New directions in assessment and treatment of sexual murderers

Abstract

This chapter considers future directions for clinical issues with perpetrators of sexual homicide: Where might we go next and how might we get there? Integral to the assessment of people who have committed a sexual homicide is correctly identifying perpetrators of this crime. Moreover, determining the functional links between the killing and any sexual motives and behaviour can be problematic, especially when there is no reliable disclosure from the perpetrator that it was a sexual homicide. There is no accepted and universal definition of sexual homicide, and the production of a definition that not only reliably identifies the broad range of homicides that can be considered sexual but also helps allocate perpetrators to different types of sexual homicide would assist research, case formulation, and assessment and treatment planning. A deeper understanding of developmental factors, treatment needs, and protective factors related to different types of sexual homicide could help inform assessment and management of sexual murderers. Increasing our understanding in this area could lead to more quickly progressing some sexual homicide perpetrators through sentence and better developing treatment and management techniques.