ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I briefly review the concept of scripts and the role that crime scripts have been playing in criminology during the last decade. Particularly illuminating is the potential use of scripts not only to understand and disrupt offender scripts (commonly referred to as crime scripts) but also to capture and facilitate victim and guardian scripts to increase the likelihood of preventing crime. Similarly, I apply scripts to forensic science—another field that can benefit from script analysis. First, as in the case of guardian scripts, script analysis can break down the process of completing crime scene investigations for those who investigate (crime scene investigators or other professionals involved in crime scene investigations) into a series of detailed stages and, as a result, provide a range of intervention-points to improve the success of these investigations. Second, script analysis can also provide valuable information on offenders’ crime-commission processes for crime scene investigators and highlight a number of ‘contact points’ that could be targeted during investigations.
