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Homicide Studies

Sexual Homicide: Differentiating Crime Scene Actions

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Abstract:

Recent studies have focused on how previous thematic approaches can help explore the style of the offender, specifying the way each offender interacts with the victim. In the present study, it is hypothesized that there are thematic distinctions in sexual homicide, expressive and instrumental, which can be interpreted from the analysis of co-occurrence of crime scene actions. The case files of 40 convicted sexual homicide offenders were content analyzed using the Homicide Profiling Index (Salfati, 2005). Using a multidimensional methodology, Smallest Space Analysis, the present study showed that these crime scene actions could be successfully differentiated in terms of expressive and instrumental aggression. The expressive theme consisted of violent behaviors that centered on hurting the victim, whereas the instrumental theme consisted of behaviors that were more focused on the benefits the victim provided for the offender. In order to provide a basis for the types of behaviors that investigators can use for effectively differentiating...

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Necrophilia and Sexual Homicide

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Abstract

A closed case-file review of 211 sexual homicides identified 16 cases of necrophilia. The results of this unique descriptive study of necrophilia associated with sexual homicide provide information on crime-scene locations, methods of killing, body disposition, premortem sexual assault, specifics of the necrophilic acts, methods of victim abduction, and motivational dynamics. The findings suggest that the most common explanation for necrophilia—the offender’s desire to have an unresisting partner—may not always be applicable in cases where this rare paraphilia is connected to sexual murder. The possibility of using crime-scene behaviors in these cases to investigate serial sexual murders is offered.

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Elderly Female Serial Sexual Homicide: A Limited Empirical Test of Criminal Investigative Analysis

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Abstract:   The purpose of criminal investigative analysis is to assist law enforcement in identifying and apprehending violent offenders by discerning important suspect and crime scene characteristics. Criminal investigative analysis grew out of micro-level reviews of unusually violent crime cases. Lack of agreement as to what constitutes criminal investigative analysis has led some to view the process as more art than science. In an effort to clarify some of the issues, this study analyzed cases of serial sexual homicides of elderly women. Although the sexual homicide of elderly women is a small percentage of overall homicides in the United States, the study provided empirical evidence supporting use of criminal investigative analysis in solving these unusual cases. The study also revealed several points that merit further discussion: (1) Criminal investigative analysis is not simply impressionistic, but is based on practical and sound analysis by investigative analysts; (2) Elderly female sexual homicides illustrated an intra-racial offending pattern; and (3)...

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Have You Had a Homicidal Fantasy Today?

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Back in graduate school, Steve Lowry and I used to sit around on the campus mall discussing philosophical issues and visually overdosing on all the beautiful women walking by. At first glance, Steve and I appeared rather similar; we were both tall, long-haired, bell-bottomed white male graduate students in clinical psychology, we both loved to play the guitar, and we both enjoyed discussing topics like phenomenology and existentialism late into the night. But we actually came from radically different cultural backgrounds. Steve had grown up in an upper-middle-class suburb in Ohio and claimed he had never been in a fistfight in his life. Having grown up in a New York neighborhood with more than its fair share of lower-class Irish and Italian hooligans, I had a hard time believing him. There were periods during my childhood when I had a fight every day....

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Facing Rejection: New Relationships, Broken Relationships, Shame, And Stalking.

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Abstract

This study provides a preliminary examination of the relationship among shame-proneness, emotions, and persistent, unwanted courting or pursuit behaviour. A total of 222 undergraduates completed a questionnaire measuring responses to the termination of a relationship or the declining of a date. The Test of Self-Conscious Affect was used to measure shame. Although shame was unrelated to types of intrusive behaviour, individuals who engaged more repetitively in covert pursuit tended to ruminate more over their love interest than did those who rarely engaged in such behaviour. Rumination was positively correlated with shame. Self-harm behaviours and harm toward others were associated with feelings of sadness and depression, and those who engaged more often in harm toward others also reported feelings of anger and jealousy. Conclusions are made regarding the function of shame and other emotions in intrusive behaviour and their potential relevance to treatment of stalkers....

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A Comparison of Victim, Offender, and Event Characteristics of Alcohol- and Non-Alcohol-Related Homicides

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Abstract

The authors used narrative data from court and police records of homicides in Russia to compare alcohol- and non-alcohol-related incidents on victim, offender, and event characteristics. Binary logistic regression models were estimated for neither participant drinking, offender drinking, victim drinking, and both drinking. Consistent differences were found between alcohol- and non-alcohol-related homicides across the models. Alcohol-related homicides were significantly more likely to occur overnight, to occur on weekends, and to result from acute arguments and significantly less likely to occur between strangers, to be profit motivated or premeditated, and to be carried out to hide other crimes. No significant differences between the drinking and nondrinking samples were found for victim’s gender, primary weapon used, or event location. The authors place these findings into the literature on the situational context of crime and create a tentative typology of homicide events, grounded in the results of their inductive approach, based on alcohol use by homicide offenders and victims...

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Mental Disorders and Homicidal Behavior in Finland

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Abstract

Background:  Owing to the fact that Finnish police have been able to solve about 95% of all homicides during recent decades and because most homicide offenders are subjected to an intensive psychiatric evaluation, it was possible to examine data on 693 of 994 homicide offenders during an 8-year period.

Methods:  The prevalences of mental disorders of the homicide offenders were used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) for the statistical increase in risk associated with specific mental disorders.

Results:  The results indicate that schizophrenia increases the OR of homicidal violence by about 8-fold in men and 6.5-fold in women. Antisocial personality disorder increases the OR over 10-fold in men and over 50-fold in women. Affective disorders, anxiety disorders, dysthymia, and mental retardation did not elevate the OR to any significant extent (OR <5.0).

