Getting away with murder: a thematic approach to solved and unsolved sexual homicides using crime scene factors

Balemba, Samantha; Beauregard, Éric; Martineau, Melissa

doi:10.1080/15614263.2013.846548

Cited by 58 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…More recently Latent Cluster Analysis (LCA) has been used to analyse sexual homicide (e.g. see Balemba et al, 2014). LCA employs a probability-based method for cluster modelling, as distinct from the more 'traditional' cluster analysis (such as two-step clustering) that use a distance measurement.…”

Section: Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child homicide: generating victim and suspect risk profiles

Roach

Bryant

2015

Journal of Criminal Psychology

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Purpose -In England and Wales, on average one child every week is a victim of homicide. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether different victim risk profiles and suspect variables can be differentiated for specific victim ages.Design/methodology/approach -This paper presents a preliminary analysis of more than 1000 child homicides committed in England and Wales between 1996 and 2013, from data provided through the Homicide Index. Statistical techniques such as cluster analysis were used to identify specific victim risk profiles and to analyse suspect variables according to the age of victim. Findings -The findings present a clearer picture of the risk-age relationship in child homicide, whereby several specific risk profiles are identified for specific child ages, comprised of crime variables including; likely victim and suspect demographics, the most likely circumstances of the homicide and methods of killing. Using similar techniques, a number of tentative clusters of suspects implicated in child homicide are also described and analysed, with suggestions of further analysis that might prove of value.Originality and value -Although the statistical level of risk has been linked with the age of a child (with younger children being most vulnerable to killing by a parent or step-parent and older children most vulnerable to killing by acquaintances and strangers), extant research is yet to progress beyond the identification of broad age-risk categories. The paper concludes with a discussion of the likely implications for those charged with reducing and investigating child homicide and outlines the possibility of future research.

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Section: Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child homicide: generating victim and suspect risk profiles

Roach

Bryant

2015

Journal of Criminal Psychology

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“…To a certain extent, the sexual murderers' choice of weapon is determined by their offending motive, which could be to satiate their sadistic gratification through performing sadistic acts on their victim, or to kill to avoid detection (Greenall, ; Kerr, Beech, & Murphy, ; Lobato, ). Offenders with the latter motive are more likely to complete their offense with as little extraneous activity as possible and exert only the amount of violence required to kill their victim (Balemba, Beauregard, & Martineau, ). Hence, physical beating and strangulation of their victim are uncommon amongst this type of SHOs (Beauregard & Proulx, ).…”

Section: Weapons Used In Sexual Homicidesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Choice of Weapon or Weapon of Choice? Examining the Interactions between Victim Characteristics in Single‐victim Male Sexual Homicide Offenders

Chan

Beauregard

2014

Journal Invest Psychology

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As most studies report that the majority of sexual homicide offenders (SHOs) prefer to kill with their own hands, research has largely neglected to examine the choice of weapon by these offenders. The US Supplementary Homicide Reports show that although a large number of SHOs murder their victim using personal weapons (e.g. bare hands and manual or ligature strangulation), the majority use an alternative weapon (e.g. edged weapons, contact weapons, and firearms). The present study hypothesises that the choice of weapon is in part influenced by victim characteristics. To identify specific combinations and interactions between victim characteristics and the choice of a personal or edged weapon during the commission of a sexual homicide, a combination of exhaustive chi‐square automatic interaction detector and conjunctive analysis is used on a sample of 2,472 single‐victim male SHOs from a 36‐year period of Supplementary Homicide Report data (1976–2011). Findings show that SHOs choose their weapon according to some victim characteristics. Implications of the findings are discussed in light of police suspect prioritisation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…The angry type, corresponding to some extent with the FBI's disorganised type, were usually unplanned, and did not involve controlling victims or moving bodies. Three types of homicide offense patterns were identified in Canada by Balemba et al, (2014) using latent class analysis (LCA): sloppy/reckless (displaying a lack of planning and were likely to be apprehended by the police), violent/sadistic (displaying violence, torture and mutilation), and forensically aware (where the murder seemed instrumental in order to avoid police apprehension). Also using LCA analysis, Mjanes et al (2018) attempted to empirically test the organised-disorganised typology of the FBI.…”

Section: Typologies Of Sexual Homicidementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Question marks remain over whether findings from one country apply in another, and whether samples can be pooled into large international cohorts, to allow for more substantiated and generalisable findings, and more sophisticated analyses. For instance, only three previous studies (Balemba, Beauregard, & Martineau, 2014;Healey, Beauregard, Beech, & Vettor, 2016;Mjanes, Beauregard, & Martineau, 2018) have used statistically sophisticated methods such as Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to identify subtypes of sexual homicide. Unlike more traditional cluster analysis which is distance-based, LCA is a probability-based method with several statistical advantages, including improved ability to handle categorical data (Magidson & Vermunt, 2004) and improved clustering accuracy (Serban & Jiang, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The consistency of sexual homicide characteristics and typologies across countries: a comparison of Canadian and Scottish sexual homicides

Skott

Beauregard

Darjee

et al. 2019

Journal of Sexual Aggression

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Although similar subtypes of sexual homicide have been described crossnationally, no study has directly examined whether two samples from different jurisdictions are comparable. This study therefore aimed to examine whether any substantively meaningful subtypes of sexual homicide cases could be identified in each sample, and if so, whether these subtypes were similar across jurisdictions. Two samples of male sexual homicide offenders were compared: a Scottish sample (n = 89) and a Canadian sample (n = 150). Subtypes were identified in each sample using LCA, identifying a 3-class solution in each sample. Despite differences between samples on the bivariate level, two very similar subtypes (Controlled-Organized and Diverse) emerged in both samples. Despite differences at the bivariate level, the similarities at the multivariate level indicate similarities in underlying offence pathways which underpin heterogeneity in sexual homicide offenders. The similarities between the subtypes identified suggests potential universality of types of sexual homicides cross-nationally.

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Getting away with murder: a thematic approach to solved and unsolved sexual homicides using crime scene factors

Cited by 58 publications

References 18 publications

Child homicide: generating victim and suspect risk profiles

Child homicide: generating victim and suspect risk profiles

Choice of Weapon or Weapon of Choice? Examining the Interactions between Victim Characteristics in Single‐victim Male Sexual Homicide Offenders

The consistency of sexual homicide characteristics and typologies across countries: a comparison of Canadian and Scottish sexual homicides

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