TY - JOUR
PY - 2016//
TI - A systematic review of the literature comparing male non-serial sexual killers and sexual aggressors: examining homogeneous and heterogeneous characteristics of these groups
JO - Journal of sexual aggression
A1 - Stefanska, E. B.
A1 - Beech, A. R.
A1 - Carter, A. J.
SP - 323
EP - 341
VL - 22
IS - 3
N2 - This systematic review considers what is known about the characteristics of sexual killers and sexual aggressors. The aim was to identify which characteristics have consistently been shown to be similar (homogeneous) and which are different (heterogeneous) across these two groups. Ten studies, including approximately 300 sexual killers, were analysed. Only studies where the samples were directly compared and where sexual killers were male, predominantly non-serial and perpetrated against adult female victims were included.
RESULTS indicate that levels of loneliness and anger appear to be more prevalent in the sexual killer sample while mental health disorders, criminal history, family structure and history of sexual abuse as well as some crime scene behaviours seem to be similar across the two groups. The results of this review have also highlighted some methodological problems inherent to these types of studies and these issues are discussed from the perspective of improving research on these crimes.