20200309191702chapter_8 20200309191700week_2___discussion
Week 2 – Discussion
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initial post 300 words
reply: 200 words .. 100 words each
Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.
Offender Profiling [WLOs: 1, 2] [CLOs: 1, 2]
Prior to beginning work on this discussion, review Chapter 8 in your textbook and the article
Psychological Profiling ‘worse than useless’ (Links to an external site.)
.
Your initial post should be at least 300 words in length. Please elaborate on the following as you complete your discussion. Support your claims with examples from the required materials and/or other scholarly sources, and properly cite any references:
- In your textbook, five different categories of criminal profiling are covered. What are they? Please define each type. What are the pros and cons of each type of profiling?
- Of the five, which is the most promising method of offender profiling?
- Now focus on crime scene profiling. What do your textbook authors and the article authors say about the research on this type of profiling?
- Is it a reliable and valid method of catching criminals?
- Given what you have learned about this type of criminal psychology profiling, is it ethical for psychologists to engage in this type of activity? Why or why not?
Guided Response: Review several of your peers’ initial posts and, in a minimum of 100 words each, respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7. Be sure to provide constructive feedback; ask follow-up questions to your peers regarding your agreement with their opinion on whether profiling is a reliable and valid method of catching criminals. Be sure to focus on what research shows about the efficacy of offender profiling in solving crimes. Respond in a substantive manner with specific examples to extend their thinking. Support your claims with examples from the required materials and/or other scholarly or credible sources, and properly cite any references. You are encouraged to post your required replies earlier in the week to promote more meaningful and interactive discourse in this discussion forum. Continue to monitor the discussion forum until 5:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Day 7, and respond with robust dialogue to anyone who replies to your initial post.
Learning OutcomesAfter reading this chapter, you should be able to• Explain the availability heuristic and its impact on understanding homicide.• Differentiate between the categories of homicide.• Differentiate between serial, mass, and spree murderers.• Describe the types of family violence that could end in homicide.• Analyze the demographics of homicide.
8Homicide
South_agency/E+/Getty Images Plus
• Analyze the extent to which homicide offenders may recidivate.
Introductory Case Study: Jessica Colpitts
In Oro ina, Idaho, in May 2017, Samantha Fignani suffered a fatal gunshot wound in her home. She
was just 23 years old. Her family, including her two young daughters, were devastated and hoped
for swift justice. The police took only 2 days to locate Fignani’s killer, a woman named Jessica
Colpitts. According to police, Colpitts became enraged when her boyfriend, Joseph Walker, admitted
that he had been romantically involved with Fignani behind Colpitts’s back.
The police had an eyewitness to the shooting, along with jail telephone call recordings of
conversations between Walker and Colpitts about Walker’s affair with Fignani. Not too long after
the jail telephone call, Colpitts enlisted the assistance of her friend, Cassie Madsen, to confront
Fignani about the affair. Colpitts’s car was spotted on video driving toward Fignani’s home.
Madsen denied knowing that Colpitts would actually kill Fignani during the confrontation. Colpitts
had never been violent before and had never expressed a desire to harm anyone.
However, Colpitts fatally shot Fignani with a shotgun and then laughed as she and Madsen led the
scene. At trial, Madsen testi ied that she was stunned that anyone could be so cold as to laugh
about having just shot someone to death in front of the victim’s children. Colpitts’s defense
attorneys tried to convince the jury that Madsen was the killer because there had been a fallout
between Madsen and Fignani over drugs. (Fignani was dealing methamphetamine and would no
longer sell to Madsen.) However, the jury rejected that argument and voted unanimously to convict
Jessica Colpitts of irstdegree murder for killing Samantha Fignani.
As you read this chapter, consider the following questions regarding this case:
1. Why is homicide considered one of the most fascinating—and arguably the most
challenging—issues in the psychological study of crime?
2. Do you think that Colpitts’s socioeconomic status and other situational factors led to her
committing murder?
3. A love triangle ending in murder might sound familiar. Do you think that homicides are
prevalent in today’s culture?
8.1 IntroductionHomicide may seem as though it is highly prevalent in our culture. True crime episodes of
Dateline and 48 Hours, other documentaries focused on homicide cases, and a number ofictional television shows and movies that glamorize murder and murderers seem to supportthe belief that homicide is a frequently occurring crime. However, the data does not support thatnotion. It’s important to understand the psychological foundation of our perceptions ofhomicide frequency and the individuals who commit such violent acts, as well as the types ofhomicides and associated variables.Though it may seem that individuals who commit homicide must be mentally ill, you may recallfrom Chapter 2 that most individuals who suffer from serious mental illness are signi icantlymore likely to be victimized than they are to perpetrate a crime. Perpetrators of homicide, forthe most part, tend to appear outwardly normal. Recall Jessica Colpitts’s case from the beginningof the chapter. It seems that she was fueled by jealousy and perhaps an inability to control herimpulses, despite a lack of any prior evidence that she was capable of such violence. In someother cases, murderers epitomize psychopaths in that they are cool, calm, and calculated.Perhaps you are wondering how it is possible that seemingly normal individuals are capable ofperpetrating such brutal acts of violence, including taking another’s life. This is a question forwhich there may be no precise or satisfactory response; however, this chapter will examinesome common features of individuals who kill.The reality is that most homicide victims are killed by people who are known to them, and inmany cases the murderous violence was shockingly unpredictable. It may be rather unsettling tograsp that we cannot always predict with precision who will become homicidal or whenhomicidal behavior will occur, but we will examine the tendencies and variables that may leadup to these criminal acts.
8.2 Availability HeuristicGiven that there is so much news coverage of murder and homicide, it may lead us to assumethat murders are frequently occurring events. The truth is that homicides are rare. In 2017,there were approximately 17,200 homicides in the United States. This may sound like a lot ofvictims—and it is—but when considering this number out of the 1.2 million total violent crimesreported by law enforcement agencies to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program, itis a small proportion of the violent crime category. Speci ically, only 1.4% of all violent crimes in2017 were homicides (FBI, 2018). This rate represents a slight decrease of approximately 0.7%from 2016 but also shows a signi icant increase of approximately 17% from 2013, when therewere an estimated 14,200 homicides in the United States. This means that homicides haveincreased over time.Interestingly, where you live may determine whether you perceive that homicide is a frequentlyoccurring crime. This is based on a social psychology concept called the availability heuristic.The availability heuristic refers to the likelihood that individuals overestimate the prevalenceof certain events based on how easily these events come to mind. For example, the UCR showsthat nearly half of all murders in the United States in 2017 were committed in the South (seeTable 8.1). Therefore, in southern states, the news media frequently reports stories ofhomicides, given that the majority of murders occur in that part of the country. The availabilityheuristic predicts that individuals who live in the South will be more prone to overestimate theprevalence of homicides than individuals in the Northeast, where the homicide rate is muchlower.
