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Offending Patterns of Serial Sex Offenders: Escalation, De-escalation, and Consistency of Sexually Intrusive and Violent Behaviours
Abstract
A series of stranger sexual assaults poses considerable obstacles for law enforcement officials. One such preoccupation is concerned with whether or not the offender will escalate in the severity of his behaviours with subsequent victims. The current study uses transition matrices to address whether or not the offending patterns of 72 serial stranger sex offenders change from one victim to the next as it pertains to their sexual acts and level of physical force used during the crime. Findings indicate that stability, specifically the offender's intrusive sexual acts and use of physical force, and versatility are present in this sample's offending patterns. To explain changes in offending patterns between victims, multinomial regression analyses indicate that situational factors and modus operandi strategies are important considerations. Implications for investigations are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... Most of these studies have specifically focused on resolving the methodological dilemma of how to best use crime scene behaviors to link serial offenses. However, of these 40 studies, only six specifically focused on serial homicide (Bateman & Salfati, 2007;Salfati & Bateman, 2005;Salfati, Horning, Sorochinski, & Labuschagne, 2015;Salo, et al., 2012;Santtila et al., 2008;Sorochinski & Salfati, 2010), and 13 involved series of sexual offenses (Bennell, Jones, & Melnyk, 2009;Grubin et al., 2001;Harbers, Deslauriers-Varin, Beauregard, & van der Kemp, 2012;Hewitt & Beauregard, 2014;Leclerc, Lussier, & Deslauriers-Varin, 2015;Kearns, Salfati, & Jarvis, 2011;Slater, Woodhams, & Hamilton-Giachritsis, 2015;Winter et al., 2013;Woodhams, Hollin, & Bull, 2008;Woodhams & Labuschagne, 2011). Sorochinski and Salfati's (2018) review of these linking studies (2018) show that over half of the studies examined the possibilities of behavioral linking using only two crimes from a series, either two consecutive crimes (e.g. ...
... However, the consistency discussed is far from what is necessary for behavioral linking to be considered empirically validated and useful in practice, which would only be useful if studies could show that offenders are indeed consistent in all, or the vast majority of their crimes, as shown by either individual behaviors they engage in or subtypes. With early studies showing that offenders don't show the consistency patterns hypothesized to exist, where their crimes are similar across their series, recent studies (e.g., Hewitt & Beauregard, 2014;Leclerc et al., 2015;Salfati, 2009;Sorochinski & Salfati, 2010) have suggested that consistency needs to be looked at in a much broader way, and highlight the importance of looking beyond stability of behavior and of additionally incorporating an understanding of consistency in terms of patterns of behavioral change. Salfati (2009) suggests that these patterns may be usefully seen not as consistency in certain behaviors or patterns of behaviors, but instead as the patterns of change, as the offender moved from one crime to the next. ...
... Fleeson and Noftle further suggested that consistency does not have to be manifested through the identical repetition of a given behavior, but rather can manifest itself in complex patterns. Other recent studies (e.g., Hewitt & Beauregard, 2014;Leclerc et al., 2015) have also started to highlight the importance of looking beyond stability of behavior and of understanding consistency in terms of patterns of behavioral change. Proulx (2007), in his comprehensive report on the current understanding of sexual homicide, highlights the importance of focusing not only on what offenders do during their crimes but also on how these offenders differ depending on the victim group they target. ...
... Most of the studies have specifically focused on resolving the methodological dilemma of how to best use crime scene behaviours to link serial offences. However, of these studies, only 12 involved series of sexual offences (Bennell et al. 2009;Grubin et al. 2001;Harbers et al. 2012;Hewitt and Beauregard 2014;Leclerc et al. in press;Kearns et al. 2011;Santtila et al. 2005a;Slater et al. 2015;Winter et al. 2013;Woodhams et al. 2007aWoodhams et al. , 2008Woodhams and Labuschagne 2011). ...
... escalating in degree or switching from one behavioural subtype to another) rather than isolated behaviours. Three additional studies (Hewitt and Beauregard 2014;Leclerc et al. in press;Lussier et al. 2008) used transition matrices to estimate the probability of behaviours used in the first crime to be repeated 1 Bateman and Salfati 2007;Bennell and Canter 2002;Bennell and Jones 2005;Bennell et al. 2009;Bouhana et al. 2014;Burrell et al. 2012Burrell et al. , 2015Canter et al. 1991;Deslauriers-Varin and Beauregard 2013;Ellingwood et al. 2013;Fox and Farrington 2014;Green et al. 1976;Grubin et al. 2001;Harbers et al. 2012;Hewitt and Beauregard 2014;Kearns et al. 2011;Leclerc et al. in press;Lussier et al. (2008); Markson et al. 2010;Melnyk et al. 2011;Salfati and Bateman 2005;Salfati et al. 2014;Salo et al. 2012;Santtila et al. 2004Santtila et al. , 2005bSanttila et al. 2008Slater et al. 2015;Sorochinski and Salfati 2010;Tonkin & Woodhams 2015;Tonkin et al. 2008Tonkin et al. , 2011Tonkin et al. , 2012aTonkin et al. , 2012bWinter et al. 2013;Woodhams and Labuschagne 2011;Woodhams and Toye 2007;Woodhams et al. 2007aWoodhams et al. , 2008 in subsequent crimes of persistent sexual offenders. The findings suggested that changes in offenders' behaviours occur in a fairly predictable manner as a function of the offender's level of self-control as well as situational constraints. ...
... escalating in degree or switching from one behavioural subtype to another) rather than isolated behaviours. Three additional studies (Hewitt and Beauregard 2014;Leclerc et al. in press;Lussier et al. 2008) used transition matrices to estimate the probability of behaviours used in the first crime to be repeated 1 Bateman and Salfati 2007;Bennell and Canter 2002;Bennell and Jones 2005;Bennell et al. 2009;Bouhana et al. 2014;Burrell et al. 2012Burrell et al. , 2015Canter et al. 1991;Deslauriers-Varin and Beauregard 2013;Ellingwood et al. 2013;Fox and Farrington 2014;Green et al. 1976;Grubin et al. 2001;Harbers et al. 2012;Hewitt and Beauregard 2014;Kearns et al. 2011;Leclerc et al. in press;Lussier et al. (2008); Markson et al. 2010;Melnyk et al. 2011;Salfati and Bateman 2005;Salfati et al. 2014;Salo et al. 2012;Santtila et al. 2004Santtila et al. , 2005bSanttila et al. 2008Slater et al. 2015;Sorochinski and Salfati 2010;Tonkin & Woodhams 2015;Tonkin et al. 2008Tonkin et al. , 2011Tonkin et al. , 2012aTonkin et al. , 2012bWinter et al. 2013;Woodhams and Labuschagne 2011;Woodhams and Toye 2007;Woodhams et al. 2007aWoodhams et al. , 2008 in subsequent crimes of persistent sexual offenders. The findings suggested that changes in offenders' behaviours occur in a fairly predictable manner as a function of the offender's level of self-control as well as situational constraints. ...
Whilst investigative use of behavioural evidence to help link and solve serial offences has long been in use, the empirical and theoretical grounds for whether and how to use this evidence effectively have begun to emerge only in recent decades. The present study empirically tested (a) the potential for effectively differentiating between rape offence crime scenes using quantitative and qualitative distinctions within the behavioural dimensions of control, violence, and sexual activity, and (b) the extent to which redefining behavioural consistency more broadly to include dynamic trajectories of behavioural change may be more effective than limiting this definition to behavioural stability. Results confirmed that sexual offences can be successfully differentiated based on the specific degree and subtype of these behavioural dimensions present in each crime scene. The analysis of consistency and behavioural trajectories showed that whilst none of the offenders exhibited complete consistency across behavioural dimensions, a subsample of offenders remained fully consistent in at least one. Furthermore, of those who were not consistent, the vast majority followed an identifiable trajectory of change. Findings are discussed in the context of psychological theories of behavioural consistency as well as practical aspects of advancing the utility of behavioural linkage.
... However, few studies examine behavioral continuity in offending, and the influence that criminal behavior over the time has on the evolution of the series. As outlined by Salfati (2019) in a comprehensive review of factors that have been examined as salient in the behavioral consistency and linking literature, it is due to this important observation that there has been a recent trend in the serial crime research to look at trajectories of behavioral change as a type of consistency (e.g., Hewitt and Beauregard, 2014;Leclerc et al., 2015;Salfati and Sorochinski, 2019;Salfati, 2010, 2018). An earlier study focusing on violence within sexual assault series found that roughly a quarter of offenders tend to exhibit an escalation pattern (Hazelwood et al., 1989). ...
... In sum, current research that focuses on behavioral linkage and behavioral consistency in serial violent crime is moving away from looking at full behavioral stability (i.e., complete consistency) and toward a broader definition of behavioral trajectories, redefining consistency as behavioral continuity (e.g., Hewitt and Beauregard, 2014;Leclerc et al., 2015;Salfati and Sorochinski, 2019;Salfati, 2010, 2018). Such a shift necessitates the inclusion of the element of time into the equation as any change in behavior is happening over time rather than in isolated episodes. ...
While the time dimension is part of the definition of serial crime, little attention has been given to understanding offending timelines and the impact of patterns of shorter or longer delays between crimes on the evolution of series on the ability to link crimes. Given the scarcity of research focusing on the timelines of serial offenders, the current study aimed to (1) determine whether series can be classified based on their timeline trajectories (e.g., progressively shorter intervals or progressively longer), and (2) determine whether these timeline trajectories correlate with trajectories of behavioral consistency and change across series. Data included 43 homicide series encompassing 216 crime scenes. Tra-jectories were determined based on whether intervals increased, decreased, or remained consistent across series, and whether timeline trajectories and behavioral trajectories align. Results revealed that distinct timeline trajectories can reliably distinguish between series. Results also suggested a complex interaction between time between crimes and how this relates to behavioral consistency and change trajectories, thus, suggesting that time is a useful, but potentially separate dimension in the linkage process.
... Another interesting finding [51] suggested that victim resistance plays a significant role in whether or not offenders will de-escalate in the amount of physical force used between victims. If the first victim resisted the offender, he was more likely to de-escalate in the level of physical force used. ...
