The phenomenon of “senseless” or “motiveless” homicide refers to homicides that lack an objective external motivation. Despite the unique challenges these homicides pose to police, few empirical studies have been conducted on the topic and existing studies are limited to clinical studies using small samples. To overcome existing empirical shortcomings, the current study used a sample of 319 homicide cases where no motive was established during the investigation to describe the “who” (offender and victim characteristics), “what” (modus operandi, crime characteristics), “where” (encounter, crime, and body recovery associated locations), and “when” (time of the crime) of the entire criminal event. Findings provide insight into the entire crime-commission process and suggest a different dynamic to “senseless” homicide from what has been described in previous literature. Implications for police investigative practice are discussed.

中文翻译：

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弄清无意义的谋杀：谁，什么，什么时候，在哪里？

“无意义的”或“无动机的”凶杀现象是指缺乏客观外部动机的凶杀。尽管这些凶杀案给警察带来了独特的挑战，但有关该主题的实证研究很少，现有研究仅限于使用小样本的临床研究。为了克服现有的经验上的缺点，本研究使用了319个凶杀案的样本，这些案件在调查期间没有确定动机，用以描述“谁”（犯罪者和受害者的特征），“什么”（作案手法，犯罪特征），“何处”。 ”（遇到，犯罪和与尸体恢复相关的位置），以及整个犯罪事件的“何时”（犯罪发生的时间）。这些发现提供了对整个犯罪作案过程的洞察力，并提出了不同于先前文献中描述的“无意义”杀人案的动态。讨论了对警察调查实践的影响。