Conclusion:  Homicidal behavior in a country with a relatively low crime rate appears to...

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Patterns Of Intimate Partner Homicide Suicide In Later Life: Strategies For Prevention

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Intimate partner homicide suicide (IPHS) constitutes the most violent domestic abuse outcome, devastating individuals, families, neighborhoods and communities. This research used content analysis to analyze 225 murder suicide events (444 deaths) among dyads with at least one member 60 or older. Data were collected from newspaper articles, television news transcripts, police reports and obituaries published between 1999 and 2005. Findings suggest the most dangerous setting was the home and the majority of perpetrators were men. Firearms were most often employed in the violence. Relationship strife was present in some cases, but only slightly higher than the divorce rate for that age group. Illness was cited in just over half of the cases, but 30% of sick elderly couples had only a perpetrator who was ill. Evidence of suicide pacts and mercy killings were very rare and practitioners are encouraged to properly investigate these events. Suicidal men...

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An Examination of Souvenirs and Trophies in Serial Homicide

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Current literature focuses on the taking of souvenirs and trophies as a means to preserve an experience and prolong fantasy. Additional literature regarding previous models of serial homicide have mentioned that souvenirs and/or trophies have been taken, and in some a profile is given of an offender type, but it is difficult to find an empirical study that reports a thorough examination of both frequency and which items are taken and how these relate to other activities during the crime. This study aimed to determine how frequently souvenirs and trophies are being taken during cases of serial homicide. Secondly it aimed to identify which crime scene behaviors and previous criminal convictions co-occur with the taking of souvenirs and trophies. Smallest Space Analysis was used to determine if behaviors such as forensic awareness, sexual assault, theft, control, post-mortem activities, fantasy prolonging and planning behaviors as well as which offender characteristics co-occur...

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A Test of Two Typologies of Sexual Homicide

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Published typologies of sexual homicide lack theoretical grounding and empirical support. They also conceptualize the phenomenon of sexual homicide as somewhat discrete, though offenders are not typically specialists. Here, we propose a model that situates the phenomenon of sexual killing into broader categories of antisocial behavior, positing three types of perpetrators of serial sexual homicides: competitively disadvantaged, psychopathic, and sadistic offenders. Using biographical data of 82 serial sexual homicide offenders, we tested our model as well as the influential organized/disorganized model. Principal components analysis produced five components consisting of offender and offense characteristics, and cluster analysis revealed three distinct groups of perpetrators (sadistic offenders, competitively disadvantaged offenders, and slashers), as well as a fourth, heterogeneous group; this cluster solution, however, may be unstable. In summary, there is only mixed support for either model....

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Backspatter From Experimental Close-Range Shots To The Head. I. Macrobackspatter.

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Abstract

Backspatter is the ejection of biological material from a gunshot entrance wound against the line of fire. This phenomenon was investigated experimentally in transverse gunshots to the heads of calves (n = 9) using two types of 9 mm Parabellum ammunition from shooting distances of 0-10 cm. The resulting bloodstains were documented on white paper placed horizontally 60 cm below the impact site. In this report the analysis was restricted to stains with a diameter > 0.5 mm. Backspatter was documented after every gunshot. The number of stains varied from 31-324 per gunshot and appeared to be independent of the shooting distance. The maximum distance droplets travelled varied from 72-119 cm. The majority of droplets accumulated between 0 and 50 cm. The number of droplets and the distances travelled should be higher in man for anatomical reasons. The direction a single droplet can take comprises every possible angle between the most tangential ones to the skin surface. ...

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Multiple Homicides.

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A study of multiple homicides or multiple deaths involving a solitary incident of violence by another individual was performed on the case files of the Office of the Medical Examiner of Metropolitan Dade County in Miami, Florida, during 1983-1987. A total of 107 multiple homicides were studied: 88 double, 17 triple, one quadruple, and one quintuple. The 236 victims were analyzed regarding age, race, sex, cause of death, toxicologic data, perpetrator, locale of the incident, and reason for the incident. This article compares this type of slaying with other types of homicide including those perpetrated by serial killers. Suggestions for future research in this field are offered...

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Psychiatric Aspects Of Homicide

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Author Information

Homicide is a significant public health problem in the USA and a pervasive concern in other nations as well.This paper evaluates the past year's contributions to the psychiatric literature with special emphasis on etiological considerations. In particular, advances in predictive capability and the growing importance of biological factors are examined...

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Assault and Homicide Associated with Amphetamine Abuse

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The author describes the histories of 13 persons who committed homicide while intoxicated with amphetamines. In most of these cases, the events leading to the homicidal act were directly related to amphetamine-induced paranoid thinking, panic, emotional lability, or lowered impulse control. The most important variables associated with these cases included predisposing personality, environmental circumstances, and the use of other drugs....

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Elderly Female Serial Sexual Homicide

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Abstract

The purpose of criminal investigative analysis is to assist law enforcement in identifying and apprehending violent offenders by identifying important suspect and crime scene characteristcs. The genesis of criminal investigative analysis grew out of micro-level reviews of unusually violent crime cases. Although the descriptive terminology used to identify the process has changed over the years, the process of assessing violent criminal behavior has not. Lack of agreement as to what constitutes criminal investigative analysis has also led some to view the process as more art than science. In an effort to clarify some of these issues, an analysis of cases of serial sexual homicides of elderly women is conducted. Although the sexual homicide of elderly women represents a small percentage of overall homicides in the United States, the authors provide empirical evidence supporting the use of criminal investigative analysis in solving these unusual cases. The FBI regularly consults on various types of...

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