Incorporating context in linking crimes: an exploratory study of situational similarity and if‐then contingencies

Woodhams, Jessica; Hollin, Clive R.; Bull, Ray

doi:10.1002/jip.75

Cited by 43 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…If offense behavior changes as expertise develops, they would have expected to see the greatest similarity between offenses that occurred at approximately the same time-point in this development. As with a previous study using a smaller sample of juvenile serial stranger rapists (Woodhams, et al, 2008), there was no evidence for a strong negative correlation between temporal distance between pairs and behavioral consistency. Therefore it did not appear that offenses that were closer in time held more similarities than those that were further apart.…”

Section: Evidence For Expert/novice Differences From the Offending Besupporting

confidence: 77%

“…However, research to date has failed to identify greater behavioral consistency indicative of expertise (e.g., Grubin, Kelly, Brunsdon, & Britain, 2001;Woodhams, Hollin, & Bull, 2008;Woodhams & Labuschagne, 2012). Woodhams and Labuschagne (2012) examined the similarities of pairs of rapes that were either linked (committed by the same offender) or unlinked (committed by different offenders).…”

Section: Evidence For Expert/novice Differences From the Offending Bementioning

confidence: 99%

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Experts in rape: Evaluating the evidence for a novice-to-expert continuum in the offense behavior and cognition of sexual offenders

Ciardha

2015

Aggression and Violent Behavior

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Despite being over 15 years old researchers have been slow to adopt the competency or expertise perspective advocated by Ward (1999) as a complimentary viewpoint to the dominant deficit model of sexual offending. A growing body of research on the behavioral and cognitive impact of expertise suggests that it is timely to revisit the question of whether individuals can become expert at rape. This review summarizes the key points in Ward's theory and evaluates the scant research that could lend it support. The expertise perspective is a fertile area for future research and may provide a mechanism for explaining the relationship between explicit and implicit measures of distorted cognition. The review makes suggestions for future research and appraises the clinical implications of considering sexual aggressors as novices or experts.

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Section: Evidence For Expert/novice Differences From the Offending Besupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Evidence For Expert/novice Differences From the Offending Bementioning

confidence: 99%

Experts in rape: Evaluating the evidence for a novice-to-expert continuum in the offense behavior and cognition of sexual offenders

Ciardha

2015

Aggression and Violent Behavior

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“…Nonetheless, the non-significant nature of these findings means that it can be concluded that there is little support for a substantive relationship between situational similarity and behavioral consistency in the current study. A similar conclusion was reached by Woodhams et al (2008), who also found little evidence for a relationship between behavioral consistency and situational similarity.…”

Section: Running Head: Linking Different Types Of Crime 23supporting

confidence: 69%

“…Furr & Funder, 2004) and subsequently applied in relation to behavioral case linkage (Woodhams, Hollin, & Bull, 2008). In terms of case linkage, it has been Running head: Linking Different Types of Crime 24 hypothesized that an offender's behavior will be most consistent when the situations that s/he encounters from one offence to the next are similar.…”

Section: Running Head: Linking Different Types Of Crime 23mentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking Different Types of Crime Using Geographical and Temporal Proximity

Tonkin

Woodhams

Bull

et al. 2011

Criminal Justice and Behavior

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In the absence of forensic evidence (such as DNA or fingerprints), offender behavior can be used to identify crimes that have been committed by the same person (referred to as behavioral case linkage). The current study presents the first empirical test of whether it is possible to link different types of crime using simple aspects of offender behavior. The discrimination accuracy of the kilometer-distance between offense locations (the intercrime distance) and the number of days between offenses (temporal proximity) was examined across a range of crimes, including violent, sexual and property-related offenses. Both the intercrime distance and temporal proximity were able to achieve statistically significant levels of discrimination accuracy that were comparable across and within crime types and categories. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations made for future research. Keywords ProximityOne of the most compelling and well-supported findings in criminology is that the majority of crime is committed by a minority of offenders (e.g. Kershaw, Nicholas, & Walker, 2008;Laub, 2004;Piquero, Farrington, & Blumstein, 2007). In the United States (US), for example, estimates suggest that approximately 5% of offenders are responsible for 30% of felony convictions (Office of the Legislative Auditor, 2001). Findings such as these suggest that an effective way for the police to tackle and reduce crime is to target serial and repeat offenders who are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime.Targeting serial offenders specifically, however, requires the police to identify serial offenses (referred to hereafter as linked crime series), which are essentially two or more crimes committed by the same offender or the same group of offenders (Woodhams, Hollin, & Bull, 2007). The most reliable way of identifying linked crime series is through the recovery of forensic evidence, such as DNA or fingerprints, left at the scenes of several different crimes (Grubin, Kelly, & Brunsdon, 2001). However, despite the impression that television programs such as CSI create, the availability of forensic evidence is surprisingly limited, with less than 1% of recorded crimes yielding such evidence (House of Commons, 2005). Therefore, the police often need to rely on other approaches to linking crime. One potential alternative is to use behavioral similarity, whereby crimes that show evidence of similar offender behavior are judged to have been committed by the same offender/s (referred to as linked crimes), whereas those that involve different behavior are said to have been committed by different offenders Running head: Linking Different Types of Crime 3 (referred to as unlinked crimes). This procedure is known by several names, including linkage analysis and comparative case analysis, but the term behavioral case linkage will be used in the current paper. Behavioral Case LinkageBehavioral case linkage is an investigative procedure that has received growing attention both prac...

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“…Although several studies successfully identifi ed evidence of consistency across series of sexual crimes for linkage purposes (Bateman & Salfati, 2007;Canter, Heritage, Wilson, Davies, Kirby, Holden, McGinley, Hughes, Larkin, Martin, Tsang, Vaughan, & Donald, 1991;Grubin, Kelly, & Brunsdon, 2001;Salfati & Bateman, 2005;Santtila, Junkkila, & Sandnabba, 2005;Woodhams, Grant, & Price, 2007a), Woodhams, Hollin, and Bull (2008) found little support for consistency in cases of serial sexual assaults using if-then contingencies. Interestingly, fi ndings from sex offender and profi ling research point towards the same direction, suggesting that these offenders display both consistency and versatility depending on the situation, as well as the specifi c actions, observed.…”

Section: 'Crime-switching' Patterns In Sex Offendersmentioning

confidence: 96%

Rape and sexual assault in investigative psychology: the contribution of sex offenders' research to offender profiling

Beauregard

2009

Journal Invest Psychology

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Incorporating context in linking crimes: an exploratory study of situational similarity and if‐then contingencies

Cited by 43 publications

References 46 publications

Experts in rape: Evaluating the evidence for a novice-to-expert continuum in the offense behavior and cognition of sexual offenders

Experts in rape: Evaluating the evidence for a novice-to-expert continuum in the offense behavior and cognition of sexual offenders

Linking Different Types of Crime Using Geographical and Temporal Proximity

Rape and sexual assault in investigative psychology: the contribution of sex offenders' research to offender profiling

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