SEXUAL HOMICIDE

David Mirich, Ph.D. Licensed Psychologist (303) 824-0132 dmirich@comcast.net SOMB Listed Full Operator

Mark Twain, 1835-1910

Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it.

Juvenile and Adult Sexual Homicide Personality Characteristics Typology Psychopathy

What is the profile of a serial killer?

"They say there are no stupid questions. But that is," said Robert Ressler, who has spent much of the past 30 years studying murders and serial killings, first with the FBI, then as a consultant. "What is a serial killer like? It's like saying what is a journalist like or what is a policeman like or what is a minister like

Psychological Theories: Characteristics of the Murderer

Psychodynamic perspective (childhood conflicts) Behavioral perspective (inappropriate conditioning) Humanistic existential perspective (a sense of personal failure)

Psychological Motivation
It has been posited that all serial murderers are necrophiles Most serial killers are serial sexual murderers 60% of serial murders had violated their victims sexually This could be an underestimate

Psychotic Disorders
The great majority of sexual murderers are not psychotic If they were truly psychotic, they would not have the mental resources to carry out their crime or escape apprehension

Three traits that serve to make the serial killer very dangerous and virtually invisible
Their lack of conscience (psychopathy) A lack of external motivation Planning and ability to hide their criminality

Numbers of Sexual Homicides

Difficult to know for sure Hotly contested subject Thought to be less than 1% of all murders The rate of murder has nearly tripled in last 35 years 43% of all murders, the victim was a stranger to the assailant, or there was no known connection

Numbers
There are between 3,500 and 5,000 serial murder victims per year An estimated 350 serial murders at large Estimated 7 victims per state 24 instances extreme cases (10 or more victims) in the US between 1900 and 1940

Crime in Colorado 2002

CBI Website 2002 Statewide Adult Arrests Number of Arrests
Murder 121 Rape 425

Forcible Rape in Colorado, 2002

1,997 forcible rapes (A 17.4% increase over 2001) Forcible rape accounted for 3.5% of the major offenses reported. 1,137 or 91.3% of the rapes were reported as forcible rapes. 109 or 8.7% of the rapes were reported as attempted offenses.

The FBIs National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC)
Four types of sexual homicide: Organized conscious planning and display of control of the victim Disorganized less aware of a plan and signs of haphazard behavior Mixed elements of both categories Sadistic torture, cruelty

Types of Sexual Homicide

According to the FBI, sexual homicide, both organized and disorganized, involves a sexual element (activity) as the basis for the sequence of acts leading to death Performance and meaning of the sexual element vary with an offender The act may range from actual rape involving penetration (either before or after death) to a symbolic sexual assault, such as insertion of foreign objects into a victims body orifices.

The authors base their definition of a lethal predator on four elements:

lethal violence multiple acts of sexual predation mental abnormality legal sanity

All four must exist for a criminal to be classified as a lethal predator

Sexual Predators
Sexual predators, whether they kill or not, will escalate their activities over the course of their careers Typically, they will start with violent sexual fantasies and progress to acting out their imagined scenes with both willing and unwilling partners The lethal predator also will demonstrate increasing skill in selecting, pursuing, capturing, and controlling the victim and carrying out the murder

Motivation of Sexual Predators

Sexual predators find sexual gratification in activities most would consider nonsexual, such as:
The infliction of pain Mutilation Postmortem display of the body Collection of trophies

Sexual Predators
Quite often, sexual predators who kill commit acts that have nothing to do with the commission of the murder They may pose, move, mutilate, or dispose of the victim in an unusual way These acts may be symbolic and designed to make an impact on others or for the predators perverse pleasure and enjoyment, or both. In some cases, no evidence is found of normal sexual arousal, such as erection or ejaculation

Definitions of Sexual Homicide (Evidence or observations that indicate

the murder was sexual in nature) Victim attire or lack of attire Exposure of the sexual parts of the victims body Sexual positioning of the victims body Insertion of foreign objects into victims body cavities Evidence of sexual intercourse; oral, vaginal or anal Evidence of substitute sexual activity, interest, or sadistic fantasy

FBI Study
Examined 36 convicted, incarcerated sexual murderers All were male, mostly white Seven convicted of killing one person, the others had multiple victims Not a random sample

