Criminal history of homicide offenders: a multi-dimensional analysis of criminal specialization
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-09-2015-0027 |
| Published date | 01 February 2016 |
| Date | 01 February 2016 |
| Pages | 28-41 |
| Author | Carrie Trojan,Gabrielle Salfati |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Criminal psychology |
Criminal history of homicide offenders:
a multi-dimensional analysis of
criminal specialization
Carrie Trojan and Gabrielle Salfati
Carrie Trojan is based at
the Department of Sociology,
Western Kentucky University,
Bowling Green,
Kentucky, USA.
Gabrielle Salfati is based at
the Department of Psychology,
John Jay College of Criminal
Justice, New York,
New York, USA.
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to determine how offenses co-occur in the backgrounds of homicide
offenders and if identified groups of offenses reflect an underlying theoretical construct or theme; and to
determine if offenders specialize in thematically similar offenses.
Design/methodology/approach –The previous convictions of 122 single-victim homicide offenders
were examined using smallest space analysis to identify groups of co-occurring offenses across offenders’
criminal histories.
Findings –The results showed a thematic distinction between violent vs instrumental offenses and 84
percent of offenders specialized in offenses within a single dominant theme, suggesting that the framework
can differentiate the majority of offenders’criminal backgrounds. Possible sub-themes were identified that
could suggest further demarcation of the themes and provide a more refined framework that may be of even
greater utility in differentiating offenders.
Research limitations/implications –This study utilized data from a single American city that may affect
generalizability of the findings. The exclusion of a timeline for prior offending precludes consideration of
offending escalation.
Originality/value –The current study uses an alternative approach to conceptualize specialization
according to how offenses co-occur in the backgrounds of homicide offenders. This approach is less
restrictive than considering the offenses in isolation to one another and may be of greaterutility in empirically
derived offender profiling models. The thematic framework developed herein can act as a foundation for
future studies.
Keywords Specialization, Differentiation, Homicide, Behavioural theme, Criminal history,
Smallest space analysis
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The way an offender commits a homicide and the behaviors they engage in at the crime scene
may be influenced by their previous criminal offending (Salfati, 2009). This idea is reflective of the
central issue behind empirical offender profiling efforts –whether there is continuity between
crime scene actions and the offender’s personal characteristics, what Canter (1995) refers to as
the Actions to Characteristics, or A to C, equation. A growing body of research has attempted to
establish these A to C relationships in homicide events using empirical methodologies
(e.g. Salfati, 2000; Salfati and Canter, 1999; Santtila et al., 2003b). Instead of trying to fit
offenders into rigid categories or providing neat checklists of behaviors or characteristics, this
line of research examines groups of behaviors or offender traits that co-occur across a sample of
offenders and then explain why they tend to co-occur in terms of a common uniting
Received 29 September 2015
Revised 21 January 2016
Accepted 22 January 2016
The authors would like to sincerely
thank the Cincinnati Police
Department and the CPD
Homicide Unit for providing
access to the data used in this
study and their immense help
during data collection.
PAG E 28
j
JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
j
VOL. 6 NO. 1 2016, pp. 28-41, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2009-3829 DOI 10.1108/JCP-09-2015-0027
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