Sexual Murder - Justicia Forense

Table 1.1Problems Encountered in the Study of Sexual Murder• No generally agreed upon definition.• Many seemingly sexual murders are not really sexually motivated.• Many sexual murders are not overtly sexual.• Distinction between a sexual homicide and a homicide associated with sexual behavioris often blurred.• No national crime statistics exist.• Practical impediments — such as incomplete and inaccurate background historiesand lack of interdisciplinary cooperation — are common.are a number of practical impediments to carrying out research with theseoffenders, such as incomplete and inaccurate background histories and thelack of interdisciplinary cooperation. Each of these obstacles, listed in Table1.1, makes sexual murder a crime that is not only difficult to understandbut also very difficult to study.1.1 The Problem of Definition and TermsIn the FBI’sUniform Crime Reports (UCR), which provides annual summariesof crime statistics, homicide is defined as the willful (nonnegligent) killingof one human being by another. Deaths caused by negligence, accidents,suicide, or justifiable homicides are not categorized as murder. Level of intent(as in the legal system’s classification of homicide into first-degree and second-degreemurder, manslaughter, etc.), also is not considered. The UCRdefinition, which is based on findings reported by police investigators, isreasonably clear-cut. It does not take into account an offender’s internal stateor such issues as blame or moral responsibility. These matters, which aredifficult to assess objectively, are left to lawyers, judges, mental health experts,and jurors.The definition of sexual homicide, on the other hand, is not at all clearcut.Sexual homicide is not defined by statute as are the illegal paraphilias(such as pedophilia) and other sex crimes (such as rape); and the Diagnosticand Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (in any of its editions) has neverdefined sexual homicide as a specific paraphilia. Moreover, inherent in thedefinition of sexual murder is the issue of intent, which adds to the definitionalproblems. For example, Ressler, Burgess, and Douglas (1988)define sexual homicide as “the killing of a person in the context of power,sexuality, and brutality” (p. 1). Almost all killings, however, involve somedegree of power and brutality. How do these characteristics distinguish asexual homicide from a nonsexual homicide? And what is the meaning of“sexuality” in this definition? Does it refer to actual sexual behavior? Torender the killing a sexual murder, must there be intercourse, attempted