Abstract
Discovery of a concealed body often leads to the assumption that the manner of death was homicide. However, in cases where death has resulted from illicit drug use or drug abuse, the body may be concealed to protect persons involved in drug abuse or drug marketing.
Abstract
Objective Exhumation stands as a very significant feature of forensic investigations. The legal excavation of dead bodies for ascertainment of the cause of death has always aided the law enforcement agencies to comprehend the anonymity of any suspicious case and further convict the criminal in cases of homicides. This study analyses the different aspects of the exhumations which were carried out and were autopsied in Karachi during the study period.
Method This was a cross-sectional study, and included all the exhumations carried out in Karachi during a period of 7 years and 7 months from 1 January 2004 to 31 July 2011.
Results A total of 101 exhumations were carried out during the study period. Out of 101 cases, 63 were males (62.4%) and 38 females (37.6%) giving a male to female ratio of about 3:2.
Abstract
The pseudocommando is a type of mass murderer who kills in public during the daytime, plans his offense well in advance, and comes prepared with a powerful arsenal of weapons. He has no escape planned and expects to be killed during the incident. Research suggests that the pseudocommando is driven by strong feelings of anger and resentment, flowing from beliefs about being persecuted or grossly mistreated. He views himself as carrying out a highly personal agenda of payback. Some mass murderers take special steps to send a final communication to the public or news media; these communications, to date, have received little detailed analysis. An offender's use of language may reveal important data about his state of mind, motivation, and psychopathology. Part I of this article reviews the research on the pseudocommando, as well as the psychology of revenge, with special attention to revenge fantasies. It is argued that revenge...
Abstract
The purpose of criminal investigative analysis is to assist law enforcement in identifying and apprehending violent offenders by identifying important suspect and crime scene characteristcs. The genesis of criminal investigative analysis grew out of micro-level reviews of unusually violent crime cases. Although the descriptive terminology used to identify the process has changed over the years, the process of assessing violent criminal behavior has not. Lack of agreement as to what constitutes criminal investigative analysis has also led some to view the process as more art than science. In an effort to clarify some of these issues, an analysis of cases of serial sexual homicides of elderly women is conducted. Although the sexual homicide of elderly women represents a small percentage of overall homicides in the United States, the authors provide empirical evidence supporting the use of criminal investigative analysis in solving these unusual cases. The FBI regularly consults on various types of...
Abstract: In the 10-year sample, there were 13 cases of homicide with mutilation of the victim’s body (2.2 percent); all involved 1 victim. Eight of the 13 cases (61.5 percent) were classified as "defensive" mutilation, i.e., the offender was attempting to eliminate evidence of the offender's identity. Two of the mutilations were offensive, i.e., the offender inflicted the mutilation in the course of the attack. Three cases (23 percent) were classified as psychotic mutilation due to the offenders being diagnosed with schizophrenia and delusions at the time of the killing and mutilation. None of the victims were strangers to the offenders, and nearly half were partners or family members. Compared to homicides without victim mutilation, homicides with mutilation were more likely to involve multiple offenders, movement of the victim from the homicide scene, sexual behavior toward the victim, and the use of a sharp instrument. At the time ...
Abstract:
In attempting to improve the investigative quality of murder enquiries, the police service of England and Wales has conducted reviews of investigations. The reviews aim to identify and develop investigative opportunities to progress the investigation; act as a form of quality assurance in relation to both the content and process of an investigation; and identify, develop and disseminate good investigative practice. This paper presents findings drawn from a study of investigative issues raised in reviews of unsolved homicide investigations and focuses on identified investigative weaknesses and good practice. Twenty-eight day review documents of 34 unsolved murder investigations were obtained from 6 forces and analyzed using content analysis in order to identify areas of good practice and investigative weakness. The study highlighted a range of frequently recurring themes within murder review documents, as well as other important issues about the review process and how they are conducted. Key findings from the study included: (1) review documents...
Abstract
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), Task Force has recently rejected the proposal to include coercive paraphilia as an official diagnosis, reaffirming that rape is a crime and not a mental disorder. We hope this will discourage what has been the inappropriate practice of giving rapists the made-up diagnosis of paraphilia, NOS, nonconsent, to facilitate their psychiatric commitment under sexually violent predator (SVP) statutes. Losing the paraphilia, NOS, option has tempted some SVP evaluators to overdiagnose sexual sadism, which is an official DSM mental disorder. To prevent this improper application and to clarify those rare instances in which this diagnosis might apply, we present a brief review of the research on sexual sadism; an annotation of its definitions that have been included in the DSM since the Third Edition, published in 1980, and in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10); and a two-step process...
Abstract
Examinations of homicide have used both micro and macro level data to account for the interaction between victims and offenders. Missing from such analyses, however, is an examination of the role of witnesses or third parties present at homicide events. These individuals may play a variety of roles in homicide events including instigating, mediating, escalating, or facilitating fatal violence. Using St. Louis homicides for the years 1985–1989, this study provides a classification scheme for the roles of witnesses in homicide events...
