Among violent sexual offenders, often the only logic to their crimes is internal to the criminal, they alone know why they committed their crimes.
The sexual component of a crime is not always self-evident. The behavior may be blatant, or it may be so subtle that it escapes detection. Then again, some crimes may only seem to be sexually motivated.
Some people preferentially act out their desires with prepubescent children(pedophiles) teenagers(hebephiles) or the elderly(gerontophiles). Others select age mates as their victims and a few will sexually assault victims of any age.
Certain offenders commit exclusive homosexual crimes, others limit themselves to offenses against heterosexuals, and others are attracted to either gender.
Some sexual crimes involve only the sense of sight(voyeurism and exhibitionism) only the sense of hearing(telephone) or only the sense of touch(frotteurism). However, most offenders will employ all of the available senses. Many offenders are aroused by a victim's suffering(sadists) while others are excited by their own pain(Masochists). Then there are sadomasochists, who may be aroused in either way simultaneously or in separate incidents.
Highly ritualistic behavior marks some types of sexual crimes. While others are characteristized by impulsiveness at times. Strange mixes of both ritualism and spontaneity.
A victims torment may be heightened by extended captivity conversely, as in cases involving comatose patients, those under anesthesia or victims who have been given the date rape drug rohypenol, the target might be completely unaware of what is happening.
The rapist achieves his gratigfication, not from sexual release, but from the thrill of domination, control and power.
You might define fantasy as a mental rehearsal of a desired event. This mental rehearsal plays a center role in the enactment of sexual offenses. It serves as a kind of editing mechanism that allows the offender to focus on the details of the crime that are uniquely arousing to him.
A misperception is that sadists are aroused by the infliction of pain. In fact, what excites the sadist is the suffering of the victim. It is true that sexual sadists use physical and or psychological pain to produce suffering, but the suffering is the most important thing to them.
Sexual sadistic offenders habitually plan their crimes in much greater detail than do other criminals.
The larger a sexual offender fantasizes prior to committing his crimes, the more specific his desired victim's characteristics will be.
Subjects are divided into two categories impulsive and ritualistic terms for sexual criminals that are comparable to the organized/disorganized categories of sexual killers.
Impulsive Offender
This is not an intelligent criminal. He is apt to be dull witted and foolish and is least successful at evading identification and apprehension. He lacks discipline and self-control. he makes poor decisions and carries out his crimes in an unplanned, unsophisticated manner.
Ritualistic Offender
The ritualistic offender is a connoisseur of his crime. He is the thinking criminal. He spends enormous amounts of time in fantasy. Carefully working out the details before acting out the mechanics of his ritualized sexual offenses. This offender is not frequently encountered as the impulsive criminal, perhaps because he is more successful in evading detection. The ritualistic offender is cunning, methodical and usually invincible.
Rational
The relational component is whatever the offender fantasizes the relationship between himself and his victim to be: Paraphilic
One component of the ritualistic offenders fantasy world is its Paraphilic dimension. Paraphilic is the preferred mental health term for sexual deviation. The ritualistic offender will have Paraphilic fantasy and he will almost always express this deviance in his crimes.
Situational
An other facet of fantasy is the situational component. What circumstances or setting does this offender wish to realize?
Victim Demographics
Yet another component is victim demographics. As a result of the great amount of time he spends in fantasizing, this offender develops highly specific selection standards for his victims.
Self-Perceptional
The final area of fantasy is the self-perceptional component. How does the offender fantasize his role in the crime? The continuum here ranges from god like omnipotence to feelings of extreme inadequacy.
The offender is never fully inactive. He may not be acting out against a specific victim, but he will be making plans, selecting new targets, acting out against other victims or gathering materials. He is never dormant.
Thinking criminals are keen students of their own crimes, honing their skills with each offense, learning from their mistakes. But they also reach out for enlightenment wherever it may be found.
A sexual offenders narcissism can be demonstrated in may ways. Before the crime a narcisstic offender exhibits selfishness, self-centeredness and an inability to accept criticism, even constructive critics. During the crime the narcissistic criminal may engage in high risk activity. Even though otherwise an organized offender.
However, the period following a crime is when his narcissism often is most obvious one of the classic ways in which such an offender betrays his self-centeredness is by courting the media.
The crime scene is a central feature of a sexual criminals work product. For many offenders, the work is so valuable that they devise elaborate and occasional ingenious ways to preserve it.
The sexual sadist is a meticulous planner, spending inordinate amounts of time inside his own head. he may devote months or even years imagining his intended crime.
A non-sexual sadist gains pleasure from causing pain or discomfort usually in a social or work environment and most often to subordinates or perceived inferiors.