Table 8.1: Offense and population percentage distribution by U.S. region, 2017
Region
U.S.
total* Northeast Midwest South West
Population 100.0 17.3 20.9 38.0 23.8
Violent crime 100.0 13.4 20.2 40.8 25.5
Murder and nonnegligent
manslaughter
100.0 11.3 22.6 45.9 20.2
Rape 100.0 12.4 24.6 37.0 26.0
Robbery 100.0 15.3 19.1 38.0 27.7
Aggravated assault 100.0 12.9 19.9 42.5 24.7
Property crime 100.0 11.4 19.6 41.9 27.0
Burglary 100.0 9.1 19.6 44.9 26.3
Larcenytheft 100.0 12.6 19.8 42.1 25.5
Motor vehicle theft 100.0 7.3 17.8 35.5 39.4
*Because of rounding, the percentages may not add up to 100.0.
Note. Suf icient data are not available to estimate totals for arson. Therefore, no arson data are published in this table.
Source: “Table 3: Crime in the United States,” by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2018 (https://ucr. bi.gov/crimeintheu.s/
2017/crimeintheu.s.2017/tables/table3/table3.xls#overview (https://ucr. bi.gov/crimeintheu.s/2017/crimeintheu.s.
2017/tables/table3/table3.xls#overview) ).
8.3 Categories, De initions, and Statistics of HomicideThe concept of murder is commonly understood, but Black’s Law Dictionary (Garner, 2014) hasa substantive and technical de inition of murder that includes a clear psychological component—the ability to form intent to commit murder. In criminal law, intent refers to the subjectivestate of mind in which the perpetrator makes “a decision to bring about a prohibitedconsequence” (R. v. Mohan, 1994). Speci ically, the de inition includes language referring to theperpetrator’s mental state, such as “of sound mind and discretion,” and “deliberate action”(Garner, 2014, p. 1170) to describe the perpetrator’s goal of causing lifeending harm to thevictim. The existence of these psychological and behavioral elements are components ofdetermining whether the murder constitutes criminal homicide, murder that contains theelement of intent to cause the death of another and is considered neither excusable norjusti iable, such as in Jessica Colpitts’s case.The legal system further classi ies criminal homicide into subtypes of murder, generally brokendown into “degrees,” such as irst, second, and thirddegree murder (or manslaughter). Thesesubtypes are related to the perpetrator’s mental state and are in luenced by the perceivedheinousness of the murder. The classi ication system used by authorities to categorize types ofhomicides and perpetrators is in place for the purpose of record keeping and reporting. Thisfacilitates ease of research in terms of analyzing whether there is something fundamentallydifferent from a behavioral and psychological perspective between individuals who, for example,commit irst or thirddegree murder or between serial killers and mass murderers.
FirstDegree Murder
Firstdegree murder, also known as premeditated murder, refers to the unlawful killing ofanother that must have the intentional element of malice aforethought (Garner, 2014). Malice
aforethought refers to the intent to cause signi icant harm to another. Premeditation refers toplanning, but it does not necessarily require a signi icant amount of time to form a plan.Premeditation can occur in an instant, according to the law in most states. The seriousness ofirstdegree murder is such that the punishment may be as serious as the death penalty or life inprison, depending on the jurisdiction in which the murder took place. In the case study at thebeginning of the chapter, Jessica Colpitts was found guilty of irstdegree murder in the death ofSamantha Fignani. The jury found that Colpitts willfully, and with malice aforethought, intendedto cause Fignani harm by ending her life with the shotgun she brought to Fignani’s home whenColpitts confronted her about the affair.One type of irstdegree murder is felony homicide. Felony homicide, or a homicide that occursduring the commission of another felony, occurs as a form of instrumental aggression. You willrecall from Chapter 6 that instrumental aggression is “cool” aggression and occurs as a means toan end. In felony homicide, the central goal of the perpetrator is typically to obtain criminallysome reward, such as cash, objects, or other desired goods possessed by another person. Theviolent behavior is a means to obtain that goal. In the context of law, felony homicide is generallyconceptualized as premeditated, irstdegree murder.
SecondDegree Murder
Seconddegree murder is commonly thought of as “depraved heart/mind” murder. The legalde inition used in most states for seconddegree murder reveals the mental state underlying anddriving the deadly form of human behavior with the use of words such as “depraved mind,”“depraved heart,” and “reckless disregard” for the life of another. Though very serious because itis an intentional killing, it lacks the irstdegree murder element of premeditation (Garner, 2014).Seconddegree murder is punishable by life in prison in many jurisdictions, but the judge mayopt to sentence the perpetrator to a term of years instead of a life sentence.One type of seconddegree murder is altercation homicide. Altercation homicide occurs as aresult of hostile aggression. Recall from Chapter 6 that hostile aggression is “hot” aggression—that is, an impulsive reaction motivated by anger in response to the actual or perceivedaggressive behavior of the provocateur. The underlying motivation behind hostile aggression isto cause harm, including homicide. In the context of the law, altercation homicide can best beconceptualized as “heat of passion,” seconddegree murder.See Case Study: Josiah Hadley to read about how homicide charges take into consideration thepsychological functioning leading up to and at the time of the crime.
Case Study: Josiah Hadley
Griselle Martinez was just 22 years old when she was killed by her boyfriend, 24yearoldJosiah Hadley. Martinez and Hadley were out with friends when they began arguing. Thecouple returned home, and as the evening wore on, the argument escalated to a physicalaltercation. A friend who was at their apartment when the physical altercation took placetold police that he saw Hadley over Martinez’s body, punching her. Hadley and his friendsrushed Martinez to the hospital, where she died.Hadley, his parents, and Martinez’s family were grief stricken. This was not somethingthey ever imagined was possible, given that Hadley was described by everyone who knewhim as a kind, caring, deeply religious, and responsible young man. Nevertheless, at trialthe jury found that Hadley killed Martinez with a depraved mind (i.e., showing no regardfor human life; seconddegree murder). The jury believed that as the argument continuedfor hours, Hadley became angry and lost his ability to control his own behavior.
