A Global Casebook of Sexual Homicide

252 Pages·2019·3.53 MB·English

by  Heng Choon (Oliver) Chan

Heng Choon (Oliver) Chan
A Global
Casebook
of Sexual
Homicide
A Global Casebook of Sexual Homicide
“AGlobal Casebook of Sexual Homicideis agoldmine for academicscholars and practitioners.
Thismonographiswell-written,skillfullyorganized,comprehensive,andmeticulouslyreferenced
byaleadingresearcherinthefield.ProfessorChanhasdoneamasterfuljobofsynthesizingthe
factsandissuesonthisfrequentlymisunderstoodtopic.Hebeginsbydiscussingtheprevalenceof
thistypeofhomicideandtheproblemsinitsdetectionbylawenforcement.Dr.Chandiscussesthe
evolvingdefinitionsofthiscrime,includinghisown,whichincorporatesandfinetunestheothers.
ProfessorChanthensummarizesexistingresearchonthecharacteristicsofsexualmurderersand
their offending patterns. This book is unique in that Dr. Chan uses cases of sexual homicide
offenders(SHOs)toillustratethekillingprocessandtoproposetheoreticalexplanationsfortheir
homicidal behavior. Readers will benefit greatly from reading the clinical chapters as each is
organized in the same way, which facilitates understanding and comparisons among sexual
murderers.TheSHOsselectedforillustration,however,differinmanyways:typeofvictimkilled,
numberofvictimskilled,methodofkilling,andcountryoforigin.Afterreadingthese13portraits,
thereaderisfarmoreattunedtothecomplexityofthisphenomenon.ProfessorChanconcludesby
discussing how SHOsdiffer from sexual offenders who do not kill andcalls for more research.
Averynicefeatureofthisbookisthateachchapterincludesasummaryatitsconclusion.This
bookiseverythingthatisneededtohelpaseriousresearcheroraspiringgraduatestudenttograsp
thecontoursofthisphenomenonandtopushthescientificstudyofsexualhomicidetothenext
levelofunderstanding.”
—KathleenM.Heide,Ph.D.,UniversityofSouthFlorida,ProfessorofCriminology,
AAASFellow“fordistinguishedcontributionstothefieldofcriminology”
“Dr. Chan has written a criminological work of art on sexual homicide. Comprehensive and
internationalinscope,thisworkcontainsthefactsandfacesofsexualhomicidefromaroundthe
globe.Itisfullofimportant,up-to-dateinformationthatisgearedtosatisfythelearningneedsand
interestsofabroadspectrumofreaders:fromcriminologystudentstolawenforcementofficialsto
seasonedforensicclinicianstoattorneysrepresentingsexualhomicidedefendants.Whilethelatest
scientificknowledgeisfound inthis book,itis notPollyannaish.Thegapsin knowledgeabout
sexualhomicidearebroughttolight,andtherearemany.Forinstance,intheintroductorychapter,
it is noted that researchers have struggled for decades to reach a practical definition of sexual
homicidethatcanbegenerallyagreedupon.Dr.Chanandcolleagueshaveprovidedadefinition
that is arguably the most solid one to date. I am confident the reader will appreciate the
“psychocriminological” approach taken by Dr. Chan. This approach, taking into account the
offenders’ developmental experiences along with their pre-crime, crime, and post-crime phases,
helpsbringthesekillerstolife.Italsoassistswithunderstandinghowtheseindividualsendedup
becoming a member of this rare class of criminals who kill for sexual reasons. As a forensic
psychiatrist also trained as a child psychiatrist, I was reassured to see an emphasis on the
developmentalperspective.Liketheoldsayinggoes,“Asthetwigisbentsoisthetreeinclined.”
Researchcontinuestodemonstratehowimportantthechildhoodexperiencesofsexualkillerswere
in laying the foundation for their ultimate acts. Perhaps the greatest strength of this book is its
meticulousportrayalofaseriesof13sexualmurdercasesfromsixcountriesspanningtheglobe,
including Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Despite the vast number of miles
separatingthesein-depthcasestudies,oncecannothelpbutnoticethestartlingsimilaritiesfound
in these crimes. We are reminded that the phenomenon of sexual homicide is remarkably
consistentworldwidedespitetheinfluenceofborders,continents,andcultures.Inthislatestwork
byDr.Chan,thereismuchtobelearnedbynoviceandexpertalike—itisanexcellentandtimely
additiontothesexualhomicideliterature.”
