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Homicide Investigation

The Homicide Witness and Victimization; PTSD in Civilian Populations: A Literature Review

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People who wit ness th e murder of an individual, whether a family member or acquaintance, often experience their loss as a psychic trauma. This describe trauma is revealed by the symptom complex defined in the DSM-IlI-R as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Children, in particular, frequently suffer from debilitating grief, which hinders their emotional and cognitive development. This grief may masquerade as a learning disability, hyperactivity, or an attention deficit disorder. Witnessing murder and being victimized (i.e , rape incest , and physical abuse) are equivalent experiences in their potential for generating massive intrapsychic conflict. Being poor is a predisposing factor which puts some groups at risk more than others. Further, the lack of therapeutic interventions enhances the likelihood of symptomatology and the perpetuation of intergenerational transmission. Few case reports have bee n written on the homicide witnesses' vulnerability to PTSD...

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The Homicide Scene Exception to the Fourth Amendment Warrant Requirement: A Dead Issue

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The Supreme Court traditionally has used very narrow language in cases involving warrantless searches. The Court has stated that "searches conducted outside the judicial process, without prior approval by judge or magistrate, are unreasonable per se under the fourth amendment-subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions."' Notwithstanding this precise language, the exceptions recognized by the Court have been neither "few" nor "well-delineated." Rather than adopt a narrow construction of the fourth amendment, the Court has liberally interpreted the amendment and expanded its exceptions in order to avoid inequitable results. During the past ten years some lower federal and state courts, responding more to the practical results of Supreme Court warrantless search cases than to the Court's rhetoric, have recognized a significant new exception to the fourth amendments warrant requirement: the "homicide scene" exception. This exception allows police officers, who make a legitimate...

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Missing Persons: Volunteers Supporting Law Enforcement

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The national Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) Program was established in 2002 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The VIPS Program provides support and resources for agencies interested in developing or enhancing a volunteer program and for citizens who wish to volunteer their time and skills with a community law enforcement agency. The program’s ultimate goal is to enhance the capacity of state, local, and tribal law enforcement to utilize volunteers through the provision of no-cost resources and assistance. The program’s Web site, www.policevolunteers.org, serves as a gateway to information for law enforcement agencies and citizens interested in law enforcement volunteer programs. The program offers a host of resources including a directory of law enforcement volunteer programs, a library of sample documents, publications addressing specific elements and issues related to volunteer programs, a model policy on volunteers, an e-newsletter, educational videos, a moderated online discussion group,

Additional Resource: National Neighborhood Watch – A Division Of The National Sheriffs' Association

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Dyadic Deaths (Homicide- Suicide): Three Case Reports

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Abstract:

Homicide suicide (dyadic) deaths though rare, have got important social impact. Here, three cases of dyadic deaths with perpetrator as husband in two cases and boy friend in one case are reported. In one of the case, victim was daughter along with wife. Suicide note by perpetrator was found in two cases. Factors like profile of perpetrator and relationship between perpetrator and victim, circumstances of killing, method of killing, site of offence, are important in such cases and various studies and case reports are based on these factors. In two cases, financial burden and in one case jealousy was the reason for killing.

Introduction:

Dyadic deaths (homicide – suicide) is defined as a dramatic violent event in which an individual kills another and subsequently commits suicide immediately or after certain period of time that may range from hours to 1 week. There is however no standardized operational definition... .

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A Review of Weapon Choice in Violent and Sexual Crime

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Introduction

Weapon use in sexual and violent offences is a key consideration for police agencies and governments alike (Home Office, 2011). For the current paper, a weapon is defined as “an object used to cause or threaten injury to another”. Prevalence data pertaining to weapon enabled crime exists for England and Wales through Home Office statistical releases utilising both public survey and police statistics. For example, in the year ending March 2012, 51 per cent of attempted murders, 22 per cent of robberies, and one percent of rapes involved a knife or sharp instrument (ONS, 2012). Prevalence data is collected in many countries (Catalano, 2005; Home Office, 2011; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2004) and is valuable for understanding trends, developing policies or preventative strategies and the like. However, it reveals little on the motivations or whether weapon type has the ability to differentiate between offenders. The question at hand is...