ThirdDegree Murder
Thirddegree murder, more commonly known as manslaughter, is de ined as anunintentional yet criminal homicide that lacks malice and premeditation (Garner, 2014).Manslaughter is a very serious crime because human life is lost as the direct result of the
LIVINUS/iStock/Getty Images Plus
Involuntary manslaughter, such as
killing someone during a car
accident, is an example of an
accidental murder.
unlawful behavior of another. However, in manslaughter the perpetrator has signi icantly lessculpability than in irst or seconddegree murder.Manslaughter has two major categories: voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.
Voluntary Manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter is a “heat of passion” murder that lacks intent to commit murder(Garner, 2014). The most commonly used example of voluntary manslaughter is that of a spousewho arrives home unexpectedly to ind the other spouse having an affair and “in the heat ofpassion” murders the spouse and/or the paramour.The “heat of passion” may also be present in non–love triangle cases, such as that of DianaLalchan, who shot her controlling and abusive husband, Christopher, in the back of the headduring a verbal argument. Diana feared that her husband was planning to kill her based on theyears of abuse she suffered. The state’s position was—and the jury agreed—that this was not acase of selfdefense. Christopher was not physically harming Diana at the time of the shooting,and thus there was no imminent danger to her at that time. However, the years of abusein luenced Diana’s perception that she was in danger, causing her to shoot Christopher. The juryagreed that Diana had been abused by Christopher previously, yet they judged her reaction atthe time of his death as “extreme.” The jury found Diana guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Thatis, they found that in the “heat of the moment,” Diana killed her husband to protect herselfwithout malicious intent to cause him harm.
Involuntary Manslaughter
Involuntary manslaughter is an accidental murderthat occurs during the commission of an illegal act(Garner, 2014). To understand involuntarymanslaughter, let’s explore the case of Michigan statetrooper Mark Bessner, whose actions led to the deathof teenager Damon Grimes. Bessner, in the passengerseat of his patrol vehicle while another of icer wasdriving, was in pursuit of Grimes, who was riding on anallterrain vehicle (ATV). Bessner shot Grimes with aTaser, leading Grimes to crash the vehicle andsubsequently die. The state asserted that Bessner shotGrimes knowing that the Taser would render Grimesunable to maintain control of the ATV, thus potentiallyleading to serious bodily harm, including death. Thejury was able to consider that Bessner had previously improperly used his Taser on ahandcuffed man in another case, which was a serious violation of police department policy.Bessner had been disciplined by the police department for that incident.
In this case, the jury found that Bessner did not intend to kill Grimes but that his habit of usinghis Taser unlawfully led directly to the death of Grimes. They rendered a verdict of guilty ofinvoluntary manslaughter.
Determining Mental StateThe key element that distinguishes between the four major legal categories of murder we havecovered so far is the perpetrator’s psychological or mental state at the time just prior to, during,and sometimes even after the commission of a homicide. It is important to understand that inthe criminal justice system, each victim is considered a distinct and separate count of murder,regardless of the type of murder the state charges. In other words, regardless of the totalnumber of victims a perpetrator murders, each of those victims is treated as an individual crime.Thus, if the perpetrator’s mental state varies such that malice, premeditation, and intent aredifferent for each victim, then the type of murder charge will re lect that.For example, in a convenience store robbery in which the perpetrator kills a bystander and theclerk, each victim would be treated as a separate murder count, and thus there would be twomurder charges. The perpetrator may face a irstdegree murder charge for planning to rob thestore and kill the clerk but perhaps a seconddegree murder charge for killing the bystander ifthe perpetrator did not plan to kill the second person at the scene.
Justi iable HomicideNot all murders are deemed criminal. Justi iable homicide, described as killing someone out ofnecessity, occurs because the victim perceives that he or she must defend him or herself fromcertain death.Consider the case of Ethan Gratton, who shot and killed his friend in selfdefense after the friendand another man assaulted Gratton during an argument. The men punched Gratton so hard thathe lost a tooth and suffered a concussion and a broken nose. In the middle of the attack, Grattonpulled his gun from his pocket and shot both men, killing his friend. The other man survived.The state prosecuted Gratton because it believed he formed the intent to kill. That is, the state’sposition was that Gratton premeditated his friend’s death. The jury disagreed and acquittedGratton at trial. Although the friend died by Gratton’s hand, the jury found that Gratton wasjusti ied in shooting the men in order to defend himself from further injury, including his owndeath.
8.4 Serial Killers, Mass Murderers, and Spree KillersAdditional murder classi ications based on features of the crime scene or scenes have beenidenti ied. These are serial killers and mass murderers. Serial killers and mass murderers aregenerally charged with a single count of irstdegree murder for each individual victim. Thenumber of irstdegree murder cases the defendant faces depends on how many victims therewere in total. The distinguishing characteristic between a mass murderer and a serial killer isthe elapsed time between murders.Additionally, it is worth noting that while less than 2% of all violent crimes are homicides, serialmurder is extremely rare, accounting for less than 1% of all homicides (FBI, 2008).
Serial KillerThe FBI classi ies a serial killer as a single perpetrator who murders three or more people onseparate occasions. The temporal separation between murders is often referred to as a cooling
off period. For a historical example of a serial killer, see Case Study: Clementine Barnabet.
Case Study: Clementine Barnabet
In January 1911 Louisiana authorities were noti ied of a horri ic discovery that includedthree obvious homicides. There was a couple and their young son lying in bed together.Police reports stated that it was an incredibly gruesome scene in which the family ofthree had suffered massive head injuries, leaving them barely recognizable. Also found atthe scene was a bucket full of blood and a bloody ax. Newspaper reporters called thecrime the most brutal they had ever seen, but it was not the last. Ax murders continuedthroughout 1911 and 1912 in parts of Louisiana and neighboring Texas. Policeinvestigated several different men for the murders and eventually arrested RaymondBarnabet, who was a local sharecropper with a criminal record for relatively minorcrimes.Raymond Barnabet, by all accounts, was not a good man. He was controlling, possessive,and abusive toward his wife and two children, Clementine and Zepherin. Clementine,approximately 17 years old, was happy to talk to police about a night that her fatherarrived home wearing bloodsoaked clothing. She told them that Raymond hadthreatened to kill her if she revealed this information to anyone. At trial, both Clementineand her brother testi ied against their father.However, while Raymond was in jail and his case was working its way through the legalsystem, another ax murder took place. Once again, the murder claimed the lives of anentire family, but because Raymond was in jail, he was effectively ruled out as the culprit.Police were already suspicious of Clementine because they had found blood on women’sclothing that was hanging in Clementine’s room when they arrested her father.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police
Department/Associated Press
The interior of Stephen Paddock’s
room at Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las
Vegas, Nevada, where Paddock ired
on attendees of a nearby music
festival.