... Sexual offenders against adults have more versatile criminal records [54][55][56], are more violent and have a higher frequency in offending [56] than abusers of children. The other group tends to be more specialised, have a higher frequency of sexual crimes, but also tend to be criminally versatile [45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56]. Extrafamilial child molesters are consistently found to specialise more in sexual offences [54,55]. ...
Intense social and political changes in the past decades led to changes in crime rates and the way the public perceives crime. Although there is a concern about crime in general, there seem to be some types of offences that cause more distress to the general public than others, for example, sexual offences. They seem to receive significant amounts of public condemnation and represent the focus of many punitive policies. In order to understand criminality as an individual and a social problem, researchers began to study crime through the concept of criminal career. One of the ways of getting insight into this type of offenders is by exploring their criminal career referring to a longitudinal series of offences committed by a person which has a noticeable series of offences. The study of the criminal career of sexual offenders has the potential to bring new information to experts and legislators, contribute to a greater understanding of the continuity of transgression from adolescence to adult-hood and ensure better knowledge of the occurrence of sexual misconduct, how it begins, how it develops over time and how it ends.
... However, few studies examine behavioral continuity in offending, and the influence that criminal behavior over the time has on the evolution of the series. As outlined by Salfati (2019) in a comprehensive review of factors that have been examined as salient in the behavioral consistency and linking literature, it is due to this important observation that there has been a recent trend in the serial crime research to look at trajectories of behavioral change as a type of consistency (e.g., Hewitt and Beauregard, 2014;Leclerc et al., 2015;Salfati and Sorochinski, 2019;Salfati, 2010, 2018). An earlier study focusing on violence within sexual assault series found that roughly a quarter of offenders tend to exhibit an escalation pattern (Hazelwood et al., 1989). ...
... In sum, current research that focuses on behavioral linkage and behavioral consistency in serial violent crime is moving away from looking at full behavioral stability (i.e., complete consistency) and toward a broader definition of behavioral trajectories, redefining consistency as behavioral continuity (e.g., Hewitt and Beauregard, 2014;Leclerc et al., 2015;Salfati and Sorochinski, 2019;Salfati, 2010, 2018). Such a shift necessitates the inclusion of the element of time into the equation as any change in behavior is happening over time rather than in isolated episodes. ...
Serial offenses are multiple offenses committed by the same offender with distinct time intervals in-between. While time dimension is part of the very definition of serial crime, little attention has been given to understanding the offending timelines across crime series. Understanding whether distinct patterns of increasing, decreasing, or consistent time interval patterns can be identified is an important first step in clarifying the role that the time lags between offenses play in influencing offender’s behavioral trends. Given the lack of prior research specifically focusing on the timelines of serial offenders, the current study aimed to differentiate the timeline trajectories in 43 homicide series where an offender committed at least three offenses (i.e., minimum two between crime intervals available for analysis). The focus of this study will be on the methodological and analytical challenges and steps necessary to model, identify, and differentiate timeline trajectories in serial crime.
... CPT assumes that sex offenders are more likely to commit offenses in the areas of geographic familiarity, as they are more aware of the availability of potential victims. Hewitt and Beauregard (2014) examined the offense strategies among 72 repeat sex offenders and concluded that they were decision makers who adapted their strategies to the physical environment. Beauregard, Rossmo, and Proulx (2007) revealed from their interviews of 69 offenders that the majority were engaged in noncriminal activities prior to offending, such as working or shopping. ...
... Offenders' decision to offend often involves an assessment of benefit (offense completion) and risk (apprehension and subsequent punishment). The victim encounter location is a key factor in this assessment process (Beauregard & Leclerc, 2007;Hewitt & Beauregard, 2014). ...
Sex offenders are a heterogeneous group and exhibit various offense patterns. Often the location where the offender committed the offense is different from where the offender encountered their victim. Applying crime pattern theory, this study sought to understand if the type of location, victim, and situational characteristics could predict whether an offender would commit the sexual offense in a different and more secluded location than where he first encountered the victim. Among a sample of 114 incarcerated sex offenders, the results showed that offenders who contacted their victims in locations where children are known to congregate were more than 4 times more likely to travel to a more secluded location to complete the sexual offense. Those who used noncoercive strategies (e.g., bribes, seduction) during the offense process were approximately 7 times more likely to travel to a more secluded location that those who did not. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.
... In addition, most acquaintance rape victims (52%) reported no injury, whereas only a minority of stranger rapes (27%) presented no injures (Bownes et al., 1991). Such findings were consistent with Hewitt and Beauregard's (2014) study of sexual crimes involving stranger victims in which 60.4% of their sample involved the use of physical force. ...
This study fills a gap in the existing literature by differentiating between sexual homicides committed by strangers and those by acquaintances. Utilizing data from the Sexual Homicide International Database, which encompasses 772 cases from France and Canada, the research focuses on using victimological and crime scene characteristics to predict the victim-offender relationship in sexual homicides. Employing a comprehensive methodological approach, the study uses bivariate analysis, sequential binary logistic regression, and an artificial neural network (ANN) model. These methods help in examining the correlations and predictive values of various factors in determining the nature of the victim-offender relationship. The findings highlight significant differences in the modus operandi of stranger and acquaintance offenders. Stranger offenders are more likely to exhibit violent, premeditated actions involving weapons, while acquaintance offenders tend to use verbal aggression, exploiting their existing relationship with the victim. Theoretically, results provide empirical insights into the dynamics of sexual homicides, expanding the understanding of offender behavior and crime scene analysis. Practically, it offers valuable guidance for law enforcement in criminal investigations and resource allocation.
... La consistencia conductual en delincuentes seriales ha sido estudiada en el caso de homicidios (Salfati & Bateman, 2005;Bateman & Salfati, 2007;Sorochinski & Salfati, 2010;Salfati, Horning, Sorochinski & Labuschagne, 2015), intrusión en propiedades con fines de robo (Bouhana, Johnson & Porter, 2016;Fox & Farrington, 2016), y agresores sexuales (Lundrigan, Czarnomski, & Wilson, 2010;Harbers, Deslauriers-Varin, Beauregard & Kemp, 2012;Deslauriers-Varin & Beauregard, 2013, 2014a, 2014bHewitt & Beauregard, 2014;Oziel, Goodwill & Beauregard, 2015). En general, estos estudios concluyen, de una forma metodológicamente aceptable, que los delincuentes seriales tienden a repetir sus conductas crimen tras crimen (Janosch & Soto, 2018; Janosch, Pérez-Fernández & Soto-Castro, 2018a y 2018b; Janosch, Pérez-Fernández & Soto-Castro, 2020; Pérez-Ramírez, Giménez-Salinas, González-Álvarez, Soto-Castro, 2021). ...
Propósito: Estudiar la consistencia en las conductas de los agresores sexuales desconocidos y seriales en la escena del crimen, y la influencia de los factores situacionales. Método: Se analizan las conductas en la escena del crimen de 18 agresores sexuales desconocidos y seriales, que cometieron al menos 54 agresiones sexuales. Se han correlacionado con factores situacionales. Se ha estudiado también la consistencia de cada una de esas conductas. Resultados: Algunas conductas de los delincuentes están influidas por factores situacionales y, a la inversa, algunos factores situacionales pueden estar influidos por tales conductas. Algunas conductas que, prima facie, no están influenciadas por los factores situacionales son consistentes. Una excepción son las conductas sexuales del delincuente. Conclusión: Este análisis confirma, aunque limitadamente, relaciones conductuales esperables, pero nunca antes estudiadas, en una muestra española de agresores sexuales seriales y desconocidos.
... La consistencia conductual en delincuentes seriales ha sido estudiada en el caso de homicidios (Salfati & Bateman, 2005;Bateman & Salfati, 2007;Sorochinski & Salfati, 2010;Salfati, Horning, Sorochinski & Labuschagne, 2015), intrusión en propiedades con fines de robo (Bouhana, Johnson & Porter, 2016;Fox & Farrington, 2016), y agresores sexuales (Lundrigan, Czarnomski, & Wilson, 2010;Harbers, Deslauriers-Varin, Beauregard & Kemp, 2012;Deslauriers-Varin & Beauregard, 2013, 2014a, 2014bHewitt & Beauregard, 2014;Oziel, Goodwill & Beauregard, 2015). En general, estos estudios concluyen, de una forma metodológicamente aceptable, que los delincuentes seriales tienden a repetir sus conductas crimen tras crimen (Janosch & Soto, 2018; Janosch, Pérez-Fernández & Soto-Castro, 2018a y 2018b; Janosch, Pérez-Fernández & Soto-Castro, 2020; Pérez-Ramírez, Giménez-Salinas, González-Álvarez, Soto-Castro, 2021). ...
Filiación Institucional (1) Resumen Propósito: Estudiar la consistencia en las conductas de los agresores sexuales desconocidos y seriales en la escena del crimen, y la influencia de los factores situacionales. Método: Se analizan las conductas en la escena del crimen de 18 agresores sexuales desconocidos y seriales, que cometieron al menos 54 agresiones sexuales. Se han correlacionado con factores situacionales. Se ha estudiado también la consistencia de cada una de esas conductas. Resultados: Algunas conductas de los delincuentes están influidas por factores situacionales y, a la inversa, algunos factores situacionales pueden estar influidos por tales conductas. Algunas conductas que, prima facie, no están influenciadas por los factores situacionales son consistentes. Una excepción son las conductas sexuales del delincuente. Conclusión: Este análisis confirma, aunque limitadamente, relaciones conductuales esperables, pero nunca estudiadas, en una muestra española de agresores sexuales seriales y desconocidos. Palabras Clave Agresión sexual, desconocido, decisiones conductuales, situación, consistencia conductual. Abstract Purpose: To study the consistency in crime scene behaviors of unknown and serial sexual offenders and the influence of situational factors. Methods: The crime scene behaviors of 18 unknown and serial sexual offenders, who committed at least 54 sexual assaults, were analyzed. They have been correlated with situational factors. The consistency of each of these behaviors was also studied. Results: Some offenders' behaviors are influenced by situational factors and, conversely, some situational factors may be influenced by such behaviors. Some behaviors that, prima facie, are not influenced by situational factors are consistent. An exception is offender sexual behaviors. Conclusion: This analysis confirms, albeit to a limited extent, expected but never studied behavioral relationships in a Spanish sample of serial and unknown sex offenders.