The two types of sexual offenders with the most characteristics in common are sexual sadists and pedophiles. Pedophile and child molester often are used interchangeably but they are different. Pedophile in psychiatric usage describes an individual who preferentially attracted sexually to a prepubescent child. However, a pedophile does not become a criminal until he molests a child. A child molester is a legal term used to describe any person who sexually molests a child. All child molesters are criminals and a pedophile who acts out against a child consequently is a child molester. The adult male criminal pedophile deliberately prays on children.
Here is how a pedophile and sexual sadist are alike:
1) Both are ritualistic sexual criminals. They have highly developed fantasy lives and carry out their crimes according to a script.
2) Both are highly motivated and they invest a great amount of time, money and energy to their criminal behavior.
3) Neither experiences remorse or guilt. The sexual sadist believes his victims deserve to suffer. The pedophile doesn?t believe he?s caused harm to the child.
4) Both are highly practiced at rationalizing their behavior and consequently are poorly motivated to change.
5)Both recognize that society abominates them, and they take steps to study their deviate desires and behaviors to better understand them and to evade arrest.
6) Both collect theme-oriented pornography and or erotica that serves to complement their preexisting fantasies.
7) They possess average or better intelligence and social skills. They mesh will in society. Friends and associates are surprised and supportive of them when they are identified.
8) Both are likely to commit incest with their natural children and will molest step-children or other minor relatives.
9) They record their criminal sexual acts. This provides them with a means of reliving an improving on their criminal acts.
10) Their rate of recidivism is much greater than for other sexual offenders. They tend to be model prisoners and consequently are released more quickly and having learned nothing from their punishment quickly begin practicing sexual deviance again.
11) Both are highly narcisstic
12) Both have a low threshold for sexual boredom and involve their victims in progressively offensive and demeaning behavior.
13)Most sexual criminals slow down with age. There is no known burn out age for these two offenders.
14) They have greater numbers of victims than other sexual offenders. Once these men began to act out criminally, they will assault until caught.
15) They are predominantly middle-class offenders.
More Information on Sexual Assault
Manipulation, domination, control. These are watchwords of sexual predators, be they stalkers, rapists, or killers.
Any sexual predator, before he's been in the business too long, has his own preferences and learns his own techniques. He knows how to locate and identify (profile) a the victim of preference. the victim of opportunity. He knows how to set inside that victim's head and create the effect he's looking for. Manipulation, domination, control of the victim, then manipulation, domination and control of law enforcement.
Sexual predators and child molesters do enjoy their crimes; in fact many of them do not even consider them crimes. They don't want to change
As we see with other serial rapists there would likely be have been some triggering events-precipitation stressors in the suspects life preceding most rapes.
Criminals tend to start out in area where their comfort level is the highest, which generally means close to home and or work. Criminals do learn from their mistakes.
Types of Rapist:
Power-Reassurance Rapist- Feels himself to be very inadequate, not the type with whom women would voluntarily become involved. He is looking for reassurance of his own power and potency.
This type has sometimes been referred to as the gentleman rapist or even classified as an unselfish rapist, in large part because his offenses, are usually less physically damaging to his victim than those of the other types of offenses. This type tends to be a loner who fantasizes that his victim is actually enjoying the experience and might even fall in love with him as a result. The reality of the rape can't live up to his fantasy instead of winning over his reluctant lover, he's terrorized, hurt and angered an innocent person, and most rapists of this type will admit that they don?t enjoy the sex with their victim's. The experience, then, will not satisfy his underlying obsession and he will have to try again with another woman. Victim's of choice are generally about the same age or younger and usually of the same race as the perpetrator. If he dates, the woman will be younger and less sophisticated then he; this is the only way he can feel equal. He gains control by surprise; he doesn?t have the self-confidence or skills to con his way into a victim's apartment smoothly an is more likely to break in in the middle of the night. he probably prefers the night and operates within his own residential or work area-in other words his comfort zone and usually travels to the crime scene on foot. He uses a weapon of opportunity, often something he finds at the crime scene, his patterns of crime are generally consistent, and the entire act, from the time he overpowers his victim until the time he leaves is relatively brief.
He might cover the victim's eyes or makes his own feathers both for the self-preservation motive of preventing identification as well as the possibility that he knows he should be ashamed of his actions. He is timid and will do whatever the victim allows him to do. He is apt to keep a journal, news clippings, or some other record of his assaults to reassure himself of his potency and for the same reason he may take souvenirs, often pieces of the victim's underwear. Afterward, he may feel guilty or remorseful. He will keep raping until he is caught or stopped in some other way such as being killed or seriously injured in another crime or unrelated incident.