Clementine asserted that her father had wiped the blood on her clothing, but policeinvestigators could not verify that Clementine had an alibi for the evening of the mostrecent ax murder.Police arrested Clementine and discovered through her confession that she had killed 35people over approximately a oneandahalfyear period. According to police, Clementinekilled these families because she believed that doing so would give her supernaturalpowers. The media suggested that the murders were part of a voodoo ritual thatClementine and “many others,” who were never identi ied, were involved in. They alsosuggested that Clementine was a high priestess in a religious cult called the Church ofSacri ice. (The existence of such a church has never been con irmed.) However, it ispossible that this part of the story was fabrication based on the racial and class biases ofthat era, given that Clementine was an African American woman in the Deep Southduring a time in history when African Americans’ rights were limited through use ofcurfews, segregation, and other restrictions under the doctrine that deemed AfricanAmericans “separate but equal.” The media may have been creating stories that tookadvantage of Clementine.In Clementine’s case, she murdered entire families (multiple victims) at each crimescene, and she was classi ied as a serial killer because there was a temporal separationbetween each set of murders. That is, Clementine murdered, then some time passed, thenshe murdered again, and so on until she was arrested.
Mass Murderer
Mass murder occurs when there are multiple victims(at least four) in a single location, with no subsequentmurder events because the murderer is typicallycaptured or killed before he or she can do anyadditional harm (FBI, 2008). Perhaps the most salienttype of mass murderer in recent history is that of themass shooter.The deadliest mass shooting in the United States todate is the Las Vegas massacre on October 1, 2017, thatclaimed 58 lives. The shooter, Stephen Paddock, killedhimself on the scene. The Pulse Nightclub shootingperpetrated by Omar Mateen in Orlando, Florida, onJune 12, 2016, claimed 49 lives and is the second mostdeadly mass murder in U.S. history to date.
However, mass murderers do not always kill dozens of people in public places. See Case Study:
John List for another example of who can be considered a mass murderer.
Case Study: John List
In 1971 New Jersey accountant John List shot and killed his family of ive, including hiswife, a teenage daughter, two teenage sons, and his own mother. It was weeks beforeneighbors became concerned that they had not seen anyone entering or leaving the homeand reported it to police. When police entered the home, they heard loud organ musicplaying over the home’s intercom system. In addition to discovering the ive victims inthe home, police also discovered a ivepage letter that List wrote to his pastor statingthat he perpetrated the murders because he “had seen too much evil in the world” andwanted to save the souls of his family members.Between the murders and the police entering the home, List changed his identity to avoidbeing found. He changed his name to Robert Clark and started a new life in Virginia,where he lived quietly for approximately 18 years. In 1989 the FBI broadcast List’s caseon a television show called America’s Most Wanted, asking for the public’s assistance inlocating John List. A woman in Virginia called the tip line and reported that her neighbor,Robert Clark, looked remarkably similar to the ageprogressed image shown to viewers.Thanks to the tip, the FBI inally captured List, who was working as an accountant, hadremarried, and was active in his local church. At trial, the jury found List guilty of ivecounts of murder, and he received ive separate life sentences, one for each of the victims.List later stated that he killed his family instead of himself because he feared that suicidewould prevent him from going to Heaven, where he was hoping to be reunited with thefamily members he murdered.Although List fatally shot his victims and this is the mode of death in many alltoofamiliar mass murder cases, he carried out the crime in the privacy of his own homeinstead of a public venue. Nevertheless, List its the FBI de inition of mass murdererbecause he killed ive people in a single location with no coolingoff period between themurders. Moreover, there is no evidence that List committed any subsequent murders atany other location.
Spree KillerThough the FBI murder classi ication system no longer uses the term spree killer, the mediasometimes still refers to these types of killers, which is why we’re discussing it here. Spree
killer was de ined as someone who murders multiple people over a short time period but indifferent geographic locations with no coolingoff period between murders. However, the FBI
received much criticism about the arbitrary de inition of a coolingoff period (FBI, 2008).Therefore, the FBI stopped using the term in 2005, deciding that spree killers were actuallyserial killers whose murders may occur with little to no break between them.To help explain why there was the third category in the irst place, the example of Dwight LamonJones may be helpful. In 2018 Jones went on a murderous rampage, killing six victims in threeArizona cities over a 5day period before killing himself. All the victims were professionals whowere either directly or indirectly involved in Jones’s divorce proceedings years earlier. It isimportant to note that, even though prior to 2005 he would have been considered a spree killer,in the context of the current FBI murder classi ication typology, Jones’s category is serial killerbecause his homicides took place over a short time period.
8.5 Family ViolenceAccording to the UCR, in most of the 15,129 murders that were solved in the United States in2017, the perpetrators were known to the victim either as an acquaintance or family member,with only 9.7% of the cases being committed by a stranger (FBI, 2018). This indicates thatfamily and intimate partner violence are a leading cause of death by homicide. Figure 8.1 showshomicide victims by relationship to the perpetrator.
Figure 8.1: Homicide victims by their relationship
In this igure, the bar graphs and pie chart visually represent the relationships ofthe 15,129 murder victims to their offenders in 2017.
From “UCR Supplemental Homicide Data 2017,” by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, n.d. (http
s://ucr. bi.gov/crimeintheu.s/2017/crimeintheu.s.2017/topicpages/expandedho
micide (https://ucr. bi.gov/crimeintheu.s/2017/crimeintheu.s.2017/topicpages/expandedhomic
ide) ).
Family violence is the umbrella term for any type of family violence in which there are a smallbut signi icant number of family members who are emotionally or physically abused or killed atthe hands of another member of the family. These can include intimate partner violence,
familicide, ilicide, and parricide.It is dif icult to get accurate data on the prevalence of the latter three types of homicides,perhaps because they are so rare and are not necessarily distinguished from other types offamily violence when the data are collected and recorded.
Effects of Sexual/Physical Abuse on ChildrenChild Welfare administrator Gabriela Baeza discusses sexual and physical abuse, andhow many males become abusers as a result of childhood abuse.
0:00 / 1:14
Critical Thinking Questions• How might a child “unlearn” abusive behavior?• To what extent does the media and popular culture reinforce abusive behavior?
