Sadistic sexual aggressors and sexual murderers: Empirical and theoretical issues

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Sadistic sexual aggressors and sexual murderers
Empirical and theoretical issues

• Jean Proulx 1, 2
• Éric Beauregard 3
• E-mail jean.proulx_at_umontreal.ca
• Université de Montréal (School of Criminology,
  CICC)
• Institut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal
• University of South Florida (Department of
  Criminology)

2
Definition

• KRAFFT-EBING (1886)
• DSM-IV (APA, 1994)
• Sexual arousal pleasure
• Physical or psychological (humiliation) suffering
  of the victim
• Fantasies
• Behaviors

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Epidemiology

• Groth and Birnbaum (1979) 5
• Barbaree, Seto, Serin, Amos,
• and Preston (1994) 11.7
• Proulx, St-Yves, Guay,
• and Ouimet (1999) 18

4
Developmental factors(Brittain, 1970 Dietz et
al., 1990 Gratzer Bradford, 1995 Langevin et
al., 1985 MacCulloch et al., 1983 Warren et
al., 1996)

• Social isolation
• Low self-esteem
• Deviant sexual fantasies
• Sexually incompetent
• Paraphilias (voyeurism, exhibitionism, fetichism)
• Physically abused as a child

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Phallometric studies

• Sadistic offenders showed a sexual preference for
  rape stimuli
• Barbaree, Seto, Serin, Amos, Preston (1994)
• Fedora et al. (1992)
• Proulx (2001)
• Sadistic offenders did not show a sexual
  preference for rape stimuli
• Marshall, Kennedy, Yates (2002)
• Rice, Chaplin, Harris, Coutts (1994)
• Seto Kuban (1996)
• Langevin et al. (1985)

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Personality disorders

• Psychopath and narcissistic We consider the
  unemotional, cold tone of the offenders during
  their crime as evidence, if any more were needed,
  of their lack of empathy for their victims. This
  lack of empathy may reflect psychopathy,
  narcissism, and an extraordinary capacity to
  dehumanize victims, or a combination of these 
  (p. 175) (Dietz, Hazelwood, Warren, 1990).
• Avoidant and schizoid (Proulx, 2001).

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Precrime and situational factors (Dietz,
Hazelwood, Warren, 1990)

• Low self-esteem
• Deviant sexual fantasies
• Careful planning of the offense

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Limitations of studies on sadistic offenders

• Few empirical studies on sexual sadism
• Studies with small samples
• Biased samples (serial sexual murderers)
• Mixed samples (sexual aggressors of adult females
  or males, sexual aggressors of children)
• Standardized psychometric instruments rarely used

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Subjects

• MTC-R-3 Sadism Scale A
• 43 sadistic offenders
• 18 sexual murderers of women
• 25 sexual aggressors of women
• 98 nonsadistic offenders
• 22 sexual murderers of women
• 76 sexual aggressors of women

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Procedure

• Semi-structured interview
• Phallometric assessment
• MCMI-I
• DSM-IV, axis II

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Developmental factors (prior to 18 years of age)
Sadists Nonsadists
Psychologically abused (humiliation) 63 43
Physically abused 56 44
Sexually abused 35 25
Pornography 36 15
Compulsive masturbation 25 12
Deviant sexual fantasies 49 19
Low self esteem 46 28
Nightmares 25 10
Social isolation 53 35
Temper tantrums 48 26
plt.05 p lt .01 plt.001
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Criminal career
Sadists Nonsadists
Previous sexual charges 2.5 2.0
Previous violent charges 4.3 5.0
Previous property charges 5.0 3.8
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Phallometric assessment
Sadists Nonsadists
Humiliation rape index 1.7 .6
Physical rape index 1.7 .7
Nonsexual violence index .5 .5
p lt .01
14
MCMI-I scores gt 84
Sadists Nonsadists
Schizoid 44 15
Avoidant 33 19
Dependant 47 39
Narcissistic 10 11
Antisocial 7 7
Borderline 7 6
p lt .01
15
Precrime factors(48 hours before the crime)
Sadists Nonsadists
Conflicts with women 59 21
Anger 66 39
Sexual arousal 14 33
Deviant sexual fantasies 47 17
plt.05 p lt .01 plt.001
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References

• Brittain, R. P. (1970). The sadistic murderer.
  Medicine, Science and the Law, 10, 198-207.
• Dietz, P. E., Hazelwood, R., Warren, J. (1990).
  The sexually sadistic criminal and his offenses.
  Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry
  and the Law, 18, 163-178.
• Gratzer, T., Bradford, M. W. (1995). Offender
  and offense characteristics of sexual sadists A
  comparative study. Journal of Forensic Sciences,
  40, 450-455.
• Krafft-Ebing, R. (1886). Psychopathia Sexualis.
  (F.S. Klaf-traduction, 1965). New York Arcade.
• Langevin, R., Bain, J., Ben-Aron, M. K.,
  Coulthard, R., Day, D., Handy, L., Heasman, G.,
  Hucker, S. J., Purins, J. E., Roper, V., Russon,
  A. E., Webster, C. D., Wortzman, G. (1985).
  Sexual aggression Constructing a predictive
  equation. In R. Langevin (Ed.), Erotic
  preference, gender identity and aggression in
  men New research studies (pp. 39-76).
  Hillsdale, NJ Lawrence Erlbaum.
• MacCulloch, M. J., Snowden, P. R., Wood, P. J.
  W., Mills, H. E. (1983). Sadistic fantasy,
  sadistic behaviour and offending. British
  Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 20-29.
• Marshall, W. L., Kennedy, P., Yates, P. (2002).
  Issues concerning the reliability and validity
  of the diagnosis of sexual sadism applied in
  prison settings. Sexual Abuse A Journal of
  Research and treatment, 14, 301-311.
• Warren, J., Hazelwood, R., Dietz, P. (1996).
  The sexually sadistic serial killer. Journal of
  Forensic Sciences, 41, 970-974.