Rape is one of the most horrible crimes to be ever be committed. It is bound to cause physical and emotional trauma to the victims and their families. In order to ensure justice is served, the investigator must know what to do when arriving at the crime scene to perform a retroactive investigation. This paper includes a list of steps and suggestions tailored to a particular rape scenario.
Steps to Take upon the Arrival at the Scene of the Crime
In this scenario I am the responding investigator, thus not the first person to contact the victim and arrive at the crime scene. The duty of the first responding officer is to secure the victims, the primary witnesses, and the area where the crime took place (“Role of the first responder,” 2016). Upon arrival, the investigator will be required to:
- Interview the victims and primary witnesses
- Collect material evidence from the crime scene
Questions for the Victim
Here is a list of 10 important questions that need to be answered during the investigation (Cain, 2015):
- Can you tell me what happened today?
- When did the crime happen?
- Can you describe the perpetrator?
- Did you know the perpetrator?
- What did the perpetrator do before, during, and after the assault?
- Did you resist the offender?
- Did he threaten you?
- Did he have any weapons with him?
- Did anyone else see or hear you? (e.g. the children)
- Were there any specific threats towards you or your family?
These questions will need to be worded carefully in order to accommodate the rape victim and not provoke a negative reaction.
Children Care Plan
Witnessing their family members raped can be a traumatizing event for the victim’s children. First, it must be determined if the children actually witnessed the act. If not, then it will be best to avoid discussing it. However, if they did witness the crime, it is important to contact a child psychologist in order to ensure their emotional stability. Any interviewing of the children should be conducted with extreme delicacy and caution (Tracy, 2016).
Crime Scene Search Areas
Weiss (2015) outlines two areas of examination in a rape scenario – the victim’s body and the area outside the house. Investigating the area outside the house might tell how the perpetrator broke inside. It might contain tire tracks, fingerprints, discarded tools and items, and other potential evidence that could be used to discover the criminal’s identity. The victim’s body will contain biological evidence, such as hairs, semen, nails, bits of the epidermis, etc. (Weiss, 2015).
Profiling
The case scenario offers only two traits that could be classified as part of the criminal profile, namely the use of a car to escape the scene of the crime, and the threat to return if the victim files a report to the police. This evidence can be used as a point of comparison with other cases in order to establish a pattern (Holmes, 2009). However, the information given in the scenario does not allow for any further profile-building.
Follow-up Investigative Steps
In order to continue the investigation, the investigator must interview the victim’s neighbors, who may have had a chance to see the perpetrator or his car. Any security cameras in the immediate vicinity will have to be checked for footage. In addition, the information about the perpetrator will need to be compared with the police database, in order to establish a possible link (Chamelin, 2017).
References
Cain, N. (2015). Interview strategies for sexual assault and rape investigations.Web.
Chamelin, N. (2017). The follow-up investigation.Web.
Holmes, S.T. (2009). Sex crimes. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oakes, CA: Sage Publications.
Role of the first responder. (2016). Web.
Tracy, N. (2016). Rape therapy: a treatment for rape victims. Web.
Weiss, D. (2015). One assault, two crime scenes: The challenge of handling sexual assault cases. Web.