1. Sandie Taylor & Vicky Martin Content Analysis Format Specimen
Can childhood correlates of serial killers provide any additive information to crime scene characteristics in offender profiling?
Sandie Taylor & Vicky Martin
Bath Spa University
Introduction
Offender profiling is best known through the FBI who took all the conceivable evidence surrounding cases and processed the information in hope of finding a pattern across and within different crimes. This involved considering crime scene elements as well as other traits like personality, motivation and childhood correlates. The FBI found two types of serial killer: organised and disorganised.
An organised serial killer shows signs of planning, controlling the crime scene, targeting strangers and ensuring a clean crime scene. Disorganised serial killers on the other hand are the opposite: lack planning, evidence is left at the crime scene and it is a chaotic crime scene. From the crime scene FBI agents could link different characteristics of the scenes to certain types of personality or psychological workings of the offender (Ressler, Burgess and Douglas 1988).
Holmes and DeBurger (1985) put forward four typologies (mission, visionary, hedonistic (lust, thrill and comfort-oriented) and power/control) of the serial killer, in order to explain why certain people kill and the underlying motives. Mission serial killers kill to wipe out certain types of people and feel that their purpose is to eliminate the world of these people. Visionary serial killers kill people as a consequence of hearing voices and seeing visions instructing them to kill and are usually psychotic. Hedonistic serial killers make a link between killing and sexual pleasure and take gratification from contact with a helpless victim (lust and thrill) while comfort-oriented seek to gain monies or status. Power/control killers are usually psychopaths who kill in order to gain total control and power over their victim.
Arce et al. (2004) found that ‘harsh or abusive parenting, parental rejection and coldness, inadequate supervision of the child and lack of affection in the family were associated with greater levels of deviant and antisocial behaviour as well as delinquency.’
Curtis (1963) introduced the violence breeds violence hypothesis indicating that violent social environments create violent youngsters and adults.
Moir and Jessel (1995) focused on delinquents who had a particularly difficult birth resulting in differing degrees of brain damage. Correlations between violence and parental neglect and if the child had been removed from the mother during the first year of life was considered with brain damage. They found brain damage and neglect to be most predictive of violent crime hence what happened in childhood influences future behaviour.
Leistedt, Coumans, Pham & Linkowski (2008) stated ‘from an overview of literature that a gravely offended childhood with physical and psychological violence, a chaotic familial dynamic, and a lot of violent, sexual dead fantasies are the common denominator of these murderers’.
Aims
To examine the relationship between patterns of associated crime scene traits and behaviour during the crime through the extraction of information from documented serial killer cases. Furthermore, to determine whether there is a relationship between crime scene characteristics and childhood correlates linking with specific typologies.
Dendrograms from hierarchical cluster analysis
Results
An agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis using complete linkage methods was performed on the data showing 9 clusters (C).
C1 supports power/control and social outcast as a childhood trait.
C2 supports mission typology but no childhood traits.
C3 supports hedonistic lust-thrill and parents abusing other children as a childhood trait.
C4 supports hedonistic comfort-oriented and lust-thrill due to overlapping traits. Physical abuse as a childhood trait explains lust-thrill.
C5 supports mission typology and animal killing and being favoured by a particular parent as childhood traits.
C6 supports power/control and incest, rape and sexual abuse as childhood traits.
C7 supports hedonistic lust and head injury and abandonment as childhood traits.
C8 supports an organised killer but there is not enough information to support a typology. And death of a family member as a childhood trait.
C9 supports a visionary killer who is disorganised. And social outcast, alcoholic parents, physical abuse and parental divorce as childhood traits.
Method
Design
Archival research method was adopted
Content analysis was used to prepare the qualitative data (gathered from archival researches) for quantitative analysis.
50 male and female serial killer cases (having killed in excess of 2 people). 50 crime scene traits and 20 childhood traits were devised and used as categories for the content analysis of secondary data gathered using multiple media sources: biographical books, FBI and crime reports, news items, crime documentaries and journals.
Content Analysis Format Specimen
Variable (Trait) Case1 Case2 Case3
Restraints
Spontaneous event
Controlled scene
Neglect
Chaotic scene
Rejection
Necrophilia
Weapon left
Body not moved
Adopted
Abandoned
Torture
Discussion
Most of the clusters support a typology, however, there are two clusters where it is difficult to be decisive about which typology the traits support (C4 & C8). The crime scene traits provide strong support for the clusters which can be easily classified and the childhood traits provide interesting explanations for the cluster typologies. These findings provide some support for linkage between the type of crime, crime scene traits and childhood traits. Findings additionally support the commentary by Arce et al. (2004), Moir and Jessel (1995) and the violence breeds violence hypothesis by Curtis (1963).
Key = trait not present = trait present
References
Arce (2004) In Howitt. D. (2006). Introduction to Forensic and Criminal Psychology. 2nd Ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
Curtis (1963) In Howitt, D.(2006). Introduction to Forensic and Criminal Psychology. 2nd Ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
Holmes, R.M. and De Burger, J. (1985). Profiles in terror: The serial murderer. Federal Probation, 39,
Leistedt. S, Coumans. N, Pham. T & Linkowski. P (2008). ‘The Serial Killer: Psychopathological Aspects’. Annales Medico Psychologiaues, Vol. 166, pp
Moir, A. and Jessel, D. (1995). A mind to crime: the controversial link between the mind and criminal behaviour. Penguin Group.
Ressler, R., Burgess, A. and Douglas, J. (1988). Sexual homicide: Patterns and motives. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.