Abstract
Murder is the most notorious crime that violates religious, social and cultural norms. Examining the types and number of different killing methods that used are pivotal in a murder case. However, the psychological traits underlying specific and multiple killing methods are still understudied. The present study attempts to fill this gap in knowledge by identifying the underlying psychological traits of different killing methods among Malaysian murderers. The study adapted an observational cross-sectional methodology using a guided self-administered questionnaire for data collection. The sampling frame consisted of 71 Malaysian male murderers from 11 Malaysian prisons who were selected using purposive sampling method. The participants were also asked to provide the types and number of different killing methods used to kill their respective victims. An independent sample t-test was performed to establish the mean score difference of psychological traits between the murderers who used single and multiple...
Abstract
Most sociological theories consider murder an outcome of the differential distribution of individual, neighborhood, or social characteristics. And while such studies explain variation in aggregate homicide rates, they do not explain the social order of murder, that is, who kills whom, when, where, and for what reason. This article argues that gang murder is best understood not by searching for its individual determinants but by examining the social networks of action and reaction that create it. In short, the social structure of gang murder is defined by the manner in which social networks are constructed and by people's placement in them. The author uses a network approach and incident-level homicide records to recreate and analyze the structure of gang murders in Chicago. Findings demonstrate that individual murders between gangs create an institutionalized network of group conflict, net of any individual's participation or motive. Within this network, murders spread...
Nearly 8,000 rounds fired by Los Angeles County (CA) sheriff’s deputies have now conclusively proved what the Force Science Research Center first asserted more than 2 years ago: The single greatest influence on where spent shell casings land when ejected from a semiautomatic handgun is how the pistol is physically manipulated by the shooter, not any rigid, intrinsic mechanical factor.
Indeed, the FSRC’s benchmark findings show that the ejection spread can vary up to 24 feet with the same gun, fired by the same shooter, depending on how the weapon is gripped and moved, according to the Center’s executive director, Dr. Bill Lewinski of Minnesota State University-Mankato.
FSRC’s scientific testing can have a significant impact in officer-involved shootings where LEOs are accused of lying about where they were positioned during a confrontation, based on where their ejected shell casings were found.
Just last week, for example, Lewinski testified on behalf of a...
On Christmas Eve in 2008, an unemployed aerospace engineer dressed as Santa Claus entered his ex-wife’s parents’ home in Covina, California and proceeded to shoot indiscriminately at the 25 or so partygoers inside. He then planned to light the house on fire using a homemade blowtorch, but an unexpected explosion foiled his detailed plans and ultimately quashed his plot to escape. The house, now engulfed in flames, burned to the ground and hid the gruesome fates of those inside. Nine people, including the man’s ex-wife and her parents, died as a result of the gunfire and/or fire. The badly burned offender retreated to his brother’s house some 30 miles away and decided the odds were against him ending his own life with a single gunshot to the head.According to police, Bruce Pardo had no prior criminal record or history of violence. To those who knew... nicest guy” who “always had a smile.”
The field of forensics has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years, so much so that decades-old crime cases can sometimes be solved with DNA testing and other modern technology. In an effort to increase case clearance rates (and catch bad guys long gone) police departments have slowly opened more ‘cold case’ units over the last 20 years; a phenomenon that has been documented and dramatized on TV.
In a new RAND paper, researchers Robert C. Davis, Carl Jensen, and Karin E. Kitchens set out to measure the effectiveness of cold case units by posing a simple question, though one that’s rarely asked of police work: What’s the return on investment? They write:
[D]espite 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...
Abstract
This analysis examines the extent to which homicides initially reported as unknown offender in end-of-year reports, once cleared, are more likely to have been perpetrated by strangers than other cleared homicides. Using solved and unsolved homicides in Indianapolis (N = 829), we determined victim–offender relationships in homicides reported as unsolved in year-end reports, when solved, were not significantly different from homicides reported as having a suspect in year-end reports. Indianapolis homicides were classified disproportionately as acquaintances. Findings help negate the ongoing myth that unsolved homicides are disproportionately stranger homicides. Results suggest decreased homicide clearance rates are not due to increased stranger homicides....
Abstract
In this experiment, the study of missing white woman syndrome is extended to video coverage to determine whether visual framing and race have an effect on the emotions of viewers. Missing white woman syndrome relates to the idea that stories about attractive, young, white females who go missing are more prevalent in the news to the exclusion of similar stories about other demographics. This study examined the relationship between race and framing effects through a factorial design experiment and posttest questionnaire. Experimental conditions compared television news stories about women of different demographics who are portrayed differently in both visual and nonvisual frames. Results showed that visual framing did affect the emotions of viewers, but the race of the missing person did not...
Both Bureau of Justice Statistic studies and the National Crime Survey reflect that crimes against the elderly tend to be more serious in nature than those against younger persons (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1994). Older victims of violent crimes are more likely to be attacked by total strangers (Ken-nedy & Silverman, 1990; Muram, Miller, & Cutler, 1992) and are most likely to be victimized in their own homes. They are less likely to try to protect themselves during a crime and are more likely to sustain injuries. These findings are confirmed by numerous studies that discuss the general problem of victimization of the elderly and by specific research addressing violent offenses (Antunes, Cook, Cook, & Skogan, 1977; Faggiani & Owens, 1999;Fox & Levin, 1991; Lent & Harpold, 1988; Nelson & Huff-Corzine, 1998).These studies also demonstrate that in particular ways elderly women are inherently more vulnerable to crime than younger women. First,...