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Homicide crime scene staging (HCSS) involves purposefully altering the death scene to obstruct the criminal justice process by concealing the true nature of a crime. It is one of the most perplexing and intriguing homicidal behaviors and one of the least systematically studied, particularly in non-Western societies. As the first systematic study of HCSS in a non-Western society, this paper contributes to the ethnocultural understanding of HCSS by analyzing nation-based data regarding 56 HCSS events in Israel (excluding the West Bank and Gaza) during a 40-year period (1980–2019). Descriptive statistics demonstrate HCSS in Israel differs from that reported by studies in Western societies regarding weapon of choice and the death scene scenario offenders tend to stage. Comparative analysis of the two main ethnic groups in Israel, Jewish and Arab, demonstrates ethnic diversity in HCSS frequency, killing motive, victim characteristics, and victim–offender relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geberth in 2006 stated that "staging is a conscious criminal action on the part of an offender to thwart an investigation." In the present paper two crime scenes staged by handling digital evidence are reported. The first case involves a 50-year-old woman who had been living with the offender for three years before he murdered her at the end of their relationship. He staged the scene as a sex-related crime committed by an unknown perpetrator. The second case concerns a young woman who was found dead in Southern Italy in January 2004 with a gunshot on the forehead. The boyfriend, responsible for the murder, had staged the crime scene as a suicide. Three years earlier in Germany, he had also murdered the victim's mother. In both cases, the correlation of physical and digital forensic evidence was crucial in the definition of the manner of death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staged crime scenes involve an offender deliberately altering evidence to simulate events to mislead investigators. Despite likely occurring more often than reported in the literature due to success in offender deception, the exact frequency of staged crime scenes is unknown. In an attempt to bridge this gap, a legal database was searched for detected staged scenes. A total of 115 cases were examined, and this study reports on 16 staged suicides that were examined through descriptive analysis. Findings indicate the frequent involvement of firearms, hanging, or asphyxia, and that offenders are usually known to victims, although not necessarily intimately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nonrandom national U.S. sample of 946 homicide crime scenes--supplied by the FBI Behavioral Science Unit for purposes of research--was studied to delineate the prevalence, types, levels, and motives for staging in domestic, nonserial sexual, serial sexual, and general felony homicides. Stagers were found to be a relatively small group who employ a variety of methods to alter the crime scene in an attempt to redirect the investigation away from themselves as logical suspects. Results also suggest that different types of homicides have different staging rates based primarily on the relationship (or connection) between offender and victim. Implications for investigations and understanding this type of crime scene behavior are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crime scene staging is a recognized phenomenon within the criminal justice field. This article defines the occurrence for staging, identifies the motives for staging, and identifies the act that precipitated the staging. It reports the results of an exploratory survey of 20 well-versed and highly trained law enforcement officers' experience with staging in fatal and nonfatal incidents, and it reports the most commonly observed forms of crime scene staging. Investigative strategies and indicators of staging are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]