ABSTRACT
Working collaboratively with sexual homicide perpetrators in developing a shared understanding of their offences, and translating this into agreed treatment inventions, is of central importance. There are many barriers to the participation of people convicted of sexual homicide in treatment—e.g. shame, guilt, fear—and these all need to be understood in the process of collaborative working, encouraging disclosures, and treatment planning. Sexual homicide is a complex phenomenon: while the research literature provides some guidance on offence pathways and offender typologies, the key to successful intervention is developing a detailed understanding of the individual concerned. In developing a detailed understanding, it is crucial that all available information about the perpetrator and on the timeline leading to the offence—personality, mental disorder, victim characteristics, pathology reports, crime scene, etc.—is reviewed and revisited to make sure that nothing has been missed.