—WadeC.Myers,M.D.,Professor,BrownUniversityDepartmentofPsychiatry
“InAGlobalCasebookofSexualHomicide,ProfessorChanbringacriminologicallighttobearon
13casesoftheoffendingprocessofsexualmurderers.Thisbookinnovatesintwoways.First,it
includes cases from six countries, most of which have been underrepresented in the literature:
Hong Kong (4), Columbia (1), Australia (1), and Taiwan (1). Second, the detailed presentation
ofthecases,whichconstitutesthecoreofthebook,isbasedoninformationfromawidevarietyof
publiclypublishedsources,suchascourtreports,academicjournals,andnewspaperarticles.This
bookthusblendstheentertainingvirtueoftruecrimeaccountswiththerigorofclassicalacademic
analysis. The end result is a book that presents a refreshing view of sexual homicide, even for
specialistsinthefield.”
—JeanProulx,Ph.D.,ProfessorandDirectorofSchoolofCriminology
UniversityofMontreal
“Althoughitconstitutesjust1–5%ofallhomicides,sexualhomiciderepresentstheapexofserious
violentcrimeandisaworldwideproblem.AGlobalCasebookofSexualHomicidehighlightsboth
obscure and infamous case studies from Australia, Colombia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, United
Kingdom,andtheUnitedStatesofAmericaandprovidesin-depthcaseanalysisandapplicationof
criminological offender typologies and forensic conceptual models. Professor Heng Choon
(Oliver)Chan—amongtheforemosthomicidescholarsintheworld—deliversanimportantbook
that is useful for forensic scientists, criminal justice practitioners, and criminologists alike. A
GlobalCasebookofSexualHomicideisacenterpieceofanexceptionalcriminologistatthetopof
hisgame.”
—MattDeLisi,Ph.D.,CollegeofLiberalArtsandSciencesDean’sProfessor
IowaStateUniversity
Heng Choon (Oliver) Chan
A Global Casebook
of Sexual Homicide
123
Heng Choon(Oliver) Chan,Ph.D.
Teaching Laboratory for Forensics and
Criminology
Department ofSocial andBehavioural
Sciences
City University of HongKong
Hong Kong,China
ISBN978-981-13-8858-3 ISBN978-981-13-8859-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8859-0
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To the Chan Family:
With deep appreciation for your
unconditional love, endless support,
and encouragement.
In loving memory of my mother.
Foreword
Sexual Homicide: Beyond the Numbers
Thestudyofsexualhomicide—andthesexualmurderer—canbetracedbacktothe
late1800swiththepublicationofPsychopathiaSexualisbyKrafft-Ebing(1886).In
this seminal book, Krafft-Ebing featured several case studies to illustrate specific
typesofoffenders(e.g.,“lustmurderer”)andpresentedhypothesestoexplainthese
“abnormal” behaviors. Partly due to the horrible nature of some of the acts asso-
ciated with sexual homicide (e.g., foreign object insertion, mutilations, dismem-
berment),morecliniciansstartedtodocumenttheseunusualcasesandpublishcase
studies or short descriptive studies on these offenders. Despite the relative low
frequency of sexual homicide, there was a growing interest in the study of this
specific type of sexual crime for several reasons. First, the low base rate of sexual
homicidehindered the accumulation ofknowledge on these offenders. Second, the
raritytothesecrimesmadeitdifficultforcliniciansandinvestigatorstoaccumulate
experience dealing with these offenders. Finally, the low prevalence of sexual
homicidebecameagenuineobstacletothedevelopmentofempiricalknowledgeon
these offenders.
PartlyduetotheseobstaclesandtothefactthattheU.S.wasdealingwithagreat
number of serial killers in the 1970s and 1980s, special agents at the Behavioral
Science Unit (now the Behavioral Analysis Unit) of the FBI, in collaboration with
academics, started a research project aiming to collect systematic information on
these offenders and their acts. Their project allowed to collect very detailed
informationon36sexualmurderers—manyofwhichwerealsoserial.Thispioneer
work—despite being imperfect—is arguably what paved the way for all the
empirical work that would follow. Academics from criminology and psychology
fromaroundtheworldstarttofocusonsexualhomicideasaresearchareaandhave
invested time and efforts in collecting larger databases. Whereas some databases
were created from extensive interviews with these offenders, several others were
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viii Foreword
createdfrompolicedata.Asanillustration,intheearly2000s,adatasetof36cases
was considered as a “good” dataset for sexual homicide. Whereas today,
researchersnowhaveaccesstoverydetaileddatasetsofsexualhomicidecontaining
up to 700 cases. Our capacity to collect more cases and create large datasets has
allowed researchers in the field to test several hypotheses that were not possible
when having access to only small datasets.