... Adicionalmente, Beauregard (2007) critica que los investigadores han dejado de buscar las motivaciones por las cuales el delincuente comete el crimen y únicamente se han enfocado en su judicialización. Debido a esto, varios autores (Hewitt & Beauregard, 2014;Jiménez, 2011;Meléndez-Cardona, Millán-Vega & Pérez, 2014) han hecho grandes esfuerzos por aplicar la técnica enmarcada en estudios científicos obteniendo como resultado que el estudio de la firma criminal y el modus operandi de los delincuentes seriales permite la vinculación de los casos cuyas características similares puedan ser revisadas sistemáticamente, demostrando que el uso de tipologías es indispensable en la identificación de un posible delincuente de manera más certera (Chambers, Horvath & Kelly, 2010, Sturidsson et al., 2006Bennell, et al, 2013). Razón por la que se evidencia la necesidad de generar tipologías aplicables al contexto colombiano, dado que el uso actual de estas clasificaciones diseñadas en países anglosajones y europeos afectan la validez externa de la técnica de perfilación. ...
This research study's objective was to explore the knowledge, characteristics and usefulness of the criminal profiling technique within a sample of judicial actors in Colombia who, due to their professional functions in criminal investigations, could possibly apply the technique. The methodology included performing semi-structured interviews on 155 officials belonging to Colombia's main institutions for the administration of justice (Prosecutor's Office, National Police, Ombudsman's Office, National Penitentiary and Prison Institute, and members of the judicial branch). Among the results, it was observed that judicial actors consider the technique useful due to the scientific notion they have regarding it. Furthermore, although it is perceived as being useful, it is seldom used because of a general lack of knowledge derived from scant training for its execution. These results are discussed in light of the recent criminological study carried out in the country, its professionals' education and the gaps in academic research and its use in criminal investigations. It was concluded that the technique is still being developed in the Colombian context. It currently have some guides and protocols within each institution, and requires more impact assessments and comprehensive analyses regarding its relevance and scientific nature.
... ex. : Hewitt et Beauregard, 2014 ;Lussier, Leclerc, Healey et Proulx, 2007), ces incidents ont été classés à nouveau, selon la nature et le degré d'intrusion sexuelle : 1) avec pénétration ; 2) avec contact sexuel ; 3) sans contact. La description des infractions telles qu'elles sont définies dans le Code pénal du Texas a servi à la classification des incidents selon ces trois catégories. ...
Les études portant sur les crimes et les lieux ont toujours insisté sur l’importance de comprendre le profil spatial des crimes à l’aide d’unités d’analyse de plus en plus réduites. Même si de nombreuses études ont adopté cette perspective, peu se sont intéressées spécifiquement aux crimes à caractère sexuel. La présente étude se sert des données d’incidents enregistrés par la police pour étudier la distribution spatiale des infractions sexuelles ayant eu lieu entre le 1 er janvier 2016 et le 31 décembre 2018 à Austin, au Texas (N = 1381). Les infractions ont d’abord été divisées selon l’âge des victimes (enfant ou adulte) et le type d’acte sexuel perpétré (infraction sexuelle avec pénétration, avec contact et sans contact), ensuite trois mesures de concentration spatiale, des analyses de noyaux de densité et des analyses de dispersion spatiale ont été réalisées. Les résultats montrent que les infractions sexuelles commises contre des enfants et des adultes étaient concentrées dans l’espace, mais que leur degré de concentration dépendait du type d’acte commis. De plus, les analyses de dispersion spatiale semblent montrer que les segments de rue (et les intersections) où ont lieu de telles infractions diffèrent en fonction de la nature de l’acte sexuel perpétré. Les implications pour la prévention situationnelle et le maintien de l’ordre ( policing ) seront discutées.
... ex. : Hewitt et Beauregard, 2014 ;Lussier, Leclerc, Healey et Proulx, 2007), ces incidents ont été classés à nouveau, selon la nature et le degré d'intrusion sexuelle : 1) avec pénétration ; 2) avec contact sexuel ; 3) sans contact. La description des infractions telles qu'elles sont définies dans le Code pénal du Texas a servi à la classification des incidents selon ces trois catégories. ...
Les études portant sur les crimes et les lieux ont toujours insisté sur l’importance de comprendre le profil spatial des crimes à l’aide d’unités d’analyse de plus en plus réduites. Même si de nombreuses études ont adopté cette perspective, peu se sont intéressées spécifiquement aux crimes à caractère sexuel. La présente étude se sert des données d’incidents enregistrés par la police pour étudier la distribution spatiale des infractions sexuelles ayant eu lieu entre le 1er janvier 2016 et le 31 décembre 2018 à Austin, au Texas (N = 1381). Les infractions ont d’abord été divisées selon l’âge des victimes (enfant ou adulte) et le type d’acte sexuel perpétré (infraction sexuelle avec pénétration, avec contact et sans contact), ensuite trois mesures de concentration spatiale, des analyses de noyaux de densité et des analyses de dispersion spatiale ont été réalisées. Les résultats montrent que les infractions sexuelles commises contre des enfants et des adultes étaient concentrées dans l’espace, mais que leur degré de concentration dépendait du type d’acte commis. De plus, les analyses de dispersion spatiale semblent montrer que les segments de rue (et les intersections) où ont lieu de telles infractions diffèrent en fonction de la nature de l’acte sexuel perpétré. Les implications pour la prévention situationnelle et le maintien de l’ordre (policing) seront discutées.
The crime and place literature has consistently emphasized the importance of understanding spatial patterns of crime using increasingly smaller spatial units of analysis. Despite the growing number of studies that have used this perspective, very few of them have investigated sexual offences specifically. The current study uses police event data to investigate the spatial distribution of sexual offences that occurred between January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2018 in the city of Austin, Texas (N=1381). Disaggregating offences first by victim age (child versus adult) and then type of sexual act perpetrated (penetration, sexual contact, and sexual non-contact offences), three measures of spatial clustering, kernel density analyses, and a spatial point pattern test were used. Findings indicate that sexual offences perpetrated against children and adults were spatially concentrated, but the degree to which they clustered depended upon the type of sexual act committed. Furthermore, spatial point pattern findings suggested that the street segments (and intersections) affected by sexual crime differed according to the nature of the sexual act committed. Implications for situational crime prevention and policing are discussed.
... Furthermore, the exploration of overall consistency in behaviors across mixed-victim series showed that there are more differences that similarities in offenders' behaviors between the two types of victims in those series, which led to the conclusion that mixed-victim series are not a homogenous type of series, but that further differentiation of those series into subtypes is needed to understand offending patterns both in terms of victim type switching and in terms of the behaviors that offenders engage in with the different types of victims in the same series. Salfati (2009) and Hewitt and Beauregard (2014), among others, highlighted the issue of crime types having been looked at separately which has caused an issue in both the clinical literature, and also for understanding consistency in terms of patterns of behavioral change in series. ...
Sex workers as a group are one of the more common targets in serial homicide, yet the most likely to go unsolved. Part of the reason for this is the difficulty in linking individual crime scenes to a series, especially in those series where offenders not only target sex worker victims but also target non-sex worker victims. Inconsistencies in both victim targeting and behaviors engaged in across series add to the difficulties of linking and solvability in these types of crimes. The current study aimed to add to the current body of literature on serial crime linkage by examining not only the most salient behavioral indicators useful for crime scene classification of serial homicides that involve sex worker victims but also examine the trajectories of behavioral change that can help link apparently inconsistent crime scenes and proposes the new Model for the Analysis of Trajectories and Consistency in Homicide (MATCH). The study examines 83 homicide series, including 44 (53%) series where all victims were sex workers and 39 (47%) series that included a mix of sex workers and non-sex worker victims. Using the MATCH system allowed for the majority of series to be classified to a dominant trajectory pattern, over half as many as a traditional consistency analysis that focusses on behavioral similarity matching. Results further showed that Sex Worker Victim series were almost three times more consistent across their series than Mixed-Victim series, not only in victim selection but also in the overall behavioral patterns. Findings are discussed in line with theoretical and psychological issues relating to understanding the nature of behavioral consistency and the importance of going beyond simple matching toward a model that allows for the identification of consistency in seemingly inconsistent series, as well as investigative implications relating to linking serial crimes.
... Furthermore, the exploration of overall consistency in behaviors across mixed-victim series showed that there are more differences that similarities in offenders' behaviors between the two types of victims in those series, which led to the conclusion that mixed-victim series are not a homogenous type of series, but that further differentiation of those series into subtypes is needed to understand offending patterns both in terms of victim type switching and in terms of the behaviors that offenders engage in with the different types of victims in the same series. Salfati (2009) and Hewitt and Beauregard (2014), among others, highlighted the issue of crime types having been looked at separately which has caused an issue in both the clinical literature, and also for understanding consistency in terms of patterns of behavioral change in series. ...
For details of this work please see: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331501443_MATCH_A_New_Approach_for_Differentiating_Linking_Series_of_Sex_Worker_Homicides_and_Sexual_Assaults
... Examining the risk of offenders and the risk for victimization has the potential to lead preventive efforts that would be guided by research. For example, examining factors that typically reflect serial rapists (Hewitt & Beauregard, 2014) could be helpful in identifying risk variables present in police investigations. Only a few studies have examined the decisions of police, but these endeavors have more particularly examined police decisions to arrest a suspect (e.g., Tasca, Rodriguez, Spohn, & Koss, 2013) or prosecutors' decisions to charge the suspect (e.g., Kelley & Campbell, 2013;Spohn, Beichner, & Davis-Frenzel, 2001). ...