FBI Study
Data collected represented 118 victims Primarily all were women Nine victims survived (left for dead) Several murderers in the study suspected of additional killings

FBI Study of 36 Sexual Murderers

All were male 33 were white They were usually eldest sons 80% had average or better intelligence One third had IQ scores above one 120 74% had a stable family income

Family history of problems

69% of the families had histories of alcohol abuse 33% had histories of drug abuse 53% of families had histories of psychiatric disorders These histories were often combined with problems involving aggression

Family history of problems

25 of the men had histories of early psychiatric difficulties 50% had family criminal history 46% had family sexual deviance 42% had physical abuse history 74% had psychological abuse history

Relationship with parents/siblings

68% instability of residence 47% father leaves before age of 12 66% mother dominant parent 72% negative relationship with male caretaker figures 44% negative relationship with mother 53% perceived treated unfairly 44% no older sibling role model

Frequency of Reported Behavior Indicators

70% 60-68% Over 50% 36%-46% Chronic Lying Bedwetting Fire Setting Cruelty to Animals

Characteristics of Sexual Murderers

Physical evidence that may reveal behavioral traits Point of abduction Locations when the victim was held The murder scene The final body location

Characteristics, cont.
Use of restraints Manner of death The personalization of the victim Possible staging of the crime Amount of physical evidence at the crime scene

Problems in the Study of Sexual Homicide

The killing of a person in the context of power, sexuality, and brutality
Sexual nature of many murders is not always obvious to investigators Even in obvious cases, the crime typically is reported as a homicide (not as a rape assault) Conclusive evidence of sexual assault may not be apparent

Problems, cont.
Investigators may not be trained to recognize underlying sexual dynamics There is no protocol for investigators to share their data The FBIs Uniform Crime Reports does not differentiate between homicides that included evidence of sexual assault that was not initially detected, and those that were.

Most, but not all were (are) White

Pedro Alonso Lopez, 1978 Peru 300+ young women Luis Alfredo Gavarito, 1999 Colombia 140 mostly male children Delfina & Maria de Jesus Gonzales, Mexico, prostitutes and johns Wayne Williams, Atlanta Killer of 28 mostly young African American boys

Other non-White Sexual Murderers

Charles Ng, from Hong Kong to US, 1985 killed 11-25 Juan Corona, 1971, 25 male victims Marcelo Costa de Andrade, 1990s Brazil, 14 young boy victims Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, 1989-1999, 14 victims in US (suspect in 187 murders of women in Juarez, Mexico) Richard Ramirez, 16-20 rape/murders

FBIs Classification System

Felony murder Suspected felony murder Argument motivated murder Other motives or circumstances Unknown motives (sexual homicide may often appear random and motiveless, with the sexual aspects obscured)

Murders due to Unknown Motives

Figures of such murders have risen dramatically from 8.5% of all murders in 1976 to 22.5% in 1986

Typology Sexual Homicide

The few studies in the area indicate that sexual killers fall into two main categories: The rape or displaced anger murderer (Cohen et al., 1971) The sadistic or lust murderer (Becker and Abel, 1978)

Typology, Rapist/murderers
Rapists who kill do so primarily to escape detection Rapists rarely report sexual satisfaction from their murders Rapists rarely performed postmortem sexual acts with their victims

Typology: Sadistic Rapist/Murderers

Rapists kill as part of a ritualized, sadistic fantasy For the sadistic killer, aggression and sexuality become intertwined whereby aggression becomes eroticized Subjugation of the victim is of primary importance (cruelty and infliction of pain)

Fantasy and Sexual Homicide

An elaborate thought with great preoccupation, anchored in emotion and having origins in daydreams The thinking of these killers is dominated by fantasies of power and control These fantasies often begin in childhood Fantasy is the focus of their behavior

Importance of Fantasy
Fantasy is the driving element in the serial killer's life The killer is pushed to kill by their thought patterns He is essentially incited to murder by an intrusive fantasy life His early learning is that that violence against other humans is normal and "acceptable"

Fantasy
Sexual killers have a drive to find the right victim The killing does not live up to the fantasy Killer is driven to perfect the crime Taking souvenirs from the victim is evidence of fantasy at work Sado-erotic materials at home are evidence of fantasy

