Crime scene actions and offender characteristics in arsons

Purpose. Crime scene actions displayed by offenders in arsons were analysed in relation to offender characteristics and self‐reported motives. Methods. Data were drawn from an official police database and consisted of a random sample of arsons occurring in Finland between 1990 and 2001 (N = 189). The structure of dichotomous variables derived through a content analysis of crime scene actions and offender characteristics was analysed using non‐metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) analyses. Results. The analyses revealed four separate crime scene action types, with thematic emphasis on either expressive or instrumental motivation and the target being either a person or object. The MDS solution for offender characteristics suggested four types of offenders: Self‐destructive, Serial, Criminal, and Adolescent. In order to analyse the associations between action and characteristics themes, each case was assigned to one of the action and characteristic themes or a hybrid based on the frequency of variables present from each theme. Several statistically significant associations between the action and characteristic themes were found. Self‐reported motives were also analysed in relation to the themes. Conclusions. The results support the thematic classification of arsonists presented in Canter and Fritzon (1998). The results are discussed with regard to earlier research and deducing offender characteristics based on crime scene actions.     

Crime Scene Behaviors and Characteristics of Offenders with Mental Illness: A Latent Class Analysis

The current study aimed to identify distinct types of crime scene behaviors based on the criminal planning and motivation of offenders with mental illness in South Korea. Furthermore, our study examined the relationships between the identified types of crime scene behaviors in terms of the offenders’ sociodemographic characteristics, modus operandi, and types of mental illness. Utilizing latent class analysis, the associations between crime scene behavior types and offender characteristics such as demographic factors, crime scene actions, and criminal information were empirically investigated. In particular, based on a sample obtained from a national police database of offenses committed between 2006 and 2014, four offense groups were identified: (i) instrumental–planned, (ii) instrumental–unplanned, (iii) expressive–unplanned, and (iv) hybrid. Additionally, significant relationships were found between offense styles and offender characteristics as well as criminal backgrounds. The findings suggest that mental disorders influence the types of actions exhibited by offenders during the commission of their crime. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical utility to criminal investigation.     

Predicting presence of offender's criminal record from antisocial lifestyle indicators of homicide victims

The aim of the present study is to explore the possibility of predicting the presence of a criminal record in the background of a homicide offender on the basis of victim characteristics. Eight victim characteristics, as well as the presence or absence of offender criminal record and offender violent criminal record, were coded for 502 Finnish homicides. A configural frequency analysis (CFA) showed that it was possible to predict the presence of a criminal record on the basis of the victim variables. The practical significance of the results for police investigations is discussed.     

Characteristics that predict firesetting in male and female mentally disordered offenders

Few studies have adequately explored the characteristics of male and female mentally disordered firesetters and compared these to those of non-firesetting mentally disordered offenders. Furthermore, there is a paucity of research examining the characteristics which can predict repeat firesetting within this population. The current study aimed to examine similarities and differences in the characteristics of (1) male and female mentally disordered firesetters, (2) male and female mentally disordered firesetters compared to non-firesetting offenders, and (3) one-time and repeat firesetters. Furthermore, the ability of these characteristics to predict offence status (i.e. firesetter or non-firesetter) and repeat firesetting was explored. Information was collected from patient hospital records for 77 (43 firesetters, 34 non-firesetters) mentally disordered offenders; including sociodemographic, family and personal background, psychiatric, and offence history factors. The findings suggest that mentally disordered firesetters are similar to their non-firesetting counterparts on key characteristics; however, firesetters are more likely to have an expressed interest in fire/explosives and a diagnosis of a schizophrenic disorder and female firesetters are more likely to have a higher number of firesetting incidents than males. Furthermore, findings suggest that fire interest is the largest predictor of repeat firesetting. Clinical implications in terms of treatment and risk assessment are discussed.     

Arsonists Suffering From Schizophrenia—A Description in Comparison with Other Offenders with a Similar Diagnosis

This study aims to describe the small and distinct subgroup of arsonists diagnosed with schizophrenia, their motives, personal, and crime scene characteristics. While prior research identified significant differences to other criminals, firesetters in general, or mentally disordered offenders, there are no comparisons with other offender patients with schizophrenia so far. In a forensic institution in Switzerland, a group of 30 arsonists with schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) was compared to 340 other offender patients with SSD using retrograde file analysis and multiple adapted Fisher´s exact tests. While symptoms of SSD were most defining of both groups, arsonists with SSD were more often single, unemployed, prescribed psychiatric medication at index offense, had a smaller variety of criminal motives, and acted out of anger or revenge in the context of a relationship. In conclusion, symptoms of SSD may be more defining and useful in guiding clinical practice than aspects specific to arsonists.     

