Citation

Sturup J, Rodre S, Karlberg D, von Vogelsang E, Rying M, Caman S. Int. J. Offender Ther. Comp. Criminol. 2019; 63(9): 1557-1574.

Affiliation

2 National Board of Forensic Medicine, Huddinge, Sweden.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0306624X18786609

PMID

29998761

Abstract

To date, systematic studies of sexual homicides from Europe are scarce, in which none have been conducted in Sweden. This study aims to describe male-on-female sexual homicides in Sweden and differentiate from corresponding nonsexual homicides. Unsolved and solved sexual homicide ( n = 33) cases were identified in a database containing all homicides in Sweden between 1990 and 2013 ( N = 2,126), and subsequently data from forensic psychiatric evaluations were collected for convicted offenders. Male-on-female sexual homicides constituted 1.6% of all homicides and the clearance rate was 82%, which is comparable with the 83% overall clearance rate but took longer time to solve. Three factors differentiated sexual from nonsexual homicides: strangulation, younger age of the victim, and the absence of eyewitnesses. In solved cases, distance from the offender's home to the crime scene was strongly correlated with time to clearance. A majority of the offenders suffered from personality disorders, while other diagnoses were uncommon.

Language: en

Keywords

homicide; rape; sexual homicide; sexual offenders; violence