Atelier für Sexualität
Forensic Expertise
Forensic expertise begins with the capacity to hold complexity – and to translate it, with scholarly precision, into robust understanding.
I. Fields of Expertise
The forensic expertise encompasses the investigative psychological, behavioural, sexological and psychodynamic reconstruction of serious sexual offending, together with the integration of these perspectives into case-specific offender profiling and strategic investigative practice.
01. Behavioural & Crime Scene Analysis
Behavioural Crime Scene & Evidence Analysis
Analysis and interpretation of behavioural evidence, crime-scene, trace and behavioural configurations, and the situational dynamics of the offence.
Modus Operandi, Signature & Behavioural Organisation
Analysis of modus operandi, signature behaviour, recurrent behavioural patterns, and ritualised or symbolically organised elements of offending behaviour.
Offence Sequencing & Behavioural Reconstruction
Reconstruction of offence planning and preparation, approach and victim access, behavioural sequences, the progression of the offence, and post-offence behaviour.
Victim Selection & Victim–Offender Dynamics
Analysis of victim selection and selection processes, the victim–offender relationship, and the interpersonal dynamics shaping the progression and organisation of the offence.
Control, Coercion & Violence Dynamics
Analysis of physical, psychological and situational strategies of control and coercion, including the form, function, intensity and development of offence-related violence.
Staging, Manipulation & Post-Offence Behaviour
Analysis of crime-scene manipulation, staging, concealment and body-disposal behaviours, and other forms of post-offence conduct.
Behavioural Consistency, Change & Offence Development
Analysis of behavioural consistency and variation, together with developmental and escalation dynamics within the behavioural organisation of serious sexual offending.
02. Forensic Sexology
Sexual Preference & Arousal Organisation
Reconstruction of sexual preference and arousal organisation with regard to its structure, specificity, stability and relevance to serious sexual offending.
Paraphilic Organisation & Offence Dynamics
Analysis of paraphilic preference organisation and its functional relationship to the organisation and dynamics of serious sexual offending and recurrent patterns of behaviour.
Sexual Fantasy, Script & Behavioural Organisation
Reconstruction of relevant fantasy and sexual-script organisation and its relationship to sexual arousal, behavioural sequences and manifest offending behaviour.
Preference–Fantasy–Behaviour Differentiation
Systematic differentiation between sexual interests, preferences, fantasies and manifest behaviour, and analysis of their respective relationships to the organisation of serious sexual offending.
Psychosexual Development & Offence Trajectories
Reconstruction of psychosexual developmental trajectories and the emergence, consolidation, transformation and escalation of sexual organisations relevant to serious sexual offending.
Comorbid Psychopathology & Psychosexual Organisation
Analysis of the relationship between psychosexual or paraphilic organisation and comorbid psychopathology, and its significance for the organisation and manifestation of serious sexual offending.
Forensic Psychosexual Formulation
Integrative, hypothesis-led reconstruction of the relationships between sexual organisation, psychosexual development, psychopathology and manifest offending behaviour in the context of serious sexual offending.
03. Psychodynamic Offender Analysis & Reconstruction
Structural Organisation
Reconstruction of structural psychological functioning, particularly the integration of self- and object representations, identity organisation, reality testing and regulatory capacities, and their potential relationship to the organisation of serious sexual offending.
Conflict Organisation
Analysis of unconscious conflict configurations and their modes of psychological processing, including their potential transformation into sexual fantasy, relational and offending dynamics.
Object Relations & Relational Dynamics
Reconstruction of internal object-relational structures and their potential actualisation in victim selection, victim–offender dynamics, and the organisation of proximity, distance, dependency, control and object availability within the offence.
Defence, Disavowal & Affect Regulation
Analysis of defensive and affect-regulatory processes – particularly splitting, disavowal, projection, idealisation, devaluation and sexualisation – and their potential function within the psychological organisation of sexual offending.
Unconscious Fantasy & Perversion Dynamics
Reconstruction of unconscious fantasy and structures of meaning, including the potential interrelation of sexuality, aggression, control, humiliation and triumph within offence enactment and the dynamics of serious sexual offending.
Repetition & Relational Re-enactment
Analysis of repetition and relational re-enactment through which earlier psychological and relational configurations may become transformed and reactualised within offending behaviour, particularly along dynamics of passivity and activity, helplessness and control, and humiliation and triumph.
Psychodynamic Motivation & Offence Function
Reconstruction of the psychological function of sexual offending, particularly in relation to affect and self-esteem regulation, the organisation of aggression, establishment of control, defence against psychological threat, and stabilisation of internal self- and object organisation.
04. Investigative Psychology & Offender Profiling
Offender Characteristics & Behavioural Inference
Systematic inference of investigatively relevant characteristics of an unknown offender from the overall configuration of offending behaviour and available case information, with the aim of developing a differentiated, case-specific offender profile.
Offender Typology & Differentiation
Systematic differentiation of investigatively relevant offender configurations across characteristic dimensions and patterns of behavioural organisation, enabling the case-specific delineation and analytical discrimination of plausible offender typologies.
Offender Decision-Making & Choice Architecture
Reconstruction of the selection and decision-making processes underlying offender behaviour, particularly in relation to behavioural alternatives, situational constraints, risk appraisal and adaptive decision-making throughout the course of the offence.
Offender Expertise, Competence & Criminal Experience
Reconstruction of offence-related knowledge, skills and levels of experience in the unknown offender through analysis of preparation, behavioural proficiency, situational adaptability and mastery of relevant offending requirements.
Forensic Awareness & Detection Avoidance
Reconstruction of the unknown offender’s forensic awareness through analysis of the anticipation of investigative and forensic procedures and systematic strategies of avoidance, concealment and trace management, informing assessment of investigatively relevant knowledge and prior experience.