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Analyzing an Offender’s Journey to Crime: A Criminal Movement Model (CriMM)

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Abstract

In the current study we develop a Criminal Movement Model (CriMM) to investigate the relationship between simulated travel routes of offenders along the physical road network and the actual locations of their crimes in the same geographic space. With knowledge of offenders’ home locations and the locations of major attractors, we are able to model the routes that offenders are likely to take when travelling from their home to an attractor by employing variations of Dijkstra’s shortest path algorithm. With these routes plotted, we then compare them to the locations of crimes committed by the same offenders. This model was applied to five attractor locations within the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Information about offenders in these cities was obtained from five years worth of real police data. After performing a small-scale analysis for each offender to investigate how far off their...

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The Psychiatrist’s Role in Determining Accountability for Crimes: The Public Anxiety and an Increasing Expertise

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I. INTRODUCTION

In conjunction with the criminal law, the psychiatrist witness has been asked to evaluate people at four different stages. He has been asked to give his opinion whether the defendant understands the charges and is able to aid his defense, whether the defendant should be held responsible for his activity, to recommend a disposition and finally to recommend a stay for execution of sentence.' This comment will discuss the second of these functions, the role of the psychiatrist in determining whether someone should be held accountable for the consequences of his acts who has accomplished activity classified by society as criminal. This comment will discuss the legal tests for insanity only peripherally, by illustrating the legal semantical difficulty produced by the attempts of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to deal with this problem. The legal tests have been so overtreated and overemphasized that one noted authority has remarked: "Rivers of ink, mountains of printer's

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Solicitation: Evidence-Based Model Programs for Cold Case Units

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Specific Information—Evidence-Based Model Programs for Cold Case Units

In the publication Cold Case Squads: Leaving No Stone Unturned, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) states that cold cases are among the most difficult and frustrating cases detectives face. These are cases that the initial investigators, for whatever reason, could not solve. To tackle this problem, many U.S. police agencies have established cold case squads. Cold case squads can be especially useful in locating and working with past and potential witnesses and reviewing physical evidence to identify suspects. Cold case squads also perform an outreach and networking role and can assist other jurisdictions with cold case investigations, as appropriate. In a special report entitled Using DNA to Solve Cold Cases, NIJ discussed the role that advances in DNA technology can play in investigating and solving cold cases. Although DNA is not the only forensic tool of value to unsolved case...

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The Importance of Careful Interpretation of Shell Casing Ejection Patterns

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Abstract:

An experiment was conducted to gain information about shell casing ejection patterns. The research project showed that shell casing ejection patterns are dependent on a number of variables: type of firearm, stance, hand and weapon position (grip), and movement.

Background

A review of the literature indicated some disparity in the opinions of crime scene investigators concerning the position of casings related to shooting incidents. Ogle notes that the "location of fired cartridge cases may be valuable in a reconstruction attempt of the shooting incident. The location(s) of the shooter(s) may be determined by the analysis of the locations of the fired cases" [1]. Gardner writes that firearms examiners conduct, on occasion, ejection studies with the purpose of determining the distance and direction that a casing will eject when the weapon is held in any given orientation. He continues by noting that ejection studies have limited value, because casings will roll when...

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Cold-Case Investigations An Analysis of Current Practices and Factors Associated with Successful Outcomes

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Introduction

With modern clearance rates (which represent the proportion of cases solved divided by the number of cases opened during a given time period) far below those in the 1960s and DNA forensic technology having improved, law enforcement agencies have shown increasing interest in attempting to solve homicides and other serious crimes that seemed intractable during initial investigation, in what are called cold-case investigations. Fueled by the popularity of television shows focusing on forensic investigation, such cold-case investigations have captured the imagination of the American public, and cold-case investigations have become increasingly commonplace in law enforcement agencies. Yet, despite the increasing number of cold-case units and the expenditure of significant resources to fund them, we know virtually nothing about the return on this investment. Does it make sense for law enforcement agencies to devote significant resources to solving cold cases, or are those resources better deployed in solving recent cases? How can agencies ..

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Vulnerable Victims: Child Homicide by Parents

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Introduction

Vulnerable victims are those who are susceptible to becoming victims of violence because of their limited capacity to protect and remove themselves from danger. Generally speaking, criminal investigations involving vulnerable victims are protracted, sensitive and labour-intensive. The investigations can be particularly complex and challenging to carry out using conventional law enforcement powers. For cases where conventional practices have not proved effective, the Queensland Police Service (QPS) may request access to the special investigative powers of the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC), if it is considered that the use of the coercive hearings power may benefit the investigation. Historically, these types of investigations were referred to the CMC on a case-by-case basis at the request of the Commissioner of Police.

The CMC’s vulnerable victims research program was established to help the CMC to conduct coercive hearings under the new referral. Papers in the vulnerable victims research program review published literature from a range of subject...

