Matt DeLisi, Daniel E. Caropreso, Alan J. Drury, Michael J. Elbert, Jerry L. Evans, Timothy Heinrichs and Katherine M. Tahja
The purpose of this paper is to examine the dark figure of crime among federal sex offenders from the USA to quantify crime victims and sex crime events among those with no…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the dark figure of crime among federal sex offenders from the USA to quantify crime victims and sex crime events among those with no official criminal record.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data on 119 offenders selected from a five-year census of sex offenders selected from a federal probation jurisdiction in the Midwestern United States, descriptive, partial correlations, and ROC-AUC models were conducted.
Findings
In total, 69 percent of offenders self-reported a contact sexual offense during polygraph examination. In total, 34 offenders had zero official record of sexual abuse but non-zero self-reported history of sexual abuse. These 34 clients offended against 148 victims that potentially denoted a minimum number of 148 sex crime events, a median number of 1,480 sex crime events, a mean number of 32,101 sex crime events, and a maximum number of 827,552 sex crime events. Total paraphilias were not predictive of self-reported sexual offending but were strongly associated with prolific self-reported sexual offending.
Originality/value
The dark figure of sexual offending is enormous and the revelation of this information is facilitated by polygraph examination of federal sex offenders. Ostensibly non-contact sex offenders such as those convicted of possession of child pornography are very likely to have a history of contact sexual offending. Consistent with the containment model, polygraph examinations of the sexual history of offenders convicted of sexual offenses should be required to facilitate public safety.
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Matt DeLisi, Alan Drury, Michael Elbert, Katherine Tahja, Daniel Caropreso and Timothy Heinrichs
Sexual sadism is a well-known risk factor for severe forms of sexual violence including sexual homicide and serial sexual homicide. The research is decidedly mixed about the…
Abstract
Purpose
Sexual sadism is a well-known risk factor for severe forms of sexual violence including sexual homicide and serial sexual homicide. The research is decidedly mixed about the association between sexual sadism and other, nonsexual forms of criminal conduct. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on data from a census of 225 federal sex offenders from a jurisdiction in the Midwestern USA, the current study examined whether sexual sadism had a spillover effect into nonsexual crimes using correlation, ANOVA, and negative binomial regression models.
Findings
Sexual sadism was strongly associated with diverse forms of nonsexual criminal behavior, and sexual sadists had more extensive and versatile criminal careers than sex offenders without a formal diagnosis.
Practical implications
Practitioners should be aware of sexual sadism as a criminogenic risk factor. Sexual sadism is associated with sexual deviance and sexual violence. Sexual sadism also has spillover effects where it is associated with nonsexual offending.
Originality/value
Sexual sadism can be a useful risk factor for other forms of crime and recidivism and has broad application in applied correctional and research settings.
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Alan Drury, Tim Heinrichs, Michael Elbert, Katherine Tahja, Matt DeLisi and Daniel Caropreso
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a broad conceptual framework in the social sciences that have only recently been studied within criminology. The purpose of this paper is…
Abstract
Purpose
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a broad conceptual framework in the social sciences that have only recently been studied within criminology. The purpose of this paper is to utilize this framework by applying it to one of the most potentially dangerous forensic populations.
Design/methodology/approach
Archival data from 225 federal sex offenders was used to perform descriptive, correlational, and negative binomial regression models.
Findings
There was substantial evidence of ACEs including father abandonment/neglect (36 percent), physical abuse (nearly 28 percent), verbal/emotional abuse (more than 24 percent), and sexual abuse (approximately 27 percent). The mean age of sexual victimization was 7.6 years with the youngest age of victimization occurring at the age of 3. Offenders averaged nearly five paraphilias, the most common were pedophilia (57 percent), pornography addiction (43 percent), paraphilia not otherwise specified (35 percent), exhibitionism (26 percent), and voyeurism (21 percent). The offenders averaged 4.7 paraphilias and the range was substantial (0 to 19). Negative binomial regression models indicated that sexual sadism was positively and pornography addiction was negatively associated with serious criminal violence. Offenders with early age of arrest onset and more total arrest charges were more likely to perpetrate kidnaping, rape, and murder.
Originality/value
ACEs are common in the life history of federal sex offenders, but have differential associations with the most serious forms of crime.
