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The Sexually Sadistic Criminal and His Offences
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This is an uncontrolled, descriptive study of 30 sexually sadistic criminals. All were men, and all intentionally tortured their victims in order to arouse themselves. Their crimes often involved careful planning, the selection of strangers as victims, approaching the victim under a pretext, participation of a partner, beating victims, restraining victims and holding them captive, sexual bondage, anal rape, forced fellatio, vaginal rape, foreign object penetration, telling victims to speak particular words in a degrading manner, murder or serial killings (most often by strangulation), concealing victims' corpses, recording offenses, and keeping personal items belonging to victims.
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... The current study examines the pre, per, and post-crime phases of the crime-commission process involved in SH where items were taken from the victim or crime scene. Previous literature (e.g., Dietz et al., 1990;Ressler et al., 1988) has suggested that sadistic SHOs take souvenirs and trophies from their crimes, yet empirical literature is limited. This study aims to fill the gap within the literature on the behaviour of theft in SH to provide investigators with consistent and reliable information to develop investigative techniques for these offenders and their crimes. ...
... SH differs starkly from non-SH as the former includes sexual dynamics usually perpetuated through the offenders' elaborate fantasy lives (Schlesinger et al., 2010;Warren et al., 2013). Studies have found some SHOs to engage in keeping personal items from their victims, and this behaviour is not for monetary reasons but to serve the offender psychologically (e.g., Dietz et al., 1990;Holmes & Holmes, 2009;Ressler et al., 1988;Schlesinger et al., 2010;Warren et al., 2013). Items taken from the victim and crime scene by SHOs post-crime have been identified as souvenirs and trophies (e.g., Holmes & Holmes, 2009;Ressler et al., 1988). ...
... Ressler et al. (1988) emphasised trophies as symbolic of the offender's skill and control over the victim and did not mention them to have a sexual element. The study by Dietz et al. (1990) further claimed that the SHO keeps personal items as trophies symbolising the 'conquest' of the offender over the victim or as physical items that allow the offender to be in a reverie state with his sexual fantasies. Using the research by Dietz et al. (1990), we can see that both motivations (i.e., conquest and sexual arousal) appear as to why a SHO would take an item from the victim, which is classified as a trophy. ...
Although most people have heard the terms ‘souvenirs’, ‘trophies’, and ‘mementos’, discussed in books and movies on the true crimes of sexual murderers, limited research has delved into the phenomenon of theft in sexual homicide (SH). Using a sample of 762 SH cases coming from the Sexual Homicide International Database, the current study examines the crime‐commission process of the pre‐crime, crime, and post‐crime phases of sexual homicide offenders (SHOs) who engaged in theft during a SH. Additionally, this study seeks to determine if a specific type of SHO engages in this behaviour over others. Results from the sequential logistic regression indicate that victims who are 16 years or older, were strangers to the SHO, and were sex workers were more likely to be victims of theft. Additionally, results indicate that the presence of sadism made it more likely the SHO would engage in theft from the victim and/or crime scene. Findings suggest there is a group of SHOs who engage in theft not for monetary purposes but due to the paraphilia of the offender. These findings can inform the police investigation of these crimes.
... Sexual sadism represents the most extreme form of sexual violence, involving acts such as coercion, torture, humiliation, and the infliction of pain for sexual pleasure (Chopin & Beauregard, 2022a;Dietz et al., 1990;Longpré, Guay, et al., 2018;Nitschke et al., 2013). The ability to identify whether a sexual crime against a child involves sexual sadism is crucial from not only an intervention standpoint but also for public safety. ...
... On the other end, the preferential CMs are involved in specific or focused criminal behavior, consume specific types of pornographic materials, they are more compulsive, they engage in ritualized behaviors, are driven by fantasy, and are more consumed by their needs rather than the risk of the offense. The latter subtype shares several over-lapping characteristics with traditional profiles of the sadistic offender, particularly in relation to fantasy driven as well as ritualized behavior (Dietz et al., 1990;Longpré et al., 2019;Nitschke et al., 2013;Ressler et al., 1988). ...
... This is similar to Chopin and Beauregard's (2019) Intentional/Preteen class of sexual homicide which was characterized by sexual sadism and a high prevalence of alcohol and drug use. The presence of alcohol consumption problems is a commonly observed characteristic of sexual sadists in most studies (e.g., Dietz et al., 1990;Hazelwood et al., 1992;Meloy, 2000). ...
