Linkage Analysis
Definition
The investigative and forensic method of determining whether two or more crimes were committed by the same person, based on the presence of consistent and distinctive behavioural, geographic, or physical features across the crime scenes.
- Purpose
- Determine whether one offender committed multiple crimes
- Basis
- Consistent behavioural, geographic or physical features
- Field
- Serial-offending investigation
Common questions
What distinguishes linkage analysis from criminal profiling?+
Profiling infers characteristics of an unknown offender from crime features. Linkage analysis instead compares crimes to each other to judge whether the same offender likely committed them, without necessarily describing who that offender is.
What kinds of features carry the most weight in linking crimes?+
Distinctive and unusual behaviours, such as an uncommon method of entry or a specific verbal script with victims, carry more weight than common features shared by many offenders, since rarity is what makes a pattern individualising.
Related terms
- Behavioural Consistency
- The tendency of a serial offender to repeat the same distinctive behaviours across multiple offences; one of the two necessary conditions for...
- Behavioural Distinctiveness
- The property that the consistent behaviours in question are rare enough across unrelated offenders that shared possession of them cannot easily be...
- Modus Operandi (MO)
- The functional, learned behaviours the offender uses to commit the offence: how to gain entry, control the victim, complete the act, and...
- ROC / AUC Analysis
- Receiver Operating Characteristic / Area Under the Curve analysis; the statistical method used to measure the discriminative accuracy of a linkage system,...
- Signature
- Psychologically expressive behaviours that go beyond what's needed to complete the offence: posing the body, ritual acts, taking trophies, leaving messages. Signature...
- ViCLAS
- Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System; the RCMP-developed database capturing 168 behavioural and physical fields from serious violent crimes in Canada and adopted...