Sexual Murder - Justicia Forense

the murderer 33% of the time when the victim was a woman, but only 3%of male victims were slain by wives or girlfriends. Victim and offender werestrangers in 13% of the cases, and the relationship was unknown in 42%.Since the majority of murderers and victims know each other well andassociate with each other frequently, it is not surprising that most homicidesare intraracial. Ninety-three percent of black murder victims wereslain by black offenders; 86% of white murder victims were slain by whiteoffenders. Since victims and offenders are closely connected, it is logicalthat arguments would trigger one third of the murders, since familiarityoften results in animosity. Other close victim–offender connections havebeen documented by the UCR over the years, including homicides as aresult of romantic triangles, parents killing children, children killed bybaby-sitters, and arguments between victims and offenders over moneyor property.The same statistics that show a close connection between victim andoffender in the U.S. have also been duplicated in research conducted indifferent countries and in different cultures. For example, Svalastoga (1956)studied 172 murders that occurred in Denmark. In this study 90% of thevictims were either relatives, friends, or acquaintances. The 52 female murderersin his sample rarely went outside the family to commit a homicide,and none had killed a stranger. Similarly, East (1950) found that only 6% of300 murderers who were judged to be insane, and only 16% of 200 murderersfound sane, killed strangers. The vast majority killed family, friends, andacquaintances. Bohannan (1960) found the same offender–victim relationshippattern in homicides among various African tribes.On the basis of his findings, Wolfgang (1958) ultimately concluded thatabout 26% of the victims appeared to precipitate their own death and didso not by subtle or covert signs but by some overt physical (usually aggressiveand provocative) behavior. He cited many examples to demonstrate his contention.A man who repeatedly beat and threatened his wife finally invitedher to stab him with a knife, and she did so. In another case, a man whorepetitively beat his wife handed her a knife and dared her to use it. She saidshe would if he hit her again. He slapped her in the face, and she stabbedhim to death. In still another case, an intoxicated man got into an argumentwith another man and brandished a knife. The other man displayed a gun,the victim dared him to shoot, and he did. Wolfgang (1969) concluded that,in these and many similar cases, the victims were (unconsciously) attemptingto commit suicide — a view also held by others (Ellenberger, 1955; Mac-Donald, 1986). More recently, the phenomenon of suicide-by-cop (whereina person seriously threatens a police officer, who then shoots him) is receivinga great deal of attention and is thought to involve similar (but perhaps notunconscious) suicidal dynamics (Pinizzotto and Davis, 1999).