ABSTRACT
Sexual homicide offenders, like any group of offenders, represent a heterogeneous ensemble of individuals. Hence, the reasons for, and circumstances of, sexual homicide differ from one offender to another. Still, subgroups of sexual homicide offenders are currently defined in terms of a fairly limited combination of risk factors. The purpose of this chapter is to suggest that neuropsychological/neurological assessments may help in confirming the presence (or absence) and severity of key risk factors in sexual homicide offenders. Based on data obtained with other types of offenders, it will be argued that using a few targeted neuropsychological tasks, and low-cost electroencephalography, would help evaluate pivotal factors in sexual homicide offenders, such as empathy, impulsivity, deviant sexual interests, social cognition, proclivity for outbursts and rage, and intelligence. These evaluations should help not only in confirming the presence of these neurologically related traits, but also in determining objectively the therapeutic effects (or lack thereof) of these specific factors in a given individual (e.g. higher empathy, lower impulsivity).
