Sexual Murder - Justicia Forense

individual said, “After I kill, I am out of the zone and back to myself.” After atime, however, the inner tension builds again, and the urge to act out resurfaces;thus the repetitive nature of compulsive murderers’ actions.Some offenders describe “another personality taking over” in an attemptto explain — or concretize — the compulsion. These statements are sometimesthought to be an attempt to create a legal defense, such as multiplepersonality disorder or “irresistible impulse.” But compulsive offenders knowexactly what they are doing, and they can, to a large extent, control theiractions. They usually choose not to exercise restraint because they seek gratificationas well as relief from the building inner tension. Such a tension stateis totally different from the tension state found in individuals who commitcatathymic homicides. The catathymic offender is driven not by fantasy ora compulsion but by a change in thinking associated with a released sexualconflict. Catathymic homicides are rarely repeated, except when there is alsoan underlying compulsive aspect (as reported in Case 6.4).Meloy (2000) attempted to determine “the factors that contribute to thebehavioral acting out of the fantasy: the most important predictive data in sexualhomicide cases” (p. 9). He proposed a “structuring” of sexual fantasy that providesthe offender with “certain positive reinforcements prior to, or between hissexual homicides. … If a sexual homicide is committed this mechanism wouldreset, but the high arousal of the actual sexual violence would have less propensityto extinguish over time” (p. 9). Perhaps Meloy’s model explains the “reinforcing”quality of the compulsion once a homicide is committed.In addition to a behavioral component, a physiological ingredient is alsoquite likely in the compulsion to kill. In fact, a neurobiological substrate underlyingsexual murder was first theorized by Krafft-Ebing and was supportedyears later by MacLean (1962), who pointed to an anatomical interconnectionbetween sex and aggression. More recently, Miller (2000) has contended thatan abnormality in the temporal lobe–limbic mechanism is the foundation forthe “driven quality” of the compulsive murderer’s urge to kill: “He won’t stopand doesn’t want to, because nothing in life could possibly replace the thrill ofdominating and destroying another human being” (p. 158).The following case of a 16-year-old who prayed at bedtime not to wakeup so that he would not have to carry out his crimes clearly illustrates thestrength of his compulsion.Case 8.7: Overpowering Compulsion to KillA 16-year-old male (GG) was arrested for two murders, attempted murder,voyeuristic acts, and a series of burglaries. Because of the numerous burglarieswhich had occurred prior to the homicides, the police department had set upan investigative task force to apprehend the unknown offender. The investigators