The Motivation Behind Serial Sexual Homicide: Is It Sex, Power, and Control, or Anger?^*

Abstract

Controversy exists in the literature and society regarding what motivates serial sexual killers to commit their crimes. Hypotheses range from the seeking of sexual gratification to the achievement of power and control to the expression of anger. The authors provide theoretical, empirical, evolutionary, and physiological support for the argument that serial sexual murderers above all commit their crimes in pursuit of sadistic pleasure. The seeking of power and control over victims is believed to serve the two secondary purposes of heightening sexual arousal and ensuring victim presence for the crime. Anger is not considered a key component of these offenders' motivation due to its inhibitory physiological effect on sexual functioning. On the contrary, criminal investigations into serial sexual killings consistently reveal erotically charged crimes, with sexual motivation expressed either overtly or symbolically. Although anger may be correlated with serial sexual homicide offenders, as it is with criminal offenders in general, it is not causative. The authors further believe serial sexual murderers should be considered sex offenders. A significant proportion of them appear to have paraphilic disorders within the spectrum of sexual sadism. "sexual sadism, homicidal type" is proposed as a diagnostic subtype of sexual sadism applicable to many of these offenders, and a suggested modification of DSM criteria is presented.

The epidemiology and the pathology of suspected rape homicide in South Africa

“…Rape homicide statistics are available from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations [1] and from a study of female homicide in Jamaica [2]. Almost all the published research on rape homicide has focused on the psycho-pathology of the offender [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10], with most attention given to serial rape homicide [5,[7][8][9][10]. Only three articles published have described the demographic characteristics of rape homicide victims and injury patterns and these were small series of between 5 and 59 cases from single mortuaries [11][12][13].…”

Serial Murder and Sexual Sadism

“…Bireyi seri cinayete götüren birincil motivasyon ise cinsel haz olarak bildirilmiştir (14,34) Olgu; geçmişte ihtiras cinayeti (lust murder), sadistik cinayet, kompulsif cinayet, cinsel sadistik cinayet olarak da adlandırılmış-tır (35). Mevcut yazında ise cinsel motivasyonlu seri cinayet, cinsel seri cinayet, cinsel sadistik seri cinayet adıyla yer bulmaktadır.…”

“…Myers ve arkadaşları, çoğu cinsel sadist seri katilin cinsel sadizm yelpazesine düşen parafilik bir bozukluğu olan suçlular olarak düşünülme-si gerektiğini söylemiştir. Hatta 'Cinsel sadizm homisidal tip'in bir alt tip olarak DSM-IV'e eklenmesini önermişlerdir (34).…”

“…Mastürbasyonla ilişkili şiddetli cinsel fanteziler ve bunların olay yeri davranışları ile benzerliği (44) cinsel motivasyon hipotezini desteklemektedir. Cinsel cinayet işleyen ergenlerin %92'si olay yerinde ereksiyon, %56'sı ejekü-lasyon yaşamaktadır (34).…”

Sadism, Sadomasochism, Sex, and Violence

“…[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] The men in these surveys were judged to have shown evidence of "positive feelings of sexual pleasure, even exhilaration-rather than anger or other unpleasant states . .…”