Sexual homicide is murder committed in tandem with either an overt sexual assault or sexually symbolic behavior. This type of murder carried out by youths is one of the rarest and most poorly understood crimes. How can young people carry out such horrific crimes? Do the offenders have anything in common? Do they show any warning signs? This book highlights groundbreaking research that begins to find the answers to these questions. Juvenile Sexual Homicide is the first book to take a comprehensive look at this specific type of crime and attempt to understand the young criminals involved. It is based on a 10-year study that evaluates a sample of juvenile sexual murderers and provides a revealing look at the psychopathology, personality, criminal, and behavioral characteristics of their offenses. Roger Blashfield, Mark Safarik, and Linda Monaco are contributing authors. Part I reviews the origins and framework of the research sample and provides a comprehensive overview of sexual homicide. Part II delves deeply into the criminal aspects of the sample study in relation to various mental disorders. Personal findings and psychopathy of the offenders are revealed in addition to the investigation into the role of anger in the crimes. Part III presents a more in-depth look at special issues and circumstances surrounding the juveniles and their crimes. The first in-depth study of juvenile sexual murderers A revealing look at the interaction between mental illness, personality function and crime characteristics

This book comprehensively discusses 13 infamous cases of serial and non-serial sexual homicide committed around the globe in the past four decades (1974–2010). Offering a psycho-criminological perspective, it analyzes the cases theoretically (i.e., contributing and precipitating factors, and offender typology) and considers the practical implications (i.e., investigative and crime-preventive measures, and social services). The first book to offer a glimpse of this topic from a global perspective, it adopts a unique approach—case background and critical analysis. As such it is a valuable source of reference for scholars, clinicians, and law enforcement practitioners wanting to gain a better understanding of this type of violent offender.

This book provides the first systematic overview of the theoretical, empirical, clinical, and police issues related to sexual murderers and murder. Bringing together leading researchers, theoreticians, and practitioners from across eight different countries, this is a truly international collaboration and an essential reference text for students, researchers, and professionals interested in sexual homicide, as well as an exhaustive source of guidelines for the assessment and treatment of sexual murderers. This book is divided into five parts: Part I, Theories and research, presents a detailed review of theoretical models and empirical studies of sexual homicide. Part II, Sexual sadism, discusses theoretical, empirical, and clinical considerations and reviews the literature on the characteristics of sadistic sexual aggressors. Part III, Clinical issues, discusses the assessment and management of sexual murderers at each phase of the judicial process: at trial, during incarceration, and during follow-up in the community. Part IV, Policing issues, discusses research and practical issues related to police activities surrounding a sexual murder. Topics include investigation, offender and geographical profiling, behavioural linkage, and police interrogation of the murderers. Part V, New directions, presents new directions for the study of sexual homicide and discusses the limits of current knowledge related to sexual murderers and their crimes. Offering a broad and comprehensive approach, this Handbook is an indispensable source of information on theory, research, clinical assessment, treatment, and police issues related to sexual murderers and murder.

The Routledge International Handbook of Juvenile Homicide is the definitive work on juvenile homicide. This volume provides an up-to-date, comprehensive, and in-depth exploration of what is known about juveniles involved in murder. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to juvenile homicide, this handbook brings together the leading experts in social sciences, mental health, and law from many countries. The volume covers the phenomenon of juvenile homicide from beginning to end, by addressing the questions “why do kids kill?” all the way to “how does society stop them from killing?”. The tough issues involved in sentencing youths who take the lives of others, often deliberately and in horrific ways, are confronted through chapters addressing the legal issues, child development factors, risk assessment, public attitudes, and ethical concerns. The volume brings together research specifically conducted for this volume, in addition to summaries and discussions of clinical and empirical findings. Each chapter ends with key takeaway points. Contributors include psychologists, psychiatrists, criminologists, sociologists, lawyers, economists, biologists, epidemiologists, and public health and public policy experts. Uniquely, they examine murder by juveniles across the globe. The volume includes research pertaining to the causes, correlates, and theoretical explanations of juvenile homicide offending. Moving beyond discussions of juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs) as a homogenous group, the volume includes research on specific types of JHOs and research investigating age and gender differences among JHOs. In addition, it draws attention to the empirical factors associated with juvenile homicide offending, effective treatment of JHOs, recidivism, and prevention of violent behavior. The volume also makes recommendations for policy and practice, including how to shift government policy from punishing lawbreakers to saving lives. This volume is essential reading for scholars and students researching youth violence/juvenile homicide across a variety of disciplines including criminology, criminal justice, law, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, social work, public health, and education. It is also an invaluable reference for mental health professionals, practitioners in the juvenile and criminal justice systems, policymakers, and government leaders.