... This approach, represented by works like those of Arndt, Hietpas, and Kim (2004), Burgess, Prentky, Burgess, Douglas, and Ressler (1994), Hickey (2016), Rossmo (2000) and Vincent, Williams, Huff-Corzine, and Corzine (2022), is underscored by the perception that the number of victims directly correlates with the magnitude of societal threat posed by these offenders. Factors such as the killer's motivation (Holmes & Holmes, 1998;Ressler, Burgess, Douglas, Hartman, & D'Agostino, 1986), premeditation (Adjorlolo & Chan, 2014;Brantley & Kosky, 2005;Dietz, Hazelwood, & Warren, 1990), and victimology (Godwin, 2008;Quinet, 2011;Rossmo, 2000) have been analyzed to assess the variance in victim count across different serial killers. Factors such as time, location, premeditation, arousal, cognitive state (Stefanska & Tehan, 2022) as well as victim selection patterns have been used to explain the variance in time intervals between homicides and are thought to have implications on behavioral consistency and change (Sorochinski, Salfati, Libretti and Gupta, 2023). ...
... Perpetrators of premeditated and contemplative homicides are more prone to becoming chronic offenders (DeLisi et al., 2017). Additionally, research suggests that a substantial proportion of sadistic serial offenders engaged in meticulous planning of their homicides (Dietz et al., 1990). The literature emphasizes that planning constituted a fundamental characteristic of many serial murderers and a critical component of their success (Adjorlolo & Chan, 2014;Brantley & Kosky, 2005;Harbort & Mokros, 2001;McNamara & Morton, 2004). ...
Purpose: This study addresses the complex task of determining the criminal intensity posed by serial killers in a murder series by introducing the Lambda (− rate of killings) to adjust for the time span in a murder series. It focuses on examining factors related to the offender and the crime-commission process that influence victim count in a series. Methods: Generalized estimating equations with a negative binomial and a gamma log link function were used to examine factors predicting victim count in a sample of 1258 serial murder cases. Results: Results showed that offender criminal history did not predict higher levels of Lambda when assessing victim count alone, but did predict a lower value when series length was accounted for. Killing methods were also significant predictors of a higher Lambda but were less useful when only number of victims was considered. Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of the rate of killings along with total victim count for a more comprehensive understanding of the series' criminal intensity. This approach has implications for law enforcement and criminal profiling as it offers a more detailed perspective on the immediate threat posed by serial killers.
... To be classified as a sadistic sexually motivated homicide, features of sexual sadism need to have been documented, such as sexual torture at the time of the murder. This study followed research by Dietz et al. (1990) from the National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crime describing those who were sexually sadistic and the types of offences and crime scene characteristics in this type of homicide. Gratzer and Bradford (1995) found a history of parental infidelity International Journal of Risk and Recovery, 6(1) Bradford & Levin or divorce, childhood sexual abuse, vaginal penetration, and insertion of a foreign object were more common in non-sadistic sexually motivated homicides compared with those classified as sadistic. ...
... Characteristics of the previous behaviour documented in the criminal record may include reports of psychiatric treatment. Third-party information is critical to establish offender characteristics associated with sadistic sexually motivated homicide versus non-sadistic sexually motivated homicide (Dietz et al., 1990;Gratzer & Bradford, 1995). ...
The assessment of individuals charged with a sexual offence has evolved over many years and has become more specialized. The most comprehensive evaluation is available in specialized centres for assessing and treating sexual deviations. Sexually motivated homicide is an extremely rare event. Empirical studies have provided evidence-based characteristics of those who commit sexual homicide and the nature of sexual homicide offences, particularly in the last 10 years. This has assisted in defining whether a sexually motivated homicide has occurred. It can also be incorporated into sexual behaviour evaluations when factors associated with a sexually motivated homicide may be recognized before the person acts out violently. This paper reviews evidence-based research on sexual homicides and how this is used to classify whether a homicide is sexually motivated. Risk factors associated with sexually motivated homicides are reviewed.
... Over 30% of offenders had elevated scores on the measure and 70% of perpetrators used excessive physical violence in the commissions of their offense. Several other similarities to previous studies on child SHOs were also found, including the presence of deviant sexual fantasies prior to the offense, the use of restraints, strangulation/asphyxiation, and the hiding of the victim's body Beauregard & Proulx, 2002;Darjee & Baron, 2018;Dietz et al., 1990;Page et al., 2022;Spehr et al., 2010;Stefanska et al., 2015). The finding that child SHOs more commonly used strangulation/asphyxiation as method of killing may indicate a heightened preference for a close and intimate homicide or alternatively reflect the opportunistic nature of these crimes and child victims being less likely to have a physically strong build (Eichinger & Darjee, 2021;Kim et al., 2023). ...
