Masking in murder: An exploratory study into the act of covering the victim’s face in UK homicide

Rainbow, Lee, Benson, Caitlin, Almond, Louise, Tandy, Alicia and McManus, Michelle (2021) Masking in murder: An exploratory study into the act of covering the victim’s face in UK homicide. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 19 (1). pp. 20-32.

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Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Previous literature suggests that covering of a homicide victim's face by an offender indicates a pre‐existing relationship. Operational definitions discriminate between three forms of victim covering (i) Masking (ii) Cloaking and (iii) Concealment. 126 UK homicide cases were examined to explore whether any evidence‐based investigative inferences could be supported in cases of victim covering viewed through an instrumental/expressive framework. No statistically significant differences were found between face covering behaviour and the relationship between victim and offender, previous convictions, and offender age, although there was a high frequency of elderly female victims of masking. The findings are discussed in relation to offender‐profiling.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	crime scene behaviours, homicide, offender profiling
Divisions:	Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	20 Dec 2021 09:53
Last Modified:	09 Sep 2023 12:10
DOI:	10.1002/jip.1582
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3145677