Target selection in rapists: The role of environmental and contextual factors

Research on sex offenders has consistently emphasized the role of personal factors, while neglecting to consider the role of environmental and situational factors. The environmental perspective is primarily interested in crime, of which the offender is only one element, and the analysis begins with the location of the crimes, aiming at sorting out patterns in where, when and how crimes occur. Over the past few years there has been an increase in research on rapists' modus operandi, geographic decision-making, and target selection. This article aims at providing a comprehensive review of the work that has been done in the field of rapists' target selection and hunting behavior, from an environmental standpoint. After a brief introduction and review of the theoretical models in environmental criminology, empirical studies are presented that investigate the geography of sex offending, offenders' hunting behavior and hunting process, geographic decision-making in target selection, and the influence of routine activities and offender type in target selection.     

Eclecticism and integration in counselling: Implications for training

The multiplicity of approaches in the field of counselling, together with a growing interest in eclecticism and integration amongst practitioners, present a challenge for counsellor trainers. One way in which this challenge is being met is by the development of training programmes that purport to be integrative. The development of such programmes, however, presents a further challenge to trainers, since sophisticated integration is rare. Some of the issues needing careful consideration by trainers involved in integrative programmes are explored under the headings of 11 key statements.     

Developments in geographical offender profiling: commentary on Bayesian journey-to-crime modelling

The Bayesian approach covered in this special issue complements the earlier ways of exploring offenders' crime location choices. It is different from earlier approaches in dealing directly with large local data sets of solved crimes to develop statistical models as compared with attempts to derive more generic ways of conceptualising an offender's geographical crime pattern. The two approaches can thus be seen to enshrine different epistemologies; the Bayesian being about a process for deriving patterns in geographically specific data sets, the earlier centre-of-gravity-oriented approaches seeking to establish general theories and principles that are broadly independent of any given locality. They are consequently sensitive to different types of bias in the data available. However, the interesting results achieved through the analysis of Bayesian patterns within crime data does further the consideration of the similarities across offenders in their use of locations for crime and thus has theoretical as well as practical implications. Therefore, these two approaches need to build on each other. This complementarity provides a useful example for other areas of Investigative Psychology. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geographical offender profiling: Dragnet's applicability on a Brazilian sample

Even though geographical offender profiling is already widely used and researched in countries such as England, Canada, and United States, it is still severely overlooked in Brazil, as there are no researches on the subject using a Brazilian sample. Therefore, the present paper aims to start filling this gap by analysing the applicability of the geographical offender profiling and Dragnet on a sample of Brazilian serial killers. In order to achieve this objective, the authors collected data through police records on 15 serial killers that were active between June 2009 and June 2015, in the city of Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil. As a result, the circle hypothesis was confirmed, considering that 66.7% of the sample fell into the marauder category. Interestingly, the Dragnet's result accurately informed the area that contained the offender's base in the same cases in which the offender acted according to the marauder model. Also, other important correlations were found such as the influence of age, intelligence, resourcefulness, and method of approach on the distance travelled to commit a murder. Those results show that the geographical offender profiling can be effectively applied in Brazil and thus is a valid investigative tool to aid police officers in serial crimes investigations.     

A pluralistic framework for counselling and psychotherapy: Implications for research

Historically, training, research and practice in counselling and psychotherapy have been dominated by unitary theoretical models. Although integrative and eclectic positions have been developed as alternatives, these have not been successful in generating research and have resulted in a further proliferation of competing models. In this paper we introduce a ‘pluralistic’ framework for counselling and psychotherapy and discuss the implications of this framework for research. The basic principle of this pluralistic framework is that psychological difficulties may have multiple causes and that there is unlikely to be one, ‘right’ therapeutic method that will be appropriate in all situations—different people are helped by different processes at different times. This pluralistic framework operates as a meta‐theory within which it is possible to utilise concepts, strategies and specific interventions from a range of therapeutic orientations. The framework is structured around three domains—goals, task and methods—by which therapeutic processes can be conceptualised, critically examined and empirically investigated. These domains, and the relationships between them, are outlined and the collaborative relationship at the heart of the pluralistic framework is discussed. The pluralistic framework provides a means for empirical research directly to inform practice and potential lines of empirical inquiry are outlined, along with findings from a recent study of counselling in schools.     

Differentiating stranger murders: profiling offender characteristics from behavioral styles.