Adoption of evidence-based approaches by police services offers a practical and scientific solution to ensure public safety and proper allocation of resources. Advances in the field of sexual violence risk prediction have the potential to inform policing practices. The present study examines the validity of existing actuarial measures to predict the future sexual violence behavior of 290 identified male perpetrators of sexual assault against adult victims (ages 16 and older). The Static-99R and Static-2002R were coded from police documentation, and the sample was followed up for at least 1 year with an average of 3.6 years. Both measures showed large effects for predicting any offending, violent offending, and sexual offending in the form of charges and convictions. The findings suggest that existing sex offender research can extend to police practice, and criminogenic factors used to predict recidivism among convicted offenders may apply to assessing the risk posed by perpetrators of police-reported sexual assaults.
... The thrust of much literature is on the profiling of different types of serial sex offenders for its probative value-usually to associate multiple crimes to an individual through crime linkage or predicting the behaviors of at-large offenders (Beauregard et al., 2007;Corovic et al., 2012;Deslauriers-Varin & Beauregard, 2013;Hewitt & Beauregard, 2014;Hewitt, Beauregard, & Davies, 2012;Kocsis, Cooksey, & Irwin, 2002;Park et al., 2008;Slater et al., 2014;Warren et al., 1999;Woodhams, Hollin, & Bull, 2007). A more selective approach bases profiles on geographic analysis (Beauregard et al., 2007;Canter & Larkin, 1993;Lundrigan & Czarnomski, 2006;Meaney, 2004;Strangeland, 2005) where the authors ground their findings in the context of their own geographic locales (i.e., patterns observed in the USA are similar but not exactly the same as those observed in South Africa), but still reveals a level of consistency not generally found in other aspects of a "traditional" offending pattern, particularly in regard to "hunting grounds," release sites, and distance from an offender's home or work address. ...
Purpose
Much of what we know about serial sex offenders is based on multiple sexual assaults linked via conviction or self-report or offenders who primarily target strangers. Our data are derived from serial sex offenders linked via DNA testing of unsubmitted sexual assault kits—which provides a more objective examination of offending patterns.
Methods
Study uses descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and sexual assault narratives to explore offending patterns for serial vs. nonserial sex offenders and crossover offending patterns by relationship, age, and gender for serial sex offenders. We examine crossover offending patterns for three groups of serial sex offenders: those who assaulted only strangers, both strangers and nonstrangers, and only nonstrangers.
Results
Findings show significant crossover offending by relationship and age. Over one-quarter sexually assaulted both strangers and nonstrangers. Serial sex offenders often vary their offending pattern across offenses. The offender-victim relationship appears particularly salient when assessing offending patterns.
Conclusions
Offending patterns are not a consistently reliable link across assaults. Many of these sexual assaults had not been linked prior to DNA testing, thereby illustrating the power of the DNA testing of SAKs for identifying and linking serial sex offenders, particularly when testing is followed by a thorough investigation.
... Offenders were recruited from institutions of various security levels to obtain a broad range of offenders and were selected based on criteria of committing two or more sexual assaults or other sex-related crimes against stranger victims of any age/gender (i.e. the victim and offender had no personal relationship prior to the date the offense was committed). Stranger sex offenders were selected to maintain a relative homogeneity in terms of the situation faced by the offenders; prior relationships between the offender and the victim would arguably, heavily influence the crime event in terms of sexual acts performed and level of preparation needed (Hewitt & Beauregard, 2014a). ...
Purpose: Victim age polymorphism (also referred to as victim age crossover) describes sexual offenders who offend against multiple age groups. The present study examined whether polymorphic offenders could be differentiated from age-specific offenders based on the role of opportunity in the commission of their offenses.
Methods: The current study examined age polymorphism in 72 sexual offenders who committed 361 stranger offenses. Incarcerated offenders were interviewed about their sexual offending history and provided information on their crime scene behaviors (i.e., pre-crime activities, victim selection, and behaviors during the commission of the offense, such as sexual behaviors), which was cross-checked with file information. A PCA and logistic regression were conducted using crime scene behaviors to determine latent constructs that differentiated age-specific and age polymorphic offenders. Individual crime scene behaviors were also analyzed.
Results: Polymorphism occurred in 36% of offenders' sexual offense histories with most polymorphic offenders victimizing those aged 11 to 14 and at least one other age group. Compared to age-specific offenders, polymorphic offenders were more opportunistic and less concerned with the specific characteristics of their victim.
Conclusion: Polymorphic offenders can be distinguished from age-specific offenders by their pre-crime decisions and the sexual behaviors committed during the offense.
... Leclerc, Lussier, and Deslauriers-Varin ( 2014 ) analyzed offending strategies between different sexual offenses of the same offender. Hewitt and Beauregard ( 2013 ) compared different levels of aggression in a series of crime events involving the same offender. Bernasco, Ruiter, Bruinsma, Pauwels, and Weerman ( 2013 ) analyzed situational characteristics of moments of offending with moments of nonoffending of the same persons. ...
Crime prevention can benefit from knowledge about why prospective offenders sometimes do not perpetrate crimes they anticipated to perpetrate. What makes them call off the planned offense? This chapter describes what distinguishes aborted robberies from those that are committed; what mechanisms are responsible for calling off planned offenses; and which reasons offenders themselves provide for aborting robberies. Detailed data were collected amongst 74 incarcerated and 28 active offenders. All were asked to describe in detail a robbery they committed and one they aborted, including prospective places, targets, victims, bystanders, and co-offenders. In case of aborted robberies they were also asked why the robbery was canceled. Findings indicate that home robberies are aborted less often than street and commercial robberies, and that robberies planned more than an hour ahead are more likely to get aborted than robberies that were planned less than an hour ahead. Extensive anticipation appears to make offenders less flexible in adapting to unexpected events, and more likely to abort an anticipated robbery. Subjective reasons for aborting anticipated robberies are manifold, but include expected police and bystander interventions.
... For example, as of 2011, 44% of all sexual offenses against women in Canada were unsolved, often remaining as such because the accused was never identified (Sinha, 2013). Not only do the crimes of serial stranger sexual offenders trigger considerable fear in the community, they have also been said to be the most difficult to solve as there is no pre-existing relationship between offender and victim (Hewitt & Beauregard, 2014). All three subtypes in our study included offenders who committed sexual crimes against strangers, albeit to varying degrees. ...
Available online xxxx Purpose: High-risk sexual offenders have been identified as a distinct group of sexual offenders due to the seriousness of their offenses, as well as their high probability of reoffending. However, high-risk sexual offenders themselves represent a complex and heterogeneous group about which relatively little is still known. The purpose of this research was to provide a more refined understanding of high-risk sexual offenders by developing a profile of their behavior using offender and offense characteristics. Methods: Latent class analysis was utilized to develop a typology of some of the highest-risk sexual offenders (N = 92) in Canada using characteristics of the offenders and their index crimes. Results: Three subtypes of high-risk sexual offenders were identified in the latent class analysis. In follow up co-variate analyses, these three distinct groups were found to significantly differ on important offender characteristics and prior criminal offenses. Conclusions: Findings from this study highlight the heterogeneity and complexity of the highest-risk group of sexual offenders in Canada, with important investigative, therapeutic and preventative implications.
... In a recent study on drug traffickers, Adams and Pizarro (2014) found that carrying firearms for protection increases an individual's likelihood of committing homicide. In relation to sexual aggressors, studies have confirmed the stability of modus operandi strategies from one victim to the next, although offenders committing intrusive sexual aggression have been found to use more violence than necessary, thus aggravating their criminal action (Hewitt & Beauregard, 2014). ...
This study aims to investigate the role of ability emotional intelligence (EI) in predicting criminal behavior from a life-span perspective, over and above psychopathy. Psychopathic individuals are characterized by a deviant lifestyle and an inability to regulate emotion. A sample of 29 male inmates was administered the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), the Buss�Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ), the Psychopathy Checklist � Revised (PCL-R), the Mayer�Salovey�Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), and five dichotomous items that are converged into the Criminal Behavior Index (CBI). Correlation analysis showed a complex pattern of relationships among the variables. The MSCEIT Experiential area of EI together with CISS Emotion-oriented Coping and PCL-R Social Deviance are found to significantly predict the CBI. The results offer promising findings for the assessment of the relationship between personality traits, emotional abilities and criminal behavior across the life span. Furthermore, the results suggest that EI is an important feature for implementing prevention programs of criminal behavior and recidivism.
... The tentative findings in the present study, of the comparisons of one-offs to first and last offences of a series, could be studied further with larger samples to give further insight into the possible development of serial homicide offenders' modus operandi and changes in their crime scene behaviour (as with serial sexual offenders in Hewitt and Beauregard, 2014). These possible changes may also influence the accuracy of the prediction whether a particular homicide is a oneoff or part of a series. ...
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences (if any) between serial and hard-to-solve one-off homicides, and to determine if it is possible to distinguish the two types of homicides based on offence behaviours and victim characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
– A sample of 116 Italian serial homicides was compared to 45 hard-to-solve one-off homicides. Hard-to-solve one-off homicides were defined as having at least 72 hours pass between when the offence came to the knowledge of the police and when the offender was caught. Logistic regression was used to predict whether a killing was part of a series or a one-off offence.
Findings
– The serial killers targeted more strangers and prostitutes, displayed a higher level of forensic awareness both before and after the killing, and had more often an apparent sexual element in their offence. Conversely, the one-off homicides were found to include more traits indicative of impulsive and expressive behaviour. The model demonstrated a good ability (AUC=0.88) to predict whether a homicide belonged to the serial or one-off category.
Research limitations/implications
– The findings should be replicated using local homicide data to maximise the validity of the model in countries outside of Italy.
Practical implications
– Being able to distinguish between serial and one-off homicides based on information available at a new crime scene could be practically useful for homicide investigators managing finite resources.
Originality/value
– Studies comparing serial homicides to one-off homicides are scarce, and there are no studies explicitly trying to predict whether a homicide is an isolated case or part of a series.
... In research on the offending patterns of serial sexual offenders Hewitt and Beauregard (2014) found that offenders that strategically planned their first offense were less likely in their next offense to escalate the level of sexual intrusiveness. However, offenders that planned their second offense were more likely to escalate in the level of sexual intrusiveness in which they engaged. ...
