“We Boil at Different Degrees”: Factors Associated With Severity of Attack in Sexual Killing

Abstract

Degree of injury, as measured by the Homicide Injury Scale (HIS), was examined to advance understanding of the dynamics of sexual killing. A total of 350 nonserial, male sexual killers were included, and the different ways that the sexual element of their offenses and the act of killing were connected was accounted for by determining that cases were either directly sexual (the sexual element and killing were closely bound), or indirectly sexual (killing was not a source of sexual stimulation). The two groups, direct and indirect sexual killers, were each subjected to multiple linear regression analyses to examine the group-specific relationship between level of injury and predictor variables previously found to be associated with increased severity of attack. No differences in the mean total HIS scores between the indirect and the direct cases were found, suggesting a comparable emotional intensity between the groups. However, given that the groups differed in terms of the functional role of fatal violence, severity of attack could not be sufficiently explained as driven by anger. In line with this hypothesis, different predictors appeared to be associated with increased degree of injury sustained by victims of indirect compared with direct sexual killers. As such, situational components appear to play a role in the behavior of indirect sexual killers, whereas the behavior of direct perpetrators tends to be linked with the enactment of existing deviant fantasies. The role of anger in sexual homicide is discussed further, and overall, it is argued that irrespective of whether violence was initially driven by anger, evidence of sexual arousal to severe violence must be scrutinized within sexual homicide research as well as in psycholegal contexts.

Whiter Than White: The Art of Delaying Detection in Sexual Killers

“…This suggests that these perpetrators are either again more skilled at using it or it is a more successful precaution although in the latter case the results would be somewhat inconsistent with the results obtained by Beauregard and Martineau (2014) who found that acting upon victim increased the chances of the case being solved. In the discussion regarding ‘overkill’, Stefanska, Higgs, Carter, and Beech (2018) noted that it is not possible to always define excessive violence as stemming from anger given that in some cases the severity of the attack could also represent more sadistic acts as indicted by Radojevic et al (2013). Similarly, it is possible that the ‘acting upon victim’ variable has been confounded with a sexual aspect of the case, that is, the behaviour is in fact not measuring forensic awareness but rather forms an intrinsic part of the offender’s sexual fantasy.…”

Patterns of overkill in sexual homicides

“…To be considered as sexual, a homicide had to present at least one of the following characteristics at the crime scene: victim’s attire or lack of attire; exposure of the sexual parts of the victim’s body; sexual positioning of the victim’s body; insertion of foreign objects into the victim’s body cavities; evidence of sexual intercourse; evidence of substitute sexual activity, interest or sadistic fantasy. As the FBI definition has been criticized for potentially presenting false positives (Beauregard and Martineau, 2016; Kerr et al , 2013; Stefanska et al , 2018), all cases included in SHIelD present at least two criteria of the sexual homicide definition.…”

“…This finding suggested that some organized sexual murderers perpetrated overkill to prevent the identification of the victim’s identity (Beauregard and Martineau, 2016). Moreover, previous studies suggested that overkill in sexual homicide is not always the outcome of anger and impulsivity (Radojević et al , 2013; Stefanska et al , 2018). Stefanska et al (2018) identified that a high level of violence could also be associated with both direct (i.e.…”

“…Moreover, previous studies suggested that overkill in sexual homicide is not always the outcome of anger and impulsivity (Radojević et al , 2013; Stefanska et al , 2018). Stefanska et al (2018) identified that a high level of violence could also be associated with both direct (i.e. the killing was a source of sexual stimulation) and indirect (i.e.…”

“…Although this assumption has been reported in several studies, it has never been empirically tested (Keppel and Walter, 1999; Miller, 2014; Radojević et al , 2013; Solarino et al , 2019). Moreover, findings from recent studies have also suggested that overkill may ultimately be a behavior associated with an organized process in sexual homicide (Beauregard and Martineau, 2016; Mjanes et al , 2017; Stefanska and Carter, 2019; Stefanska et al , 2018). Given the conflicting view on the status of overkill and the lack of empirical research on this particular behavior, the aim of this study is to examine patterns of sexual homicide in which overkill has been observed.…”