Intimate Partner Violence
AntonioGuillem/iStock/Getty Images Plus
Physical or sexual intimidation of a
romantic partner is known as
intimate partner violence. Left
unchecked, this can lead to
intimate partner homicide.
According to the National Coalition Against DomesticViolence (NCADV; 2019), approximately 10 millionpeople annually experience intimate partner violence.
Intimate partner violence (previously known as
domestic violence) is the deliberate intimidation of aromantic partner—current or former—that caninclude physical, sexual, or other violence and abusivebehavior as a means of gaining or asserting dominanceand control over the person (NCADV, 2019). Intimate
partner violence is an allinclusive term meant toupdate the term domestic violence to include samesexpartners and others who may or may not be married orresiding in the same household. This abuse isfrequently systematic with varying degrees of severity.That is, for some victims the abuse is psychological andemotional, never resulting in physical injury. For othersthe abuse is physical, leading to injury and possibly even death.The NCADV (2019) reports that, on average, 1 in 3 female murder victims are killed by anintimate partner, in contrast to 1 in 20 male victims who are killed by an intimate partner.Nearly half of all female homicide victims are killed by a current intimate partner or a formerpartner, with approximately 10% of these homicide victims experiencing violence at the handsof their murderer in the 30 days prior to being killed (Petrosky et al., 2017). However, intimatepartners were not the only individuals murdered in at least some of these homicide cases.Approximately 20% of all murder victims were friends, family, and/or acquaintances ofdomestic violence victims and were murdered because they were somehow related to orintervened on behalf of the victim (NCADV, 2019).See Case Study: Robert McCoy to read about a case in which intimate partner violence led tomultiple homicides.
Case Study: Robert McCoy
Yolanda McCoy separated from her controlling and abusive husband, Robert McCoy, in2008. One day as she arrived home from work, her estranged husband was waiting forher inside her new residence. He put a knife to her throat and held Yolanda and their 1yearold child hostage. Yolanda was eventually able to contact the police, but before theyarrived, Robert led the scene.Fearing for her life, Yolanda took her teenage son from a previous relationship to herparents’ home in a neighboring city because she believed he would be safe there. Yolandathen moved to a nearby city with her 1yearold with the hope that the police would sooncapture Robert and he would go to jail. However, despite their best efforts, the police hadbeen unsuccessful in locating him.
Approximately 2 weeks after holding Yolanda hostage, Robert, armed with a gun andfurious that he could not ind Yolanda, went to her parents’ home and demanded thatthey tell him Yolanda’s whereabouts. Yolanda’s mother immediately called 911, and shewas heard on the recording saying, “She’s not here, Robert. Robert, Yolanda is not here.” Avoice believed to be Robert’s was shouting in the background, and then there weregunshots ired. Yolanda’s mother, stepfather, and teenage son, Gregory, were all killedexecution style. Witnesses saw Robert running from the home, and the police laterrecovered his abandoned car near the scene.Eventually, Robert was captured, tried, and sentenced to Louisiana’s death row to servethree death sentences, one for each of the three murders he is alleged to have committed.
Familicide
Familicide is a murdersuicide in which the murderer is a family member who kills multiplefamily members and then kills him or herself. To understand this type of family violence, let’sexplore the case of Terry Strawn.Strawn was named Hillsborough County, Florida, Of icer of the Year in 2009. He workedeffectively as a police of icer for many years before his retirement in 2016. However, familyinancial issues caused him to return to the sheriff ’s department as a school resource of icer.Strawn’s goal was to help improve school security in the wake of the mass shooting at anotherFlorida school in 2018.On the morning of December 19, 2018, Strawn broadcast over his police radio, admitting tokilling his wife, daughter, and granddaughter and revealing the locations of their bodies. Hewent on to say that he loved the sheriff ’s department but was despondent and intended to takehis own life at a high school that was near the locations of the three murders he committedearlier that day. His colleagues arrived at the high school, but despite their best efforts to stophim, Strawn killed himself. Further investigation showed that the family had iled for bankruptcyprotection a few years earlier and may have been having signi icant inancial issues.Regardless of the underlying reasons, Strawn committed familicide—he murdered his familyand then killed himself.
Parricide
Parricide is the killing of one’s parents. Recall Figure 8.1, which shows that in 2017, 169homicide victims were the mother of the perpetrator and 186 were the father of the perpetrator(FBI, 2018).To put these data into context, for the year 2017, less than 1% (about 0.02%; 355 cases) of totalhomicides in the United States were perpetrated by children on a parent. It may seem that these
Robert F. Bukaty/AP/Associated Press
Andrea Balcer delivers a statement
in 2018 before being sentenced to
40 years for killing her parents 2
years prior.
low numbers do not accurately re lect the reality of the situation, due to the fact that when caseslike these occur, they are covered extensively by the media. We tend to hear about these casesmore frequently and in more detail than with many other homicide cases, and they becomesalient to us because of the level of shock and distinctiveness from other types of homicides.Consider the case of Andrea Balcer, who was just 17years old when she killed her parents in Winthrop,Maine. Andrea was struggling with psychological stressbecause she believed that her parents would beunsupportive of her desire to transition from male tofemale. According to Andrea, she “snapped” and killedboth of her parents but spared her brother,Christopher, who later advocated against Andrea for aharsh sentence, citing her lack of remorse. The statecharged Andrea as an adult in part due to the brutalityof the crime, which included Andrea stabbing hermother in the back repeatedly as her mother wasgiving her a hug.To avoid trial and a possible life sentence for eachmurder, Andrea accepted a plea bargain for a term of40 years in prison. The judge rejected her mental health mitigation, stating that manyindividuals struggling with lack of support from family and community when they experiencepsychological stress surrounding gender identity do not use this as an excuse to kill. In parricidecases, there is often a teenage perpetrator who believes that if his or her parents were dead, heor she could go on to live a life free of parental oppression.
