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.
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...
Explained in
- Behavioural Evidence Analysis: MO, Signature and StagingUnusual 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 in...