Les auteurs d’homicides sexuels : psychopathologie, processus de passage à l’acte et prise en charge clinique

Abstract

Our perception of sexual murderers has long been influenced by the mediatization of the most spectacular of these crimes–crimes that stand out by virtue of their extreme cruelty and violence, and by the degradation of the victims. Consequently, public opinion has been partly forged by the questions raised by such descriptions: How can anyone be so insensitive to others and driven by such destructive urges? How can these individuals derive any positive experience from such extremely violent acts? But although they are anchored in actual events, these impressions of sexual murderers are not accurate portraits of these individuals’ true nature. While sadistic and serial sexual murderers do in fact exist, they nevertheless remain the threes that hide the forest. Through this interview, our objectives are to take stock of the phenomenon from an epidemiological point of view, to indicate the impact that this type of crime can have on community life, to define what it corresponds to, to describe the characteristics of the different types of sexual homicide offenders, but also to provide indications as to their risk of recidivism and recommendations concerning their clinical management.