This book offers a comprehensive understanding of sexual homicide. It includes a thorough survey of offender classifications, and analyses current theoretical explanations and understandings of sexual homicide from a criminological perspective. It proposes an important new integrated theoretical understanding of sexual homicide offenders.

Forensic psychologist and author Louis B. Schlesinger delves deep into the minds of sexual murderers. It is a place where few dare to tread, but a necessary journey if we are to understand the motivations behind their inconceivable actions. Culminating nearly 30 years of experience analyzing sexually motivated homicides, Sexual Murder: Catathymic a

Despite the fact that media bombard the public with the notion that sex offenders are everywhere-and could be just next door—official sources show that official sex offense rates have been steadily declining over the past 10 years. Yet, when a juvenile is accused of a sexually-based crime, media attention is swift and relentless. The truth about juvenile sex offenders is often, therefore, misunderstood. In many cases, such offenders are victims themselves. Here, Gibson and Vandiver reveal the truth about juvenile sex offenders and what can be done to help them and to prevent the cycle of abuse that leads to such tragic outcomes. This book sets the records straight about juvenile sex offending. It provides accurate, up-to-date statistics, real life cases, and information about offender characteristics, victim characteristics, family factors, social issues, media involvement, and other related areas. It offers explanations for juvenile sex offending from a variety of perspectives and reviews legal and criminal responses to the problem. Included are discussions of female offenders, punitive measures to prevent repeat offenses, and other steps the federal government and individual states are taking to address the problem. The authors conclude with advice on how to protect children from becoming victims and how to prevent sexual offending in the first place.

Homicide: Towards a Deeper Understanding offers an in-depth analysis into the phenomenon of homicide, examining different types of homicide and how these types have changed over time. Based on original analysis on Scottish data, this book draws upon an international body of research to contextualize the findings in a global setting, filling an important gap in the homicide literature pertaining to the relationship between trends in homicide and violence. Examining homicide from gendered as well as Gothic perspectives, this book also relates homicide to novel, critical theory. The book covers a thorough description of different types of homicide, including sexual homicide, and provides an explorative approach to the identification of homicide subtypes. The book also explores how these findings relate to current homicide theory, and proposes a new theoretical framework to gain a deeper understanding of this crime. The main argument of the book is that if homicide and its relationship to wider violence is to be fully understood, theoretically as well as empirically, this crime needs to be disaggregated in a way that reflects the underlying data. Overall, this book therefore fills an important gap in criminological literature, providing an in-depth understanding of one of the most serious violent crimes.

"This is a hopeful but complicated era for those with ambitions to reform the juvenile courts and youth-serving public institutions in the United States. As advocates plea for major reforms, many fear the public backlash in making dramatic changes. Choosing the Future for American Juvenile Justice provides a look at the recent trends in juvenile justice as well as suggestions for reforms and policy changes in the future. Edited by Franklin E. Zimring and David S. Tanenhaus, two of the leading scholars on juvenile justice, and with contributors who are among the key experts on each issue, this essential volume focuses on the most pressing issues of the day: the impact of neuroscience on our understanding of brain development and subsequent sentencing, the relationship of schools and the police, the issue of the school-to-prison pipeline, the impact of immigration, the privacy of juvenile records, and the need for national policies - including registration requirements - for juvenile sex offenders. Choosing the Future for American Juvenile Justice is not only a timely collection, based on the most current research. It is also a forward-thinking volume that anticipates the needs for substantive changes in juvenile justice, linking the key current tasks of reform with a sustained analyses of the political strategies and rhetorical appeals that can make change happen"--Unedited summary from book cover.

The Routledge Handbook of Homicide Studies comprehensively examines the topic of homicide from a diverse collection of perspectives and backgrounds. It brings together original contributions on homicide, with a focus on the broad range of impacts of homicide from a multitude of disciplines that evaluate and examine homicide in actual practice and theory. The editors have assembled a comprehensive collection highlighting the multifaceted causes and ramifications of homicide both across the United States and globally, with chapters exploring the current state of homicide, typologies of homicides offenders, causes and correlates of homicide, homicides and the criminal justice system, and a professional observations chapters authored by some of the leading practicing professionals in the world, many of whom have made pivotal contributions to the evaluation and investigation of homicide offenders and cases. Providing state-of-the-art scholarship on homicide in modern society, this handbook is a key collection and an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and practitioners engaged in the study of homicide across a diverse range of disciplines, including criminal justice and criminology, psychology, sociology, forensics, interdisciplinary departments, and sociolegal studies.