Skipping Victimology in a Death Investigation is like Skipping the First Seven Seasons of Game of Thrones
By Stephen Thornthwaite, LPA Case Analyst
Recently I successfully completed the Introduction to Research-Based Forensic Victimology in the LPA International Forensics Institute. Dr. Pettler liked my final essay and invited me to become an LPAteam Blogger. I’m excited to share with you many things I’ve learned and my story in upcoming posts about how I came to the LPAIFI and what I plan to do in the future with what I’m learning.
When thinking of my answer for my final essay on victimology and the importance of executing a forensic victimological profile in the first 48 hours, I came up with a hasty list with words starting with the letter “C”:
Who has the greatest Concern about the Circumstances of her death?
If her life were to Continue, who would it effect the most and how would it effect them?
Who stands to Cash in from the victims death?
Who did she Confide in?
Who were her Comrades?
Who were her Confederates?
Simply skipping Victimology in any death investigation is like skipping the first seven seasons of Game of Thrones then watching the eighth and final season completely confused.
The truth is human beings lie. Humans have secrets and skeletons floating around their minds and closets. This reason alone makes it imperative that a deep dive into the victim, not only is necessary, but crucial, in finding out what happened to the victim. Too many times I have seen investigators and sleuths alike, gain just a cursory view of the victim. This is a critical mistake, because failing to work up a couple victim profile, leads to wrong paths later on in the investigation. You are sabotaging your own investigation from the beginning. One must strip away the veneer and facade to completely understand the victim. This means asking the family and friends of the victim hard, uneasy, uncomfortable, embarrassing, all encompassing questions. Failure to do so, means creating a skewed victimological profile, which may lead to missed clues, connections, and evidence. Which, may later prove to be detrimental to your investigation.
When looking into cold cases, I often find it hard to gather information on the victim. For the most part, it’s lacking. I want to know everything. You need to be a sponge in gathering information on the victim, since, downloading a victims brain is currently not an available technology(yet). I want to know about their interpersonal relationships with their family, friends, and foes. Who are they sleeping with? No question is off limits, you must get to know the victim better than you know anyone else. Do they have a diary? Let me see all of their historical writings and social media posts.
“When applying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to victims, while it might be important in cases where live victims are self-reporting to respond to the intrinsic needs of victims, it is arguable that Maslow’s hierarchy might help investigators identify gaps in a victim’s life or needs that were not being met for a victim in one place or the other. The reason identification of such strengths and weaknesses might be important is because, for example, if a woman is in an unhappy marriage and seeks passionate encounters to sate the needs she is not getting from her husband, this behavior could result in the woman increasing her likelihood of becoming a victim of a violent crime.”
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Studying where the victim was in their own Maslow Hierarchy House of needs is absolutely essential to gain a complete understanding of your victim. The student argues that deeply mapping the victims place in Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs will likely lead you to the your suspect. You may find that your victim and the offenders place in their own personal Hierarchy needs may fit together like a puzzle, or yin and yang.
Victimology is a sedulous, painstaking process. Sometimes it make take months or years to develop a full victimological profile of the victim. Take that profile and put it in front of a mirror, you may find that the suspect is looking right back at you.
Stephen Thornthwaite
LPAIFI Student & LPAteam Blogger