Although there has been enormous progress with access to larger databases on
sexual homicide, some methodological concerns have emerged over the last few
years within the field. For instance, there is disagreeance among some researchers
astohowsexualhomicideshouldbedefined.Althoughthedefinitionsuggestedby
the FBI is probably the most widely used and cited, some have suggested that it
couldleadtofalsepositive(i.e.,identifyingacaseassexualhomicidewheninfact
it is not). Others have stressed the fact that sexual activity is not necessary for the
murder to be sexual as the act of killing itself may be sexually gratifying for the
offender. Also, some have highlighted the fact that it was important to distinguish
between homicides that are sexually motivated and homicides associated with
sexual activity.For instance, theeliminationofapotential witness aftera rape and
accidently killing the victim during a rape (in trying to overcome the victim’s
resistance) are examples of scenarios whereby a homicide is connected to sexual
activity but is not necessarily sexually motivated.
Thecollectionoflargerdatasetsonsexualhomicidehasalsohelpedidentifying
the heterogeneity of this type of crime. When getting access to a small number of
cases was the norm, it was not unusual to analyze all cases of sexual homicide
together.However,withaccesstoalargernumberofcases,studieshaveshownthat
sexual murderers of women were different from sexual murderers of children or
even sexual murderers of men. Moreover, even within each type of sexual mur-
derers, some heterogeneity was evident. Thus, several studies have identified
typologies ranging between two to four types of sexual murderers of women.
Recently, a new classification was specifically identified for sexual murderers of
children. Therefore, despite being a very specific type of crime, it has become
evident that sexual homicide is more complex and may present different offending
pathways as well as various motivations—not only a sexual motivation.
The book A Global Casebook of Sexual Homicide by Professor Heng Choon
(Oliver)Chanremindsusthatbehindthesenumbersandtheresearchfindingsofthe
latestempiricalstudiesarerealoffenderswhohavekilledrealvictims.Dr. Chanhas
assembled a collection of interesting cases from various countries that allow us to
question and challenge some of the empirical findings published lately. Moreover,
going beyond the simple factual description of these cases, Dr. Chan has provided
an insightful analysis of each offender, classifying them according to several
existingtypologiesandsuggestingpracticalimplicationsbasedonthesecases.The
book represents acontributiontothe fieldbyconnecting themost recent empirical
knowledge on sexual homicide to real cases—connecting theory to practice—in
Foreword ix
order to better understand this hybrid offense which merges both homicide and
sexual assault. The book is a nice complement to the existing literature on sexual
homicide as it provides an opportunity to look beyond the numbers.
Professor Eric Beauregard, Ph.D.
School of Criminology
Simon Fraser University
British Columbia, Canada
Professor Eric Beauregard is the co-author of The Sexual Murderer: Offender Behavior and
ImplicationsforPractice(Routledge,2017);andco-editorofRoutledgeInternationalHandbook
of Sexual Homicide Studies (Routledge, 2018), Sexual Offending: A Criminological Perspective
(Routledge,2018),PathwaystoSexualAggression(Routledge,2014),andSexualMurderers:A
ComparativeAnalysisandNewPerspectives(JohnWiley&Sons,2007).
Acknowledgements
AGlobalCasebookofSexualHomicidecouldnothavebeencompletedwithoutthe
guidance, assistance, and support of many talented and exceptional individuals.
There are so many people who helped, directly and indirectly, to make this book
possible. I am greatly indebted to Profs. Kathleen M. Heide, Eric Beauregard, and
Wade Myers who have generously provided me with intellectual insights and
encouragement since my academic quest at the University of South Florida. They
have now become my mentors and role models in my professional pursuits. I also
wanttothank myresearchassistants—Emma L.W. WongandAnnie O.L. Wong
—fortheirassistanceinthisbookproject.Besides,Iamverygratefultotheeditors
at Springer, particularly Lydia Wang for believing in this book project and Fiona
Wu for her guidance and support throughout the process. I would also like to
acknowledgethatthecompilationofsomecasesinthisbookwassupportedbythe
Teaching Development Grant of City University of Hong Kong (#6000491).
Last but not least, I remain deeply indebted to my family—my loving mother,
father, and three elder sisters—for their unwavering and unconditional love and
endless support throughout my academic quest. In specific, I recognize with deep
appreciationmymother,whowasundoubtedlyalovinganddevotedmotherandan
excellentrolemodelforallofusinthefamily.TheolderIget,themoreIcometo
realize how privileged I was to have been raised and nurtured in a home in which
childrenwereloved,protected,andvalued.Unquestionably,Ioweaspecialdebtof
gratitude to my beloved wife and soul mate for life—Courtney—for her love,
endless support, and encouragement over the years that have fuelled me with
strengthanddeterminationtocontinuemyprofessionalpursuits.Icannotthankher
enough for the sacrifices she has made for our family, especially for our beloved
daughter—Orabelle.
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