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Criminal Investigations of Sexual Offenses

Techniques and Challenges

  • Book
  • © 2021

Overview

Editors:
  1. Nadine Deslauriers-Varin

    1. School of Social Work and Criminology, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada

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  2. Craig Bennell

    1. Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Depicts the current state of empirical knowledge and findings related to investigative techniques used in sex crimes investigations

  • Analyzes the operational challenges that surface in sex crimes investigations

  • Includes an easy-to-read literature review of the most up-to-date research on sex crime investigation

  • Concentrates on effective investigative techniques for those cases where forensic techniques will not suffice

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Table of contents (17 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
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  2. Introduction

    • Nadine Deslauriers-Varin, Craig Bennell
    Pages 1-4

  3. Suspect Prioritization and Identification Techniques

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 5-5
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    2. Sexual Crime Investigation and Offender’s Decision-Making: Rationality, Achievement, and Expertise

      • Eric Beauregard, Julien Chopin
      Pages 7-16

    3. Psychological Profiling and Sex Offenders: A Review of the Research and Recommendations for Police Investigations

      • Bryanna Fox, Jacquelyn Burckley, Alexandria Corona
      Pages 17-32

    4. The Modus via of Sex Offenders and the Use of Geographical Offender Profiling in Sex Crime Cases

      • Jasper J. van der Kemp
      Pages 33-48

    5. The Use of Crime Linkage in Sexual Offense Cases

      • Jessica Woodhams, Kari Davies
      Pages 49-63

  4. Investigative Interviewing

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 65-65
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    2. Interviewing Adult Complainants in Sexual Assault Cases

      • Kate Chenier, Rebecca Milne, Kevin Smith, Brent Snook
      Pages 67-84

    3. Investigative Interviewing of Children in Sex Abuse Cases

      • Kathleen Coulborn Faller
      Pages 85-97

    4. Suspect Interviews and Confessions in Sex Crime Cases

      • Nadine Deslauriers-Varin, Andréanne Bergeron
      Pages 99-113

    5. On the Synergy Between Pretext Caller and Police Interrogator

      • Deborah Davis, Richard A. Leo, Tyler N. Livingston, Peter O. Rerick
      Pages 115-130

  5. Operational Challenges and Issues

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 131-131
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    2. Inconsistency, Omissions, and Confidence as Indicators of the Accuracy of Sexual Assault Victim’s Recollections

      • Ronald P. Fisher, Martine B. Powell, Haley R. Dawson
      Pages 133-145

    3. Lie Detection in Sex Crime Investigations

      • Aldert Vrij
      Pages 147-161

    4. True and False Allegations of Rape

      • André De Zutter
      Pages 163-177

    5. Expert Biases in Criminal Investigations of Sexual Offenses

      • Ching-Yu Huang
      Pages 179-192

    6. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Review of Research on Investigative Decision-Making by Police Officers in Sex Offense Cases

      • Jason Roach, Ashley Cartwright
      Pages 193-214

  6. Investigation of Specific Types of Sex Crimes

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 215-215
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    2. Challenges and Opportunities in Investigations of Online Sexual Exploitation of Children: Old Networks, Dark Web, and Proactive Response

      • Francis Fortin, Sarah Paquette, Stephanie Gagné
      Pages 217-233
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Keywords

About this book

It is startling to read how few sexual offenses are reported in a year; even more shocking to see how few reports lead to an arrest. Research on effective responses to sexual offenses is much needed and ongoing. This edited book presents the current state of research on investigative techniques used in sex crime investigations, and the operational challenges and issues that arise in these investigations. Including an international cohort of scholars from various academic backgrounds, it reviews current efforts in key areas, synthesizing the research to make recommendations for the improvement of investigative practices and the criminal justice system’s response to sexual offenses.

Each chapter includes a brief introduction to the topic, a review of the research, and a discussion of the key points relevant to investigators and researchers as they move forward. The book is broken down into four themes: suspect prioritization and identification techniques, investigative interviewing, operational challenges and issues, and the investigation of specific types of sex crimes.

With its broad coverage and international scope, this volume fills the gap in knowledge for investigators working on sex crimes cases. With its easy-to-read style and clear analysis of the research, this is the perfect volume for investigators and law enforcement officers, policy makers and researchers, and students in criminology and criminal justice, forensic psychology, and victim services.

Editors and Affiliations

  • School of Social Work and Criminology, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada

    Nadine Deslauriers-Varin

  • Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

    Craig Bennell

About the editors

Nadine Deslauriers-Varin is an Associate Professor of criminology at the School of Social Work and Criminology at Université Laval, QC, Canada. She received her BSc and MSc in Criminology from the University of Montreal (Canada) and she completed her PhD at the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University (Canada). She is an affiliated researcher of the International Center of Comparative Criminology (ICCC) - for which she also acts as the head of the ICCC – Université Laval division, a collaborator for the Canadian Society of Evidence-Based Policing (Can-SEBP), and a Regional Champion for the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG). She currently sits on the editorial board of the Journal for Police and Criminal Psychology. Nadine’s research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Société et culture, the Ministry of Public Safety & Solicitor General through the British Columbia’s Crime Reduction Research Program, the International Center of Comparative Criminology, and Université Laval. Most of her research projects are carried out in collaboration with police forces and aim at developing better investigative practices (e.g., suspect identification and prioritization for sexual, violent and serial crimes, and police interrogation practices). Her work has been published in top tier peer-reviewed journals in her field and has been the subject of many scientific papers, book chapters,presentations, and special issues in scientific journals. To date, she trained close to 200 investigators about suspect interviewing best practices.

Craig Bennell is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Carleton University, ON, Canada. He is also the Director of Carleton’s Police Research Lab. Craig received his B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Alberta (Canada) and his MSc and PhD in Psychology from the University of Liverpool (UK), where he studied under the supervision of Professor David Canter (the founder of Investigative Psychology). Craig is a previous President of the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology and a previous Editor of the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. He currently sits on the editorial board of numerous peer-reviewed journals, including Psychology, Crime, and Law, Legal and Criminological Psychology, and the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. He is also a founding member of the Crime Linkage International Network based out of Birmingham, UK, and he is a collaborator for the Can-SEBP. Craig has published and presented widely on various topics related to the use of psychology in police investigations. He has also co-authored numerous books, including a recently edited volume entitled Crime Linkage Analysis: Theory, Research, and Practice (with Jessica Woodhams). Craig’s research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Police Research Centre, Correctional Service Canada, Ontario’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and Carleton University.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Criminal Investigations of Sexual Offenses

  • Book Subtitle: Techniques and Challenges

  • Editors: Nadine Deslauriers-Varin, Craig Bennell

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79968-7

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-79967-0Published: 23 November 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-79970-0Published: 24 November 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-79968-7Published: 22 November 2021

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVI, 274

  • Number of Illustrations: 6 b/w illustrations, 3 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Sexual Offending, Forensic Psychology

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