Please briefly answer these questions separate:
1. Why is it important to differentiate between Modus Operandi and Signature behaviors
2. Before the Caylee Anthony murder was solved, how would you have applied the systematic stages of profiling? See case information below (Source: Wikipedia)
3. If a serial burglar made a habit of picking locks of unoccupied houses and stealing jewelry and then defecated on the dining room table before leaving, what would be his Modus Operandi and Behavioral Signatures?
Please respond to these students post separately:
#1 Patricia Barass:
One’s MO is what a person does to commit a particular crime. It can be usefule in helping to figure out any associations between different crime scenes. However, one’s MO is a “learned behavior” (Lecture notes, p.3) that is susceptible to changing as a result of an offender’s level of experience, confidence and the environment. A signature behavior is behavior that is psychologically compelling to the offender in the commitment of the crime. It is correlated with his “personality, lifestyle, and developmental experiences” (Lecture notes, p. 3). Therefore, the importance in differentiating between the MO and signature behavior lies with the underlying motivation of the offender. That is, one’s MO versus one’s signature behavior reveals characteristics of the offender. An offender’s MO may reveal if he is a seasoned versus amateur criminal or if one offender is responsible for a series of related crimes. One’s signature behavior reveals more personal characteristics of the offender himself. It gives the investigator insight into the offender’s personality, what may be important to him, or what needs are required of him to be fully satisfied with the commitment of his particular crime. This helps the investigator to gain a clearer picture of who a potential suspect may be.
#2 Janielle Murphy:
If a serial burglar made a habit of picking locks of unoccupied houses and stealing jewelry and then defecated on the dining room table before leaving, what would be his Modus Operandi and Behavioral Signatures?
In this circumstance, the criminal’s Modus Operandi would be:
• The type of materials he uses to pick the locks
• The neighborhood targeted and if there was a specific type of house or location
• The fact that he only stole jewelry and not anything else that may be considered of value
• The lack or presence of fingerprints on the scene
In this circumstance, the criminal’s Behavioral Signatures would be:
• Defecating on the dining room table
• The fact that the offender defecates on the dining room table prior to departure rather than upon entry into the home
#3 Cordell Atherley:
If a serial burglar made a habit of picking locks of unoccupied houses and stealing jewelry and then defecated on the dining room table before leaving, what would be his Modus Operandi and Behavioral Signatures?
This case seems so familiar compared to an actual residential burglary problem that we were experiencing in the north end of the city where I work, except for the defecating. Anyway, in this case, the (MO) Modus Operandi would be the picking of the locks of unoccupied houses as a means of gaining entry and stealing jewelry. The defecating on the dining room table before leaving would be the behavioral signature of the offender. This would be used to gather personality characteristics inferred from the crime scene.
In the case of the real time lock picking burglar in the city where I work, a means of addressing the burglary issue was to establish a criminal profile and review of all recent prison inmates who had a past (MO) of picking locks. With the profile in place, we were able to narrow down our search to 3 possible offenders.
References:
Vecchi, G.M. (2015). Lecture Notes Week 3 Criminal Profiling and the Federal Bureau