Organized and Disorganized Offender

Introduction

When a serial offender is arrested, he or she is classified based on his offense and the characteristics that he or she manifests.  Different sociologists have established different typologies of offenders.  For example, an offender can be the predictable type or the respectable type. The two characterizations are determined by the presence of absence of violent criminal history. However, the paper below addressed the categorization of the organized and disorganized offender.

Organized and Disorganized Offender

Organized Offender

            Organized offenders are psychopathic, antisocial and irrational individuals, but are mentally stable.  The organized offender is indifferent to other people, irresponsible and self-centered.  They are manipulative and deliberate but present themselves as good-natured and sociable as long as the overall outcome suits his specific needs. An organized offender can thus present himself as one of the most reliable persons in the community.  He can present himself as a volunteer for different community functions and thus a favorite among many.  However, underneath the admirable outlook, is a psychopath who is stalking and monitoring the members of the community (Beauregard, & Martineau, 2016).  He sets his eyes on his victims, captures, and tortures them before committing his crime.  During investigations, he may be the last person that the community, as well as law enforcement agencies, relate to the case until all evidence eventually points to him.

 Organized offenders are cunning and emotionless thus their ability to play both sides of the game without raising suspicion.  Their emotional detachment means that they can commit an offense against a person and show no remorse for his acts. The crimes committed by an organized offender are deliberate, calculated and well planned.   His victims fit a specific criterion that relates to his past such as his mother, his ex-wife or ex-girlfriend. He targets strangers and people he has no connection with so that he is not suspected.  The organized offender is an extrovert thus social and very articulate.  He also presents himself as a neat person who is focused and aware of his purpose in life (Briken, Bourget, & Dufour, 2014).  The organized also has a way with words and may easily convince a victim to accompany him before he commits his crime. Once he commits his crime, he is sure not to leave any fingerprints or evidence behind.  He is meticulous in covering his tracks although he may take trophies from the victim as a commemoration of his conquest.  

Disorganized Offender

A disorganized offender is a psychotic person with non-existent social skills.  The offender is a loner and stands out as different.  He makes no effort to fit in the community and has no friends.  He forms relationships with partners that are either older or younger than him so that he retains control over them.  The offender has a general don’t-care attitude about life.  In most instances, he is untidy and with minimal to non-existent consideration for personal hygiene.   The offender comes off as odd and with a peculiar lifestyle, for example, having a nocturnal lifestyle. He engages in crime out of spontaneity rather than planning.  He is driven by rage, anger, passion or the influence of drugs and or alcohol. His spontaneous reactions mean that his victims are mostly family, acquaintances or neighbors.  The offender attacks victims who are near him, and he pays little regard to the risk of being captured.

  In most instances, the offender and the victim know each other. The disorganized offender does not plan or premeditate his actions.  He may kill using any weapon or object of convenience at the particular moment.  He also leaves the crime scene in disarray and most instances, will leave evidence such as the weapon used at the crime scene (Holmes, 2011).  The offender may have some mental deficiency that triggers frenzied and unplanned attacks on his victims.  Unlike an organized offender, the disorganized offender does not have a pattern thus making it difficult him to connect a series of offenses to him.  If the disorganized offender commits a series of murders, they will be unrelated, and each crime scene and mode of execution will be different.

 The lack of social skills means that the disorganized offender does not have the courage to approach his victims.  He thus establishes control over his victims through incapacitation.  He thus attacks his victims from behind thus taking advantage of the element of surprise.  He may thus employ blunt force on the back of the victim’s head so as to gain total control. Just like the personal offender, the organized offender will take the body parts of the victim as part of his trophy (Briken, Bourget, & Dufour, 2014). However, his behavior changes upon the execution of his crime.  He will demonstrate high levels of anxiety and nervousness.  He will also increase the consumption of alcohol and drug abuse as if trying to push the memory of his heinous acts away.

FBI Secrecy and Credibility of their Reports

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) never makes their methodology public thus raising queries on whether the body’s reports should be given credence.  However, the FBI is the country’s prime federal law enforcement agency that operates under the jurisdiction of the department of justice.  The FBI takes charge of protecting the country from serious crimes including terror attacks, espionage, white collar crimes and significant violent crimes.  The FBI is mandated to execute its duties under Title 28 of the US Code (Briken, Bourget, & Dufour, 2014). The FBI is highly secretive, but their secrecy should not be a cause of concern over the credence of their reports.  FBI reports arise from comprehensive investigations and analysis.  The FBI works with local law enforcement agencies to investigate a crime.  The FBI has jurisdiction over 200 categories of federal crimes.  Activities such as profiling occur after intensive investigation and gathering of evidence relating to a specific case.  For example, the process of profiling an offender is specific and known to the public.  The FBI begins with the assimilation phase where all information regarding a crime, a crime scene, his victims, and witnesses is examined.  The FBI thus uses evidence from the crime scene, autopsy reports, victim’s profiles and witness and police statements.  Next, the FBI engages in the process of classifying the offender based on the characteristics they have gathered from the crime scene.  It is at this stage that the FBI categorizes an offender as an organized or disorganized offender.  

The categorization of an offender and organized or disorganized is based on approved characteristics that have been investigated and found to be true.  For instance, organized offenders had advanced social skills and engaged in premeditated crimes (Beauregard, & Martineau, 2016).  The offenders strive to leave little to no evidence at the crime scene.  In contrast, the disorganized offender acts on impulse/ emotional reactions and thus may leave evidence at the crime scene. The next step involves the reconstruction of the behavioral sequence of the crime and acquiring the offender’s line of thought.  The FBI also strives to gather the offender’s signature by examining the crime scene. The FBI then generates the offender’s profile thus acquiring potential suspects.  The FBI reports are thus credible and based on comprehensive investigation and research (Holmes, 2011).  The FBI officers are well-trained and familiar with the investigation process.  The reports that they come up with are thus credible.

Conclusion

 The categorization of offenders helps in narrowing a list of suspects in the quest to find an offender of a crime.  An offender can be categorized an organized or disorganized based on the manifestation of different characteristics.  Organized offers are schemers as they take the time to plan their acts before executing them.  Disorganized offenders act on impulse and execute their crimes based on spontaneity.  The FBI uses such profiling as well as evidence from the crime scenes and witness and police accounts to write reports about offenders.  Therefore, although their methodology is surrounded with secrecy, it is based on the use of facts relating to the crime.  Moreover, the FBI consists of highly trained personnel who ensure that the reports are factual.

References

Beauregard, E., & Martineau, M. (2016). Does the organized sexual murderer better delay and avoid detection? Journal of interpersonal violence, 31(1), 4-25

Briken, P., Bourget, D., & Dufour, M. (2014). Sexual Sadism in Sexual Offenders and Sexually Motivated Homicide. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 37(2), 215-230

Holmes, S.T. (2011). Sex crimes: patterns & behaviors (3rd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN-13: 978-1412952989

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in customized term papers if you need a similar paper you can place your order for article critique writing services.