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Although there is a vast array of theories on crime, one area that is largely under-represented is that of the actual experience of the offender engaged in criminal acts. The purpose of this paper is to examine the individual and phenomenological experiences of crime amongst women offenders.

The sample consisted of 128 women who had committed a criminal offence, with an average age of 36.40 years (SD=11.12). Participants were recruited to take part in the study by answering a questionnaire exploring the emotions and narrative roles they experienced during commission of a crime. From this, participants’ Criminal Narrative Experience (CNE) was determined.

Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) analyses revealed that emotional experiences and narrative roles were thematically associated, and when both were subjected to SSA analysis, two main themes of CNE were identified: Avenging Angel and Choiceless Victim. The Choiceless Victim experience was the most representative of women’s experiences in this study.

The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Future directions for research are also outlined.

The findings offer an alternative perspective and theoretical framework for examining women offenders’ criminal experiences.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the psychological consequences of human trafficking and to reveal the importance of appropriate post-trafficking psychological interventions. Specifically, this study provides a detailed analysis of human trafficking categories, as well as the characteristics of victims and traffickers’ motives. More recent data in the literature show that trauma-coerced attachments and complex post-traumatic stress disorder are also observed among trafficking survivors.

Each of the mentioned mental disorders is presented separately, and results are discussed throughout this study. Consequently, psychological interventions are proposed in accordance with the human trafficking category, survivors’ characteristics and needs and with the relevant personal risk factors determined among victims.

Sex trafficking can have a severe effect on a victim’s mental health, and mental health disorders are substantially higher in human trafficking victims compared to non-trafficked victims or general psychiatric population. Limitations, implications and future recommendations are discussed.

A limited number of past studies evaluated the mental health consequences and identified that survivors have a higher prevalence of anxiety disorders, depression disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The purpose of this paper is to explore investigative decision-making processes in the context of major crimes as experienced by the law enforcement agents.

Episodic interviews were conducted with six agents from medium-sized police forces in the UK. Following the framework of naturalistic inquiry, qualitative content analysis took place with the assistance of Atlas.ti software. To ensure the validity of findings, the within method triangulation was preferred, by additionally analysing the interview transcripts with Alceste.

Findings from this study revealed a variety of internal factors at play, shaping the decision-making course into an act of balancing various desired goals. Detectives appear to assess a situation based on their experiences confirming that the naturalistic decision-making model may assist in understanding investigative decision-making.

Due to the busy schedule of law enforcement agents the number of participants was limited and availability difficult; therefore, this study can be thought of as a pilot study that will inspire researchers to use the same method for in-depth understanding of investigative decision-making.

Results captured the ill-defined goals in the police environment and provided ways of decreasing their impact on investigative decision-making thus should help detectives to understand their decision-making limitations and strengths.

This project will enhance the psychological understanding of investigative decision-making.

This project assists in understanding the psychological aspect of investigative decision-making during police duty and provides the opportunity to law enforcement agents to re-evaluate situations in order to improve the investigative decision-making process; while adds to existing literature.

Homicidal behaviour is influenced by a complex interaction of behavioural, situational and environmental factors that raise many challenging psychological questions. A large and continually growing body of research has explored the crime of homicide, its epidemiology, victims and perpetrators. The area is developing rapidly, opening up new avenues of study. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This special issue of the Journal of Criminal Psychology brings together an exciting array of papers on homicidal behaviour, examining a wide range of issues including juvenile homicide perpetrators, school shootings, child homicide, homicide-suicide and differences in offence behaviours and victim characteristics between hard-to-solve one-off homicides and serial homicides.

The range of papers included in this special edition cover a wide range of aspects of homicidal behaviour, reflecting the importance of – and the need for – applied research moving away from examining general homicide to specialised research focusing on subtypes of homicide and subgroups of homicide offenders. A research agenda is proposed.

This editorial gives an introduction to the themes explored in this special issue and provides an overview of the selected papers.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential for developing a model for differentiating school shooters based on their characteristics (or risk factors) before the attack took place.

Data on 40 school shootings was compiled from the National School Safety Center’s Report on School Associated Violent Deaths and media accounts. Content analysis of the cases produced a set of 18 variables relating to offenders’ characteristics (or risk factors). Data were subjected to Smallest Space Analysis (SSA), a non-metric multidimensional scaling procedure.

Results revealed three distinct themes: Disturbed School Shooter, Rejected School Shooter and Criminal School Shooter. Further analysis identified links between these themes with the family background of the offender.

These findings have both significant theoretical implications in the understanding of school shooters and the crime in general. They offer potential for practical applications in terms of prevention and intervention strategies. A key limitation relates to the quality of data.

This is the first study to develop a model for differentiating school shooter characteristics.

In order to address a notable gap in the research literature, the purpose of this paper is to examine age-related differences in juvenile homicide perpetration.

Data on 150 juvenile homicide offenders and their offences was derived from material available within the public domain, including media reports, case studies, court reports and previously published studies. Comparisons were then made between those aged 14 and under (n=63) and those aged 14-17 (n=87) across a range of offender, victim and offence-related variables.

There were no significant differences between the child (U-14) and adolescent (14-17) offender samples on any of the measured variables. The two groups had similar backgrounds, selected similar types of victims, had comparable breakdowns of different types of victim-offender relationship and had similar patterns of weapon use.