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Partners In Crime A Comparison Of Individual And Multi-Perpetrator Homicides

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Abstract

Little is known about the characteristics of homicides committed by more than one perpetrator. This study examined the crime, victim, and perpetrator characteristics of individual homicides (n = 84) versus multi-perpetrator homicides (n = 40), according to official file information from two Canadian federal penitentiaries. Compared to multiple perpetrators, individual perpetrators were more likely to be older and to target female victims, and their homicides were more likely to contain reactive, sexual, and sadistic elements. Multi-perpetrator homicides tended to involve younger offenders, male victims, and instrumental motives. Psychopathic offenders were likely to act alone in committing sexual homicides and to involve an accomplice in other types of murders, but they typically committed gratuitous violence against women regardless of whether they acted alone or with a co-perpetrator. The findings indicate that individual and multi-perpetrator homicides have distinctive dynamics and can be differentiated during investigations....

Additional Resource: Partners In Crime A Comparison Of Individual And Multi-Perpetrator Homicides

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A Theory Of Homicidal Behavior Among Women

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This theory explains the homicidal behavior of women in a variety of settings. Structural, social, and cultural conditions of modern societies generate strain for all women, which produces negative affect. Women tend to internalize negative affect as guilt and hurt rather than externalize it as anger directed at a target. This results in a situation analogous to over controlled personality, and results in low overall rates of deviance punctuated by occasional instances of extreme violence. The conditions found in long-term abusive relationships and pre- or postpartum are more likely to produce this result, but the theory is not limited to explaining female homicide in these settings. Men commit much more crime—including violent crime—than women. But the homicides women commit exhibit much more consistency in their characteristics and circumstances than do homicides by men (Browne, 1987; Browne and Williams, 1993; Bunch et al., 1983; d'Orban, 1990; Gelles and Cornell, 1985; Goetting, 1987; Jurik and Winn, 1990; Martin, 1981; Walker,

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Foresight of Murder and Complicity in Unlawful Joint Enterprises Where Death Results

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Abstract

In this article, the central or principal issue for consideration is the appropriate standard that should be adopted at common law for foresight of consequences at common law where death has arisen out of an unlawful joint enterprise and the complicity or otherwise of a secondary party is in issue. Although the discussion is focussed upon the common law, the same issues of principle and policy arise in relation to potential reforms of the ’common purpose’ rule under the Criminal Codes.

In this article, the central or principal issue for consideration is the appropriate standard that should be adopted at common law for foresight of consequences at common law where death has arisen out of an unlawful joint enterprise and the complicity or otherwise of a secondary party is in issue. Although the discussion is focussed upon the common law, the same issues of principle and policy arise in relation to potential reforms of the ’common purpose’ rule under the Criminal Codes...

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Motivated Thinking

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At one time or another, every one of us has engaged in “wishful thinking,” or “let our hearts influence our heads.” That is, every one of us has felt the effects of our motivations on our thought processes. Given this common everyday experience, it is not surprising that an essential part of early psychological research was the idea that drives, needs, desires, motives, and goals can profoundly influence judgment and reasoning. More surprising is that motivational variables play only a small role in current theories of reasoning. Why might this be? One possible explanation is that since the cognitive revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, researchers studying motivational and cognitive processes have been speaking somewhat different languages. That is, there has been a general failure to connect traditional motivational concepts, such as drives or motives, to information processing concepts, such as expectancies or spreading activation, which form the foundation for nearly all contemporary research on thinking and reasoning.

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Missing White Woman Syndrome: An Empirical Analysis of Race and Gender Disparities in Online News Coverage of Missing Persons

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INTRODUCTION

On Sunday morning, November 3, 2013, Aaron Hubbard went to church. It was the last time his family would see him alive. A few hours later, Chicago police received a report that Hubbard had been kidnapped. According to witnesses, Hubbard, a seventeen-year-old high school student, was attacked and thrown into a truck that quickly drove away. After eight days of searching, police found Hubbard’s decomposing body in an abandoned building not far from where the abduction had occurred. A handful of short news stories documented the story in Hubbard’s hometown of Chicago, but the case received no coverage on a regional or national scale. Three months earlier, in August, California native Hannah Anderson disappeared, triggering a massive manhunt for her and her alleged kidnapper. The incident sparked a media firestorm, with news agencies across the country covering the sixteen-year-old’s disappearance. Local and national media outlets tracked the investigation, with CNN.com alone .

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