crime sites selected (environmental consistency) by serial sexual offenders.For spatial consistency to be tested, the distances travelled from home to offend and the criminal range for each offence series were analysed. Support was found for spatial consistency, and, in line with much overseas research, it was also found that the offenders typically did not travel very far from home to offend (median distance of 3 km).The environmental consistency measure was made up of various physical, temporal, and contextual variables that described the environmental characteristics of an offence. As hypothesised, it was found that offenders displayed intraseries environmental consistency in offence site selection beyond the level of that expected by chance. The implications of this both for understanding offender spatial decision making and for geographical profiling are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Existing empirical typologies of stranger rape derive almost exclusively from samples involving female victims and male offenders. This study explored the behavioral structure of 209 cases of stranger rape involving male victims and male offenders with the aim of developing an interpersonal model of offender-victim interaction. Multivariate analysis revealed three themes of offender-victim interaction: hostility, involvement intimacy, and involvement exploitation. Of offenders, 80% could be classified to a dominant theme, with almost half of the offenses (49%) classified as involvement intimate. The findings are discussed in relation to existing multivariate models of female victim rape, male rape research, and implications for behavioral investigative advice.

This study examined the direct and moderator effects of number of perpetrators and gender of victim on interpersonal behaviour in stranger rape. Crime scene behaviours representative of hostility, involvement, control, and offender penetration in rape were examined for 496 UK, police-recorded cases of stranger rape. Cases were grouped according to victim gender (male or female) and number of perpetrators (lone or multiple). This resulted in four groups (lone female, lone male, multiple female, and multiple male) with 124 cases in each. Binary logistic regression and one-way analysis of variance were used to investigate the relationships between the two predictor variables and 11 criterion variables. Significant direct effects of number of perpetrators were found whereby multiple perpetrator offences were more likely to involve violence and less likely to involve involvement interactions than lone perpetrator offences. Significant direct effects of victim gender were also found whereby male victims were more likely than female victims to experience hostile interactions and be threatened with a weapon and were less likely to experience offender penetration and involvement interactions. Significant crossover interactions were also found for four hostility variables. The utility of the findings are discussed in relation to crime prevention, victim support, and offender intervention.

Purpose. Several measures have been developed of juror pre-trial attitudes and interpretations of beyond reasonable doubt (BRD). These have been primarily tested in North American samples. We aimed to integrate the literature on these two issues, and explored whether the effect of jurors’ pre-trial attitudes on verdicts is mediated by their interpretations of BRD. We also aimed to establish the relative predictive utility of the various measures and their relevance to a non–North American sample. Methods. A total of 113 members of the jury-eligible British public completed three measures of juror pre-trial attitudes (i.e., Revised Legal Attitudes Questionnaire-23 [RLAQ-23], Juror Bias Scale [JBS], and Pre-trial Juror Attitudes Questionnaire [PJAQ]) and two measures of BRD (i.e., direct rating [DR] and membership function [MF] methods). Participants also rendered a verdict on a hypothetical burglary case. Results. With the exception of the RLAQ-23, the pre-trial attitude measures and the two measures of BRD were significantly independent predictors of verdicts. The PJAQ outperformed the RLAQ-23 and JBS, whereas the MF method outperformed the DR method. We found support for a partial mediation model predicting verdicts, whereby interpretations of BRD (measured by the MF method) partially mediated the effect of pre-trial juror attitudes (measured by the PJAQ) on verdicts. Conclusions. These findings underscore the importance of examining both juror pre-trial attitudes and interpretations of BRD when studying juror decision making.

[see journal for abstract] summary provided here: In the present paper, we measure the effectiveness of two specific instructions on RD that have been used and challenged in the US. These are described in more detail below. We examine the effect of the two instructions on people’s quantitative interpretations of the standard, as well as the degree of inter- and intra-individual variability in interpretations. In addition, we attempt to explain the effectiveness of these instructions by examining the effect of their precise wording on interpretations of RD.

This article explores the relationship between the current model of community sex offender management, which is underpinned by mechanism of control and enforcement, and desistance from sexual offending. Utilizing data from qualitative interviews with 20 men convicted of sexual offences, we found that while existing practices offer some reassurance to those managing the public protection arena, they do little to encourage the substantive processes of identity change which is necessary for long-term desistance. This raises important considerations for how current risk management practices may be improved to encourage desistance and community reintegration.

This article examines the changing nature of public protection police work in a climate of continued austerity and increasing prosecutions for sexual offending, which have impacted significantly on the workloads of police teams who manage and monitor registered sexual offenders in the community. This increase has run parallel to a decrease in the general policing budget, which has seen it cut by an average of 22% across England and Wales (BBC, 2017). Utilising data from observations and in-depth qualitative interviews with police officers from a force in England, this article highlights the effect which cost saving measures have had on the professional standards of the police service in the management of sex offenders; how collaborative working practices have been hindered by these austerity measures, and finally how continual cuts have had a detrimental effect on the police’s ability to protect the public.

BACKGROUND Public knowledge of child stranger rape is shaped largely by media portrayals of a small number of cases, often marked by sensational trials, which may result in juror misconceptions of this offense. It is important to understand the factors that may influence jury verdicts in order to maximize the chance of guilty defendants being convicted. OBJECTIVE The aim is to explore the factors that predict juries' decisions to convict or acquit in child stranger rape cases. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING The study utilizes a police database of recorded child stranger rape cases from a UK urban force from 2001-2015. Seventy cases that were tried by jury were analyzed. We investigated the extent to which 19 child-, accused- and offense-related factors predict jury verdicts. METHODS A four stage analytic process was employed: (a) Kendall's tau-b measured inter-correlations among the factors; (b) Chi-Square and Welch t-tests measured associations between factors and verdicts; (c) binary logistic regression measured the power of factors in predicting verdicts; and (d) Stein's formula was used to cross-validate the model. RESULTS Verdicts were predicted by two offense-related factors. A weapon increased the odds of conviction by 412%. An outdoor location increased the odds by 360%. CONCLUSIONS The findings have potential implications for prosecution case building and courtroom policy. Prosecutors could gather as much information as possible from victims about the factors found to be of importance to juries. Judges could challenge incorrect beliefs and stereotypes by instructing juries.

Over the past decade the public discourse on rape and violence against women in India has gained momentum yet little empirical research has been conducted with the perpetrators of such crimes. The aim of the current study was to explore perpetrators’ justifications and excuses for committing rape within this particular cultural context. In order to achieve this, offence narrative interviews with sixty convicted male rapists, all serving a prison sentence in Tihar Central Jail, New Delhi were conducted. Content analysis of the narrative interviews revealed that perpetrators utilized a range of excuses and justifications for their actions. This paper will present the main findings and implications of this research for understanding rape in India.

The standard of proof, beyond reasonable doubt (BRD), serves as a threshold for reaching verdicts in criminal cases. Past research has demonstrated that factors such as the wording of judicial instructions defining the standard can influence people's interpretation of it. In addition, there is some concern that instructions may not be effective for the wider jury-eligible population. In an experimental study involving members of the general public, we examined the effect of two commonly used judicial instructions (i.e. sure and firmly convinced) against a situation when BRD was undefined, on people's quantitative interpretations of BRD as well as on their self-reported understanding of the standard and confidence in applying it. We also explored the effect of juror characteristics (i.e. gender, age and education). Compared to when the standard was undefined, the sure instruction helped to reduce inter-individual variability in interpretations of BRD and the firmly convinced ...