SAGE Journal Articles
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Beauregard, E., Stone, M. R., Proulx, J., & Michaud, P. (2008). Sexual murderers of children: Developmental, precrime, crime, and postcrime factors. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 52, 253-269.
Research article that examines the characteristics of those individuals who sexually murder children compared to those who sexually murder women.
Abstract
The amount of empirical research on men who commit sexual murders is scarce, and no distinction has been made between those who have victimized adults and those who have victimized children. Therefore, to better understand specifically sexual murderers of children (n = 11), comparisons were performed with a group of sexual murderers of adult women (n = 66) on developmental, precrime, crime, and postcrime factors. It appears that sexual murderers of children are more often victims of sexual abuse during childhood and present more often deviant sexual fantasies as compared to sexual murderers of women. The results show also that sexual murderers of children more often use pornography prior to crime, have contact with the victim prior to crime, and commit a crime more often characterized by premeditation, strangulation, the hiding of the body, and its dismemberment than the sexual murderers of women.
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Wright, K. A., Pratt, T. C., & DeLisi, M. (2008). Examining offending specialization in a sample of multiple homicide offenders. Homicide Studies, 12, 381-398.
Research article designed to discover in what significant ways serial and mass murderers differ from single or “regular” murderers.
Abstract
The American public’s fascination with multiple homicide offenders—individuals who seemingly transcend the heinousness of “regular” homicide offenders because of their multiple victims— has grown during the past few decades. Such growth has not, however, been matched by a proportional increase in serious scholarly attention concerning whether those who kill repeatedly are, or are not, “generally” deviant. As a way of moving beyond this problem, the current analysis builds on recent work concerning multiple homicide offenders to investigate the degree to which such offenders are, in fact, more specialized in their offending careers than are other homicide offenders. The implications for continued theoretical development and empirical research are discussed.