He lives alone or with parents or in some other type of dependent relationship. His mother probably was or is domineering. He's employed below his ability level in a job that doesn?t require a lot of contact with the public.
While this is the least physically dangerous type of rapist. If he's successful over a series of attacks, his confidence can be boosted and he may become more physically aggressive.
The Explosive Rapist- Is a more impulsive predator. His crimes are more the result of seizing an opportunity that presents itself rather than of Obsession, John Douglas and Mark Olshanker. 113, 1988 Simon and Schuster Inc.fantasizing ahead of time about what the act is going to be like.
He is selfish-verbally, physically, and sexually. He man suffer some form of sexual dysfunction and if he does, it will be just as apparent with his wife, girlfriend, or any other consenting partner as it will be with a victim of force. Victims of preference will tend to be around his own age. He is on the prowl for a victim of opportunity. Once he has a woman in his control, his only real concern is getting her to submit to him sexually. Once he's forced her submission as far as he's concerned, the experience is over.
Anal assaults are common. Masks or attempts at disguising or hiding his face are uncommon with this type of offender. These will often be on interval between rapes- a day, month, 6 months until he once again goes on the hunt. This type will be very body conscious. he will want a macho reputation to be known as a man's man and therefore is likely to have some psychically oriented employment. He's very interested in sports. His vehicle will reflect that image as well. he does not take will to criticism or authority. He probably didn?t do well in high school or go on to college. If he is married, he will have a history of cheating on his wife and paying scant attention to his children when we look into the background of offenders like this, we often find that his father treated him mother the same way he treats women. This type is the most common.
The Anger Rapist- Also referred to as the anger-retaliatory rapist. His sexual assault is a displaced expression of range and anger within him. The victim represents the person or group of people, the offender hates. This could be a mother, a wife, girlfriend or even women in general. if the guy feels a grudge against them. This person's motivation doesn?t have to be rooted in an actual or legitimate wrong perpetrated against him. It would not be unusual for this type to have an ongoing relationship with a woman. This type will usually not kill his attacks will be episodic not at any predictable intervals, triggered by precipitating stressors involving the woman or women to whom his rage is actually directed.
In almost all cases, the displacement means that he will not attack that person. he may even attack someone else he knows, using weapons of opportunity such as kitchen knives or even his fists. Because he wants not just to overpower but to humiliate his target, there could be anal sex followed by oral sex, he will use a great deal of profanity and the context of the behavior will be intentionally to degrade such as ejaculating on the victim's face or clothing.
This type is far less common than either of the previous two, possibly as little as 5% of total rapists.
The Sadistic Rapist- In may ways the most dangerous sexual predator of all. The purpose of his attack is to live out his sadistic sexual fantasies on the unwilling victim. With this type sexual fantasy, and aggression merge, which is way he's also referred to as an anger-excitation rapist.
Aggression and sadistic fantasy feed on each other, so as the level of aggression rise, so does his level or arousal. He can be quite charming and seductive as he lures his intended prey into his web. he is completely self-centered. With this type we'll see various forms of mental and physical torture, and the physical torture may be directed particularly at sexually significant parts of the body such as mouth, breast, genitals, buttocks, and rectum. His weapon of choice is often a knife because it is so intimidating and causes mental anguish. He will often cut or tear off the victim's clothing.
Depending on his preferences, there me be a lot of sex, probably highly perverse in nature, or even none. He could prefer to penetrate with a sharp object rather than with his penis. His language will be commanding and degrading, but impersonal Often a victim of preference, symbolic to him in some way, be she old or young, white, black or Asian, slim or full figured black haired or blond redhead or brunette.
The sadistic rapist anticipates his crime, in fact has perfected his MO over his criminal career. As his fantasy evolves and he gains more experience with different victims, he will take more time planning for successive crimes. he brings his weapon with him and may have a torture kit made up ( including everything he needs to fulfill his fantasy). since his assault unfolds over a long time, he will have a place to which he can take his victim where he knows he will not be disturbed.
Because his satisfaction lies in tormenting and dominating his v victim, he may take photographs or record the scene as it is unfolding on either audio or video tape. For the same reason, he may also take souvenirs to help him relive the experience whenever he wants and demonstrate to himself that he owns the victim. These souvenirs might include, jewelry, items either of clothing or underwear or even body parts.
The attack will tend to be highly symbolic, the rapist has totally depersonalized his victim, he doesn't even think of her as a human being. This is the type of rape that most often ends in murder. He may continue to engage in activity with the body after death.
