The environmental range of serial rapists

Abstract

A model of individual sexual offenders' spatial activity was developed based upon 45 British male sexual assaulters who had committed at least two assaults.

Individual differences in distance travelled by serial burglars

“…This finding has been demonstrated in different countries such as Canada (Gabor & Gottheil, 1984), England (Baldwin & Bottoms 1976;Costello & Wiles, 2001), the Netherlands (Van Koppen & Jansen, 1998), and the United States (Nichols, 1980;Repetto, 1974;Warren et al, 1998), and for different types of crime such as burglary (Baldwin & Bottoms, 1976;Costello & Wiles, 2001;Gabor & Gottheil, 1984), rape (Canter & Larkin, 1993;Warren et al, 1998), arson (Fritzon, 1998), robbery (Van Koppen & Jansen, 1998) and murder (Bullock, 1955). Although there do not appear to be any conclusive answers as to why age differences in criminal mobility exist, it appears that age summarises a wide range of aspects related to differences in criminal spatial development such as the size of their cognitive maps, levels of restriction on mobility (e.g.…”

“…This finding suggests that younger serial burglars might have more limited cognitive maps. Further, as Canter and Larkin (1993) pointed out, age also relates to access to other resources such as a vehicle and a driver's licence. Another potential reason for the variation is that young offenders will have less cognitive familiarity with a larger area of a city and will have less freedom to move about, which will cause them to be more restricted than their older counterparts.…”

“…Canter and Larkin (1993), for example, were dealing with serial rape where most of the crimes in the series are likely to have been identified. In the present study, however, the police recorded 'first' target might actually be the 10th or 100th burglary.…”

“…Some studies have supported this premise by showing that serial offenders live closer to their first crime than subsequent offences (Canter & Larkin, 1993;Warren, Reboussin, & Hazelwood, 1995). For example, Rossmo's (2000) reported that the first murder was committed closest to a serial murderer's home in 41% of the cases he examined.…”

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“…One testable formulation of this proposal is the "Circle Hypothesis" described by Canter and Larkin (1993). They showed that 87% of the 45 serial rapists they studied from the South of England each lived within a circle defined by a diameter drawn between that offender's two farthest offenses.…”