... In terms of the offender's reaction to victim resistance, crimes that take place in a public site are less likely to involve a violent reaction by the offender to the victim's resistance, but are more likely to involve a violent reaction if the offender uses a coercive strategy to commit the crime. The offender's level of experience likely contributes to this finding because less experience may result in the offender having a non-violent reaction (e.g., running away) due to the possibility of being spotted by onlookers nearby, whereas greater offending experience may result in him being more brazen to secure the victim's compliance (see Hewitt & Beauregard, 2014). Lastly, crime events that take place in a public site or in the offender's residence are less likely to involve the use of physical force, but when the offender uses a coercive strategy to commit the crime, he is more likely to use physical force on the victim. ...
Purpose
Using the rational choice perspective, the current study investigates the impact that the environment and offending behavior have on serial sexual crime event outcomes.
Methods
The effects of time and place factors, as well as offender modus operandi strategies, on sexual crime event outcomes are tested using Generalized Estimating Equations on a sample of 361 crime events committed by 72 serial sex offenders.
Results
Time and place do impact serial stranger sexual offenders’ modus operandi strategies, but the place characteristics of the crime have more of an effect on the offender’s behavior than do the temporal conditions during which the event occurs. Subsequent analyses indicate that temporal and place factors, as well as offender modus operandi strategies, predict whether the offender completes the rape, his reaction to victim resistance, and the level of physical force that he inflicts on the victim, but not whether the victim is forced to commit sexual acts on the offender.
Conclusions
Serial stranger sexual offenders are effective decision-makers who adapt their strategies to the physical environment in which they commit their crimes, but their degree of rationality can vary as some outcomes are more dependent on the context than the offender and his actions.
The crime and place literature has consistently emphasized the importance of understanding spatial patterns of crime using increasingly smaller spatial units of analysis. Despite the growing number of studies that have used this perspective, very few of them have investigated sexual offenses specifically. The current study uses police event data to investigate the spatial distribution of sexual offenses that occurred between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2018 in Austin, Texas (N = 1381). Disaggregating offenses first by victim age (child versus adult) and then type of sexual act perpetrated (penetration, sexual contact, and sexual non-contact offenses), three measures of spatial clustering, kernel density analyses, and a spatial point pattern test are used. Findings indicate that sexual offenses perpetrated against children and adults are spatially concentrated, but the degree to which they cluster depends upon the type of sexual act committed. Furthermore, within each of these victim profiles, spatial point pattern findings suggest that the street segments (and intersections) affected by sexual crime differ according to the nature of the sexual act committed. Implications for situational crime prevention and policing are discussed.
This study examined details of behavioural sequences that constitute male-on-male child molestation within the Boy Scouts of America based on the narratives reported by child victims. Previous studies largely focused on convicted offenders when reconstructing the circumstances of child molestations. Also, sex crime literature did not consistently distinguish victim's gender and age when it comes to child victims and child molestation in an educational setting. Such loopholes have made the significances of the behavioural patterns in male-on-male child molestation unknown. This qualitative study analyses the verbal and behavioural patterns of male adult scoutmaster perpetrators against boy victims at the physical contact stage. Using a fishing metaphor, we identify unique behavioural sequences of scoutmaster perpetrators and explain the implications of such behaviours in male-on-male child molestation. Details of three unique behavioural patterns of scoutmaster perpetrators in male-on-male child molestation within the Boy Scouts of America are discussed.
Resumen: Esta investigación se encuadra en la fase de diagnóstico del proyecto de investigación estatal I+D+i "Valoración de la eficiencia e impacto de la respuesta social y jurídica a la pederastia a partir del análisis criminológico" (DER2015-67303-P). Con el objetivo de proporcionar evidencia empírica sobre la cual proponer respuestas jurídico-penales y criminológicas más eficaces a la pederastia, este capítulo analiza las características de los infractores, las víctimas y el abuso sexual contra menores en España a partir de un análisis sistemático de 945 sentencias condenatorias de Audiencias Provinciales españolas. Los resultados permiten concluir que el abuso sexual a menores se produce en el ámbito intrafamiliar del menor, y que responde a las patrones relacionados con las actividades cotidianas de infractores y víctimas. Este estudio, además, introduce el análisis de la duración del abuso y su relación con las características de las víctimas, los agresores y la situación en la que se comete el abuso. Los resultados obtenidos permiten concluir que el abuso de larga duración está asociado con el que se da en el contexto intrafamiliar sobre víctimas mujeres de entre cinco y diez años en la casa donde conviven víctimas y agresores. Estos resultados refuerzan la conclusión de que el abuso sexual infantil está determinado por factores de oportunidad. Los esfuerzos en la prevención del abuso sexual infantil, así como la propuesta de medidas penales, deben ir por tanto encaminadas principalmente a luchar contra el abuso sexual a menores en el contexto intrafamiliar. Palabras clave: abuso sexual a menores; infractores; víctimas; duración del abuso; sentencias; España Cita APA: Del-Real Castrillo, C. (2019). Infractores, víctimas y características del abuso sexual contra menores en España, en Rodríguez Mesa, MJ (Dir.), Del Real Castrillo, C., y Maldonado Guzmán, D. (Coords.), Pederastia. Análisis jurídico-penal, social y criminológico, Editorial Aranzadi, pp. 165-206. Introducción
Serial child rape is an under-researched domain within the South African context. Numerous criminogenic pathways emanating as a direct result of sexual abuse, poses a risk for the male child in coming to terms with the ordeal he had suffered, ranging from adolescence into adulthood. The undercurrents that are contributory to serial child rape are complex and comprises of a range of influences, including fuming aggression and sexual preoccupation, as a means of coping with an incident as such. This article presents a single case study analysis of a serial child rapist's life journey, effects, and crimes, based on his experiences, captured from a criminological viewpoint. The offender's pathway, aligned with the needs, risks and intervention strategies for rehabilitation efforts, is documented-starting from his own alleged sexual abuse and rape as a child-although viable and feasible treatment strategies are also recommended for conducive intervention efforts. The authors furthermore indicate the effects of abuse on the male child victim and the cycle of abuse, and violence that accompanies abuse.
La obra constituye uno de los resultados principales del Proyecto i+D+i DER2015-67303-P financiado por el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad y el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, para el estudio integral del fenómeno de pederastia en España. Se trata de un análisis multidisciplinar cuyo objetivo es el de valorar la eficiencia e impacto de la actual respuesta social y jurídica a la pederastia. La cuestión para analizar fue si esa respuesta jurídica frente a la pederastia es la más adecuada para prevenir el fenómeno o si, por el contrario, responde exclusivamente a cuestiones de alarma social, sin que exista una base científica que justifique su necesidad y, por tanto, su eficacia. Dado el carácter multidisciplinar del equipo de investigación y del equipo de trabajo, los resultados expuestos a lo largo de los capítulos que vertebran esta obra permiten obtener conocimiento sobre la pederastia desde un punto de vista jurídico, psicológico, socio-cultural, antropológico y criminológico, por lo que resulta de interés para un amplio colectivo de profesionales en este ámbito.
In the 4 decades since offender profiling (OP) was established, hundreds of journal articles, books, book chapters, reports, and magazine articles have been published on the topic, and the technique has been used by countless law enforcement agencies around the globe. However, despite the popularity and extensive literature published on OP, very little is known about its evolution, current state, or findings of the field to date. Therefore, this study presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of 426 publications on OP from 1976 through 2016. Results of this systematic review suggest that there have been considerable improvements in the scientific rigor and self-assessment being conducted in the discipline, although in total, few studies have used a strong empirical approach to develop new profiles. Even fewer evaluations of the effectiveness of OP have been conducted. The first summary of offender profiles proposed for major crimes in OP literature is also presented, with results indicating some recurrent themes in profiles, but wide variations in the number, name, and description of the profiles often found. A meta-analysis of case linkage analysis research indicates that this area is statistically sophisticated, and has yielded moderate to strong accuracy rates for linking crimes to a single offender. Finally, the first analysis of the most prolific authors, researchers, departments, and outlets for OP research, and the methods, approach, and most cited publications in OP are identified. Suggestions for future research on OP and the potential impact that this may have on policy and practice are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
An actuarial approach to predicting sexual recidivism among known sex offenders is illustrated with a reanalysis of follow-up data of rapists and child molesters. One hundred seventy-eight sex offenders who had been assessed at a maximum security psychiatric facility were followed for an average of 59 months of opportunity to reoffend. Twenty-eight percent were convicted of a new sex offense and 40% were arrested, convicted, or returned to the psychiatric facility for a violent (including sex) offense. Rapists were more likely to recidivate than child molesters. Psychopathy, measures of previous criminal history, and phallometric indexes of deviant sexual interests were found to be useful predictors of sexual recidivism. A predictor scale was formed by weighting each predictor that was significant in the regression analyses by a number reflecting its univariate correlation with the criterion. A linear relationship (r = .45) was found between scores on the predictor scale and reconviction for a sexual offense.
Little is known about the stability of modus operandi (MO) in sexual offending. The authors studied a cohort of all sexual offenders released from prison into the Swedish community during the years from 1993 to 1997 (N = 1,303) and analyzed sexual reoffenders’ MO in terms of victim choice, offense nature, and severity, comparing prior offenses with those registered during an average 6-year follow-up. Stability in MO, explored with Cohen’s Kappa and Odds Ratios (ORs) as measures of agreement across registered sexual offenses, was high, specifically with respect to victim choice. Results are discussed in relation to sexual deviance and opportunity structure. The authors argue that assessment and management of sexual recidivism risk might benefit from information on offense MO. Furthermore, the results could inform police investigative strategies, such as linking multiple offenses committed by an unidentified offender.
In this study, data were collected from 41 incarcerated serial rapists concerning their first, middle, and last rapes. Selection criteria required that the subjects had raped at least ten times. Collectively, the sample was found to be responsible for 837 rapes, more than 400 attempted rapes, and over 5,000 “nuisance” sexual offenses. Results showed that while the amount of force used by the rapist did not change from first to last rape overall, there were ten individuals for whom the amount of force did increase from first to last rape. Four correlates were identified that distinguished these “increasers” from “nonincreasers.” The data also indicated that when the victim resisted, the amount of pleasure experienced by the rapist was greater and the duration of the rape was longer.
