NCJ Number
137386
Editor(s)
J E Douglas,
A W Burgess,
A G Burgess,
R K Ressler
Date Published
1992
Length
396 pages
Annotation
Intended for use by police agencies of all sizes, this volume presents the diagnostic system used by the FBI to standardize the terminology and formally classify the critical characteristics of the three major violent crimes: murder, arson, and sexual assault.
Abstract
The text presents the investigative techniques and definitions used by the FBI to coordinate their investigations and solve crimes. The system is the result of nearly a decade of study of murderers, rapists, child molesters, abductors, and arsonists at the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime in Quantico, Va. The manual explains the clues and crime scene indicators common to each type of crime, so that they can begin piecing together a solution and establishing a motive as soon as they arrive at the crime scene. Once a general idea of the perpetrator and motive has been established, investigators can use the manual to identify the other aspects common to that type of crime: victimology, modus operandi, physical evidence, autopsy results, and other factors. Advice is also presented on topics such as staging and personation, crime scene photography and the analysis of crime scene photos, prescriptive interviewing, and the use of search warrants. For a companion pocket guide, which presents an outline of the data in the main volume and is intended as a reference manual in the field, see NCJ-137385. Case examples, photographs, footnotes, index, glossary, contributor biographies, 71 references, and appended checklists, forms, and related materials (Publisher summary modified)