Time and Consistency: What Does the Crime Timeline Tell Us About Behavioral Consistency?

• In Event: Offenders and their Crime Scenes: Understanding Behavioral Distinctions and Patterns in Serious Violent Crime

Abstract

Behavioral linkage analysis is the process through which crimes are linked to each other and a common offender using behavioral information. Linkage analysis is based on the theory of behavioral consistency, or the idea that offenders engage in similar patterns of behaviors across multiple crimes over time (Salfati, 2008). Previous studies examined behavioral consistency by analyzing the consistency of individual behaviors or behavioral themes across multiple crimes. However, results have shown that behavioral consistency occurs as frequent as behavioral change. Therefore, the aim of this study is to break crime incidents down by the crime timeline (i.e. before, during, and after the crime), so that consistency can be considered in new ways that are potentially more beneficial to linking analysis. As a result, consistency is considered methodologically in three ways: 1) consistency across crimes in a series, and two new ways, 2) consistency in temporal stages within a single crime, and 3) consistency in temporal stages between crimes. This study uses a sample of serial sexual assaults to compare the effectiveness of examining consistency in each of these three ways. Results will be discussed in the context of improving the process of linkage analysis based on findings of consistency/change.

Authors

• Kimberley Schanz, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center

• C. Gabrielle Salfati, John Jay College of Criminal Justice