Case linkage, the linking of crimes into series, is used in policing in the UK and other countries. Previous researchers have proposed using rapists’ speech in this practice; however, researching this application requires the development of a reliable coding system for rapists’ speech. A system was developed based on linguistic theories of pragmatics which allowed for the categorization of an utterance into a speech act type (e.g. directive). Following this classification, the qualitative properties of the utterances (e.g. the degree of threat it carried) could be captured through the use of rating scales. This system was tested against a previously developed system using 188 rapists’ utterances taken from victims’ descriptions of rape. The pragmatics-based system demonstrated higher inter-rater reliability whilst enabling the classification of a greater number of rapists’ utterances. Inter-rater reliability for the subscales was also tested using a sub-sample of 50 rapists’ utterances and inter-item correlations were calculated. Seventy-six per cent of the subscales had satisfactory to high inter-rater reliability. Based on these findings and the inter-item correlations, the classification system was revised. The potential use of this system for the practices of case linkage and offender profiling is discussed.
Offender and victim accounts of rapes were rated on 33 verbal, physical, and sexual behavioral scales. Rapist type, according to a classification scheme derived from Groth by Hazelwood and Burgess, and whether the rapist had increased in violence over successive rapes were known for each rape. Two discriminant analyses were performed on the offender data and were replicated on the victim data. The first analysis produced a subset of scales classifying rapes according to the type of rape with an overall accuracy of 83% in the offender data and 89% in the victim data. The second analysis produced a subset of scales classifying rapists as to their increaser/nonincreaser status, with an overall accuracy of 92% in the offender data and 89% in the victim data. Practical applications of these classification schemes are discussed.
In this paper we present a "routine activity approach" for analyzing crime rate trends and cycles. Rather than emphasizing the characteristics of offenders, with this approach we concentrate upon the circumstances in which they carry out predatory criminal acts. Most criminal acts require convergence in space and time of likely offenders, suitable targets and the absence of capable guardians against crime. Human ecological theory facilitates an investigation into the way in which social structure produces this convergence, hence allowing illegal activities to feed upon the legal activities of everyday life. In particular, we hypothesize that the dispersion of activities away from households and families increases the opportunity for crime and thus generates higher crime rates. A variety of data is presented in support of the hypothesis, which helps explain crime rate trends in the United States 1947-1974 as a byproduct of changes in such variables as labor force participation and single-adult households.
Purpose . This paper is concerned with case linkage, a form of behavioural analysis used to identify crimes committed by the same offender, through their behavioural similarity. Whilst widely practised, relatively little has been published on the process of linking crimes. This review aims to draw together diverse published studies by outlining what the process involves, critically examining its underlying psychological assumptions and reviewing the empirical research conducted on its viability.
Methods . Literature searches were completed on the electronic databases, PsychInfo and Criminal Justice Abstracts, to identify theoretical and empirical papers relating to the practice of linking crimes and to behavioural consistency.
Results . The available research gives some support to the assumption of consistency in criminals' behaviour. It also suggests that in comparison with intra‐individual variation in behaviour, inter‐individual variation is sufficient for the offences of one offender to be distinguished from those of other offenders. Thus, the two fundamental assumptions underlying the practice of linking crimes, behavioural consistency and inter‐individual variation, are supported. However, not all behaviours show the same degree of consistency, with behaviours that are less situation‐dependent, and hence more offender‐initiated, showing greater consistency.
Conclusions . The limited research regarding linking offenders' crimes appears promising at both a theoretical and an empirical level. There is a clear need, however, for replication studies and for research with various types of crime.
Recent research using indices of specialization and escalation, such as the forward specialization coefficient and the escalation
coefficient, have generally shown that repeat offenders tend to commit the same type or a more serious type of crime on successive
arrests. Unfortunately, there are two important limitations to the use of specialization and escalation indices: (1) the meaning
and interpretation of the coefficients is often unclear, and (2) the coefficients cannot be tested for statistical significance
across groups. In an attempt to account for these limitations and to extend prior research in this area, this paper applies
a class of log-linear models developed for studying social mobility tables with matched categories (for one or more groups)
to crime-type switching tables. The benefits of using these models, in comparison with prior specialization and escalation
research, are that the parameter estimates can be interpreted directly as tests of specialization and escalation in a meaningful
way and the parameter estimates can be tested for equality across groups, such as age, race, and gender. The application and
interpretation of these models are illustrated with arrest data from a sample of felony offenders in Michigan.
Offense specialization and versatility has been explored previously in the prior criminal records of sexual offenders. The present study expanded these findings by examining offense specialization and versatility in the postrelease offending of a sample of sexual offenders referred for civil commitment and released. Criminal versatility (not limiting one's offending to sexual crime) both before and after commitment was the most commonly observed offending pattern in the sample. Specialist offenders (those for whom sexual offenses constituted more than half of their total number of previous arrests) were more likely than versatile offenders to specialize in sexual offending on release, perhaps indicating that specialization is a stable offending tendency. When compared by referral status, recidivism records indicated that offenders who were committed for treatment were more likely than observed, noncommitted offenders to specialize in sexual offending on release. When compared by offender classification, child molesters and offenders with mixed aged victims were much more likely than rapists and incest offenders to specialize in sexual offending on release.
The current study examines the crime scene behavior manifest by 108 serial rapists responsible for the perpetration of 565 rapes across various cities within the US. The goal of the current study is to identify which aspects of crime scene behavior reported to law enforcement by the victim are most useful in predicting, early in a series of offenses, which rapists are most likely to escalate into higher and, at times, life threatening levels of violence. Using 58 scales that quantify the verbal, physical, and sexual behavior manifest by a rapist in his interaction with his victim during his first reported rape and 36 modal variables that summarized approach, timing, demographics, and weapon usage across the series of rapes, the study attempts to differentiate between those rapists who escalate in their use of blunt force (Increasers) from those who do not (Non-Increasers). A logistic regression indicates that rapists who are white rather than of minority status and who, at the time of their first reported rape, rape their victims for longer periods of time and use more profanity are more likely to escalate in their level of blunt force than those rapists who do not exhibit these behaviors. The relevance of this type of predictive framework for law enforcement in its attempts to prioritize particular investigations is discussed.
The victim-choice polymorphia of 178 sexual aggressors divided into six subtypes, incest offenders, pseudoincest offenders, sexual aggressors of familiar children, sexual aggressors of unfamiliar children, sexual aggressors of familiar women, and sexual aggressors of unfamiliar women, was compared. Results showed that sex offenders remained stable in their choice of victim from one offence to another in terms of victim age, victim gender, and aggressor-victim relationship. Subjects characterised by high levels of polymorphia were pseudoincest offenders and sexual aggressors of familiar women, whereas sexual aggressors of both unfamiliar women and unfamiliar children were characterised by low levels of polymorphia. Recommendations regarding how to further refine sex offender typologies are discussed.
The amount of empirical research on men who commit sexual murders is scarce, and no distinction has been made between those who have victimized adults and those who have victimized children. Therefore, to better understand specifically sexual murderers of children (n = 11), comparisons were performed with a group of sexual murderers of adult women (n = 66) on developmental, precrime, crime, and postcrime factors. It appears that sexual murderers of children are more often victims of sexual abuse during childhood and present more often deviant sexual fantasies as compared to sexual murderers of women. The results show also that sexual murderers of children more often use pornography prior to crime, have contact with the victim prior to crime, and commit a crime more often characterized by premeditation, strangulation, the hiding of the body, and its dismemberment than the sexual murderers of women.
Delinquency in a Birth Cohort, published in 1972, was the first criminologi cal birth cohort study in the United States. Nils Christie, in Unge norske lovorertredere, had done the first such study as his dissertation at the University of Oslo in 1960. Professor Thorsten Sellin was the inspiration for the U.S. study. He could read Norwegian, and I could a little because I studied at the University of Oslo in my graduate years. Our interest in pursuing a birth cohort study in the United States was fostered by the encouragement of Saleem Shah who awarded us a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to begin our birth cohort studies at the University of Pennsylvania by investigating the delinquency of the 1945 cohort. We studied this group of 9,945 boys extensively through official criminal history and school records of their juvenile years. Subsequently, we followed up the cohort as adults using both adult arrest histories and an interview of a sample of the cohort. Our follow-up study was published as From Boy to Man, From Delinquen cy to Crime in 1987.
The latest study from the Kinsey Institute, to determine whether persons convicted of sex offenses differ from other individuals, and if so, how, is a truly herculean labor. In a volume of almost 900 pages, the authors record in exhaustive detail various facets (chiefly sexual) of the lives of 1,356 sex offenders, 477 control subjects, and 888 prison inmates convicted of nonsexual crimes. The study is limited to white men over 16.The amount of printed minutiae is monumental, numbing the eye and brain with the profusion of statistical data and tables. The following heading of one of the 167 tables exemplifies the excessive minuteness of inquiry: "Sexual Arousal From Pictures of Sexual Action by Sexual Arousal From Seeing or Thinking About Females for Control, Prison and Sex-Offender Groups with Female Objects." This table alone contains 208 separate percentage figures.The authors' subdivide sex offenders into 14 classes, including heterosexual
Purpose
Factors influencing crime location choices are not only significant to rape investigations, but they are especially important for geographic profiling. The purpose of the current study is to use temporal, hunting behavior, and modus operandi factors to determine those variables that influence the victim encounter and release locations in serial sexual crime.
Design/methodology/approach
Due to the possible correlated nature of serial rapes, the authors use generalized estimating equations (GEE) on a sample of 361 rapes committed by 72 serial sex offenders.
Findings
Results indicate that temporal factors, offender hunting behavior, and modus operandi strategies are significant predictors of both the victim encounter and release sites, but the importance of these factors varies depending on whether the location is in a residential land use area, a private site, inside location, or a site that is familiar to the offender.
