NCJ Number
220264
Date Published
2005
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This chapter reports on a study that examined the beliefs and attitudes of 28 sexual murderers in the United Kingdom and how they were linked to the murders.
Abstract
Seventy-one percent of the men had the belief and attitude that other people habitually behaved toward them in an abusive and rejecting manner in order to promote their own interests. This belief was linked to defensive/offensive behavior toward other people that is intended to achieve dominance and control that contains a punitive element. This belief system was the most common in the sample and was typically related to extreme episodes of violence and anger. Many of the sexual murderers retaliated against the individuals they believed had wronged them, or they selected someone else to be a target for venting their frustration and anger. Other beliefs held by the sexual murderers were that the male sex drive is uncontrollable (71 percent of the sample), that they are entitled to use their superior strength in relation to women as a means of having their sexual needs met (43 percent of the sample), and that women are props for meeting the sexual needs of men (32 percent of the sample). Five of the men believed that women deliberately mislead men and inflect psychological pain on them through rejection and humiliation. The belief systems of sexual murderers were similar to those of rapists who did not kill their victims. It may be that the difference in the outcomes of their sex offenses may be more related to situational circumstances than offender beliefs and attitudes. This study analyzed the transcripts of interviews with the 28 sexual murderers, all of whom were serving life sentences for a murder with a clear sexual element. 1 table