Offending Context & Criminal Configuration
Reconstruction of the broader offender, offence and organisational configuration of serious sexual offending for investigative-psychological differentiation across its principal manifestations – from single and serial offending and lone or multiple perpetrators, through private and institutional contexts, to organised crime, human trafficking and sexual violence as a weapon of war.
Spatial Offending & Psychological Geography
Analysis of offenders’ spatial behaviour and reconstruction of offence-relevant spatial representations through crime-scene selection, mobility, distance, activity spaces and awareness spaces, spatial familiarity and territorial organisation; incorporating Geographical Profiling, Environmental Criminology, Mental Maps, and the psychological and psychodynamic meanings of space and place.
05. Cold Case & Cross-Case Analysis
Cold Case Review & Investigative Reassessment
Investigative-psychological reassessment of unresolved serious sexual offending, incorporating advances in investigative and forensic knowledge and analytical capabilities to revise existing case and offender hypotheses and identify new lines of enquiry.
Case Linkage & Series Identification
Systematic analysis of potential connections across instances of serious sexual offending on the basis of cross-offence behavioural consistency and distinctiveness and investigatively relevant feature configurations, in order to assess possible common authorship and reconstruct serial relationships.
Serial Offending & Behavioural Development
Longitudinal reconstruction of serial sexual offending with regard to continuity, variation, adaptation and escalation in offending behaviour, together with the development of overarching patterns of offence and behavioural organisation across a series.
Cross-Jurisdictional & Multi-Case Analysis
Cross-case and cross-jurisdictional integration and analysis of investigatively relevant information to reconstruct potential relationships between investigations separated by geographical, temporal or institutional boundaries.
06. Investigative Interviewing & Interview Dynamics
Evidence-Based Investigative Interviewing
Specialist consultation on the evidence-based design of complex investigative interviewing strategies, particularly in relation to rapport building, ethical and non-coercive interviewing, and the case-specific application of established interviewing methods in the context of serious sexual offending.
Suspect Interview Analysis & Evaluation
Specialist analysis and evaluation of investigative interviews with suspects in cases of serious sexual offending, with particular regard to interview conduct, conversational progression, information elicitation and investigatively relevant interactional processes.
Behavioural, Relational & Psychodynamic Interview Dynamics
Behavioural and psychodynamic analysis of verbal, communicative and interactional behaviour and of the reciprocal relational dynamics between interviewer and interviewee, including transference and countertransference processes and their implications for perception, affect regulation, interview progression and professional judgement.
Post-Interview Processing & Practitioner Dynamics
Analysis and professional reflection on the psychological sequelae of demanding investigative interview work among investigators, particularly affective resonance, countertransference responses and continuing psychological processing in the context of serious sexual offending.
Trauma-Informed Victim & Witness Interviewing
Analysis of and specialist consultation on investigative interviews with traumatised and particularly vulnerable adults, incorporating trauma-related characteristics of memory and information retrieval alongside affective, communicative and interpersonal dynamics.
Caveat: This area of expertise does not encompass Forensic Child Investigative Interviewing.
07. Strategic Investigative Decision-Making
Operational Case Analysis & Investigative Consultation
Operational analysis of complex cases of serious sexual offending and case-specific consultation with established investigative teams through the structured integration of offence, offender, trace and contextual information to develop robust case and offender models capable of informing investigative practice.
Strategic Investigative Decision Support
External specialist consultation in strategic investigative decision-making in complex cases of serious sexual offending through systematic evaluation of investigatively relevant courses of action, decision alternatives and their respective implications for the subsequent direction of the investigation.
Investigative Prioritisation & Lines of Enquiry
Systematic evaluation and prioritisation of competing lines of enquiry on the basis of available case and offender hypotheses, supporting the strategic direction of the investigation and the targeted development of investigatively relevant information.
Investigative Reassessment & Strategic Adaptation
Continuing reassessment of investigative strategy in response to changes in the evidential and intelligence picture, with systematic adaptation of existing hypotheses, priorities and lines of enquiry to newly emerging investigatively relevant information.
Interdisciplinary Investigative Integration
Systematic integration of investigative-psychological findings with evidence and analyses from adjacent investigative and forensic disciplines – particularly DNA Analysis, Forensic Biology, Forensic Pathology, Forensic Trace Evidence, Mobile & Computer Forensics, and Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) – to support the integrative reconstruction of complex cases and the development of robust offender profiles in serious sexual offending.
Transnational Investigative Coordination & Cross-Cultural Collaboration
Specialist support for transnational investigations into serious sexual offending, particularly in the coordination of cross-border investigative structures, collaboration within interdisciplinary and cross-cultural Offender Profiling Teams, and integration of differing investigative, institutional and cultural perspectives into shared analytical and decision-making processes.
Investigative Bias & Internal Error Management
Systematic analysis of cognitive, affective, group-dynamic and organisational sources of error and bias in investigations of serious sexual offending, particularly hypothesis narrowing, confirmation bias, selective weighting of evidence and premature offender fixation; development of structured procedures for the critical review and correction of investigative judgement and decision-making.
II. Areas of Specialisation
The advanced specialisation centres on highly complex manifestations of serious sexual offending characterised by pronounced paraphilic organisation, with particular emphasis on the differentiated reconstruction of their specific psychosexual, psychodynamic and behavioural structures of offending and meaning.
III. Institutional Contexts
The forensic expertise is designed for institutional contexts in which the analysis and reconstruction of complex sexual offending informs investigative, judicial or policy decision-making. The work is undertaken nationally and internationally within interdisciplinary investigative and advisory contexts.
