The nature of the crimes and the criminals, the criminals’ motives and…

The idea

Crime writing turns on what is done, who does it and why. Examine the nature of the crime: its type, scale, victim, method and consequences, and whether it is planned or impulsive, personal or impersonal, legal or moral. Then examine the criminal: social class, gender, psychology, background and presentation by the writer. Motives may be greed, jealousy, revenge, fear, ideology, love, duty or compulsion, and they may be stated, hinted or withheld. Actions include the crime itself, concealment, flight, confession and further violence. Avoid reducing motive to a single label; analyse how the text invites judgement or sympathy. Consider narrative perspective: a first-person criminal shapes our response differently from a detective’s report. Compare how different texts make crime intelligible or disturbing.

What earns the marks

• Identifies the nature of the crime precisely: type, victim, method, scale and consequences within the text.
• Analyses the criminal’s presentation, including characterisation, social position, psychology and narrative perspective.
• Evaluates motives, distinguishing stated reasons from implied or ambiguous ones and considering multiple possibilities.
• Traces actions beyond the crime itself, such as concealment, flight, repetition, confession or pursuit.
• Considers how the writer guides reader judgement, sympathy or horror through language, structure and point of view.
• Compares texts to show how different crimes and criminals embody different moral, social or generic concerns.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Listing plot events without analysing the nature of the crime.

  Put it right by commenting on method, victim and significance.

• Reducing motive to one simple cause.

  Put it right by weighing stated and implied motives and acknowledging ambiguity.

• Treating the criminal as separate from narrative technique.

  Put it right by analysing how point of view and characterisation shape response.

• Moralising without textual evidence.

  Put it right by grounding judgements in quotation and close reference.

Exam tips

• Use the wording of the statement as a checklist: nature, criminal, motive, action.
• Select two or three telling quotations about the criminal and analyse diction, syntax and perspective.
• When discussing motive, use tentative language where the text is ambiguous, such as suggests or implies.
• Link the criminal’s actions to the text’s wider concerns, such as justice, class or gender.