NCJ Number
220259
Date Published
2005
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study of the factors involved in the escalation of a sexual assault to sexual murder focused on the offender's intentions and the characteristics of the circumstances that surrounded the assault.
Abstract
The study found that murder subsequent to sexual assault was not invariably the result of the assailant's initial intentions; but the circumstances surrounding the crime played a central role in determining the outcome of the sexual assault (death or survival). The multivariate analyses of the outcome and severity of sexual crimes found that alcohol consumption, the absence of a familial or intimate offender-victim relationship, and the use of a blunt object as a weapon were predictors of the escalation of sexual assault to sexual murder. In addition, pre-crime offender anger was apparently a predictor of fatal outcomes from a sexual assault, but it was unrelated to the severity of the sexual attack. In contrast, verbal and physical humiliation, as well as verbal and physical resistance, were significant predictors of attack severity, although they were unrelated to the ultimate outcome of the attack (i.e., death or survival). Data were obtained from the Correctional Service of Canada's Regional Reception Centre. Cases of sexual assault of children and homosexual sexual assaults were excluded from the study; however, cases of intrafamilial sexual assault of women were retained. The sample consisted of 191 men who had sexually assaulted, and in some cases murdered, one or more female victims who were at least 14 years old. A total of 289 sexual crimes were analyzed (246 sexual assaults and 43 sexual murders). 3 figures, 1 table, 1 case study, and appended description of independent variables