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Ritual and Signature in Serial Sexual Homicide

February 13, 2019August 3, 2017 by admin

Since the early case studies of sexual murder by von Krafft-Ebing, offenders have been reported to engage in various crime scene behaviors that are unnecessary in the commission of the homicide. For example, several of the individuals von Krafft-Ebing cited not only killed their victims, but filled their mouths with dirt, pulled their hairpins out, pressed their hands together, subjected them to humiliation and torture, and often took something from them of little value. Authors of other early publications found similar behavior in sexual murderers. Many investigators concluded that these seemingly unnecessary activities (i.e., unnecessary for successfully accomplishing the crime) served a psychological purpose. The offender needed to engage in such actions to feel sexually gratified killing the victim was not sufficient.

Such crime scene behaviors, which more often than not are repetitive, have been found to be an outgrowth of the perpetrator’s deviant sexual sies, wherein the murder and the repetitive acts are parts of the offender’s sexual-arousal pattern.

Ritual and Signature in Serial Sexual Homicide Louis B. Schlesinger, Martin Kassen, V.

December 17, 2018August 28, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Ritual and signature are fantasy-driven, repetitive crime scene behaviors that have been found to occur in serial sexual homicide. Notwithstanding numerous anecdotal case reports, ritual and signature have rarely been studied empirically. In a national sample of 38 offenders and their 162 victims, we examined behavioral and thematic consistency, as well as the evolution and uniqueness of these crime scene actions. The notion that serial sexual murderers engage in the same rituals and leave unique signatures at every scene was not supported by our data. In fact, the results suggest that the crime scene conduct of this group of offenders is fairly complex and varied. Implications of these findings for forensic assessments and criminal investigations are discussed.

Since the early case studies of sexual murder by von Krafft-Ebing,1 offenders have been reported to engage in various crime scene behaviors that are unnecessary in the commission of...