The Effects of Substance Use on Offender Crime Scene Behavior

Abstract:  Substance use has an effect on an individual's propensity to commit acquisitive crime with recent studies showing substance users more likely to leave forensic material at a crime scene. An examination of acquisitive crime solved in Northamptonshire, U.K., during 2006 enabled 70 crime scene behavior characteristics to be analyzed for substance and nonsubstance use offenders. Logistical regression analyses have identified statistically significant crime scene behavior predictors that were found to be either present at or absent from the crime scene when the offender was a substance user. Most significant predictors present were indicative of a lack of preparation by the offender, irrational behavior, and a desire to steal high value, easily disposed of, property. Most significant predictors absent from the crime scene were indicative of more planning, preparation, and execution by the offender. Consideration is given to how this crime scene behavior might be used by police investigators to identify offenders.     

Examining the psychopathology of incarcerated male firesetters using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III

Research to date has been equivocal on the relationship between firesetting and psychopathology and has been impeded by studies lacking adequate control samples. The present study examined psychopathology in a sample of incarcerated adult male firesetters (n = 112) and prison controls (n = 113) using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III. Firesetters demonstrated multiple elevated scores on personality and clinical syndrome scales. Logistic regression showed that the borderline personality scale was the strongest personality scale discriminator between firesetters and controls. Major depression and drug dependence were the strongest clinical syndrome scale predictors. However, both clinical syndrome scale predictors appeared to be mediated by borderline personality scores indicating that firesetters are best characterized by responding indicative of borderline personality traits rather than other psychopathological deficits. The results suggest that, relative to other offenders, firesetters face challenges with impulse control, affect regulation, stability of interpersonal relationships, and self-image.     

青少年犯罪预防理论的研究视角：从犯罪原因到犯罪断念的转向

断念是行为主体(特别是青少年越轨者或犯罪人)在一段稳定的时期内对犯罪偏好明显与确定的拒绝。现阶段犯罪预防措施通过控制青少年犯罪原因遏制青少年犯罪增长趋势,绩效前景颇为黯淡。从聚焦于犯罪原因分析到致力于犯罪断念研究的战略性转向将成为当代社会犯罪预防的重要突破。作为人生状态与行为过程的犯罪断念,在静态结构与动态运行的结合中发挥青少年犯罪预防的积极效果。     

Applying classification methodology to high-consequence firesetting

ABSTRACT

Although classification research has improved our understanding about different types of firesetters, very little is known about those responsible for the most injurious or destructive fires. This study explored variables associated with high-consequence firesetting in an Australian sample (n?=?114). Data across 41 variables were subject to multidimensional scaling (MDS) and principle component analysis. Five types of high-consequence firesetting were identified: (1) Intimate Partner Violence, (2) Hopeless Endangerment, (3) Instrumental Gain, (4) Vandalism, and (5) Fire Interest. Firesetting in the first two types involved individuals with increased rates of past violence, fewer instances of previous firesetting, increased psychiatric morbidity and fires directed at people (person-centred targets). In comparison, individuals represented in the latter two types were younger, focused on object-related targets and had engaged in repeated firesetting. Implications for investigating deliberate firesetting and assessing and managing the risk of deliberate firesetting were discussed.     

Narratives of criminal action and forensic psychology

Purpose. In commenting on Youngs and Canter's (2011) study, Ward (2011) raises concerns about offenders’ personal narratives and their link to self‐concepts and identity. His comments relate to explorations of personal life stories rather than the narratives of actual crimes that are the focus of Youngs and Canter's (2011) study. The elaboration of this different focus helps to allay many of Ward's (2011) concerns and reveals further possibilities for developing the narrative approach within forensic psychology. Methods. The focus on offenders’ accounts of a particular crime allows the development of a standard pro forma, the Narrative Role Questionnaire (NRQ), which deals with the roles a person thinks they played when committing a crime. These roles act as a summary of the criminal's offence narrative. Multivariate analysis of the NRQ clarifies the specific narrative themes explored by Youngs and Canter (2011) . Results. The examination of the components of the NRQ indicates that offence narratives encapsulate many psychological processes including thinking styles, self‐concepts, and affective components. This allows the four narrative themes identified by Youngs and Canter to provide the basis for rich hypotheses about the interaction between the dynamics of personal stories and identity. The four narratives of criminal action also offer a foundation for understanding the particular, detailed styles of offending action and the immediate, direct processes that act to instigate and shape these. Conclusion. These developments in our understanding of offence narratives generate fruitful research questions that bridge the concerns of investigative and correctional applications of narrative theory.     

