Forensic Psychology1 FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY LECTURE 6 Psychological Profiling of Homicidal Offenders

Forensic Psychology 2 Recommended Reading Schlesinger, L.B. (2000), Serial Offenders: Current Thought, Recent Findings. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.  Brittain, R.P. (1970). The sadistic murderer. Medicine, Science and Law. 10, 198 ‑ 207.  Meloy, J.R. (2000). The nature and dynamics of sexual homicide. Aggression and Violent Behaviour. 5, 1 ‑ 22.  Prentky, R.A. et al. (1989). The presumptive role of fantasy in serial sexual homicide. American Journal of Psychiatry. 146, 889 ‑ 891.  Ressler, R.K., Burgess, A.W. and Douglas, J.E. (1986). Sexual Killers and their victims: Identifying patterns through crime scene analysis. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 1, 288 ‑ 308.

Forensic Psychology 3 Recommended Reading  Satten, J. et al. (1960). Murder without apparent motive. American Journal of Psychiatry. 117, 48 ‑ 53.  Schlesinger, L.B. (1996). The catathymic crisis (1912 ‑ present): a review and clinical study. Aggression and Violent Behaviour. 1, 307 ‑ 316.  Schlesinger, L.B. Murder and Sex Murder: Psychopathology and Psychodynamics. Lethal Violence: A Sourcebook on Fatal, Domestic, Acquaintance and Stranger Violence (Chapter 14) Edited by Hall.  Warren, J.L, Hazelwood, R.R. and Dietz, P.E. (1996). The sexually sadistic serial killer. Journal of Forensic Sciences. 41, 970 ‑ 974.  Wertham, F. (1978). The catathymic crisis in LL. Ktash, S.B. Ktash and L.B. Schlesinger (Eds.) Violence: Perspectives on Murder and Aggression. San Francisco: Jossey ‑ Bass.

Forensic Psychology 4 Learning Outcomes  Consider the role of the victim in homicide.  Explain the historical background to the study of murder and describe the difficulties associated with defining “serial homicide”.  Describe characteristics that are associated with serial murderers.  Examine Motivational Models for Murder.

Forensic Psychology 5 Victimology Study of Victims as a Science Wolfgang (1958) – 588 murders in Philadelphia  94% of the same race  87% knew each other  82% male and less than 35  76% of victims were male  Stabbing most common method  66% of offenders has previous convictions  53/54% of offenders and victims were under the influence of alcohol (Meloy, 2000)

Forensic Psychology 6 Classification of Murder  Various classifications of murder have been offered by theorists in the forensic domain. Serial murder, mass murder, sexual murder, contract murder, etc.  There are many aspects to murder and the motivation of the perpetrator is not always understandable, particularly in bizarre murder cases.

Forensic Psychology 7 Classification of Murder  Sexual elements in homicide cases are not always always obvious, and may often be ignored by Law Enforcement agencies.  Problems in the identification of sexual murders may be as a result of the varying definitions of “serial murder” as well as the difficulty in associating covert sexual dynamics in serial murder cases.

Forensic Psychology 8 What Is Sexual Homicide?  Burgess, Hartman, Ressler, Douglas & McCormack (1986) - sexual homicide results when one person kills another in the context of power, control, sexuality and aggressive brutality.  Schlesinger (1999) “sexual homicide becomes serial when there are multiple victims involved, and multiple locations, following a “cooling off” period between the murders”.

Forensic Psychology 9 What Is Sexual Homicide?  Meloy (2000) “as the intentional killing of a person during which there is sexual behaviour by the perpetrator”.  FBI – “Serial homicide - the killing of several victims in 3 or more separate incidents over weeks or an extended period”

Forensic Psychology 10 Historical Examples of Serial Offenders  Jack the Ripper- Late 1800’s - killed prostitutes.  Albert Fish, New York, early 1900’s. Cannibalism.  DeSalvo – The Boston Strangler (1967) - killed 13 women during an 18-month period in the 1960’s.