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Richard L. Miller and Joseph P. Cangemi
TQM philosophy is that continuous improvement within anorganization is possible. It is people‐oriented and customer focused. Tobe successful it must involve all people within the…
Abstract
TQM philosophy is that continuous improvement within an organization is possible. It is people‐oriented and customer focused. To be successful it must involve all people within the organization and must have customer feedback. Discusses in detail the reasons why this fails: managers do not delegate quality to involve everyone in the organization; appropriate consultants to implement the system are not evaluated properly; lack of employee involvement; failure of management leadership with too much emphasis on cost cutting and profits, not customer service; poor communication with workforce; resistance to change. Benchmarking must be established to measure the effects of TQM and a long‐term plan to establish goals. A good supplier relationship, teamwork and employee participation are all required concepts within a successful TQM programme.
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Rapid sequence homicide offenders (RSHOs), formerly spree killers, are an understudied population due to the confusion surrounding their classification in relation to serial…
Abstract
Purpose
Rapid sequence homicide offenders (RSHOs), formerly spree killers, are an understudied population due to the confusion surrounding their classification in relation to serial murderers. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory, comparative analysis of 56 RSHOs and 60 serial murderers was conducted on US-based data from 2014 to 2018 derived from the Consolidated Serial Homicide Offender Database to determine similarities and differences between the cohorts.
Findings
RSHOs and serial murderers are similar in that they often kill their victims using a singular method, have limited mobility, kill a similar number of victims both known and unknown to them and are both supremely motivated by domestic anger. There is an inverse relationship between serial murderers and RSHOs: as one group increases in prevalence the other decreases.
Practical implications
In order to divert men into more pro-social activities, attention must be dedicated to increasing mental health services that provide them with the tools to diffuse their hatred and couple that with effective gun control strategies and ways to enhance the compromised anger management skills of a generation of volatile men.
Originality/value
Academicians have been hesitant to juxtapose these offenders but based this conclusion on surface-level differences. A reimagining of these categorical structures is needed. The once clear delineation between these cohorts may continue to shrink and synchronize until one subsumes the other.
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This paper aims to argue that to address those factors that contribute to the probability of offending, the origins of such factors should be understood, and interventions that…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to argue that to address those factors that contribute to the probability of offending, the origins of such factors should be understood, and interventions that recognise the functional aspects of criminogenic capacities should be developed.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a theoretical basis for trauma sensitive practice by providing an evolutionary understanding of human harmfulness alongside a summary of the impact of adversity and abuse on the developing child.
Findings
The paper proposes an overarching framework that uses compassion-focused therapy for risk reducing interventions with men who cause harm to others.
Practical implications
This paper encourages forensic practitioners to develop a trauma aware approach to intervention design and delivery. The paper provides an overview of a compassion-focused therapy as approach to intervention that conceptualises criminogenic capacities within a more holistic and functional framework.
Originality/value
Forensic interventions have been slow to assimilate evidence from adverse childhood experience research and have therefore been limited in their ability to address the functional origins of criminogenic need. This paper offers a framework that allows practitioners to address risk while also allowing individuals to process their own trauma and adversity.
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The purpose of this article is to improve the use of evidence-based practice and research utilization in the offender profiling process. The use of offender profiling has been met…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to improve the use of evidence-based practice and research utilization in the offender profiling process. The use of offender profiling has been met with increasing resistance given its exaggerated accuracy. The “Investigative Journalist/Expert Field Micro Task Force” model, a collaborative method that incorporates offender profiling and is designed to address unresolved serial homicides, is introduced and evaluated alongside recommendations on attaining adherence.
Design/methodology/approach
The model was field tested in 17 instances. The measures used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to gauge the usefulness of their case consultations, whether their input helped catch the offender, offer new leads, move the case forward, provide new avenues or give new ideas, were used to evaluate the model.
Findings
The model established likely patterns of serial murder activity among strangulations of women in Chicago, Cleveland, and Panama and resulted in convictions of suspects in Louisiana and Kansas City. This model is valuable when used to parse modern-day offenders from those who committed unresolved homicides as the latter display different behaviors that can make investigations difficult endeavors. Results from the field tests mirror those from the literature in that profiling alone did not result in the capture of serial killers. Instead, profiling was used in conjunction with other efforts and mainly as a means to keep the investigation moving forward.
Originality/value
Unresolved homicides are at a point of crisis and represent a significant but largely unaddressed societal problem. The success of this model may compel law enforcement to restore faith in offender profiling.