ABSTRACT
A high percentage of murderers can be termed sexual killers. These are killers whose crimes are motivated by sexual needs or gratification, sexual jealousy, sexual perversions, childhood sexual victimization, or other sex-related factors. Sexual murder reflects homicides with a sexual theme, nature, or character. Assessing the true extent of sexual homicides can be difficult, given the often multiple and overlapping motivations and circumstances attributed to homicides, as well as limitation of official and other data. Many sexual killers had violent, rape, or sadistic childhood fantasies and often displayed cruelty to other children or animals. The relationship between sexual intimacy and homicide has been strongly supported through studies and official data. A high percentage of sexual killers are sadists, associating sexuality with cruelty and violence. Sexually sadistic killers are mostly White males who are in their 20s and 30s, and are often “intelligent, personable, sociable and seldom have criminal records.
