2. Aim... To identify a behaviour pattern for similarities between offences.
3. Methodology... A content analysis of 66 sexual offences from various forces committed by 27 offenders was conducted to find 33 offence variables that were clearly linked to a potential behaviour characteristic. E.g. Variable 2 was surprise attack. It was possible to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to each variable. (Sexual offences were used because there is a great deal of information available about the perpetrators actions).
10. Conclusions... Canter believes that the usefulness of this method is that all five aspects have now been shown to contribute to all sexual offences, but in different patterns for different individuals. This can lead to an understanding of how an offenders behaviour changes over a series of offences, or more usefully still to be establishing whether two or more offences were commited by the same person. This has been known as his 5-factor theory.