Filicide
Filicide involves cases in which parents kill their children. In 2017 approximately 432 homicidevictims were children who were murdered by their parents (about 0.03%). Figure 8.1 alsoshows that sons were killed by a parent in 253 cases and daughters were killed by a parent in179 cases.Consider the case of Julie Schenecker. For most of her life, Schenecker had suffered from bipolardisorder possibly with psychotic features (see Chapter 2 for more information on this disorder).However, no one believed she would ever harm her children. While her husband, Parker, was inthe army stationed overseas, Julie drove her 13yearold son, Beau, to soccer practice, and shefatally shot him while in the car for “talking back.” After killing Beau, Schenecker turned the cararound to go back home. When she arrived, she went inside and fatally shot her 16yearolddaughter, Calyx. When the children’s grandmother became concerned that she could not reachSchenecker or the kids, she had police do a welfare check at the home.The police discovered Beau’s body still in the SUV where he was killed, and they discoveredCalyx covered with a sheet on her bed. Police also discovered a journal of Schenecker’s in whichshe wrote about planning to kill the children. At trial, the jury rejected Schenecker’s insanity
defense, citing the premeditated plan to kill the children. (An insanity defense is one in whichthe defendant asserts in court that he or she could not appreciate the criminal nature of his orher actions at the time of the crime or did not understand the difference between right andwrong, as a direct result of mental defect.) Schenecker was sentenced to life in prison.
Assessing Balcer’s and Schenecker’s Mental StatesIn Balcer’s and Schenecker’s cases, there were indications that each was suffering from eitherpsychological stress or a mental disorder. However, in the criminal justice system, mental state isconsidered within the context of whether there was intent to kill, premeditation, and/or malice.In Maine, where Balcer was sentenced, the law includes only one statute that criminalizesalmost all types of murder. The statute includes the previously discussed components of irstand seconddegree murder, as well as manslaughter. Presumably, the defendant is sentencedbased on what facts in evidence show the perpetrator’s mental state at the time of the crime. Inthe Balcer case, she plead guilty to two counts of murder, one for each of her parents. She wassentenced to 40 years for each homicide.In Florida, where Schenecker was sentenced, there is a separate statute for each type of criminalhomicide discussed earlier in this chapter. Although there was evidence presented at trial thatSchenecker’s criminal behavior was likely attributable to psychiatric dysfunction, as evidencedby her taking psychotropic medications to treat bipolar disorder, the jury found her guilty ofirstdegree murder. They decided that Schenecker’s mental state at the time of the crimeincluded the premeditated attempt to murder her children with malice aforethought. Due toFlorida’s criminal justice system mandate that anyone found guilty of irstdegree murder mustserve a life sentence without parole, the jury’s verdict left the judge no option other than tosentence Schenecker to two life sentences without the possibility of parole.
8.6 Demographics of HomicideThere are a number of demographic variables correlated with homicidal behavior, includingrace, age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Overall, it is important to consider howdemographic, biopsychosocial, and other situational factors impact crime and its prevention.
RacePerhaps the most controversial of the demographic variables associated with homicide is that ofrace, ethnicity, and culture. This variable is controversial because criminal justice data showconsistently that African Americans are overrepresented as defendants in the criminal justicesystem. As of July 1, 2018, the U.S. African American population was estimated at 13.1% (U.S.Census Bureau, 2019). According to the UCR homicide data on race, 54.2% of perpetrators wereAfrican American, a startling igure considering that less than 15% of the U.S. population isAfrican American (FBI, 2018). Clinical psychology research informs us that there are nosigni icant differences in the behavioral and mental health functioning of individuals based onrace. A lack of behavioral and psychological differences suggests that the racial inequities maybe due to explicit and implicit racial biases (Goel, Rao, & Shroff, 2016; Hetey & Eberhardt, 2014;Kay et al., 2009).Hetey and Eberhardt (2018) examined factors related to racial disparities in the criminal justicesystem. The primary goal of the research was to identify areas of psychology research that maymitigate the effects of inherent racial bias in the criminal justice system. One popularintervention is to widely disseminate information on racial inequality in the criminal justicesystem to the masses. However, social psychology researchers have found that educating Whitepeople about observable racial bias in the criminal justice system caused them to be morepunitive instead of less punitive when the defendant was Black (Hetey & Eberhardt, 2014;Pef ley & Hurwitz, 2007).Hetey and Eberhardt (2018) proposed that additional research be undertaken on three keyinterventions in an effort to effectively communicate information about racial disparities anddevelop interventions that will reduce or eliminate negative stereotype activation. Theseproposed areas of research are (a) the best ways to offer context when presenting statistics onracial disparity; (b) how to effectively challenge negative implicit associations based on race(e.g., reduce or eliminate implicit bias); and (c) how to highlight the roles that institutions, asopposed to individuals, have in facilitating and perpetuating racial disparities in the criminaljustice system.
AgeAlthough the scope of this chapter focuses on adult homicide perpetrators (juvenileperpetrators are discussed in Chapter 7), it is important to note that even adult homicideoffenders tend to be young. When examining homicide cases in which a perpetrator has beenidenti ied, approximately 54% of homicide perpetrators are aged 20 to 34, with more than threequarters of this group falling under age 29 (FBI, 2018).
gorodenkoff/iStock/Getty Images Plus
Studies indicate that the more
individuals are exposed to violence,
the greater the odds are that they
will commit violent crimes. This,
combined with low socioeconomic
status, is a risk factor for criminal
behavior.
GenderThe overwhelming majority (88.1%) of homicide offenders are male (FBI, 2018). However, thereare differences between male and female homicide perpetrators based on who they tend to kill.Data show that more than half of female homicide offenders murder an intimate partner orfamily member, whereas about 75% of male offenders are signi icantly more likely to kill anacquaintance or a stranger (Fox & Fridel, 2017).A potential gap in the gender variable reporting is that data are collected and reported based onmale–female gender categories even though an increasing number of individuals identify asgender nonconforming or transgender. There is no speci ic information to determine to whichgender category transgender perpetrators (or victims) are assigned. Therefore, caution must beused when interpreting and drawing genderbased conclusions, as these may be inaccurate.An example of this conundrum is in the previously discussed case of Andrea Balcer. Despite thefact that Balcer identi ies as a female, her legal name is Andrew, and she has not undergone sexreassignment surgery (which is currently required in the state of Maine to change gender on abirth certi icate). Therefore, the Maine Department of Corrections has placed Balcer in a maleprison facility under her legal name of Andrew Taney Balcer and has listed her gender as male(State of Maine Department of Corrections, 2019).
Socioeconomic StatusThough socioeconomic status is discussed in moredepth in Chapter 4, it bears mentioning here thatpoverty is a key risk factor in predicting criminalbehavior, including homicide. Although social class andpoverty are not adequate predictors of future criminalbehavior on their own, when combined with additionalvariables—such as access to weapons and repeatexposure to violence—they are typically cited as anunderlying risk factor for homicidal behavior.Many children who grow up in highcrime and highviolence areas will not go on to commit homicide.However, research suggests that the greater theexposure to violence and crime, the greater thelikelihood of engaging in criminal behavior, includinghomicide. This is attributable to a lack of inancial,medical, and social resources.
