ABSTRACT

The behavioural linking task, or comparative case analysis (CCA) as it is now commonly called, has the goal of demonstrating that the same offender has committed two or more crimes [1,2]. The task is of particular importance in the absence of a confession, eyewitness testimony or other forensic evidence such as fibres, fingerprints, or DNA. In these cases, behavioural information must be relied upon to link crimes and the task usually involves an examination of what happened at the crime scenes and where the crimes took place. These aspects of the criminal event are popularly regarded as the offender’s modus operandi (MO) and they have been the subject of limited empirical study.