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    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 (2022) 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. ISSN 1544-4759

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    Abstract

    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.

    Item Type: Article (Article)
    Peer-reviewed: Yes
    Date Deposited: 13 Nov 2023 12:41
    Publisher: Wiley
    Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Rainbow, L., Benson, C., Almond, L., Tandy, A., & McManus, M. (2022). 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), 20–32, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.1582. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
    Divisions: Faculties > Health and Education
    Subject terms: 1602 Criminology, 1701 Psychology
    Data Access Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
    URI: https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/633104
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.1582
    ISSN 1544-4759
    e-ISSN 1544-4767

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