The literature on "offender profiling" suggests that different "styles" of homicide will reflect differences in the background characteristics of the offender. To test this suggestion, hypotheses were drawn from studies of aggression to propose that murder crime scenes would reveal stylistic distinctions in the role of the aggression in the offense. It was further hypothesized that these distinctions would be clearest for those crime scene indicators that reflect the instrument (cognitive) actions that shape the offense rather than the more expressive (impulsive and emotional) components. Hypotheses about associated offender characteristics were also deduced on the assumption that the murder scene theme revealed the killers' typical styles of interpersonal transaction. To test these hypotheses MDS analyses were carried out on the crime scene and offender characteristics derived from 82 single offender, single victim stranger homicides. A multivariate structure resulted, including all three hypothesized styles, allowing 65% of the cases to be assigned to unique styles and a further 36% to be assigned to appropriate hybrids. Offender characteristics related in the anticipated way to the different crime scene styles, providing a basis for law enforcement inferences about offenders in stranger murders.     

Critical incidents for psychology students in a refugee camp: Implications for counselling

Malawi is host to over one million refugees from the Mozambican war. Although there are no recognized positions for professional counsellors in Malawi, the need for counselling war affected refugees has been recognized. The experience of two psychology students who worked with war affected children is investigated, using the technique of Critical Incidents Analysis. Key characteristics of this work are identified as a means to creating a training curriculum to prepare students for future placement in refugee camps.     

Anxiety and depression in women with advanced cancer: Implications for counselling

Fifty-three patients with advanced cancer were studied prospectively for 6 months to assess whether the site and method of chemotherapy administration influence levels of anxiety and depression. Patients received chemotherapy either at home or in hospital. Cases of clinical anxiety (36%) and depression (27%) were highest in the hospital treated group during the middle period of therapy. Patients treated at home had a lower psychiatric morbidity for anxiety (21%) and depression (21%) at the same period. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean scores on anxiety and depression between the groups. Overall, anxiety was more prevalent than depression. This study indicates that a minority of patients with advanced cancer treated by chemotherapy experience measureable psychiatric morbidity. Counselling services should be provided for these women throughout treatment, not just at the outset.     

The role of offender experience and crimes in shaping accounts

The paper summarises the main findings obtained in a wide study on the construction of deviant actions' narratives. In this paper, we focused on two topics: both topics are crucial to suggest new directions in investigative psychology. Narratives provide investigative psychologists with new sets of tools to define criminal profiles, such as narrative profiling. This paper deals with a qualitative investigation undertaken by collecting narrative interviews. These interviews were conducted with 34 prisoners held in two penal institutes in Rome and their goal was to reveal the typical form of constructing accounts taken in a non-investigative context. The specific aim of the project was to show whether differences exist in the narrative accounts provided by perpetrators of crime considering two factors: the type of crime committed and the experience in the deviance arena, which are hypothesised to shape narrations. Interviews were analysed with particular reference to the ‘Evaluation model’ by W. Labov. Participants were divided into three groups on the basis of the type of experience in the deviant field (professionals, intermediates and amateurs) and into four groups according to the crime committed (homicide, robbery and theft, and crimes linked to drugs and fencing). The results show the significant existence of clear differences in the reconstruction of the crime committed compared to the experience of the protagonist. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decay functions and criminal spatial processes: geographical offender profiling of volume crime

Although it is now well established across diverse samples that the frequency of offending ‘decays’ as distance from the home/base increases, it remains unclear what form of decay function best characterises this relationship. Different forms of decay function reflect different patterns and rates of decrease in the likelihood of offending as distance from the home/base increases. These different patterns imply rather different underlying psychological processes. Therefore, considerations of the particular function characterising distance decay elucidate explanations of offender spatial behaviour. To bring to light the possible psychological and behavioural processes inherent in offending distance decay, the present study examined the fit of logarithmic, negative exponential, and quadratic decay functions to the distribution of the distances travelled to offend by a sample of 70 prolific burglars from the UK. It is argued that these functions are consistent with the operation of perceptual processes of magnitude estimation, friction or effort effects, and the influences of cost‐benefit assessments, respectively. The results indicate that offending distance decay patterns most closely fit the logarithmic function, consistent with Stevens' perceptual processes of distortion in magnitude estimation, whilst not ruling out additional processes relating to the increased effort required in travelling greater distances to offend. Because most geographical profiling systems are built upon the distance decay function, the impact of utilising the different forms of function on the accuracy of geographic profiles was also assessed utilising ‘search cost’ calculations. The results showed little impact of applying different decay functions. Thus, whilst the decay function does have important theoretical implications for understanding offender spatial behaviour, it is noted that the particular variant used does not significantly impact on the effectiveness of geographical profiling systems as they currently exist. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stories of family caregivers of people with dementia in Greece: Implications for counselling

