Linking crime through modus operandi. On linking Series of Crime into Single Offenders through Sructured Collection of Crime Scene Information.

Sammanfattning: The current paper is aimed at providing an overview of the current state of research regarding the potential of linking series of crimes to single offenders through repeated modus operandi behaviors. A systematic literature review was conducted to document findings from previous evaluation research as to the predictive accuracy of crime linkage specific to residential burglary. The findings indicate that predictions of linked burglaries can be made with moderate to high predictive accuracy. In order to get an understanding of the extent to which residential burglary offenders repeat their crime scene behaviors, the findings are discussed in relation to the criminological theories Routine activities theory and the Rational Choice perspective. Future research is suggested.