Sexual and Homicidal Offenders Flashcards
Sexual assault
3 levels based on severity:
simple sexual assault (max 10yrs)
sexual assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm (max 14yrs)
aggravated sexual assault (max life)
-Related to extent of injury
Rape Trauma Syndrome
Burgees and Holstrom 1974:
Used to describe after-effects of rape
Effects of rape divided into 2 phases:
Acute crisis phase (days to weeks): Severe fear, anxiety, depression. Questioning & self-blame
heightened levels of distrust and self-doubt
Long-term reactions phase (months to years): Development of phobias Sexual problems Depression Dramatic lifestyle change
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; APA, 1994)
Anxiety disorder that can develop in response to exposure to extremely traumatic event(s)
Symptoms include:
Frequent distressing, intrusive event memories
Avoiding stimuli associated with traumatic event
Negative alterations in cognitions and moods
Marked alterations in arousal and reactivity
Voyeurs
Someone who obtains sexual gratification by observing unsuspecting people, usually strangers, who are either naked, in process of undressing, or engaging in sexual activity
Exhibitionists
Someone who obtains sexual gratification by exposing genitals to strangers
Rapist
Someone who sexually assaults victims > 16 years
Pedophile
Someone whose primary sexual orientation is toward children
Child Molester: Definition and types/examples
Someone who has actually sexually molested a child
Intra-familial child molester (aka incest offender)
Extra-familial child molester
Definition of sexual assault
Any nonconsensual sexual act by either a male or female person to either a male or female person, regardless of the relationship between the people involved
Rapist Typologies
- ) Opportunistic
- ) Pervasively angry
- ) Sexual
- ) Sadistic
- ) Vindictive
Opportunistic Rapist
Commits sexual assault that is generally impulsive, void of sexual fantasy, controlled primarily by situational or contextual factors and void of gratuitous violence
Pervasively Angry Rapist
High level of anger that is directed towards men and women.
Impulsive, use unnecessary force, cause serious victim injury and be void of sexual fantasy
Sexual Rapist
Primarily motivated by sexual preoccupation or sexual fantasies
Sadistic Rapist
Must be a sadistic element to offence
Can be further subdivided into overt based on the presence or absence of gratuitous violence
Vindictive Rapist
In contrast to the pervasively angry type- anger is focused solely on women. Not impulsive, or preoccupied by sexual fantasies. Goal is to demean and degrade victim.
Groth’s proposed division of Rapists
Anger Rapist:
Uses more force than necessary to obtain compliance and engagement in a variety of sexual activities of sexual acts to degrade the victim
High levels of anger towards women- usually precipitated by conflict or received humiliation by a significant women in their life
Power Rapist:
Seeks to establish dominance and control over the victim
Not primarily motivated by sexual gratification
Sadistic Rapist:
Obtains sexual gratification by hurting the victim
Typologies of Child Molesters
Fixated Child Molesters:
Primary sexual orientation towards children starts in adolescence and is persistent
Male children prime targets
Emotionally immature- lack of social skills
Planned offences
No remorse
Regressed Child Molesters: Primary sexual orientation is for adults Sexual interest begins in adulthood and is episodic Female children and targets Impulsive offences Often married or having marital problems More often they feel remorseful
Atkinson’s proposed types of female offenders
Teacher/lover:
Target male adolescent that they relate to as peer, but they are in authority/power
Most cases the women claims to be “in love” and the victim reports they do not feel victimized
Male-coerced:
Forced by abusive male
Victim often her daughter
Passive partners in abuse
Male-accompanied:
Engage in abuse with male partner, willingly
Victims in and out of family
Predisposed: Initiates abuse alone Severe / persistent childhood abuse Often more violent and bizarre Report having deviant sexual fantasies
Adolescent Sexual Offenders
Adolescents commit:
20% of rapes
between 30-50% of child sexual abuse
Adolescent sex offenders have often experienced early sexual victimization
40 – 80%
Tend to sexually abuse young female victims, particularly
Theories of Sexual Aggression
Marshall and Barbaree (1990) developed an integrated model that encompasses:
biological factors
childhood experiences
E.g., childhood abuse, dysfunctional families
sociocultural influences
E.g., structure of society that reinforces aggression against women
situational events
E.g., earlier experiences with women
Rape also interpreted through evolutionary theory as a mating strategy
Based on natural selection to allow an otherwise inadequate male to transmit his genes to future generations
Men who can inseminate a large number of women through force have greater reproductive success than males who do not employ force
Does not explain homosexual and female-male rape
Types of Treatment for Sexual Offenders
Pharmacological:
Reduce sex drive
Antiandrogens that decrease or block testosterone
Antidepressants (reduce compulsivity)
Behavioural:
Attempt to reduce deviant sexual interest and/or increase non-deviant sexual interest
Aversion, masturbatory satiation, directed masturbation
Sexual Offenders: Treatment of cognitive-behavioural addresses-
Denial Minimizations Cognitive distortions Victim empathy Modifying deviant sexual interest Enhancing social skills Dealing with substance problems Developing relapse-prevention plans
First steps of Relapse-prevention
First 2 Steps:
- ) Identify emotional and situational factors that lead to either fantasizing about sexual abuse or committing abuse