Practical implications
Police can learn from the current findings and apply them to subsequent rapes within a series by recognizing the timing of the offense, the type of hunting pattern and attack method used in prior sexual crimes committed by the same offender, and modus operandi strategies, to determine the type of location where the rapist is likely to offend next.
Originality/value
This paper is the first attempt to predict factors related to both the encounter and the victim release site in serial rapes using GEE.
The present study examines consistency of crime behaviour among 347 sexual assaults committed by 69 serial sex offenders. This individual behaviour approach—the so-called signature approach—reveals which features of crime behaviour are consistent across a series and which features are not. The consistency scores were calculated using the Jaccard's coefficient. The results of this study indicate that there are some crime features of a serial sexual assault that can be useful for the purpose of linkage. Another important finding is that consistency scores for different variables within the same category can differ substantially. Moreover, serial sex offenders are more likely to be consistent in their environmental crime features when they are also consistent in their behavioural features, and vice versa. Serial sex offenders are also more likely to be consistent in the behavioural features of their assaults as the crime series gets longer. The implications of the results are discussed in relation to both research and practise
Crime linkage analysis constitutes a tool to help investigators prioritize suspects, but a scarcity of research and methodological issues limits our knowledge on behavioral consistency in sexual offenses. The current study identifies geographic and environmental factors that are useful in examining offending consistency across series of sexual assaults using different specialization coefficients. The current study draws on criminal career research and methodology as a way to improve the study of behavioral consistency. The sample includes 72 serial stranger sex offenders who have committed a total of 361 sexual assaults. Three methods are used (i.e., diversity index, forward specialization coefficient, and Jaccard’s coefficient) and reveal a high degree of offending consistency. All three methods also highlight promising factors to rely on for crime linkage of serial sexual offenses. Empirical and methodological implications for behavioral consistency research are discussed as well as practical implications for police investigations and crime linkage.
Using a computer-administered interview, self-reports of past criminal behavior were obtained from 99 institutionalized sex offenders. The sample contained both rapists and child molesters who had been mandated to receive specialized treatment. Offenders disclosed an enormous amount of undetected sexual aggression, a finding consistent with other self-report studies. Also striking was the high rate and variety of nonsex offenses. According to interview responses, nearly 20,000 nonsex crimes were committed during the year prior to institutionalization, with rapists contributing a disproportionate share. Still, child molesters, including those whose only known crime was incest, were very active in assault and property crime. The potential for utilizing sex offender self-reports in empirical research is discussed. Preliminary evidence of validity is presented.
Sexual offending is on the political agenda but there has been little research focus on the four offence categories-indecent assault against a female, indecent assault against a male, indecency between males and unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 16-which together comprise the vast majority of convictions for sexual offences in England and Wales. We consider the criminal record (1963-94 inclusive) of the 6,097 males convicted of one of these offences in 1973. The results are discussed in terms of criminality, heterogeneity, dangerousness and specialization. By recognizing two levels of analysis-general crime level and sex crime level-we argue that sex offenders can be both generalists and specialists; they may range widely across a spectrum of offences but still specialize within sexual offending.
The current investigation examined the predictability of adolescent sexual offenders' modus operandi based upon differences in victim, perpetrator, and offense characteristics. Questionnaires regarding modus operandi and history of victimization were completed by 179 male adolescent sexual offenders. Subgroups of perpetrators were delineated based upon their history of sexual abuse, as well as the gender, age, and relatedness of offenders' child victims. Results indicated that a history of sexual abuse was related to the selection of male victims and younger victims. Furthermore, subgroups of offenders differed significantly in the strategies they employed to build victims' trust, gain compliance with illicit sexual activity, and maintain victims' silence following the onset of sexual abuse. Implications are discussed for child sexual abuse theory and prevention, as well as for victim and offender treatment.
describe . . . the controversial findings of an eight-year longitudinal study of 561 male sexual assaulters who sought voluntary assessment and/or treatment for their paraphilic disorders (sexual assaults) at the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences in Memphis, and at the New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York City
incarceration versus nonincarceration / the reliability of self-report / recruiting sexual assaulters / assessment methods / demographic characteristics / age of onset of deviant sexual interest / deviant sex acts by specific category of paraphilia / age of target victims / gender of victims / assaultive versus nonassaultive behavior / incestuous versus nonincestuous behavior / rape as a paraphilia (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The specific focus of this publication is the replication effort to compare the juvenile delinquency careers of the males in the 1958 cohort with those of their 1945 predecessors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
"Male Criminal Activity from Childhood Through Youth" reports the results of a large longitudinal study between 1972 and 1985 on a sample of delinquents and a comparison sample of the male population in Montreal. What emerges from this extensive study is a clarification of the ways of describing criminal activity and a comprehensive theory of crime that integrates the offense, the offending, and the patterns of offending. Using a developmental approach, Drs. Le Blanc and Fréchette observed a gradation of crimes with subjects progressing through five distinct stages of offending. In all, the research investigates the factors that sustain the development of offending and the mechanisms that accelerate, stabilize, and decelerate the commission of crimes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
One of the most problematic aspects of predatory violent crime is the volume of tips and suspects generated through their investigation. Traditional police methods are not always sufficient and detectives need alternative tactics to assist them in these types of cases. Geographic profiling, a strategic information management system designed to support investigative efforts in cases of serial murder, rape and arson, is one such approach. Other topics discussed include: introduction; investigative difficulties; geographic profiling; and conclusion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Purpose . This study examined the proportion of sexual offenders in England and Wales who exhibited ‘crossover’ in their choice of victim, as defined by age, gender and relationship to the offender. It subsequently aimed to identify criminal and demographic variables predictive of crossover.
Method . The sample comprised 1,345 adult male sexual offenders. All had offended against multiple victims and had been discharged from custody in England and Wales between 1992 and 1996. Offence summaries within police records were used to collect victim details for each sexual conviction for each offender, and criminal conviction histories were obtained from the Offenders Index for the sample.
Results . A quarter of the sample (24.5%, n = 330) demonstrated crossover behaviour in regard to at least one of the victim dimensions examined (i.e. age, gender or relationship). Using the risk predictor Static‐99, these offenders were found to be significantly riskier than those who did not display crossover behaviour. Multinomial regression failed to identify reliable variables predictive of crossover.
Conclusions . The findings from this study are likely to represent an underestimate of the prevalence of crossover within sexual offenders in England and Wales. Reasons for this are discussed, and the implications of crossover for offender risk assessment, treatment, community supervision and policing practices are explored.
Research on sex offenders has mainly guided clinical practice for risk assessment and therapeutic intervention. However, the current scientific knowledge on these offenders and their crimes is, in many aspects, of great importance to criminal investigations. Consequently, there is a need to build bridges between investigative psychology and the research being conducted on sex offenders. Four areas of research on sex offenders that have clear implications to investigative psychology can be identified: (1) the consistency or ‘crime-switching’ patterns of sex offenders; (2) the recidivism patterns of different types of sex offenders; (3) the police response to specific victim characteristics; and (4) the A → C equation of sexual assaults. This paper argues for a need to establish a dialogue between these two fields of research so that knowledge about sex offenders keeps growing whilst being able to inform policing practices in investigative psychology. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
In the present study, geographic mobility exhibited by child sex offenders was examined. Geographic mobility was defined as the use of multiple locations to obtain repetitive sexual contact with the same victim. The sample consisted of 77 adult offenders convicted for having committed a sexual offence against a child, and who agreed to provide confidential self-report data concerning their offending behaviours. Based on a set of offence characteristics, offenders who used a single location were compared to offenders who used multiple locations for sexual contact. Results showed that offenders who used multiple locations are more likely to isolate the victim, use violence, involve the victim in several sexual episodes, abuse the victim for a period exceeding one year, and make the victim participate and perform sexual behaviours on them during sexual episodes. Examining more closely offenders who used multiple locations for abuse, three offence patterns were further identified (i.e., familial-low mobility offence, non familial-high mobility offence, and familial-high mobility offence). Going for a car ride was also found to be a common location/situation used in the familial-low mobility offence subgroup, while the use of outdoor locations on a regular basis was found to be rare in high mobility patterns subgroups.
A rational choice theory approach was used to analyze the offense behavior of serial sex offenders. Qualitative data were
obtained through the descriptions of the crimes provided by 69 serial sex offenders who were incarcerated in a Correctional
Service of Canada institution. Based on the offenders’ accounts, a descriptive model specific to the hunting process was identified.
This model contained the following nine phases: offender and victim routine activities, choice of hunting ground, victim selection,
method of approach, attack location choice, method to bring the victim to the crime site, crime location choice, method to
commit the crime, and the victim release location choice. The model is discussed according to existing research on serial
sex offenders and environmental criminology. Implications for clinical practice, crime prevention, offender profiling, and
future studies are discussed.
Crime-type switching between arrests is examined for tendencies by adult offenders to specialize in crime types or to escalate in seriousness as offending continues. The adult offenders examined display higher levels of specialization than have been previously reported for juveniles; among adult offenders, those who remain criminally active until older ages are also more specialized. Also, there is some evidence of trends toward a worsening of offending: for selected crime types, adult offending becomes more specialized and escalates in seriousness for white offenders. However, similar trends are not observed for black adult offenders.
Upon encountering victim resistance during the commission of a sexual assault, an offender makes a decision as to how to react to the resistance via the use of varying degrees of coercive or noncoercive tactics. Exhaustive chi-squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID) analyses were performed on a sample of 369 criminal events to detect the significant situational and crime-specific factors, the pertinent interactions between these factors, and how these affect an offender's reaction to victim resistance depending on whether the victim is a child or an adult. Findings show that multiple interactions do occur and, moreover, factors affecting the offender's reaction to victim resistance are very different depending on whether the victim is a child or an adult. Planning and preparation variables, such as the offender's attack strategy, were found to be significant in the child victim model, whereas reactive variables, such as the type of victim resistance, were found to be significant in the adult victim model. The findings lend support to the social interac-tionist perspective and the importance of victim-offender dynamics.
