Crime Linkage in the UK

Abstract

One of the key tasks of the investigation of serial crimes, without the solution of which a complete,
comprehensive and objective investigation of the crimes of such category is impossible, is to identify
the serial nature of crimes, i. e. to resolve the question of whether two or more crimes can be episodes of the same series. Unfortunately, this topic has not received proper attention in domestic criminology.
One of the promising solutions to this problem is the study of progressive foreign experience in
this field and the assessment of the possibility of its adaptation in domestic conditions. In this regard,
the author has investigated the experience of identifying serial crimes in the UK (who and how
carries out the identification of seriality, and how its results are used).
The seriality is identified by special persons as part of separate information and analytical units
of law enforcement agencies that do not directly participate in the investigation of crimes. This
activity involves reconstruction of the criminal’s behavior during the crime, and its results are used
mainly to increase crime detection and to optimize the use of investigative resources. The author
makes a number of comments about the potential difficulties in adapting the English experience
of serial identification in Russia, which are associated with differences in the structure of law
enforcement agencies, scientific and technical support and scientific and methodological approaches in both countries.