Routledge International Handbook of Sexual Homicide Studies

Jean Proulx, Eric Beauregard, Adam Carter, Andreas Mokros, Rajan Darjee, Jonathan James, Jean Proulx, Eric Beauregard, Adam J. Carter, Andreas Mokros, Rajan Darjee, Jonathan James, Adam Carter, Jean Proulx, Eric Beauregard, Adam J. Carter, Andreas Mokros, Rajan Darjee, Jonathan James

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780367580728
• eBook ISBN: 9781351815215
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychologie
• Subtopic: Psychologie légale

This book provides the first systematic overview of the theoretical, empirical, clinical, and police issues related to sexual murderers and murder. Bringing together leading researchers, theoreticians, and practitioners from across eight different countries, this is a truly international collaboration and an essential reference text for students, researchers, and professionals interested in sexual homicide, as well as an exhaustive source of guidelines for the assessment and treatment of sexual murderers. This book is divided into five parts:

• Part I, Theories and research, presents a detailed review of theoretical models and empirical studies of sexual homicide.
• Part II, Sexual sadism, discusses theoretical, empirical, and clinical considerations and reviews the literature on the characteristics of sadistic sexual aggressors.
• Part III, Clinical issues, discusses the assessment and management of sexual murderers at each phase of the judicial process: at trial, during incarceration, and during follow-up in the community.
• Part IV, Policing issues, discusses research and practical issues related to police activities surrounding a sexual murder. Topics include investigation, offender and geographical profiling, behavioural linkage, and police interrogation of the murderers.
• Part V, New directions, presents new directions for the study of sexual homicide and discusses the limits of current knowledge related to sexual murderers and their crimes.

Offering a broad and comprehensive approach, this Handbook is an indispensable source of information on theory, research, clinical assessment, treatment, and police issues related to sexual murderers and murder.

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Part I

Theories and research

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Sexual homicide studies

An international perspective

Jean Proulx

Sexual murder is one of the iconic themes of popular culture. In movies such as The Silence of the Lambs or in novels such as The Black Dahlia (by James Ellroy), sexual murderers are depicted as serial offenders who commit sadistic, ritualistic, and very well-planned crimes. In addition, these murderers are presented as highly intelligent psychopaths, or as psychotics, propelled into a maelstrom of violence by an uncontrollable inner drive. Severe physical and sexual victimization in childhood is presented as the central explanation for the genesis of such a monster in adulthood. However, does this portrait of the prototypical sexual murderer reflect the reality of these criminals? To answer this question, in this chapter we present an overview of clinical descriptions, sociological, psychological, and criminological theories, and empirical studies of sexual murderers and their crimes.

Clinical analysis of sexual murderers

Revitch (1965) published one of the first models of sexual murder. According to this model, there are two types of sexual murder: catathymic and compulsive. Catathymic murders are a form of symbolic matricide, in which the murderer’s intense and invasive rage towards his mother is displaced to another woman. In general, catathymic murder is an isolated event that involves only one victim, specifically a woman known to the murderer. Compulsive sexual murders are the works of loners who nurture feelings of rage towards women and spend considerable time lost in sadistic sexual fantasies. Compulsive sexual murderers usually attack victims unknown to them. A great many of them become serial sexual murderers. Revitch’s view of catathymic sexual murder is based on an empirically unverifiable psychodynamic paradigm (Fox & Levin, 1999). However, his explanation of compulsive murder is inherently descriptive and therefore includes a few interpretation elements. Finally, the key features of the two types of sexual murderers Revitch identified have been confirmed in several empirically based typologies (see Higgs, Carter, Tully, & Browne, 2017). The catathymic type resembles the angry sexual murderer, whereas the compulsive type is similar to the sadistic sexual murderer (Beauregard & Proulx, 2002).