Offender Theme Analyses in a Crime Narrative: An Applied Approach

There is a great deal of research on the structure of narrative and its mode, and on the narrative positioning and counter positioning of the actor in legal and social contexts. In offender narratives, personal experiences are embedded for observation and analysis of particular realities that contextualize a disposition of the perpetrator being ‘an undergoer’ rather than an ‘effector’ of actions. This is evaluated in the shift from a narrated action to a speaker utterance in prospection and also in anticipation of the criminal act. Using ‘grammatical logic’, it is also possible to demonstrate how the crucial event (the crime) is not a cause, but an effect of a personal theme that encapsulates pattern of circumstances when the narrative outcome in criminal narrative becomes the product of its discursive practices. This is the ‘story of intentionality’ (my term) in crime narratives, characteristically embedded within the 1st the story of crime, the 2nd is the story of investigation [14, 20]. Using techniques from functional grammar and critical stylistics for discourse analysis, I intend to show an effective approach for the search of offender theme that underlies an act of crime. These disciplines provide the analyst with the linguistic material to analyse intersentential cohesion in a chain of semantically linked sentences (in written or spoken discourse) that explore the ways in which things are ‘made to look’ in the structure and functions of the English language. As a case study, I am using an offender narrative from Tony Parker’s book Life After Life: Interviews with Twelve Murderers (1990) showing an effective approach for the search of personal themes underlying the act of crime. Offender theme analyses are also valuable for evaluating the changing nature or development of offender characteristics pre or post crime.     

EXPLAINING RATE CHANGES IN DELINQUENT ARREST TRANSITIONS USING EVENT HISTORY ANALYSIS*

Many aspects of the criminal career are amenable to empirical analysis, and in recent years we have witnessed a proliferation of research in the areas of individual offense frequency, arrest frequency, career length, and crime-switching patterns. This research analyzes the effects of explanatory variables on the rate at which officially detected juvenile offenders move from one crime type to another, and the statistical techniques used take advantage of the longitudinal nature of the data. An arrest is considered an event that occurs at a given point in time, and event history analysis is used to model the transition rate from one crime type to another as a function of offense history and offender characteristics. This transition rate encompasses two aspects of the criminal career process: the rate at which arrests take place and the likelihood of transition from arrest to arrest.     

论我国未成年人前科消灭制度的构建

未成年人是一个特殊的群体，对未成年人的保护一直为社会所广泛关注。我国《刑法》关于前科报告制度的规定毫无例外地适用于未成年人，对于那些刚刚步入社会的年轻人来说，如果因曾经的犯罪行为而背负一生难以摆脱的“罪犯”标签，其负面影响之深远不容忽视。《中华人民共和国刑法修正案（八）》关于未成年人免除前科报告义务的规定为未成年人前科消灭制度的构建打开了一个缺口，引发我们关于建立未成年人前科消灭制度的深入思考。     

Deliberate firesetting: hotspot schools as arenas and preventive actors

ABSTRACT

Firesetting is one of the crime acts most representative of youth crime, and schools are among the buildings most often targeted, causing significant social, material and economic damage. This study examines schools as arenas with particular exposure to deliberate firesetting and as actors interpreting and utilizing their organizational scope to prevent school fires. The focus on school organizations is unique and urgently needed in research on juvenile firesetting, given their pivotal but under-researched role in crime prevention. The study is based on an in-depth analysis of data (interviews, documents and official registry data) related to 20 fire-exposed lower secondary schools in two major Swedish cities. These schools mobilized a broad repertoire of social, situational and structural measures. Interviewed school personnel perceived and responded to firesetting in relation to the institutional school setting, group dynamics, individual characteristics and local context. The schools were generally located in socio-economically disadvantaged areas and faced comprehensive educational and social challenges. The firesetting problem – and paradoxically some well-intentioned preventive efforts – risk adding further dimensions to school segregation and inequality, potentially increasing stigmatization and marginalization.     

