Citation

Sea J, Beauregard E, Lee S. J. Forensic Sci. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Criminal Behavioral Analyzer, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, 31 Sajik-ro-8-Gil, JongNo-gu, Seoul, 03169, Korea.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.14276

PMID

31923332

Abstract

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.

© 2020 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en

Keywords

crime scene behavior; latent class analysis; mentally ill offender; offender profiling