“Thanatological Crime”: Some Conceptual Notes on Offenses Against the Dead as a Neglected Form of Deviant Behavior

Death-Related Crime: Applying Bryant’s Conceptual Paradigm of Thanatological Crime to Serial Homicide

“…One researcher that has conducted an analysis of this topic is Bryant (2003). In his exposé on thanatological crime, Bryant (2003) developed a conceptual paradigm of death-related crime that consisted of four motivational categories and two patterns of victimization.…”

“…The resulting typology contained eight separate types of death-related crime, each of which included various criminal acts that fit within the categories. While Bryant (2003) conducted an extensive analysis of death-related crime in his original article and this topic was later revisited and further examples of death-related crime were provided by Bryant and Rothwell (2009), this area of research in crime and deviance has largely been neglected despite Bryant's (2003) call for other researchers to further explore this topic by extending his paradigm and/or applying the paradigm to various topical areas within the subject area of crime and deviance. This article answers Bryant's (2003) request by extending and applying the conceptual paradigm of thanatological crime to the phenomenon of serial homicide.…”

“…While Bryant (2003) conducted an extensive analysis of death-related crime in his original article and this topic was later revisited and further examples of death-related crime were provided by Bryant and Rothwell (2009), this area of research in crime and deviance has largely been neglected despite Bryant's (2003) call for other researchers to further explore this topic by extending his paradigm and/or applying the paradigm to various topical areas within the subject area of crime and deviance. This article answers Bryant's (2003) request by extending and applying the conceptual paradigm of thanatological crime to the phenomenon of serial homicide. More specifically, this article will be an examination of the post-mortem activities of serial homicide offenders, how these behavior fit into the current typology as developed by Bryant (2003) or could be included in an expanded typology as well as the frequency of these behaviors among the population of study supported by selected case studies to provide a qualitative analysis of the phenomenon at hand.…”

“…This article answers Bryant's (2003) request by extending and applying the conceptual paradigm of thanatological crime to the phenomenon of serial homicide. More specifically, this article will be an examination of the post-mortem activities of serial homicide offenders, how these behavior fit into the current typology as developed by Bryant (2003) or could be included in an expanded typology as well as the frequency of these behaviors among the population of study supported by selected case studies to provide a qualitative analysis of the phenomenon at hand.…”

“…The dead are also studied by sociologists. Researchers question not only how people die but also investigate the various sociodemographic correlates of these mortality factors to determine the variations in types and rates of death among various social groups and within different institutional settings (Bryant 1979;Durkheim 1951Durkheim [1897; Lee and Ousey 2007;Neckerman and Torche 2007;O'Brien and Stockard 2006;Simon 2002;Titterington 2006). Yet despite this plethora of research in the discipline of sociology on the subject of death, there is a paucity of inquiry within the area of crime and deviance on the topic of thanatological crime and deviance.…”