Profiling homicide offenders: A review of assumptions and theories

The literature on profiling homicide offenders was examined with regard to its underlying assumptions of offender consistency and specificity. While only moderate evidence for the behavioral consistency hypothesis was found, research did support the hypothesis of stable relationships between offense behaviors and offender characteristics (specificity hypothesis). When considering the specificity assumption, special attention has been given to the underlying concepts relating offense and offender characteristics. These underlying concepts were compared with offender profiling theories and a new model was proposed that can account for the current criticisms on offender profiling. This new model of offense pathways provides an overview of the psychological processes the offender experienced during his or her offense, emphasizes the importance of a contextualized perspective, and is consistent with the view that the homicide offense is a process that develops over time. The authors conclude that in order to derive offender profiles, offense pathways in homicide offenders should be investigated as a collection of underlying psychological concepts between offense and offender characteristics.