The sadistic type is usually while, with above-average intelligence and may be college educated with a good middle-class job. He will have a dominate personality and collect bondage and sadomasochist pornography. He may also collect related items such as knives, guns or Nazi memorabilia and or survivalist literature, military literature or law enforcement literature.
This is the least common type of rapist.
The biggest clue to what type of rapist we're dealing with is his behavior. Behavior reflects personality. In addition to the crime scene indicators, physical evidence and Victimology. With sexual assaults we often have a vital source of information that we don't get with other types of crime. A live victim who experienced the crime first hand and can tell us what was done and said. And not just the information people normally think of, but even more important behavioral clues the offender inadvertently provides during the commission of the crime. The are pieces that will leas us to his motivation-his obsession-which in turn will point to his overall typology and the personality traits and characteristics that commonly apply.
Our only real clue to the sex offender's motivation and personality is the way he conducts his crime. With sexual assault, the key area's we need to look at are the verbal, sexual and physical behaviors of the rapist.
The types of sexual acts and their sequencing provide insight into the rapist's motivation.
A power-reassurance rapist is more likely to kiss his victim, fondle her, shift position during vaginal penetration or perform cunnilingus as though to please her. An anger rapist more interested in punishing his victim may incorporate anal penetration, although, depending on how and when the assault occurs, his could also indicate another type of rapist's interest in experimentation. Forced oral sex after anal penetration, usually indicates an offender who wants to degrade or humiliate his victim. Anal sex may indicate that the rapist has spend some time in jail- particularly if the victim describes him as having a muscular, well-developed upper body. If an offender does grow violent in the course of a rape, it's important to know when. The motives of each can range from a need to punish his victim who may represent another person. the true focus of his anger.
A person with fantasies of dominating women may start out by collecting pornography depicting bondage or even draw restraints on models in lingerie ads. As his need to express his desires grows he may purchase rope-a completely nonsexual item to most people and masturbate as he holds it and imagine what he could do with it.
After the pornography phase, the next step may be for the subject to start following women home, fueling his fantasy with actual potential objects for his desire.
The offenders behavior before, during and after a sexual assault not only reveals his underlying motives and fantasies, but also provides a valuable clue to his intelligence.
If the aspect of his life that provides him greatest satisfaction is rape, and only gets satisfaction in rape by humiliating his victim, then he would be no more motivated to change the way he acts with his victim than we would be to stop assaulting women altogether.
The sexual predator commits his individual crimes in the way he does because it is what he must do to satisfy himself.
In 1983, a study conducted on 16 sexually sadistic offenders found that while on the core fantasy was fully developed by age 16, it took a number of years after that to be encapsulated into the crime that led to the first arrest.
Child Sexual Assault
Though many people fantasize about sex with children only a few become pedophiles, and even fewer actually go to the extreme of molesting prepubescent children. Dr. Nicholas A Groth divides molesters into two categories: those who are fixated on children as sexual partners, and those who temporarily regress into such behavior. The fixated molester, Groth suggests, not only prefers children as partners, but closely identifies with them.
Dr. Park Elliot Deitz and former FBI Special Agent Ken Lanning divide molesters into two different categories: Situational, people who molest children only in certain situations; and preferential those who always choose children.
With in the preferential category, Lanning has distinguished three major patterns of behavior that characterize the offender. The seduction pattern involves an adult who courts children by means of attention, such as offenders may repeatedly abuse children, but are less likely to kill them. The introverted pattern is that of a molester who lacks the interpersonal skills necessary to seduce children according to Lanning, and who hangs around play grounds. may expose himself to children, or make obscene phone calls to them.
The worst pattern is that of the sadistic child molester, who, in order to be aroused or gratified must inflict pain and suffering on the child. These molesters are the most likely to abduct and to murder.
The sadistic molester is usually over the age of 25 and never married. Because he has difficulty with sexual relations with peers, he is unlikely to marry. He lives alone or with his parents, and is unlikely to date. He identifies with and has an excessive interest in children and things related to them.
The sadistic preferential molester is likely to refer to children as clean, pure and innocent.
Virtually every child molester there has even been was an abused child, either physically, psychologically, emotionally or sexually.
Another pattern uncovered in the American Research, in the very dark cases of those who go so far as to kill children is the absence of remorse, these offenders do not accept what they have done is in any way morally reprehensible, because they felt compelled to commit the crimes. For this last reason there is really no effective treatment for such people
Source Information: Dark Dreams; Roy Hazelwood, Stephen G. Michaud. St. Martin Press. 2001
Source Information: Obsession, John Douglas and Mark Olshanker. 1998 Simon and Schuster Inc.
I have Lived In the Monster. Robert K. Ressler and Tom Shachtman. 1997. St. Martin Press.