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Abstract
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PURPOSE
There is a dearth of research on multiple perpetrator sexual homicide. This is an exploratory and descriptive study of the phenomenon in Australia and New Zealand over the last five decades.
Method
Cases where sexual homicides were committed by two or more offenders were identified from a legal database. Legal reports and media sources were used to generate case vignettes describing groups, victims, offenders and offences. Summary descriptive data is presented, and the roles of leadership, group composition and sexual sadism are examined.
Results
There were 23 groups of 62 offenders, who killed 50 victims. Fifteen groups were pairs and eight were three or more. There were some similarities to single perpetrator cases in the literature, but female perpetrators, male victims, multiple victims, ability to form relationships and sadistic behaviour were over-represented. Most groups had a dominant leader.
Conclusion
Leadership and group effects are key factors in most multiple perpetrator sexual homicides. Current models and typologies of sexual homicide need to be adapted to apply to this phenomenon. Sadistic behaviour in such cases is partly due to sexually sadistic leaders but partly due to the amplifying effect of group dynamics.
Language: en |