Victimology - Forensic Psychology - Lecture Notes, Study notes of Psychology

Download Victimology - Forensic Psychology - Lecture Notes and more Study notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY Victimology Docsity.com Learning Outcomes  Consider the role of the victim in homicide.  Explain the historical background to the study of murder and describe the difficulties associated with defining “serial homicide”.  Describe characteristics that are associated with serial murderers.  Examine Motivational Models for Murder. Docsity.com Classification of Murder  Sexual elements in homicide cases are not always always obvious, and may often be ignored by Law Enforcement agencies.  Problems in the identification of sexual murders may be as a result of the varying definitions of “serial murder” as well as the difficulty in associating covert sexual dynamics in serial murder cases. Docsity.com What Is Sexual Homicide?  Burgess, Hartman, Ressler, Douglas & McCormack (1986) - sexual homicide results when one person kills another in the context of power, control, sexuality and aggressive brutality.  Schlesinger (1999) “sexual homicide becomes serial when there are multiple victims involved, and multiple locations, following a “cooling off” period between the murders”. Docsity.com What Is Sexual Homicide?  Meloy (2000) “as the intentional killing of a person during which there is sexual behaviour by the perpetrator”.  FBI – “Serial homicide - the killing of several victims in 3 or more separate incidents over weeks or an extended period” Docsity.com Elements of Serial Homicide • Schlesinger (2000) proposes 3 elements to serial homicide 1.Sexual sadism 2. Intense fantasy 3.Compulsion to act out the fantasy • • Either of the factors can be dominant. Docsity.com Elements of Sexual Homicide  Brittain (1970) “rich, active fantasy life”  Prentky et al. (1989) - fantasy affects a “primary drive mechanism” that alters the thinking of the perpetrator when stressed.  Keppel (1997) - “Calling Card”  Repetitive behaviour at the crime scene, such as excessive stabbing, may be the acting out of the perpetrators' fantasies. Docsity.com Elements of Sexual Homicide  Why act out the behaviour? • Ressler (1998) – Stress factors, frame of mind and planning. Docsity.com Motivational Spectrum of Homicide  Environmental  Situational  Impulsive  Catathymic  Compulsive Docsity.com Motivational Spectrum • • Organic, Toxic and paranoid cases are separate from the spectrum  External/Exogenous  Internal/Endogenous • In environmental offences, external factors play a large role and exogenous stimulation is the stimulating factor, but endogenous stimulation is the main contributor to compulsive offences. All of the factors can have a mixture of endogenous and exogenous stimulation, depending on the position that the crime falls on in the spectrum. Docsity.com Motivational Spectrum • Environmental (Sociogenic)  Crimes that occur as a result of social or environmental factors (Nazi Germany).  Experimental evidence – Aggressive Acts, Millgram study.  Modern day – contract murder. Docsity.com Motivational Spectrum • Catathymic motivation on spectrum  Maier 1912( in accordance with emotions).  A psychological process disrupts logical thinking.  Thinking has changed –conflicts (issues) – psychodynamic process. • • Schlesinger (1996) – psychodynamic process frequently accompanied by disorganisation and characterised by an accumulation of tension released through a violent act. Docsity.com Catathymic Homicide • Types  Acute – Sudden disintegration of personality • Sudden Unprovoked murder without apparent motivation  Chronic – Incubation Period • Violent act • Relief following the act • (Stalking Cases) Docsity.com Motivational Spectrum • Compulsive  Involvement of psychological factors rather than environmental sources.  Seek out victims and the crime is usually sexual in nature.  Proceeded by years of fantasy and a compulsion to commit the act.  Need for repetition.  William Heirens – “Catch me before I kill again!” Docsity.com