Access to WeaponsAlthough access to weapons and the use of a weapon by homicide perpetrators is not ademographic variable, weapon accessibility is a strong predictor of violent behavior, including
homicide. In 2017 approximately 73% of homicides were committed using a irearm, themajority of which were handguns (FBI, 2018). This number has increased from 2013, in which airearm was the weapon used in approximately 69% of homicides. The next most frequentlyused weapon in homicides in 2017—though signi icantly less than irearms—wasknives/cutting instruments, at 11%.Another sobering statistic is that for children age 18 and under, gunshot wounds are the leadingcause of death by homicide (N = 680; FBI, 2018). More than half of these homicides wereperpetrated on victims ages 13 to 16. For young adults ages 18 to 22, the total number ofhomicides by gunshot wound is more than double that of the 18 and under group (N = 1,551 vs.N = 680).Given the increase in mass murder via gun violence in the past several years, there is muchpublic debate about gun control. The public discourse tends to suggest that if there are no guns,there will be no violent crime or violent crime will be greatly reduced. It is important tounderstand that neither guns nor any other type of weapons cause homicides. However, the datashow a strong association between accessibility to weapons and homicides. That is, it may bethat the availability of irearms and the laws that entitle people to carry irearms contribute todeaths by gunshot wound.
8.7 Criminal Recidivism Among Homicide OffendersPerhaps the strongest in luence on criminal homicide behavior is the power of the situation.That is, even with someone who has no discernible biological or developmental risk factors thatmay lead us to believe he or she is capable of killing, the way a situation is structured can be apredictor of homicidal behavior. Important considerations are whether the perpetrator is underthe in luence of alcohol or recreational drugs, whether he or she is provoked or despondent, orany number of other situational factors that have a strong and direct impact on his or herbehavior.Although it could be helpful to be able to predict with precision what combination of situational,biological, and developmental factors may lead to homicide, the best that criminal psychologyresearchers can do is evaluate past cases for indicators of similar characteristics among killersand their homicides. A historical gap in the research is that most homicidal behavior researchfocuses on serial killers and mass murderers, with very little research on the characteristics ofindividual killers. However, researchers in New Jersey examined individual killers in relation torecidivism (the tendency of an individual to relapse into criminal behavior) and what drovethem to kill in the irst place, providing us with a novel typology of what drives someone to kill.Roberts, Zgoba, and Shahidullah (2007) conducted a study of more than 300 perpetrators ofhomicide who had been released from New Jersey state prisons from 1990 to 2000. Theresearchers tracked these individuals for 5 years to measure their recidivism rates. Theyhypothesized that homicide perpetrators who had no criminal history prior to their murdercharge would be the least likely to return to prison. Their indings identi ied four majorhomicide perpetrator types.1. perpetrators who killed someone during a family violence incident (family violencehomicide offenders)2. perpetrators who killed during the commission of another felony such as armedrobbery (felony homicide offenders)3. perpetrators who killed someone during the course of an automobile accident (typicallyDUI related; accidental homicide offenders)4. perpetrators who killed as a result of provocation (altercationprecipitated homicideoffenders)Overall, none of the offenders committed another homicide. However, many of these individualscommitted other crimes, including violent or drugrelated offenses. The highest recidivism rateswere observed in the felony homicide group, followed by the group of homicide perpetratorswho were provoked by an altercation. Only 10% of the family violence homicide offendersrecidivated due to a new violent or drugrelated offense.These categories are helpful for understanding what some precipitating factors may be forhomicidal behavior, along with whether these individuals are likely to kill again.
Summary and Conclusion
Regardless of the variables that lead to homicide, this deadly form of violence is one that shocksand fascinates the public conscience. Though it may seem that homicides occur frequently, thedata show that homicides are rare, depending on where in the United States one resides. Recallthe availability heuristic, which refers to the likelihood that individuals overestimate theprevalence of certain events based on how easily these events come to mind.It’s important to remember that there are different types of criminal homicide. For example, thechapter covered several subcategories of murder, including irst and seconddegree murder.While any type of homicide is serious, irstdegree murder cases are commonly consideredamong the most serious and heinous crimes.People who have murdered more than one victim are also classi ied into different categoriesbased on the patterns of their murders. A mass murderer kills four or more people at onelocation during one continuous time period, while spree killers murder two or more victims atmore than one location. Finally, serial killers murder three or more victims, and each victim ismurdered on separate occasions.The chapter also discussed family violence, which includes intimate partner violence, familicide,parricide, and ilicide. Though these types of homicides are rare, it is important to understandthe context in which they occur.Although demographic and other psychosocial variables are merely correlational whenmeasured in conjunction with homicides, the chapter discussed race, age, gender, socioeconomicstatus, and access to weapons in an effort to identify variables that may lead to violence andhomicide.Although television, movies, and true crime stories fascinate and provide interestingentertainment, it is important to remember that homicide is a major trauma to the loved ones ofvictims. Therefore, criminologists, psychologists, law enforcement, and other interestedstakeholders continue to examine homicidal behavior in an effort to devise interventions toprevent and signi icantly reduce homicides.
Critical Thinking Questions1. Why aren’t all homicides deemed criminal?2. Discuss the issue of racial bias as it relates to the association between race andhomicide.3. Discuss the accessibility of irearms as a predictor of homicide. Which demographicgroup is the most likely to die of gunshot wounds in the United States?4. Think about the region in which you live. Does the media frequently run news storiesabout homicides, or are these types of stories infrequent? Consider the availabilityheuristic.
