The Sexual Murderer ─ Offender Behaviour and Implications for Practice

Sexual homicide attracts a lot of attention both from academics and practitioners in the criminal justice system. In order to comprehend what leads some sex offenders to kill their victims, it is necessary to carefully examine their offending behaviours, as well as compare the sex offenders who kill with the sex offenders who do not.

This book provides an analytical review of the state of knowledge on the sexual murderer and his offense and presents new data that challenges some of the myths that surround this specific type of homicide. Drawing on data from both criminal justice agencies and from the offenders themselves (e.g., self-report, diagnostics, etc.), this book covers a range of contemporary issues such as developmental aspects; criminal careers; the role of fantasies, paraphilia, and personality; the context of the crime; the journey to sexual homicide; modus operandi and crime scene; typologies of sexual murderers; sex trade workers as victims; the avoidance police detection; and whether we can predict sexual homicide occurrence. Each chapter includes a section on the practical implications of the findings.

Eric Beauregard is Professor at the School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, Canada. Melissa Martineau is Manager of Behavioural Sciences Research & Development for theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police.