Publicação
The hunter and the hunted: a comparative study of the hunting behavior of rapists and child molesters
| Resumo: | Research on sex offenders’ modus operandi, geographic decision-making and hunting behavior has increased over the past few years. However, much of this work presents limitations of two general types, one concerned with the dimensions and variables studied, and the other with the type of offender in question. Most of the studies still tend to overlook the geographic dimension of the offending process, thus impairing our understanding of the criminal event as a whole. Criminal motivation and its internal causes are still emphasized and sought out, whereas the role of situational and environmental factors is often neglected. Furthermore, the majority of these studies have been conducted using samples comprised either of rapists or child molesters alone, and those studies resorting to mixed samples have neglected to conduct comparative analysis between both types of offenders. Because the focus of the studies on rapists has proven consistently diverse from that of those on child molesters, the real depth of the distinction between rapists and child molesters is not clear to us, even more so as we come across versatile sex offenders, crossover or polymorphous, who target victims from various age groups. Hence, it is necessary at this point to study both types of offenders with resort to the same variables and the same theoretical constructs, so that accurate comparisons can be made and the similarities and differences between these two types can be explored. Thus, and in order to better understand the nature and the dynamic of the offending process of sexual aggression, this study explores the question from a different theoretical perspective and also from different analytical frameworks, using a sample of 216 incarcerated offenders convicted for sexual offenses involving direct physical contact with their victims. First, hunting behavior and modus operandi characteristics that constitute accurate predictors of the type of offender (rapists versus child molesters) were identified. Second, hunting behavior patterns were identified in this mixed sample of rapists and child molesters, and tested to establish which hunting behavior patterns were associated with each type of offender. Finally, the relationships between modus operandi characteristics and geographic decision making process and the emerging hunting behavior patterns were examined. Results demonstrate that there are clear differences between rapists and child molesters, as to their hunting behavior, their modus operandi characteristics and their geographic decision-making. Three predictive models were developed, and three types of offender were identified: (1) manipulative, (2) opportunist, and (3) coercive. The manipulative offender is typically a child molester, and the coercive is typically a rapist, whereas the opportunist type is comprised of both rapists and child molesters. This finding emphasizes the relevance of the polymorphous, crossover or versatile sex offenders and their role in bringing about new ways of conceptualizing sex offenders, in blurring prototypical lines and shifting research focuses. |
|---|---|
| Autores principais: | Lopes, Maria Francisca Farinhas de Rebocho |
| Ano: | 2009 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | tese de doutoramento |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade do Minho |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho |
| Resumo: | Research on sex offenders’ modus operandi, geographic decision-making and hunting behavior has increased over the past few years. However, much of this work presents limitations of two general types, one concerned with the dimensions and variables studied, and the other with the type of offender in question. Most of the studies still tend to overlook the geographic dimension of the offending process, thus impairing our understanding of the criminal event as a whole. Criminal motivation and its internal causes are still emphasized and sought out, whereas the role of situational and environmental factors is often neglected. Furthermore, the majority of these studies have been conducted using samples comprised either of rapists or child molesters alone, and those studies resorting to mixed samples have neglected to conduct comparative analysis between both types of offenders. Because the focus of the studies on rapists has proven consistently diverse from that of those on child molesters, the real depth of the distinction between rapists and child molesters is not clear to us, even more so as we come across versatile sex offenders, crossover or polymorphous, who target victims from various age groups. Hence, it is necessary at this point to study both types of offenders with resort to the same variables and the same theoretical constructs, so that accurate comparisons can be made and the similarities and differences between these two types can be explored. Thus, and in order to better understand the nature and the dynamic of the offending process of sexual aggression, this study explores the question from a different theoretical perspective and also from different analytical frameworks, using a sample of 216 incarcerated offenders convicted for sexual offenses involving direct physical contact with their victims. First, hunting behavior and modus operandi characteristics that constitute accurate predictors of the type of offender (rapists versus child molesters) were identified. Second, hunting behavior patterns were identified in this mixed sample of rapists and child molesters, and tested to establish which hunting behavior patterns were associated with each type of offender. Finally, the relationships between modus operandi characteristics and geographic decision making process and the emerging hunting behavior patterns were examined. Results demonstrate that there are clear differences between rapists and child molesters, as to their hunting behavior, their modus operandi characteristics and their geographic decision-making. Three predictive models were developed, and three types of offender were identified: (1) manipulative, (2) opportunist, and (3) coercive. The manipulative offender is typically a child molester, and the coercive is typically a rapist, whereas the opportunist type is comprised of both rapists and child molesters. This finding emphasizes the relevance of the polymorphous, crossover or versatile sex offenders and their role in bringing about new ways of conceptualizing sex offenders, in blurring prototypical lines and shifting research focuses. |
|---|