In 1970, Brittain published a seminal paper entitled “The sadistic murderer”, in which he presents a clinical portrait of one type of sexual murderer—the sadistic murderer. He described these murderers as shy, anxious, introverted, and socially isolated, and of superior intelligence. However, they have difficulty achieving an erection with a consenting partner, and it is therefore not surprising that they consider themselves inferior to other men. The only aspect of their lives in which they are triumphant is their secret world, which is dominated by sadistic sexual fantasies, paraphilic behaviours, the torture of animals, and ultimately, the commission of sexual assaults and sexual murder. Several aspects of Brittain’s portrait of the sadistic sexual murderer have been confirmed by empirical studies (Proulx, Blais, & Beauregard, 2006; Warren, Hazelwood, & Dietz, 1996). Brittain’s account of sexual murderers is highly descriptive and does not include unfounded theoretical considerations. Nevertheless, the representativeness of the sample on which he based his portrait is unclear, which limits the generalizability of his results.

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A sociological theory of sexual murder

Leyton (1986) developed a socio-historical theory of serial sexual murder in which this crime transcends temporary personal frustrations and the quest for immediate sexual gratification. The specific features of sexual murder are thus reflections of specific socio-historical contexts: “it is precisely at the point in time when a single class is most threatened that we expect to find some members of that class beginning to fantasize about killing members of another class” (p. 376). At the end of the Middle Ages, the constructed meaning of sexual murders committed by nobles was rooted in the crises of feudalism. These crimes were the expression of a desire to restore the absolute power of the nobility, which was threatened by the claims of peasants and merchants. In the nineteenth century, sexual murderers were members of the petite bourgeoisie, and their victims were servants or prostitutes. The social meaning of the sexual murders can be found in the murderers’ need to negate the insecurity associated with their newly acquired social position. Servants and prostitutes were the cesspool to which they feared to return. Since the end of the Second World War, the sexual murderer is an ambitious, but untalented, young man from the middle class, and his victims belong to the social stratum to which he aspires. Thus, sexual murder becomes a way of exacting revenge on an unattainable social class, an outlet for failed aspirations.

Leyton’s model rests on a largely tenuous empirical base, namely the biographies of only a few serial sexual murderers, although there are some facts that are objective, such as the socio-demographic characteristics of the murderers and their victims. However, Leyton’s theory is rhetorically unsatisfying. For if sexual murder does indeed fulfil a political function, why are there so few murderers of this type? Furthermore, the selection of the biographies of pre-twentieth-century sexual murderers is subject to sampling bias, as it is probable that the crimes of the nobility and bourgeoisie elicited greater interest than those of the peasantry or proletariat. Consequently, Leyton’s theory, although intellectually interesting, does not have a rigorous empirical basis.

Psychological and criminological theories of sexual murder

There are only a few psychological and criminological theories of sexual homicide, all of them with a limited empirical basis. In fact, these theories are typically based on small study groups comprising only one type of sexual murderer, for example, serial sexual murderers or sadistic sexual murderers, both of which represent only a small percentage of incarcerated sexual murderers (Fox & Levin, 1999; Proulx, Cusson, & Beauregard, 2007). In addition, these theories encompass only a limited number of factors. Some theories focus exclusively on the characteristics of the murderers (Arrigo & Purcell, 2001; Burgess, Hartman, Ressler, Douglas, & McCormack, 1986; Hickey, 2002), whereas some others are based on only the criminal event (Mieczkowski & Beauregard, 2010). The only theory that considers individual factors as well as factors related to the victim and the criminal event is the one proposed by Chan (2015).

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The FBI motivational model of sexual homicide

A group of researchers associated with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have developed a motivational model of sexual murder (Burgess et al., 1986; Ressler, Burgess, & Douglas, 1988). The majority (25/36) of the participants in the study on which the model was based were serial sexual murderers. According to the FBI researchers, both the fantasy and the act of sexual murder are inappropriate coping strategies used by murderers in the face of stressful situations. The propensity for sexual murder is the result of a long process that comprises the following steps: (1) in early childhood, the absence of care and affection establishes a problematic attachment characterized by emotional detachment and hostility; (2) during childhood and adolescence, sexual, physical, and psychological victimization experiences result in social isolation and favour the emergence of violent sexual fantasies that compensate for the absence of real-life control; (3) the negative personality traits developed in the previous steps interfere with the development of gratifying social relationships, prosocial values, and empathy; (4) aggressive fantasies are concretized as non-lethal destructive actions such as arson, cruelty to animals, and physical and sexual violence towards those both close to and unknown to the future murderer; and (5) the first sexual murder is precipitated by an intense stressor, such as a conflict with a woman.