The present study examined distinctions between child (n = 30) and adult (n = 212) sexual homicide offenders (SHOs) in Australia and New Zealand, contributing to the limited international research on the subject. Data, primarily sourced from judges' sentencing comments on AustLII and New Zealand Legal Information Institute, revealed significant differences. Child SHOs displayed elevated rates of pedophilia, sexual deviance, and adverse childhood experiences, including sexual abuse. They were more likely to be married, cohabitate, and target familial victims. Their crimes were more often committed during daylight and outdoors, involving tactics such as victim conning, restraints, strangulation, and hiding victim's bodies. No significant group differences emerged regarding offenders' psychopathy or sexual sadism scores. Results were interpreted in line with child SHOs' deviant sexual preferences and the routine activity theory. The study, as the first investigating child sexual homicides in Australia and New Zealand, sets the foundation for an evidence‐based approach to policy and practice.
... Therefore, our findings suggest that the increased prevalence of paraphilic behaviors in persons scoring higher on psychopathic traits might not necessarily be the result of impaired inhibitory control 54 . One reason for the absent effect might be that paraphilic behavior require some sort of planning 55 , and corroborates with the idea that psychopathic personality is not per definition associated with impulsivity 26 . Paraphilic engagement may also include more affective features of psychopathic personality, instead of those more impulsive-antisocial, as previously shown by Robertson and Knight 22 . ...
Maladaptive personality traits, such as ‘dark personalities’ are found to result in a diverse set of negative outcomes, including paraphilic interests and associated (illegal) behaviors. It is however unclear how these are exactly related, and if related, if then only those individuals higher on dark personality traits and higher impulsivity engage in paraphilic behaviors. In the current study, 50 participants were recruited to investigate the relationship between Dark Tetrad personality traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism and everyday sadism), paraphilic interests (arousal and behavior) and the moderating role of impulsivity. Personality and paraphilic interests were investigated through self-report questionnaires. Impulsivity was measured both through self-reported dysfunctional impulsivity and the P3 event related potential using electroencephalography during the Go/No-Go task (i.e. response inhibition). The results showed that there was a positive association between psychopathy, sadism and paraphilic interests. Whereas everyday sadism was associated with paraphilic (self-reported) arousal, psychopathy was associated with paraphilic behavior. Although P3 amplitude was not associated with paraphilic interests, self-reported dysfunctional impulsivity was associated with paraphilic behavior specifically. However, there was no moderating role of dysfunctional impulsivity and response inhibition (P3) in the relationship between psychopathy and paraphilic behavior. Findings indicate that the relation between specific dark personalities and paraphilic interests may be more complex than initially thought. Nevertheless, risk assessment and intervention approaches for paraphilia and related behavior both may benefit from incorporating Dark Tetrad and impulsivity measurements.
... As an illustration, a study by Chan, Beauregard, and Myers (2015) has shown that serial sexual homicide offenders were more likely than the single offenders to report deviant sexual fantasies, having selected victims with distinctive characteristics, to have targeted strangers, structured premeditation and/or verbal humiliation of their victims during the offenses. The notion of heterogeneity in sexual sadism among sexual homicide offenders is supportive of prior research (Chopin & Beauregard, 2023;Dietz et al., 1990;Reale et al., 2017). ...
Exploring a specific type of sexual violence committed by a specific type of sexual offender, namely adult male on adult female stranger sexual violence, this book provides readers with an enhanced understanding of both the offences being committed and the offenders who commit them.
