Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 105

 

Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 105

A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES

SECOND EDITION

 

Investigative Considerations

Threat assessment of offender communication may be helpful. If there is no extortion demand associated with the death and civil litigation has been initiated, the litigant should be scrutinized. The litigant’s financial status (beneficiary to insurance claims or inheritance, along with problems such as outstanding debts, for example), relationship with the victim (problems, extra- marital affairs), and preoffense and postoffense behavior should be examined. Although the primary motivation is financial gain, the offender who tar- gets a family member for death often has concurrent secondary motivations or goals that will be equally well served by the victim’s death. Avenues such as domestic problems and extramarital affairs should be explored. Because product tampering deaths are relatively rare, early allegations of such by anyone who stands to benefit from the victim’s death should be viewed cautiously and evaluated carefully.