Discussion

Scenario 3: Criminal Profiling 1

Scenario3: Criminal Profiling

FPSY 8400 Advanced Issues in Forensic Psychology

Elda M. Stepp

Walden University

This study source was downloaded by 100000754269802 from CourseHero.com on 12-25-2022 20:52:37 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/78987386/Assgn-4docx/

Scenario 3: Criminal Profiling 2

Case 3

The case chosen is Scenario 3. It is a 15 year old girl who is found in a grassy area with

her face up, pants off, no sign of rape, and an incision the size of an apple on her abdomen with

her small intestine removed and laid next to her body. She was known to dress provocatively

and her parents had difficulty with her rebellious behavior. Criminal profiling constitutes being

able to place clues within a crime scene together to make predictions and understand the type of

killer to calculate future moves. According to Winerman (2004), criminal profiling was fist used

in Britain in the Jack the Ripper case, where they gathered clues to predict his next killings.

Criminal profiling directs an understanding of certain behavioral characteristics of the specific

offender to become closer towards their arrest.

Modus Operandi

Certain areas that are observed by criminal profilers include modus operandi (MO) which

are the motives of an offender to carry out a crime successfully (SAGE Publications, n.d.).

Depending on the MO of the offender, can provide guidance towards possible suspects even

arrests. In the case chosen, it seems that the MO of the offender could possibly be obtaining

sexual gratification. This killer was possibly a stranger and/or a pub acquaintance. It is already

understood that the victim liked to go to parties and dress provocatively. She is already coming

out of the pub alone, chances are that someone from the pub followed her out. Once approached,

possible flirtation ensued, the killer possibly tried to convince the young girl to go home with

him or have sex with him right on the spot. The possibly refused and wanted to go home in

which she became a fuss for him. Right as he tried to force himself onto her, she began to fight

back to which he became aggressive and took possession her. There was no mention of

strangling but her throat was slashed severely and nobody had heard screams or cries for help. It

This study source was downloaded by 100000754269802 from CourseHero.com on 12-25-2022 20:52:37 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/78987386/Assgn-4docx/

Scenario 3: Criminal Profiling 3

could be that he overpowered her and as she began to struggle, he strangled her and then cut her

throat. Another theory includes that once she began struggling, after getting on top of her, he

pulled out a knife which was placed it on her neck and threatened her if she screamed or cried

out for help, he would slash her throat. Once he began to sexually molest her, she possibly began

to struggle and fight him in which he sliced her throat in order to keep her quite.

Staging & Undoing

The perpetrator was probably just looking to obtain sexual gratification by raping this

drunken girl, however, as she struggled and did not reciprocate his advances, he killed her. Once

he realized what he had done, he probably proceeded to cut her abdomen in order to stage the

scene. Staging, in a crime scene, consists of the killer making a scene look one way to throw off

the investigators towards the killer’s true MO (Laureate Education, 2016d). In this case, it could

have possibly also been an accident killing. As explained, the perpetrator probably was looking

to just have sexual intercourse with this girl and did not realize that she would struggle and

“accidentally” killed her out of fear of being discovered once she began to scream or cry out for

help. Once dead, he could have tried to “undo” the act, however, there was no sign of wanting to

make the situation “better”. Undoing, in a crime scene, is usually placing the victim in a way it

looks like they are alive, or “okay” since the killing was accidental (SAGE Publications, n.d.).

The victim in my crime scene had been laid on her back, however, it is possible she was already

positioned that way to have better access in raping her. Therefore, this is not an act of undoing.

Signature

There is more information needed to determine if this is the first case we have seen or if

there have been more victims that suffered her same fate. If there were more cases as such,

This study source was downloaded by 100000754269802 from CourseHero.com on 12-25-2022 20:52:37 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/78987386/Assgn-4docx/

Scenario 3: Criminal Profiling 4

therefore, the incision in abdomen is a signature of the perpetrator. A signature in a crime scene,

indicates a specific action that the perpetrator does with the victim in order to inform the

investigators that this crime is specifically theirs (Laureate Education, 2016d). It could also

indicate posing in which, like the signatures, the body is positioned in a given way or the killer is

left behind, something to identify his deeds (Laureate Education, 2016d). If my analysis is

correct, and this was crime due to underlying passion, this would be an expressive crime where

the individual used his emotions to kill the girl rather than to take something materialistic from

her, like a robbery (Walters, 2018).

This study source was downloaded by 100000754269802 from CourseHero.com on 12-25-2022 20:52:37 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/78987386/Assgn-4docx/

Scenario 3: Criminal Profiling 5

References

Laureate Education (Producer). (2016d). Forensic insights: How to approach a crime scene

[Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

SAGE Publications. (n.d.). Crime scene profiling. Retrieved from:

https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/50423_ch_2.pdf

Walters, G. D. (2018). Black-white and male-female differences in criminal thinking: Examining

instrumental and expressive motives for crime in federal supervises. The Prison Journal,

98(3), 277-293. Doi: 10.1177/0032885518764914.

Winerman, L. (2004, July/August). Criminal profiling: The reality behind the myth. Monitor,

35(7). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/criminal

This study source was downloaded by 100000754269802 from CourseHero.com on 12-25-2022 20:52:37 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/78987386/Assgn-4docx/ Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)