Notre perception des individus ayant recours aux pratiques sexuelles sadiques a longtemps été influencée par la médiatisation d’infractions sexuelles particulièrement graves, généralement des homicides sexuels sadiques. En effet, la plupart des gens associent le sadisme sexuel à des noms de meurtriers sexuels en série tels que Ted Bundy ou Guy Georges. Toutefois, le profil psychologique et les comportements de ces individus ne sont absolument pas représentatifs du profil des individus qui, dans la population générale, pratiquent les activités sexuelles sadiques dans un cadre consensuel. Au-delà des individus pratiquant des activités sexuelles sadiques, les résultats scientifiques (ex. : enquête populationnelle), mais aussi certains succès de la culture populaire (ex. : livres), mettent en évidence que ce qui pouvait paraître autrefois comme étant stigmatisés et « déviants » l’a peut-être été de manière injustifiée en raison de l’engouement populaire que cette thématique peut susciter. Avec plus de 125 millions d’exemplaires imprimées et électroniques vendus dans le monde en 2015, la trilogie de romans érotiques Fifty Shades of Grey (Cinquante nuances de gris) de E.L. James, qui met en avant les pratiques sexuelles impliquant plusieurs déclinaisons du sadisme, de la servitude et de l’initiation à la soumission sexuelle, est en soi un marqueur intéressant des possibles nuances de sadisme au sein de la population générale. Dans cet entretien avec Jean-Pierre Bouchard, Jonathan James, Alexandre Gauthier, Étienne Garant, Ingrid Ménard et Tamsin Higgs dressent l’état des lieux de cet état du sadisme sexuel, que cela soit notamment en termes de pratiques sexuelles consentantes ou en termes d’intérêt sexuels coercitif sadique. // Our perception of individuals who engage in sadistic sexual practices has long been influenced by media coverage of highly severe sexual offenses, typically sadistic sexual homicides. Indeed, most people associate sexual sadism with the names of serial sexual murderers such as Ted Bundy or Guy Georges. However, the psychological profile and behaviors of these individuals are in no way representative of the profile of individuals in the general population who practice sadistic sexual activities in a consensual context. In addition from what seems to be a growing number of individuals engaging in consensual sadistic sexual activities, scientific findings (e.g.: population surveys) and certain popular culture successes (e.g.: books) reflect that what have been stigmatized and “deviant” in the past may have been unjustifiably labeled as such. The tremendous success of E. L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy of erotic novels, which showcases initiation into sexual practices involving several declinations of sadism, bondage and sexual submission, supports this argument. With over 125 million print and electronic copies sold worldwide in 2015, it is in itself an interesting marker of an interest towards sexual sadism within the general population. In this interview with Jean-Pierre Bouchard, Jonathan James, Alexandre Gauthier, Étienne Garant, Ingrid Ménard and Tamsin Higgs present the current state of knowledge on sexual sadism, both in terms of consensual sadistic sexual practices as well as the engagement in coercive and illegal sadistic sexual behaviors.
The psychiatric literature suggests that paraphiliacs can be expected to participate in only one type of deviant sexual behavior. Using self-reports gathered with assured confidentiality from 561 nonincarcerated paraphiliacs, we discovered that most paraphiliacs have had significant experience with as many as ten different types of deviant sexual behavior without regard, in many cases, to gender, age, and familial relationship of the victim. The relevance of these findings to our understanding of paraphiliacs and their treatment is discussed.
THE WIDESPREAD concern over the apparently increasing crime rate needs no documentation. The extent of criminal behavior may be suggested by the following quotation from the 1967 report entitled The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society of the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice. "In the United States today, one boy in six is referred to the juvenile court. A Commission survey shows that in 1965 more than two million Americans were received in prisons or juvenile training schools, or placed on probation." The report estimates that the annual cost of crime in the United States is about 21 billion dollars, of which about 4.2 billion dollars are for public expenditures such as police, courts, and prisons.
The role of psychiatry in understanding and modifying this extensive and costly criminal behavior is not clear and is a subject of controversy. Since 1959, the senior author
Rape is a subject more apt to provoke emotion or cynicism than careful research. However, John Macdonald, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado and psychiatrist to the district courts of Colorado, has done a great deal of research and presented it in this interesting volume. He has interviewed rapists and their victims, has reviewed the literature, and evaluated the available statistics.He discusses the many circumstances under which rape may occur and gives verbatim accounts of the experiences of the girls and sometimes of their attackers. Incidentally, not all the victims can be called girls. He mentions one case of rape of an 85-year-old woman. He shows that in some instances victims provoked the attack or at least contributed to it by their unwise behavior. In other instances they were purely innocent victims. They were of all races, the majority single but some married, most of lower
The origins of detective magazines can be traced to 17th and 18th century crime pamphlets and to 19th century periodicals that Lombroso called "really criminal newspapers." Content analysis of current detective magazines shows that their covers juxtapose erotic images with images of violence, bondage, and domination; that their articles provide lurid descriptions of murder, rape, and torture; and that they publish advertisements for weapons, burglary and car theft tools, false identification, and sexual aids. Six case histories of sexual sadists illustrate the use of these magazines as a source of fantasy material. We postulate that detective magazines may contribute to the development of sexual sadism, facilitate sadistic fantasies, and serve as training manuals and equipment catalogs for criminals. We recommend that detective magazines be considered during policy debates about media violence and pornography.
This paper explores the genesis of sadistic behaviour in men and its relationship to crime. Sixteen male special hospital patients, each with a diagnosis of psychopathic disorder, formed the basis of this descriptive study. In only three cases were the crimes explicable in terms of external circumstances and personality traits. The offences of the remaining 13 cases became comprehensible only when the offender's internal circumstances were explored: investigation revealed repetitive sadistic masturbatory fantasies which had spilled over into overt behaviour because the patients had felt impelled to seek and create increasingly dangerous in vivo 'try-outs' of their fantasies. The paper discusses the crucial link between sadistic fantasy and behaviour.