The motivational model of sexual murder has many strengths. First, it has an empirical basis, namely in-depth interviews of 36 sexual murderers and analysis of official files (police reports, court files) related to these murderers. Furthermore, this model takes into account developmental, psychological, and situational factors. Nevertheless, the model does have some limitations. First, serial sexual murderers are over-represented in the sample. Second, the FBI study did not use a comparison group, precluding the identification of factors specific to sexual murderers. Finally, the study does not differentiate between sexual murderers of women, of men, and of children.

Hickey (1997), as well as Arrigo and Purcell (2001), have proposed revised versions of the FBI’s motivational model. Neither of these two models are based on new empirical data; rather, they are based on theoretical extrapolations. Hickey’s trauma control model includes the following elements, which were not present in the original FBI model: (1) due to their low self-esteem, sexual murderers rarely try to develop new relationships, which exacerbate their social isolation; (2) sexual murderers are hypersensitive to rejection; and (3) precipitating factors, such as alcohol, drugs, and pornography, disinhibit deviant sexual urges and favour deviant sexual behaviours, such as sexual murder. Arrigo and Purcell’s paraphilic model posits a paraphilic process in which paraphilias (e.g. exhibitionism, voyeurism) interact with rape and murder fantasies to precipitate a sexual murder. More specifically, due to a process of habituation, deviant sexual fantasies become gradually more violent and ritualized. In addition, following orgasmic conditioning, deviant sexual fantasies become preferential and, even, the only source of sexual gratification. Disinhibition (e.g. alcohol, pornography consumption) subsequently precipitates non-lethal paraphilic and sexually violent behaviours. Finally, following a significant stress, the paraphilic process culminates in a sexual murder.

Mieczkowski and Beauregard’s criminal event perspective model

Mieczkowski and Beauregard (2010) have developed a model of sexual homicide that focuses on the criminal event. In this model, the key features are the interactions between victim characteristics (e.g. age, link to the aggressor, socio-economic status), crime characteristics (e.g. duration of the crime, level of coercion, weapon used) and situational factors (e.g. crime committed at night, offender consumes alcohol and drugs). Which combination of factors is associated with a lethal outcome? For example, the probability that a sexual aggression culminates in a sexual murder is higher if the victim is younger than 14 years, comes from a non-criminogenic environment, and is a stranger to the aggressor. In addition, a lethal outcome is more probable if the aggression occurs during daytime and is of long duration. Finally, the presence of a weapon increases the risk of victim death. This model is complementary to those presented previously. However, its explanatory power is limited by the lack of consideration for the offender’s motivation, such as sexual sadism and retaliation.

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Chan’s integrative theoretical model of sexual homicide

Chan (2015) has proposed a theory of sexual homicide that is based on concepts from three theoretical or empirical bases, namely: (1) social learning theory (Akers, 1998); (2) routine activities theory (Cohen & Felson, 1979); and (3) empirical studies of situational factors that favour the escalation of sexual assault to sexual murder (Mieczkowski & Beauregard, 2010). The empirical basis of Chan’s theory is the comparison of the characteristics of 55 non-serial sexual murderers of women and their murders to those of 180 sexual aggressors of women and their assaults. A lethal outcome is associated with the presence of deviant sexual fantasies (e.g. sexual sadism) and paraphilias (e.g. exhibitionism, voyeurism) in the murderer’s sexual lifestyle and in the hours preceding the sexual homicide. The criminal-event factors that increase the risk of a lethal outcome are the absence of a guardian who could interrupt the aggression, and the consumption of alcohol by the murderer. This model integrates factors from previous theories and its results concord with previous ones.

The theories of sexual homicide presented in this chapter highlight the relevance and the importance of taking into account a diversity of factors related to the murderer, the victim, and the interaction between murderer and victim during the criminal event. Despite the value of the theories of sexual homicide, their empirical validations are based on a limited number of sexual murderers from Canada and the US. Consequently, further validation is necessary, not only in these two countries, but also in other Western countries, and in countries on other continents (for more on theories of sexual homicide, see Chapters 2 a...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• The Routledge Handbook of Mapping and Cartography
• Praise
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Notes on Contributors
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I Theories and Research
• Part II Sexual Sadism
• Part III Clinical Issues
• Part IV Policing Issues
• Part V New Directions
• Conclusion
• Index