The aim of this study was to investigate specific pathways in the offending processes of nonserial sexual murderers and to examine possible relationships with different precrime, per-crime, and postcrime factors. Included in this study were 36 offenders who have committed at least one sexual murder against a female victim and they were classified using cluster analysis. Participants using the sadistic pathway planned their offenses and used physical restraints during the offenses. Furthermore, they mutilated and humiliated their victims. Finally, they hid the bodies of the victims. Participants using the anger pathway had not premeditated the homicide. Mutilation, humiliation, and physical restraints were less predominant with these participants than with those using the sadistic pathway. Moreover, these offenders were more likely to leave the bodies at the crime scenes after the killings occurred. These two profiles are compared with empirical studies addressing sexual homicide.

This study identified hunting process scripts in a sample of 361 serial sex crimes committed by 72 serial sex offenders, using multiple correspondence analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis. Three hunting process scripts that take into account both behavioral and geographic aspects of crime were identified. These three scripts included different tracks of the hunting process. The coercive script includes the home-intrusion rape track and the outdoor rape track. The manipulative script includes the sophisticated rape track and the family-infiltrator rape track. The nonpersuasive script includes only the direct action rape track. The theoretical relevance of these three scripts and their practical implications for crime prevention strategies and geographic profiling are discussed.

The aim of this study was to vefify whether static factors (criminal history, age, relationship status) and dynamic factors (deviance index based on phallometric data, score of psychometric testing) permit prediction of recidivism in sexual aggressors. Three types of recidivism (sexual, violent, criminal) were determined in 113 rapists and in 269 child molesters over an average follow-up of 64.5 months. The sexual reconviction rate was 21.2% in rapists and 13% in child molesters. Reconvicted rapists were younger and had more previous convictions than those who were not reconvicted, Compared with those who did not reoffend, the child molesters who were reconvicted for a sexual offense had higher pedophilic indices, had more previous sexual charges, were younger, more frequently had male victims, had more frequently extrafamilial victims, and a higher percentage of them were living alone. Psychometric data did not predict recidivism in either rapists or child molesters.