The plethysmographic measurement of erection responses to auiiotape descriptions of different types of sexual and aggressive activities with children was extended to a much larger sample of sexual child abusers than previously in vestigated in order to assess the usefulness of this evaluation procedure for differentiating between the most dangerous, physically harmful offenders and the more harmless, nonaggressive abusers. The study involved the assessment of 16 less dangerous and 15 more dangerous sexual offenders against children in response to audiotape descriptions of pregenital consenting fondling, consenting intercourse, physically pressured nonconsenting intercourse, aggressive intercourse, and purely physical assault with children. Results indicated that the more violent offenders responded significantly more to the aggressive cues than did the less dangerous abusers. Subjects' limited ability to suppress undesired deviant arousal did not substantially alter the data. There was a significant difference in the arousal levels achieved between 2 and 4 min of stimulus presentations, suggesting the need for longer than the 2 min of stimulus exposure usually afforded in physiological measurement studies of sexual offenders. Results of the study suggest the advantages of this classification procedure over more traditional, static and less objective methods but also indicate the great need for further research to establish the procedure's predictive validity and reliability.
The presence of a general construct of deviance had not been investigated in sex offenders in spite of the presumption of specialization that characterized them. Consequently, the aim of this study was to investigate whether sex offenders' criminal behavior could be explained by a general construct of deviance. A semi-structured interview was conducted with each subject in order to assess deviant behavior during the life course. The official criminal behavior of 388 convicted sex offenders was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis. The pattern of covariance observed showed that the onset, frequency, and variety of criminal activity in adulthood could be explained by a general construct of deviance in sexual aggressors. The results, however, also suggested that child molesters' frequency of sexual crime was not part of a general construct of deviance. In other words, the offending behavior of sexual aggressors of women was predominantly versatile, whereas that of sexual aggressors of children tended to be more specific, at least for one dimension of their criminal activity.
Offense specialization and versatility have been investigated in general offender populations, but have only recently been examined in sexual offenders. This study explored the extent of both tendencies in the criminal histories of 572 adult male sexual offenders referred for civil commitment. The specialization threshold and the diversity index were used to compare offender subgroups by referral status (committed versus observed) and offense type (rape, child molestation, and incest). Offense versatility was the more likely tendency across the sample. Committed and observed offenders did not differ. Although predominantly versatile, child molesters were significantly more likely than rapists to specialize in sexual offenses, and were also more likely to specialize in child molestation (compared to rapists specializing in rape). These results confirm previous findings on criminal versatility among sexual offenders. This adds to a growing body of research that questions universal and selective crime control policies designed exclusively for sexual offenders.
The impact of victim and offender preassault substance use on the outcomes of sexual assault incidents was analyzed. Nine hundred and seventy female sexual assault victims were identified from the first wave of a longitudinal study based on a convenience sampling strategy. Multivariate models showed that victim injury was more likely in assaults involving offender substance use (regardless of whether or not the victim was also using substances). Offender use of physical force and verbal threats were also related to greater odds of completed rape and injury, and force was associated with medical attention seeking. Based on this study, rape prevention programs should target men and focus on the role of substance use in sexual assault. These prevention programs should incorporate information on the roles of offender and victim substance use, offender aggression, and other situational factors in sexual assault outcomes. Study limitations and suggestions for future research on the role of victim and offender substance use in rape incidents are presented.
"Delinquency in a Birth Cohort is a turning point in criminological research in the United States," writes Norval Morris in his foreword. "What has been completely lacking until this book is an analysis of delinquency in a substantial cohort of youths, the cohort being defined other than by their contact with any part of the criminal justice system." This study of a birth cohort was not originally meant to be etiological or predictive. Yet the data bearing on this cohort of nearly ten thousand boys born in 1945 and living in Philadelphia gave rise to a model for prediction of delinquency, and thus to the possibility for more efficient planning of programs for intervention. It is expert research yielding significant applications and, though largely statistical, the analysis is accessible to readers without mathematical training. "No serious scholar of the methods of preventing and treating juvenile delinquency can properly ignore this book."âLeRoy L. Lamborn, Law Library Journal "The magnitude of [this] study is awesome. . . . It should be a useful guide for anyone interested in the intricacies of cohort analysis."âGary F. Jensen, American Journal of Sociology "A book the student of juvenile delinquency will find invaluable."âCriminologist
Printout. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1992. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-147). Available on microfilm from University Microfilms International.
The findings suggest prevention tactics that recognize the importance of structuring children's interaction with adults outside the family, rather than fostering informal or private contacts. The study found that offenders who used persuasion to involve their child victims in sexual activity were more likely to have a prior history of such offending, which suggests that this tactic has worked for them in the past and reduced the risk that their offense would be detected. In many cases, the same victim had been abused repeatedly. In some cases, keeping the victims silent about the abuse involved subtle, manipulative threats such as the withdrawal of love and abandonment. The study also found that offenders who abused older children were more likely to use persuasive rather than forceful tactics. This may mean that older victims, although initially resistant to sexual activity with the offender, may be more responsive to being treated as a sexual partner than are younger children. A third finding was that offenders who acted under the strong influence of deviant sexual fantasies were more likely to use persuasive tactics with their victims. Such offenders tended to have avoidant and dependent personalities, which not only explained their attraction to non-threatening children, but also explained their reluctance to behave aggressively. The study sample consisted of 226 adult males who had been convicted of a sexual offense against a child 13 years old or younger. Data were obtained from a 6-week assessment of risk level and treatment needs when admitted for incarceration in Canada between 1995 and 2000. Yes Yes
In this paper it is proposed that the behaviour of an offender during a sexual assault can be considered as consisting of three main groupings or 'aspects'. These have been termed 'Modus Operandi', 'Sexual and Personal Gratification' and 'Attitude and Intimacy'. Although an oversimplification, such a model facilitates a preliminary description of the offender which can be of direct assistance to an investigating officer. Various factors affect the consistency and variability of behaviour and the model has formed a basis for the development of a concept as to which behaviours might be the more useful for identifying linked offences. This more systematic approach to the investigative and intelligence processes is reliant on a victim's statement containing very detailed information about the offender's actions, together with a record of as much of his speech as can be recollected. The material required is described using the model and the text is illustrated with case examples. Instances are quoted of the possible inferences and their relevance to the investigation of sexual offences.
This paper tests hypotheses based on Garland and Dougher's (1990) formulation of the "victim to victimizer" relationship which is a social learning theory etiological approach to adolescent sexual offending.
Two hundred sixteen adolescent sexually victimized sexual offenders and 93 adolescent sexually victimized nonsexual offending delinquents from three Michigan sexual offender treatment facilities participated in an anonymous cross-sectional survey regarding their sexual victimization and offending as well as a social desirability measure.
When comparing the two groups, nonsexually offending delinquents and sexually offending delinquents, the latter were found to have: closer relationships with their perpetrators; a higher chance of having a male perpetrator(s); a longer duration of sexual victimization; more forceful sexual victimization; and the experience of penetration as part of their sexual victimization. Logistic regression showed that the gender of the perpetrators being both male and female and the forcefulness of the perpetrators were the best predictors of being in the sexual offender group.
The social learning theory hypotheses were generally supported. Further multivariate research on this theory is warranted.
Crossover sexual offenses are defined as those in which victims are from multiple age, gender, and relationship categories. This study investigates admissions of crossover sexual offending from sex offenders participating in treatment who received polygraph testing. For 223 incarcerated and 266 paroled sexual offenders, sexual offenses were recorded from criminal history records and admissions during treatment coupled with polygraph testing. The majority of incarcerated offenders admitted to sexually assaulting both children and adults from multiple relationship types. In addition, there was a substantial increase in offenders admitting to sexually assaulting victims from both genders. In a group of incarcerated offenders who sexually assaulted children, the majority of offenders admitted to sexually assaulting both relatives and nonrelatives, and there was a substantial increase in the offenders admitting to assaulting both male and female children. Although similar trends were observed for the sample of parolees, the rates were far less dramatic. Parolees appeared to have greater levels of denial, had participated in fewer treatment sessions, and perceived greater supervision restrictions as a result of admitting additional offenses. These findings support previous research indicating that many sexual offenders do not exclusively offend against a preferred victim type.
Official demographic and offense history data (n = 362) and confidential self-report data on paraphilic interests and behavior (n = 221) obtained on adult males convicted of sexual offenses against children were analyzed. Considerable criminal diversity was observed, with all standard categories of offenses represented in offenders' criminal histories. Most (86%) of the offenders' previous convictions were for nonsexual offenses, and most (92%) of the recidivist offenders had previously been convicted of at least one nonsexual offense. The prevalence of diagnosable paraphilias was low, with only 5% meeting formal diagnostic criteria for multiple (two or more) paraphilias other than pedophilia. Sexual offenders' paraphilic interests were unrelated to the extent of their sexual offense convictions but were significantly related to the extent of their nonsexual offense convictions. The results are better explained by a general theory of crime than by traditional clinical conceptions linking sexual offenses specifically with sexual psychopathology.
The behavioral-oriented interview of rape victims: The key to profiling Practical aspects of rape investiga-tion: A multidisciplinary approach Boca Raton
- R R Hazelwood
- A W Burgess
Hazelwood, R. R., & Burgess, A. W. (2009). The behavioral-oriented interview of rape victims: The key to profiling. In R. R. Hazelwood, & A. W. Burgess (Eds.). Practical aspects of rape investiga-tion: A multidisciplinary approach (4th ed.) (pp. 81–96). Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Sex offenders: Specialists, generalists, or both? A 32-year criminological study
- K Soothill
- B Francis
- B Sanderson
- E Ackerley
Soothill, K., Francis, B., Sanderson, B., & Ackerley, E. (2000). Sex offenders: Specialists, generalists, or both? A 32-year criminological study. British Journal of Criminology, 40, 56-67.
Analyse de la gravité des agressions sexuelles de femmes adultes et de ses déterminants
- M Ouimet
- J.-P Guay
- J Proulx
Ouimet, M., Guay, J.-P., & Proulx, J. (2000). Analyse de la gravité des agressions sexuelles de
femmes adultes et de ses déterminants. Revue Internationale de Criminologie et de Police
Technique et Scientifique, 2, 157-172.