Criminology

Types of Offenders
    There are two typologies of offenders which include the disorganized asocial offenders and the organized nonsocial offenders. The two classifications are crucial in the process of investigation of crime scenes and one can be able to tell which category of the criminal is responsible for the crime committed by the observations made at the scene due to their distinctive nature.

    The disorganized asocial offender refers to the criminal who Holmes describes as disorganized in virtually everything about his or her life. Such offenders exhibit certain characteristics and behaviors which includes returning to the scene of crime andor attending the funeral service of the victim. Such disorganized pattern of behaviors may be extended to the crime scene as elaborated by Holmes in his book entitled Profiling Violent Crimes. In this book, Holmes illustrates that such offenders are spontaneous and their victims usually unknown. They get involved in minimum conversations and therefore lonely most of the times. They usually leave behind a chaotic crime scene with physical evidence such as weapon being left behind. Other personal characteristics include below average IQ, socially incompetent individual with introvert personality. They also lack intellectual skills and most are high school dropouts. Such offenders also exhibit poor hygiene within their environments. They generally lack the organizational, social, and intellectual skills and thus are unable to carefully plan their attacks (Holmes  Holmes, 2002).

    On the contrary, the organized nonsocial offender is completely different from the disorganized asocial offender. This individual looks very organized in his activities. Holmes describes this criminal as very organized, with compulsive thinking processes and behaviors and this is more oftenly reflected in the individuals appearance and lifestyle. The individuals are usually bright and socially competent. They have a high IQ score and may have performed better at high school (some even have college education). They are described as coming from middle class background and seem to be holding respectable jobs in the society. However, such individuals are found to have had a drug or alcohol abuse background especially during the time of crime. Due to their wonderful personality, such individuals are rarely suspected of the crime at first. The organized offenders carefully plan their criminal activities getting rid of any evidence that may link them to the crime. The main targets are strangers and the crime scene is usually controlled. These individuals might be lonely because its their choice. They might return to the crime scene volunteer information to the police (Holmes  Holmes, 2002).

    Having described the two typologies, it is important for the investigation officers to analyze the scene of crime and be able to identify which type of criminal was involved. Generally, one can tell the disorganized offender due to the massive evidence left behind, the body of the victim may not be hidden and the victim is usually an acquaintance. The crimes are committed spontaneously and there might be some aggression or sex after the crime. On the other hand, in the organized crime scene, the body of the victim is normally hidden, leaving little or no evidence at the scene. Aggression usually takes place before death and the crime is a well thought out plan. Holmes give a clear insight of the two typologies and how one can deal with each scenario based on the characteristics of the criminal. Therefore, the two types of criminal behavior are very distinct and the officers investigating crime scenes would be able to differentiate between the two when handling criminal matters.