Sexual Murder - Justicia Forense

In fact, West cited Wertham (1937) and agreed with his contention that manysuch offenders experience violence as a solution to a feeling of inner tensionand frustration; once the victim is killed, the aggression is turned inward ifthe inner emotion is not dissipated by the act of violence.Dorpat (1966) also studied murder–suicide in depressed men whohad been enmeshed in prolonged, tumultuous relationships with theirvictims. He concluded that many murderers who had committed suicideunder such circumstances entertained a fantasy that they would die andreunite with their deceased loved ones. Such a fantasy helps them achievea sense of control over a situation that they feel no control over — atheory similar to that espoused by Meloy (1992) years later in explainingsome catathymic homicides.In yet another study of murder–suicide, Berman (1979) examined agroup of offenders whom he labeled “erotic-aggressive.” These individualshad disturbed love relationships with long-standing “love–hate” patternsincluding repetitive separations and accusations of infidelity. He described aman who, after shooting his girlfriend three times in the head with a rifle,bent over and kissed her before committing suicide. This action illustratesthe obvious ambivalence he felt toward her, a feeling typical in many chroniccatathymic offenders.Rosenbaum (1990) found that individuals who murder and thenattempt to commit suicide are mostly (95%) men who have a clinicaldiagnosis of depression (about 75% of the time). This group was differentfrom a group of offenders who committed homicide but did not attemptor commit suicide in that the nonsuicidal offenders were not found to beclinically depressed. And, in the murder–suicide group, the most importantdistinguishing feature other than depression and gender was the presenceof pathological jealousy, likely stemming from deep underlying feelings ofsexual inadequacy. In fact, ideas of sexual infidelity also differentiateddepressed men who killed their partners from those who did not in a priorstudy by Rosenbaum and Bennett (1986).Harrer and Kofler-Westergren (1986) consider many cases of homicideor extreme violence by depressed individuals as displaced suicides. Manyof their subjects wanted to commit suicide, but, because of various circumstances,acted out in a violent — as opposed to a self-destructive — fashion.For instance, the authors report an interesting case of a 50-year-olddepressed woman who had thoughts of committing suicide by setting herhouse on fire, but instead only scratched her eyes out with her fingernailsbecause of intense guilt over incest with her son. The woman felt reliefafter the self-blinding, believing her incestuous acts would be forgiven.Harrer and Kofler-Westergren also find that “anxiety, inner tension, resentfulnessand latent aggression may lead to an undefinable need for discharge