Fantasy's integral role

The serial killer, much like the chronic gambler and problem drinker, is addicted to the use of fantasy Addiction's purpose is that of a coping device. It becomes a method by which the addict can "manage and magically control multiple forms of anxiety"

Rape/Murder Fantasy as Addiction

Addiction is a progressive disease Simply put, it gets worse The similarities between sexual addiction, for example, and gambling addiction, and alcoholism, are greater than one would expect

Similarities between the sexual-addict and the alcoholic

Compulsivity, hyperactivity, reduced attention span, increased sociability and increased aggression mark the addict They evidence these traits before and after the act Alcoholics commonly identify drinking with enhanced personal power, and greater self-worth; thus drinking for greater power and self-esteem The sexual addict (as other addicts) appears to be contemptuous of self, thereby seeking increased selfesteem and greater personal power through the act of sex

Frequency of Psychopathy
In the FBI sample, 2/3 were considered psychopaths based on PCL-R scores

Psychopathic Sexual Sadist

Is an appropriate term for serial killers, It fits Anti-Social Personality Disorder has replaced the earlier terms psychopathy and sociopathy in the DSM The inability to love is often considered to be the core of ASPD Studies show that they require more thrills than normal people Psychopathy is a more extreme form of ASPD

Sadistic Serial Killers

Have an inherent sadistic nature Have a fascination for violence, injury and torture While the young child may pull the legs off of a grasshopper for entertainment, the serial killer enjoys doing or fantasizing about doing such things to fellow humans The classic feature of the psychopath (and thus the serial killer), is an absolute lack of guilt

Psychopathy, Robert Hare

Psychopathy is a personality disorder defined by a distinctive clustering of behaviors and inferred personality traits, most of which society views as pejorative

Psychopathy
Psychopaths are social predators who charm, manipulate, and ruthlessly plow their way through life, leaving a broad trail of broken hearts, shattered expectations, and empty wallets (Hare, 1999)

Psychopathy
Completely lacking in conscience and in feelings for others, they selfishly take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest sense of guilt or regret The contrast between an external calm and inner disturbance leads some researchers to categorize sexual killers as psychopaths

The Sexual Psychopath

Rapists are more commonly psychopathic than child molesters An even higher proportion of offenders who target both child and adult victims are psychopathic Some sex offenders can be classified as sexual psychopaths - criminals whose sexually deviant behavior is directed at diverse victim profiles and who are primarily motivated by thrill seeking (not paraphilia).

Other Psychopathic/ASPD Traits

(Holmes & De Burger, 1988)

Evasive personality Strong feelings of insecurity Generalized anger A tendency to run from problems

Motivations of Serial Killers

(Holmes & De Burger, 1988)

Serial murders are lacking in clear-cut motives The crime is lacking in an external motivation They are driven by internal compulsions He kills for an elusive psychological gain This gain is generally sexual Uncontrolled drives Inability to control impulsive behavior or change their actions in consideration of others The victim is killed purely for psychological gain

1998 Colorado Dept. of Corrections Report on Rape

Although experts Colorado convicted rapists disclosed an average of 161 victims

Resources:
Ressler, R., et at., Sexual Homicide, Patterns and Motives. New York: The Free Press, 1992 Myers, W., et al., Juvenile Sexual Homicide. London: Academic Press, 2002 Hare, R., Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of Psychopaths Among Us. New York: The Guilford Press, 1999

Resources
Porter, S., Campbell, M. A., Woodworth, M., & Birt, A. R. (2001). A new psychological conceptualization of the sexual psychopath. In F. Columbus, (Ed.), Advances in Psychology Research, Volume VII (pp. 21-36). New York: Nova Science.

Resources
Holmes, S.T., & Holmes, R.M., Sex Crimes. Thousand Oaks, CA; Sage Publishing, 2001 Lee Robins & Michael Rutter, Eds, Straight and Devious Pathways from Childhood to Adulthood. New York; Cambridge Press, 1990 Quincy, V.L., et al., Violent Offenders: Appraising and Managing Risk. Washington D.C.: APA, 2003