Forensic Psychology 11 Characteristics of Serial Murderers – Kraft Ebbing (1886)  A male phenomenon  Sadistic acts tend to escalate  Lying and manipulation  Trophies and souvenirs  Ligatures  Victims are tortured  Sexual satisfaction in murder  Troubled relationship with the mother  Frequent use of Pornography  No overt signs of abnormality  Signature Aspects

Forensic Psychology 12 Elements of Serial Homicide Schlesinger (2000) proposes 3 elements to serial homicide 1. Sexual sadism 2. Intense fantasy 3. Compulsion to act out the fantasy Either of the factors can be dominant.

Forensic Psychology 13 Elements of Sexual Homicide  Brittain (1970) “rich, active fantasy life”  Prentky et al. (1989) - fantasy affects a “primary drive mechanism” that alters the thinking of the perpetrator when stressed.  Keppel (1997) - “Calling Card”  Repetitive behaviour at the crime scene, such as excessive stabbing, may be the acting out of the perpetrators' fantasies.

Forensic Psychology 14 Elements of Sexual Homicide  Why act out the behaviour? Ressler (1998) – Stress factors, frame of mind and planning.

Forensic Psychology 15 Motivational Models of Homicide Burgess, Hartman, Ressler, Douglas and McCormick (1986)  Ineffective Social Environment - Childhood  Influence of Formative Events -Trauma  Patterned Responses (Fantasy and Cognitive Mapping)  Action towards others  Feedback filter (internal mechanism for justifying actions)

Forensic Psychology 16 Motivational Spectrum of Homicide Revitch And Schlesinger (1989) – (See Handout)  Spectrum of Motivational Stimuli - Based on Clinical Experience rather than Empirical Research.  The Catathymic Crisis – Schlesinger (1996) – Article

Forensic Psychology 17 Motivational Spectrum of Homicide  Environmental  Situational  Impulsive  Catathymic  Compulsive

Forensic Psychology 18 Motivational Spectrum Organic, Toxic and paranoid cases are separate from the spectrum  External/Exogenous  Internal/Endogenous In environmental offences, external factors play a large role and exogenous stimulation is the stimulating factor, but endogenous stimulation is the main contributor to compulsive offences. All of the factors can have a mixture of endogenous and exogenous stimulation, depending on the position that the crime falls on in the spectrum.

Forensic Psychology 19 Motivational Spectrum Environmental (Sociogenic)  Crimes that occur as a result of social or environmental factors (Nazi Germany).  Experimental evidence – Aggressive Acts, Millgram study.  Modern day – contract murder.

Forensic Psychology 20 Motivational Spectrum Situational (most common type)  Accounts for 70% of Murders  Stress is common denominator.  Usually only happens once.  Reactions to stressful situations – i.e. Domestic murder

Forensic Psychology 21 Motivational Spectrum Impulsive  Spontaneous murders, perhaps due to a personality disorder - Poor impulse control  History of anti-social acts.  Tend to drift in and out of difficult situations – offences are diffuse and poorly structured.

Forensic Psychology 22 Motivational Spectrum Catathymic motivation on spectrum  Maier 1912( in accordance with emotions).  A psychological process disrupts logical thinking.  Thinking has changed –conflicts (issues) – psychodynamic process. Schlesinger (1996) – psychodynamic process frequently accompanied by disorganisation and characterised by an accumulation of tension released through a violent act.

Forensic Psychology 23 Catathymic Homicide Types  Acute – Sudden disintegration of personality Sudden Unprovoked murder without apparent motivation  Chronic – Incubation Period Violent act Violent act Relief following the act Relief following the act (Stalking Cases) (Stalking Cases)

Forensic Psychology 24 Motivational Spectrum Compulsive  Involvement of psychological factors rather than environmental sources.  Seek out victims and the crime is usually sexual in nature.  Proceeded by years of fantasy and a compulsion to commit the act.  Need for repetition.  William Heirens – “Catch me before I kill again!”

Forensic Psychology 25 Thoughts of Compulsive Sex Murderers  Hostility to Women  Preoccupation with maternal sexual conduct  Incestuous preoccupation (overt or covert)  Feelings of sexual inferiority and weakness  Need to “possess” the victim