Firearm sexual homicide offenders: Criminal careers, psychopathology, and offense conduct

Abstract

Most homicides are firearm‐perpetrated, but in sexual homicide, offenders are more likely to utilize personal weapons (e.g., hands and feet), contact weapons (e.g., blunt object), or edged weapons (e.g., knife) to comport with their fantasy life, motivational states, and psychopathology. Despite these conceptual designations, epidemiological data suggest roughly 17% to 31% of sexual homicide offenders kill their victim with a firearm, yet we know surprisingly little about these offenders' criminal careers, psychopathology, and offense conduct. Drawing on a near‐census of condemned capital murderers from a Western US state, we found just 8% are firearm sexual homicide offenders. Relative to sexual homicide offenders who did not use a firearm and other capital murderers, firearm sexual homicide offenders have more murder convictions, total arrests, and total convictions, are more likely Black, are more likely to rob and execute their victims, and are marginally more sexually sadistic. Offenders who kidnap their victims are 6.5 times more likely to be firearm sexual homicide offenders. Our findings add empirical granularity about the criminal history, psychological profile, and offense conduct of those who shoot their victims during sexual homicide.