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Stalking can be defined as a pattern of repeated, unwanted behaviors by one person to another. These behaviors may take the form of communicative intrusion, third-party contact, and physical or sexual assault. The individual stalking behaviors experienced by victims have been found to differ in every case, specifically dependent on their stalker-victim relationship. Recent tragedies have shown that the police force generally underestimates the risk of ex-intimate stalking and harassment behaviors. This study aims to identify patterns of stalking behaviors from a victim's perspective, specifically, whether there are any patterns of behavior among the ex-intimate stalkers, in comparison with acquaintance or stranger stalkers. Information from the accounts of individuals who had reported unwanted experiences as a result of one of three stalker-victim relationships (ex-intimate, acquaintance, or stranger) was extracted from the National Stalking Helpline database. Analyses were conducted on a sample of 1,626 victims' reports. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple logistic regressions were conducted to establish any common patterns of behavior among the subgroups of stalkers and to ascertain which behaviors increased the odds of being categorized as an ex-intimate stalker. Results indicated that ex-intimate stalkers presented considerably more behaviors than acquaintance or stranger stalkers; some of which included third-party contact, criminal damage, physical assault, and sexual assault. Results also indicated that ex-intimate stalkers presented more severe behaviors than the other subgroups. The majority of stalking behaviors were found to produce a statistically significant predictive contribution to being classed as an ex-intimate stalker. The findings in this study highlight that common misconception surrounding ex-intimate stalking still exists at every level of the Criminal Justice System. Results and implications for future research are discussed.

Degree of injury, as measured by the Homicide Injury Scale (HIS), was examined to advance understanding of the dynamics of sexual killing. A total of 350 nonserial, male sexual killers were included, and the different ways that the sexual element of their offenses and the act of killing were connected was accounted for by determining that cases were either directly sexual (the sexual element and killing were closely bound), or indirectly sexual (killing was not a source of sexual stimulation). The two groups, direct and indirect sexual killers, were each subjected to multiple linear regression analyses to examine the group-specific relationship between level of injury and predictor variables previously found to be associated with increased severity of attack. No differences in the mean total HIS scores between the indirect and the direct cases were found, suggesting a comparable emotional intensity between the groups. However, given that the groups differed in terms of the functional role of fatal violence, severity of attack could not be sufficiently explained as driven by anger. In line with this hypothesis, different predictors appeared to be associated with increased degree of injury sustained by victims of indirect compared with direct sexual killers. As such, situational components appear to play a role in the behavior of indirect sexual killers, whereas the behavior of direct perpetrators tends to be linked with the enactment of existing deviant fantasies. The role of anger in sexual homicide is discussed further, and overall, it is argued that irrespective of whether violence was initially driven by anger, evidence of sexual arousal to severe violence must be scrutinized within sexual homicide research as well as in psycholegal contexts.

The study investigated whether different types of sexual homicide perpetrators are more or less skilled at delaying detection. A newly proposed direct/indirect typology was used alongside information about the time of arrest, the frequency of specific precautions as well as the impact of forensic strategies used by the perpetrators to examine skill at delaying detection. The results indicated that the time from the killing to the arrest, as measured in days, was longer for the direct than the indirect sexual killers. Despite the fact that the direct aggressors were better at delaying detection, overall the indirect and the direct offenders did not differ in the frequency of use of most of the precautions. However, different forensic awareness strategies were more efficacious for the direct and the indirect offenders. These results are discussed in relation to the crime scripts for the two perpetrator groups.

Sexual sadism is assumed to be a crucial factor in sexual homicide. Prevalence estimates vary greatly due to differences in the definition of sexual sadism. A nationwide sample of 350 male perpetrators who had committed a sexual homicide offense against a female 14 years of age or above in England or Wales was assessed based on archival records. Sexual sadism was assessed using the Sexual Sadism Scale (SeSaS). Item response theory (IRT) analyses were conducted focusing on the 2-parameter logistic model. The single-factor structure of the SeSaS Part 1 was tested using confirmatory factor analysis. Estimates of both internal consistency and interrater agreement were satisfactory to substantial. IRT analysis showed that the Part 1 items captured moderate to severe levels of the latent construct (i.e., theta levels >0). Based on the Posterior Probability of Diagnosis index, the prevalence of the disorder was estimated at 37% in the sample. The substantial correlation between the SeSaS Part 1 total score and original clinical diagnoses of sadism confirms the criterion validity of the scale. Exertion of control and infliction of torture were among the more informative items. In sum, the results support the usefulness of the SeSaS instrument for assessing forensically relevant forms of sadism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

As with other sexual offenders, sexual homicide perpetrators can be reluctant to talk about their criminal behavior. Therefore, in homicide cases, forensic practitioners frequently rely on crime scene information to identify any sexual behavior associated with the offense. This study aims to identify objective and readily available crime scene information, alongside information about victims and perpetrators, based on 65 cases from England and Wales in the United Kingdom of men convicted of homicide who had committed a non-serial sexual homicide and 64 cases of men convicted of homicide where the available evidence indicated that it was a non-serial non-sexual homicide. Chi-square tests and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. There were few differences in terms of demographic information and criminal histories between the two perpetrator groups. There were crime scene indicators supporting the use of Ressler et al.'s definition of sexual homicide. The victims of sexual homicide were generally found in their home with the lower half of the body exposed and with evidence of vaginal sex. Furthermore, extreme injuries and strangulation were more frequent in sexual homicides. Use of weapon was associated with a non-sexual homicide. Victims of sexual homicide were as likely to know the perpetrator as not. Potential benefits of the characteristics reported to investigators and forensic practitioners tasked with identifying sexual homicides are discussed and areas for further research suggested.