The increasing portrayal of forensic investigative techniques in the popular media—CSI, for example, has resulted in criminals becoming "forensically aware" and more careful about leaving behind physical evidence at a crime scene. This presents law enforcement with a significant problem: how can they detect serial offenders if they cannot rely on physical forensic evidence? One solution comes from psychology. A growing body of research has amassed in the area of behavioral consistency and the detection of serial offenders. A number of innovations are taking place in the field that have important implications for the practice of crime linkage and its use by police and the courts. Crime Linkage: Theory, Research, and Practice assembles this research and discusses its practical use.Topics include:
- Theoretical explanations for how, when, and why we may (or may not) see similarities in a person’s crime scene behavior
- Consistency and distinctiveness in sexual offending
- An overview of crime linkage research conducted to date
- The use of crime linkage in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and the United States
- New directions for research and practice, including linking across crime types to expand the suspect pool
- The range of statistical methods used in research of crime linkage principles
The book represents a collaboration of researchers and practitioners from across the globe who are recognized as experts in the area of behavioral consistency and detection of serial offenders. They provide a comprehensive and informative text on the psychological and criminological theori