- ) Develop plans to deal more appropriately with their problems and ways to avoid high risk situations
Sequence of events chart pg 395
NSOR
Requires sex offenders to register nationally within 15 days of release
Return annually to police to update
Min 10 yrs on list, max life
Not available to Canadian public
High rate of compliance results
Types of Homicide/sentencing
Canadian criminal law recognizes 4 types:
First-degree murder:
Mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years
Faint Hope Clause:
Single murder non-parole period reduced to 15 years
Second-degree murder: Min 4 years | Max life
Manslaughter
Infanticide- (max 5 years)
First-degree murder
Planned and deliberate. Murder of law enforcement or correctional staff member While committing/attempting to commit: hijacking an aircraft sexual assault sexual assault with a weapon aggravated sexual assault kidnapping forcible confinement or hostage taking
Second-degree murder
All murder which is not first degree
Manslaughter
Unintentional murder that occurs during the “heat of passion” or criminal negligence
Less serious offence than murder
Difference between levels of fault based on the mens rea:
No forethought / planning or without intent to kill
Voluntary
Sudden impulse
Involuntary
During commission of an unlawful act not ordinarily expected to result in great bodily harm
Types of manslaughter
Negligent
Vehicular
Corporate (UK) or Industrial (Australia)
Infanticide
Killing of a newly-born child (by its mother)
Type of homicide but excluded from murder
Added to Canadian Criminal Code in 1948
Understood as result of pregnancy or lactation
(max 5 years)
Bimodal Classification of Homicide
Reactive aggression:
Affective
Impulsive, unplanned, immediate, driven by negative emotions
Reactive (real or perceived)- in response to provocation
Instrumental aggression: calculated behaviour Predatory Proactive Premeditated, motivated by some goal( money, power, control, sadistic fantasies, gratification)
Filicide
Killing of children by their biological or step-parents Often suffer from diagnosable disorder Includes- Neonaticide: Killing a baby within 24 hours of birth
Infanticide:
Killing a baby within the first year of life
3 types of maternal filicide (Stanton & Simpson, 2002):
Neonaticides:
No hx of mental illness
Concealed pregnancy
‘Postpartum abortion’
Committed by Battering mothers:
Impulsive response to child
Social & family stress
Committed by Mental illness
Older
Older children
Psychosis or depression
Familicide
Killing of a spouse and children
Almost always committed by a man
Associated with a history of:
Partner violence
Child abuse
In 50% of cases, killer commits suicide (Wilson et al., 1995)
Non hostile and hostile types
Parricide
Killing of parents
Most often committed by youth who have been:
physically abused
witnessed spousal abuse
Often have accomplices
Spousal Homicide
Most common motive
Anger over estrangement from their partner
Sexual jealously about alleged infidelity
High rate of suicide following the killing of a wife by her husband (Crawford & Gartner, 1992)
Risk
as woman’s age
with age difference between partners (Shackelford & Mouzos, 2005)
following separation
Uxoricide-wife is killed- linked to the most common motive
Matricide-husband is killed
Multiple murder typologies and general classification info
Mass murderer:
4 or more victims in one location in one event with no cooling-off period
Serial murderer:
3 or more separate murders with cooling-off periods in between
Spree murderer:
2 or more victims in 2 or more locations, with no cooling-off period
Mass murderer criteria
Typically: Reclusive Few Friends Rarely have a criminal record 35-45 years old Build up anger and let frustration fester Warning signs evident Suicide following, or suicide by cop
Tend to occur in suburban or rural areas
School shootings: The shooter criteria
Shooter:
Sees themselves as extremely marginal in the social circles important to them
Suffers some form of mental illness that magnifies the impact of this marginality
Has access to cultural scripts, such as media violence linking manhood with public respect and violence
Doesn’t tend to exhibit earlier behavior problems, likely to evade radar of school and community surveillance systems
Has access to firearms
Serial Murderer Criteria
Typically:
White male
Operate alone
History of cruelty to animals
Obsessive interest in porn
Often has brain injury that impairs rational thinking
Average intelligence
Low SES, unsuccessful in work and education, well-meaning but maladjusted mom
Also frequently abused as a child (self-report)
Victimology of murdered
Tend to prefer: Prostitutes Runaways Young male drifters Itinerant farm workers Secondary preferences: Young women in and around a university or college Elderly and solitary
Common themes: vulnerability and easy availability
Serial Killer Profile- Forensic History
Triad- Bed wetting, animal torture, fire starting
Most have a criminal history:
87% were previously arrested
75% spent time in jail or prison
Many received prior psychiatric treatment
Many spent time in a forensic unit
6.3% killed prior to their serial killing
Typologies of Serial Murderers: name the types
Visionaries
Mission-orientated
Hedonistic
Power/control orientated
Visionary Serial murderer
Kills in response to voices or visions telling them to kill
Mission orientated serial murderer
targets individuals from a group that he or she considers undesirable
Hedonisitic serial murderer
Motivated by self gratification. Divided into 3 subtypes: lust, thrill comfort Lust Killers - sexual gratification Thrill Killers – feed off terror Comfort Killers – anticipated gains
Power/Control serial murderer
Not motivated by sexual gratification but by having absolute dominance over the victim
