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The Unusual Victim: Understanding the Specific Crime Processes and Motivations for Elderly Sexual Homicide
Author(s) -
Chopin Julien,
Beauregard Eric
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.14208
Subject(s) - homicide , typology , commission , poison control , psychology , criminology , injury prevention , suicide prevention , occupational safety and health , medicine , medical emergency , political science , geography , law , archaeology , pathology
Sexual homicides involving elderly victims are rare and unusual crimes, and research specifically focusing on these homicides is almost inexistent. The current study investigates the crime commission process as well as the motivations underlying elderly sexual homicides. The sample comes from the Sexual Homicide International Database (SHIelD) including sexual homicide cases from Canada and France. A total of 56 cases involving victims aged 65 years or more were compared with 513 cases involving victims aged between 16 and 45 years old. Bivariate analyses and two‐step cluster analysis are performed. Findings show major differences in the crime commission process of the two groups of offenders. We also identified a four‐cluster typology of elderly sexual homicide offenders based on their motivations (sexual, robber, sadistic, experimental). Although sexual homicides involving elderly victims are rare, these crimes are different, presenting specificities and should be studied as a group on its own.