A substantial body of literature has identified high rates of burden, psychological morbidity, social isolation, health and financial difficulties among dementia caregivers. The present qualitative study adopted an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis approach in order to explore the lived experiences of dementia family caregivers within the Greek sociocultural context. The sample was purposive and consisted of 10 women dementia family caregivers from Athens and Thessaloniki. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted and analysed according to IPA. The participants’ personal accounts included themes related to ethical/existential and cultural aspects of family caregiving; changes in family relationships; impact of the caregiving experiences; sources of support and help seeking; positive and meaningful aspects of the care experience. The research findings are discussed in the context of Gilligan’s moral psychological theory, and cultural dimensions of family caregivers. Implications for counselling interventions aiming at supporting caregivers are presented.     

The role of counselling in community support for HIV/AIDS in uganda

HIV/AIDS counselling in medical related programmes focuses upon pre- and post-test counselling. The MRC programme in rural Uganda, a high prevalence area, began with pre- and post-test counselling, but as it was a community based programme this was not found to be adequate. As the programme developed, the counselling service became a way of strengthening the community to withstand the effects of HIV/AIDS. The paper describes the de-centralization of the counselling Programme from a medical centre to community centres. To monitor and evaluate the programme a set of quantitative and qualitative indicators were developed, these are introduced and discussed.     

Coping with chronic childhood diseases: Implications for counselling children and adolescents

Children with chronic diseases have to cope with a number of potentially stressful situations. Some relate specifically to the disease and treatment, and others, relating to school and home, are shared with all children. Research has tended to focus on environmental or personal variables that influence ‘adjustment’ to the disease. In contrast, work in general developmental psychology is concerned with identifying changes in children's appraisal of what constitutes a stressful situation, and describing appropriate coping skills. It is argued that this latter approach should be integrated with work concerned with coping in childhood illness. Implications for clinical practice are considered.     

Matrices in black and white: Implications of cultural multiplicity for research in counselling and psychotherapy

There is a lack of resarch into the relationship between culture and ethnicity, and the processes and outcomes of counselling and psychotherapy. This paper explores current and historical approaches to defining ethnicity and cultural identity, and makes suggestions for how these constructs might be more usefully understood.     

Running a counselling project in primary schools: The role of training and supervision

The provision of mental health resources for young children within a school setting is a challenging proposal. An early project by Kolvin et al. (1981) showed the efficacy of a number of interventions for disturbed children selected by assessment criteria. This highlighted the gap between mental health and education. A small-scale project operating in inner London utilizing volunteer counsellbrs is evaluated to examine the training and supervision needs of such counsellors if they are to be used to provide counselling services for children and, at the same time, further their own qualifications.     

Changing perspectives in the extended family system in nigeria: Implications for family dynamics and counselling

The extended family system in Nigeria had in time past provided support structures for the Nigerian people. Today, Nigeria as a society has witnessed severe changes in the extended family system. This paper addresses issues connected with the extended family system in the Nigerian cultural setting before the influx of the extraneous forces as well as changes within the broader Nigerian society.     

Rape and sexual assault in investigative psychology: the contribution of sex offenders' research to offender profiling

Research on sex offenders has mainly guided clinical practice for risk assessment and therapeutic intervention. However, the current scientific knowledge on these offenders and their crimes is, in many aspects, of great importance to criminal investigations. Consequently, there is a need to build bridges between investigative psychology and the research being conducted on sex offenders. Four areas of research on sex offenders that have clear implications to investigative psychology can be identified: (1) the consistency or ‘crime‐switching’ patterns of sex offenders; (2) the recidivism patterns of different types of sex offenders; (3) the police response to specific victim characteristics; and (4) the A → C equation of sexual assaults. This paper argues for a need to establish a dialogue between these two fields of research so that knowledge about sex offenders keeps growing whilst being able to inform policing practices in investigative psychology. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.