Influence of acculturation strategies on the judgement and punishment of an offender of North African descent

Very few studies have examined the influence of the acculturation strategies of an offender of foreign descent on the way a third party judges the personality and action of that offender. The aim of our study was thus to measure the effect of three variables (Seriousness of the harm suffered by the victim; Type of acculturation strategy of the offender; Level of Social Dominance Orientation [SDO]) of the person making the judgement) on the judgements and decisions made by a sample of students faced with a situation of physical aggression committed by a man of North African descent living in France. After reading a scenario describing a criminal act committed by a man of North African descent, who had or had not adopted French culture, 168 French students completed a judgement scale concerning the criminal act and the offender and an SDO scale. The results show that the crime was perceived as less serious when the perpetrator had adopted French culture than when he had not. The perpetrator was also judged less severely. Participants with higher levels of SDO advocated harsher punishment and attributed the crime to the offender’s personality. We discuss these results and identify new avenues for research.     

The utility of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as a screening measure among children and adolescents who light fires

Background: This pilot study examined the utility of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) as a standardised screening tool for behavioural and psychosocial problems by fire service-based programmes to identify at-risk young firesetters who are in need of further comprehensive multiagency intervention. Method: SDQ scores were obtained from 57 children and adolescents, aged 6–17 years, who were referred to the Fire Awareness and Intervention Programme in New Zealand for firesetting behaviour. Scores from firesetters aged 13–17 years were compared to those of typically developing New Zealand secondary school students. Results: Overall, young firesetters were at a high risk of clinically significant conduct and hyperactivity/inattention difficulties, and at low risk of clinically significant emotional problems. Cronbach’s alphas for most SDQ subscales were acceptable. Conclusions: We recommend that the SDQ be considered by fire service-operated interventions for use as an additional assessment tool for the young firesetting population.

Key Practitioner Messages ? Due to its financial and emotional cost, deliberate firesetting by children and adolescents is a significant concern for communities.

? There appears to be significant comorbidity between firesetting and serious antisocial behaviour, and many young firesetters engage in ongoing general offending behaviour.

? Intervention for child and adolescent firesetters is predominantly provided by fire services and typically involves fire safety education.

? Given the co-morbid behavioural and psychosocial problems present among young firesetters, there is a need for fire service education programmes to use a standardised assessment tool that screens for wider behavioural and psychosocial difficulties to assist in the identification and referral of high-risk young people to appropriate services for further intervention.

? The SDQ, a free, short and well-validated measure, could be adopted by fire service-operated education programmes to help detect and inform the referral of young firesetters who need more comprehensive multiagency intervention.

     

A new conceptual framework for revenge firesetting

Revenge has frequently been acknowledged to account for a relatively large proportion of motives in deliberate firesetting. However, very little is actually known about the aetiology of revenge firesetting. Theoretical approaches to revenge-seeking behaviour are discussed. A brief review of how revenge is accounted for in existing theoretical explanations of deliberate firesetting and the known characteristics of revenge firesetters are provided. On this basis, the authors suggest, as a motive, revenge firesetting has to date been mis-conceptualised. A new conceptual framework is thus proposed, paying particular attention to the contextual, affective, cognitive, volitional and behavioural factors which may influence and generate a single episode of revenge firesetting. Treatment implications and suggestions for future research are also provided.     

The criminal career of men convicted of rape: evidence from a Norwegian national cohort

The extent to which sexual offenders are a group separate from other types of offenders has been debated for many years and investigated from different perspectives. The present study investigated similarities and differences regarding socio-economic background, criminal history and recidivism involving new crimes between rape offenders and three other groups: other sexual offenders, non-sexual violent offenders and other offenders. Data came from Norwegian population registers containing information on all crimes investigated from 1992 to 2012. The sample consisted of all persons convicted in 2002 and 2003 (N = 36,951). Background characteristics and estimated recidivism risk was described using hazard models. Results indicated that men convicted of rape (n = 142) had lower levels of education and that a higher percentage of them were on social benefits compared to the other crime groups. A large majority (79%) of rape-convicted men had previous convictions. Rape offenders were considerably more criminally active and diverse than the other crime groups. Prior criminal record, irrespective of type, increased the risk of recidivism in general. Controlling for other background characteristics did not alter this outcome. Treatment of convicted rapists needs to take into consideration that this offender group has much in common with violent offenders in general.