in terms of forensic victimology this is
where the study of the victim has been especially useful to criminal profiling in analyzing crime scenes for the
purpose of identifying offender profile characteristics these profile
characteristics provide police with data on which to classify a crime and
identify suspects in unsolved cases the work of investigative
analysts at the FBI Academy in Quantico Virginia for example lead to an expansion
of traditional crime categories these categories are published in
the crime classification manual or CCM and the authors who were instrumental in this publication are Douglas Burgess and Burgess and Ressler in 2006 to classify a crime using the crime
classification manual or CCM you have to question about the defining
characteristics of the crime which need to be answered or it answers
questions about the defining characteristics or
definitions of a crime that need to be answered in this respect in you glean information
about the victim the crime scene and nature of the victim offender exchange in this sense
victimology is the complete history of the victim and
is the crucial part in the anatomy of a crime and the critical question is to evaluate
why a particular person was targeted for a
violent crime the answer will typically lead then to the motive behind the crime that is
the motivated offender according to scholars Turvey and Petherick who published in 2008 forensic victimology is defined as the
scientific study of victims for the purpose of addressing
investigative and forensic issues it involves the
skeptical investigation a facts and a thorough examination of the
evidence forensic victimology also provides a scientific balance against
the idealization or demonization of victims a filter for deceptions of false reporting and the means for
identifying a threshold of relevance for victim information and
opinions already at work in the criminal justice system in this
sense the forensic victimologist is best concede as an objective dispassionate scientific examiner these examiners are critical and
skeptical and they put the establishment of facts
before politics or any other consideration to that end
the examiner takes nothing for granted looks for collaboration of any alleged victim statements seek out collateral sources of
information and investigate alternate or contributing
motives for victim behavior in contrast in terms of investigative
criminal profiling this is an investigative profiling
technique that is best viewed as a strategy enabling law enforcement
to narrow the field of options and generate educated guesses about the perpetrator this is simply
described as a collection of leads as an informed attempt to provide
detailed information about a certain type of criminal as a biological sketch of behavioral
patterns trends and tendencies the investigative
profile is particularly useful when the criminal
has demonstrated some clearly identifiable form of psychopathology In such a case the crime scene is
presumed to reflect the murderers behavior and personality in much the same way as furnishings reveal a homeowners character another tool is crime scene analysis in this sense victimology is critical to a crime
investigation as a first step in determining motive victims
are assessed as to their risk level in terms of lifestyle and situation of course this is where the
theory of lifestyle routine activities also emerges as significant in this respect the lifestyle risk level is a
function of age physical size race marital status living situation location of
residence and occupation to name a few
characteristics in terms of situational risk this assesses the victims location and activities at the time
of the crime and interacts with lifestyle risk the situational risk level varies from
day to day depending on a person's routine the crime scene
assessment then is divided into four distinct scenes the initial contact scene which is
where the victim has the first contact with the offender
that's the temporal relationship where victim and the offender come
together in time and space the assault seen where the assault
physical or sexual incident occurs the death scene where the death of the victim actually takes
place the body location scene where the body
is actually discovered is important to note
that these four scenes can be in the same physical location multiple locations also within a
single building physically separate locations or any
combination of these locations for each crime scene location and assessment is made of the risk level of the victim and the
offender the initial contact scene risk is a function of location time of day number of people at
the location and the routine of the victim as to the
location the risk level of location for the
offender is a function of the offenders risk being
at the crime scene the photo attached to this argument is the photo of a full scale replication of a scene depicted in the crime scene
photo the actual crime scene photo of Mary Kelly Mary Kelly was infamously murdered in a most gruesome way by the individual or monster known as Jack the Ripper the
murder took place in the White Chapel
district of London in 1888 and although he was not the
first serial killer but he was probably the first to appear in a large metropolis at a time
particularly when the general population had become literate and the press was a force for
social change thus he gained almost instant recognition
as such so with that in mind I want you to look at the crime scene and do an assessment in light of these four
distinct possibilities or potential scenes the initial contact assault scene death
scene body location scene and finally cold case analysis as defined by the national institution
of justice or the NIJ as any case whose probative investigative leads
had been exhausted meaning all investigations that can be
done on this particular crime has been conducted
and the investigators have come to a dead end no possibility of any other leads and so
therefore then the case itself is filed away as a
cold case now investigations regularly slow or
stop completely and they result in cold case often do the police agencies lack of
manpower equipment and funding to support unit is dedicated to
investigating and analyzing these cases as homicide and sexual assault units are
backlogged with active cases cold cases rarely get attention and they have an impact cuz they leave
survivors angry and society at risk so as a
result the National Institute of Justice solving cold
cases with DNA grant programs have been
designed in recent years to assist states and
local governments to identify review investigate and analyze violent crime
cold cases