Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Psychology, Crime and Law, 16 (6), 2010, © Informa Plc
Submitted manuscript, 281 KB, PDF document
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
<mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 2010 |
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<mark>Journal</mark> | Psychology, Crime and Law |
Issue number | 6 |
Volume | 16 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Pages (from-to) | 507-524 |
Publication Status | Published |
<mark>Original language</mark> | English |
University students, police professionals, and a logistic regression model were provided with information on 38 pairs of burglaries, 20% of which were committed by the same offender, in order to examine their ability to accurately identify linked serial burglaries. For each offense pair, the information included: (1) the offense locations as points on a map, (2) the distance (in km) between the two offenses, (3) entry methods, (4) target characteristics, and (5) property stolen. Half of the participants received training informing them that the likelihood of two offenses being committed by the same offender increases as the distance between the offenses decreases. Results showed that students outperformed police professionals, that training increased decision accuracy, and that the logistic regression model achieved the highest rate of success. Potential explanations for these results are presented, focusing primarily on the participants' use of offense information, and their implications are discussed.