1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«To our knowledge, no other studies have looked at potential differences among sexual murderers. Thus, to better understand differences between sexual murderers of children and sexual murderers of adult women, comparisons on developmental, precrime, crime, and postcrime factors were performed.» (p.256)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«Based on previous findings, it may be hypothesized that sexual murderers who target specifically children will be characterized by more deviant sexual fantasies, sadistic behaviors, and share similar characteristics found in pedophilia (e.g., deviant sexual preferences for children). Furthermore, for these offenders, children may represent easy and vulnerable targets, congruent with a routine-activity approach to crime.» (p.256)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«A total of 11 sexual murderers of children and 66 sexual murderers of adult women were compared using chi-square statistics [...]», all incarcerated in the province of Quebec between 1998 and 2005.

Instruments :
Questionnaire : Computerized Questionnaire for Sexual Aggressors (CQSA; Proulx, St-Yves, & McKibben, 1994)
Guide d’entretien semi-directif

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«The amount of empirical research on men who commit sexual murders is scarce, and no distinction has been made between those who have victimized adults and those who have victimized children. Therefore, to better understand specifically sexual murderers of children (n = 11), comparisons were performed with a group of sexual murderers of adult women (n = 66) on developmental, precrime, crime, and postcrime factors. It appears that sexual murderers of children are more often victims of sexual abuse during childhood and present more often deviant sexual fantasies as compared to sexual murderers of women. The results show also that sexual murderers of children more often use pornography prior to crime, have contact with the victim prior to crime, and commit a crime more often characterized by premeditation, strangulation, the hiding of the body, and its dismemberment than the sexual murderers of women.» (p.253) Familial difficulties are amoung the precrime factors included in this study.