Personation
Definition
Unusual behaviour at the scene that doesn't serve the offence but reflects the offender's personality. The CCM treats personation as a broader category that includes signature.
- Category
- Crime scene behaviour analysis
- Framework
- Crime Classification Manual (CCM)
- Relation to signature
- CCM treats it as the broader category containing signature
- Distinguishing test
- Not necessary to complete the offence
Common questions
How is personation distinguished from modus operandi at a scene?+
MO behaviours are functional, chosen to commit the crime successfully and efficiently, while personation behaviours serve no functional purpose and instead reveal something about the offender's psychology or personal needs.
Why does the CCM define personation more broadly than signature?+
Signature refers to a distinctive, often ritualistic behaviour that may repeat across offences, whereas personation covers any scene behaviour reflecting the offender's personality, including acts too idiosyncratic or situational to count as a repeatable signature.
Related terms
- Crime Classification Manual (CCM)
- The FBI taxonomy first published in 1992 by Douglas, Burgess, Burgess and Ressler, classifying crimes by behavioural pattern rather than by statutory...
- 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...
- Signature
- Psychologically expressive behaviours that go beyond what's needed to complete the offence: posing the body, ritual acts, taking trophies, leaving messages. Signature...
- Staging
- Deliberate manipulation of a death scene to mislead forensic investigation. In firearms deaths, staging typically involves post-mortem wound infliction, weapon placement, or...
- Undoing
- A specific sub-type of post-offence behaviour where the offender symbolically reverses the act, often covering the victim's face or body. Reads as...