The fact that the two groups did not differ significantly has notable implications in practical and applied domains. By identifying risk factors for juvenile homicide perpetration, findings open up a range of possibilities for identification, investigation and intervention. In addition, findings might inform the development of offender treatment and rehabilitation programmes. Key limitations relate to the quality and quantity of data employed. Ways of remedying these weaknesses in future research are addressed.

This is the first study to directly compare child and adolescent perpetrators of homicide over a broad range of offender, victim and offence attributes.

Only recently have historic concrete buildings received attention and the need for their protection has been understood. Their listing as architectural heritage in most countries is ruled by legislations. The research carried out within the framework of the CONSECH20 JPI project on the conservation of historic concrete buildings in the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Italy and the Netherlands has allowed to study the legislations in the four aforementioned countries and how these are brought to practice. This paper aims at the evaluation of these legislations and of their function in practice.

The legislations have been examined focussing on the protection of historic buildings and the guidelines to achieve a correct technical conservation. These were assessed in practical situations. The situations of the four countries were studied and the parameters used allowed comparisons.

Concrete buildings are at risk and the guidelines should be further developed to meet actual conservation needs, including historical and aesthetical compatibility. The re-use of listed concrete buildings often means transforming and adapting these to a variety of modern needs and norms: the complexity of this assignment asks for a multidisciplinary teamwork. The bottom-up Dutch programme for quality in conservation, striving to bring ethical and technological principles to practice, could be a sound basis for developing respectful conservation strategies of heritage concrete buildings.

The research concerns the four countries involved in the CONSECH30 project and could be extended to include more countries.

More stakeholders have to be involved in the process of conservation and transformation of heritage concrete buildings. This should be directed by the legislation.

No direct social implications are foreseen from the outcome of the research. However, the suggestion is made that social involvement is essential in planning concrete building transformations.

The study focussed on the application of theory (the legislation) to practice (thus showing the limits of the legislation), which is an innovative way of contributing to the conservation of historic concrete buildings.

In England and Wales, on average one child every week is a victim of homicide. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether different victim-risk profiles and suspect variables can be differentiated for specific victim ages.

This paper presents a preliminary analysis of more than 1,000 child homicides committed in England and Wales between 1996 and 2013, from data provided through the Homicide Index. Statistical techniques such as cluster analysis were used to identify specific victim-risk profiles and to analyse suspect variables according to the age of victim.

The findings present a clearer picture of the risk-age relationship in child homicide, whereby several specific risk profiles are identified for specific child ages, comprised of crime variables including; likely victim and suspect demographics, the most likely circumstances of the homicide and methods of killing. Using similar techniques, a number of tentative clusters of suspects implicated in child homicide are also described and analysed, with suggestions of further analysis that might prove of value.

The practical implications cannot be understated. For those professionals working in the fields of child protection and criminal investigation the identification of risk profiles promises to provide a back-cloth with which to practice when confronted with complex and distressing child homicide scenarios. This research promises most to those currently training in related professions.

Although the statistical level of risk has been linked with the age of a child (with younger children being most vulnerable to killing by a parent or step-parent and older children most vulnerable to killing by acquaintances and strangers), extant research is yet to progress beyond the identification of broad age-risk categories. The paper concludes with a discussion of the likely implications for those charged with reducing and investigating child homicide and outlines the possibility of future research.

Although homicide-suicide (H-S) offences are rare, they have remarkably tragic consequences. The purposes of this paper are to: examine the background characteristics of H-S offenders (including previous offending history and psychiatric elements); describe the crime-scene behavior and examine the motivational aspects of the offences; and to establish the reliability in the outlined typologies.

The study consists of case series of all H-S offenders in Sweden, January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2009 (n=13), and data was collected from medico-legal autopsy reports, police investigations and three national databases.

Of all Swedish homicides, 5.5 percent consisted of H-S cases, and the rate of H-S was 0.05 per 100,000 inhabitants. Seven of the offenders had had previous contact with a psychiatric service, however, the average time between the last contact and the offence was slightly more than four years. Three of the offenders had previously been convicted of a violent crime and nine of the 13 offenders were involved in serious marital conflicts during the time of the offence. In conclusion, the study supports the notion that cases of H-S are mainly associated with intimate partner homicides, rather than suicide or other homicides. However, the offences were not always directly aimed toward the (former) spouse, but instead carried out through a proxy (such as a common child).

The study adds in-depth knowledge by using a qualitative approach in an otherwise scarce area of research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences (if any) between serial and hard-to-solve one-off homicides, and to determine if it is possible to distinguish the two types of homicides based on offence behaviours and victim characteristics.

A sample of 116 Italian serial homicides was compared to 45 hard-to-solve one-off homicides. Hard-to-solve one-off homicides were defined as having at least 72 hours pass between when the offence came to the knowledge of the police and when the offender was caught. Logistic regression was used to predict whether a killing was part of a series or a one-off offence.

The serial killers targeted more strangers and prostitutes, displayed a higher level of forensic awareness both before and after the killing, and had more often an apparent sexual element in their offence. Conversely, the one-off homicides were found to include more traits indicative of impulsive and expressive behaviour. The model demonstrated a good ability (AUC=0.88) to predict whether a homicide belonged to the serial or one-off category.

The findings should be replicated using local homicide data to maximise the validity of the model in countries outside of Italy.

Being able to distinguish between serial and one-off homicides based on information available at a new crime scene could be practically useful for homicide investigators managing finite resources.

Studies comparing serial homicides to one-off homicides are scarce, and there are no studies explicitly trying to predict whether a homicide is an isolated case or part of a series.