Key Terms
altercation homicideA type of homicide that occurs as a result of the perpetrator feeling intense anger andprovocation. Considered “heat of passion,” seconddegree murder.
availability heuristicThe likelihood that individuals overestimate the prevalence of certain events based on howeasily these events come to mind.
criminal homicideA murder that contains the element of intention to cause the death of another and isconsidered neither excusable nor justi iable.
familicideA murdersuicide in which the murderer is a family member who kills multiple familymembers and then kills him or herself.
family violenceAn umbrella term used to describe any type of family violence in which there are a small butsigni icant number of family members who are emotionally or physically abused or killed atthe hands of another member of the family, such as in intimate partner violence, familicide,ilicide, and parricide.
felony homicideA homicide that occurs during the commission of another felony, which is typically a crime toobtain some reward such as cash, objects, or other desired goods possessed by anotherperson. Considered irstdegree murder.
ilicideA type of homicide in which a parent murders his or her child or children.
irstdegree murderThe unlawful killing of another that must have the intentional elements of maliceaforethought and premeditation.
intimate partner violenceThe deliberate intimidation of a romantic partner—current or former—that can includephysical, sexual, or other violence and abusive behavior as a means of gaining or assertingdominance and control over the person. Previously known as domestic violence.
involuntary manslaughterAn accidental murder that occurs during the commission of an illegal act. Considered acategory of thirddegree murder.
justi iable homicide
The act of killing someone out of necessity. Occurs because the victim perceives he or shemust defend him or herself from certain death.
malice aforethoughtThe intent to cause signi icant harm to another.
manslaughterSee third-degree murder.
mass murderA type of murder that occurs when there are multiple victims (at least four) in a singlelocation with no subsequent murder events.
parricideA type of homicide in which a child murders his or her parent(s).
premeditationThe planning of a homicide. Does not necessarily require a signi icant amount of time to forma plan.
second-degree murderAn act of intentional killing that lacks the irstdegree murder element of premeditation.Commonly thought of as “depraved heart/mind” murder.
serial killerA single perpetrator who murders three or more people on separate occasions.
spree killerA term no longer used by the FBI, but when used by the media, it is de ined as someone whomurders multiple people over a short time period in different geographic locations with nocoolingoff period between murders.
third-degree murderCommonly known as manslaughter; an unintentional yet criminal homicide that lacks maliceand premeditation. Its two major categories are voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.
voluntary manslaughterA “heat of passion” murder that lacks intent to commit murder. Considered a category ofthirddegree murder.
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Offender Profiling [WLOs: 1, 2] [CLOs: 1, 2]
Prior to beginning work on this discussion, review Chapter 8 in your textbook and the article
Psychological Profiling ‘worse than useless’
(https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/sep/14/psychological-profile-behavioural-psychology) .
Your initial post should be at least 300 words in length. Please elaborate on the following as you complete
your discussion. Support your claims with examples from the required materials and/or other scholarly
sources, and properly cite any references:
• In your textbook, five different categories of criminal profiling are covered. What are they? Please
define each type. What are the pros and cons of each type of profiling?
• Of the five, which is the most promising method of offender profiling?
• Now focus on crime scene profiling. What do your textbook authors and the article authors say about
the research on this type of profiling?
• Is it a reliable and valid method of catching criminals?
• Given what you have learned about this type of criminal psychology profiling, is it ethical for
psychologists to engage in this type of activity? Why or why not?
Guided Response: Review several of your peers’ initial posts and, in a minimum of 100 words each,
respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7. Be sure to provide constructive feedback; ask
follow-up questions to your peers regarding your agreement with their opinion on whether profiling is a
reliable and valid method of catching criminals. Be sure to focus on what research shows about the
efficacy of offender profiling in solving crimes. Respond in a substantive manner with specific examples to
extend their thinking. Support your claims with examples from the required materials and/or other
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Continue to monitor the discussion forum until 5:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Day 7, and respond with
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(https:// Zyon Manning (https://ashford.instructure.com/courses/61753/users/73482)
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The five distinct categories of criminal profiling are crime scene profiling, psychological profiling,
geographical profiling, suspect-based profiling, and psychological autopsy. Crime scene profiling
refers to analyzing various elements of a crime scene to determine critical features and
understanding the incentive of the offender. A pro component to this form of profiling is its ability
to identify forensic evidence and aid in capturing the offender. A negative element is that it is
subjected to biases developed by the investigator that may not reflect the behaviors of the culprit
(Chifflet, 2015). Psychological profiling collects data on a person or people to assess their level of
risk and threat to themselves and others. A benefit to this form of profiling is that psychologists can
develop detailed reports that aid in determining whether an individual will engage in harmful
behaviors. A negative feature is that these descriptions are generally hypothetical, and the source
material is not always reliable (Chifflet, 2015). Geographical profiling utilizes locations to identify
patterns or clues to where crimes are more likely to occur. A positive aspect of this technique is that
it aids in determining possible locations for future crimes and can with learning information on the
killer such as comfort zones or base of operations. A con for this method is that it’s not beneficial if
the offender leaves the area or does not regard locations in their acts (Chifflet, 2015). Suspect-
based profiling gathers information from preceding offenders to help gain insight into other
felons. This form of profiling helps to identify patterns to obstruct a similar crime from occurring. The
issue with this tactic is its connection with biased and illegal attributes that rely on factors not
associated with crimes such as race or religion (DeLisi, Schwartz, & Klein, 2019). Psychological
autopsy refers to utilizing information from an individual that is deceased to gain insight on a
crime. A positive element of this type of profiling is that beneficial information can be determined
through an autopsy that can provide critical information on the cause of death. Unfortunately, the
data that stems from autopsies are commonly criticized and can be manipulated by the
offender, which affects its validity and reliability (Chifflet, 2015).
I believe the most promising out of the five categories is psychological profiling. Although this
technique has just as many limitations as the others, significant progress has been made in its
development. Instead of only using professional opinions, there are instruments that assist
in increasing the accuracy of assessments (Chifflet, 2015).
Crime scene profiling is a data-based method that aids in analyzing various factors of criminal
activity. Research explains that many professionals tend to create unsubstantiated assumptions
derived from personality theories that obstruct the reliability and validity of the profiling
process (Chifflet, 2015). I believe that crime scene profiling can be a valid method when removing
unsupported assumptions based on personal beliefs. I think that this type of criminal psychological
Reply
profiling is ethical under the condition that biases and unsupported speculations are removed as
these elements can distort the accuracy and reliability of information (Sample, 2010).
References
Chifflet, P. (2015). Questioning the validity of criminal profiling: An evidence-based
approach. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 48(2), 238–255. https://doi-
org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.1177/0004865814530732 (https://doi-org.proxy-
library.ashford.edu/10.1177/0004865814530732)
DeLisi, M., Schwartz, S., & Klein, E. (2019). Criminal psychology
(https://ashford.instructure.com/courses/61753/external_tools/retrieve?
display=borderless&;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.ashford.edu%2Flti%3Fbookcode%3DDeLisi.5989.19.1)
(2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu
Sample, I. (2010, September 14). Psychological profiling ‘worse than useless.’ (Links to an
external site.) (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/sep/14/psychological-profile-behavioural-
psychology) The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/
(https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/) sep/14/psychological-profile-behavioural-psychology