In order to prepare for this case study, you will need to review the section titled “From the Case File: The Investigation of the Washington, D.C., Beltway Snipers” in your textbook on pages 1–5. In your case study response, you will address the following:
Illustrate the role and function of detectives in the Washington, D.C., Beltway Sniper case as they would have occurred in the political era, the reform era, and for the community problem-solving era.
Explain the four stages of the reactive investigation process related to the Beltway Sniper case.
In just about any criminal investigation, there are mental errors (i.e., confirmation bias, selective information processing, and overconfidence bias), and the Beltway Sniper case is no different. Determine how mental errors are evident in this case.
In this unit, you learned the three potential problems with evidence in criminal investigations. What are the three problems with evidence in this case? Explain.
Each section of your case study must be clearly labeled using the following section headings:
Policing Eras
Reactive Investigation Process
Mental Errors
Problems
