Serial Crime: Theoretical and Practical Issues in Behavioral Profiling

By Wayne Petherick

Serial Crime provides a theoretical and practical foundation for understanding the motivation and dynamics in a range of serial offenses . It successfully connects concepts and creates links to criminal behavior across crimes —murder, sexual assault, and arson— something no other book available does.

The connection of serial behavior to profiling, the most useful tool in discovering behavior patterns, is new to the body of literature available and serves to examine the ideal manner in which profiling can be used in conjunction with psychology to positively affect criminal investigations.

The book includes case examples that offer real-world uses of behavioral profiling in investigations, and highlight a variety of issues in understanding and investigating serial crime.

The book's primary audience would include criminal profilers, fire investigators, universities offering forensic science/criminal justice programs, and forensic, police, criminal, and behavioral psychologists. The secondary audience would include attorneys and judges involved in criminal litigation, and forensic scientists and consultants (generalists).

* Provides a theoretical and practical foundation for understanding the motivation and dynamics in a range of serial offenses* Illustrates the promise, purposes and pitfalls of behavioral profiling in the investigation of various serial crimes* Case examples offer real-world uses of behavioral profiling in investigations, and highlight a variety of issues in understanding and investigating serial crime

• Language: English
• Publisher: Academic Press
• Release date: Nov 1, 2005
• ISBN: 9780080468549

Wayne Petherick

Wayne Petherick is Associate Professor of Criminology at Bond University in Australia. Wayne’s areas of interest include forensic criminology, forensic victimology, criminal motivations, criminal profiling, and applied crime analysis. He has worked on risk and threat cases, a mass homicide, stalking, rape, and a variety of civil suits involving premises liability and crime prevention. He has presented to audiences in Australia and abroad, and has published in a variety of areas including social science and legal works in the areas of criminal profiling, expert evidence, stalking, serial crimes, criminal motivations, and victimology. Wayne is co-editor of Forensic Criminology, and editor of Profiling and Serial Crime: Theoretical and Practical Issues, now in its third edition.