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Rapid-Sequence Serial Sexual Homicides.

Louis B Schlesinger1, Stephanie Ramirez2, Brittany Tusa2

  • 1Dr. Schlesinger is Professor of Forensic Psychology, Ms. Ramirez and Ms. Tusa are graduate students, and Dr. Erdberg is a visiting scholar, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, Department of Psychology, New York, NY. Dr. Jarvis is Chief Criminologist, FBI Behavioral Science Unit, Quantico, VA. LBSchlesinger@AOL.com.

The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
|March 9, 2017
PubMed
Summary

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This summary is machine-generated.

Not all serial sexual murderers kill methodically over long periods. Our study found 43.2% commit rapid-sequence homicides, challenging traditional views on offender behavior and public safety assessments.

Area of Science:

  • Forensic Psychology
  • Criminology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Serial sexual murderers are often characterized as methodical offenders who create significant time gaps between crimes to evade law enforcement.
  • This traditional view may not encompass the full spectrum of offender temporal patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify and describe a subgroup of serial sexual murderers who commit offenses in rapid sequences.
  • To challenge the prevailing notion that all serial sexual homicides involve extended intervals between murders.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of temporal patterns in homicides committed by a national sample of 44 serial sexual murderers.
  • Categorization of offenders based on the time intervals between their offenses.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • A significant subgroup of 19 offenders (43.2%) committed homicides in rapid-sequence fashion (fewer than 14 days between some or all murders).
  • Six offenders (13.6%) engaged in spree-like killings with murders days apart or on the same day.
  • Thirteen offenders (29.5%) exhibited rapid-sequence clusters within longer intervals between offenses.

Conclusions:

  • The findings reveal a previously underidentified subgroup of rapid-sequence serial sexual offenders.
  • These results necessitate accelerated forensic assessments of dangerousness and public safety upon detection of a sexual murder.
  • Understanding the temporal dynamics of these offenders may benefit from examining psychiatric disorders with rapid symptom patterns, such as atypical mania or mood dysregulation.