ABSTRACT
For decades, law enforcement officers have frequently avoided assignments that involved sexually motivated crimes because of the stigma associated with these cases. Prior to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) research, these crimes were generally considered to involve sexual perversions, child molestation, or other components in which detectives and investigators were often uncomfortable investigating. These detectives often cited their lack of knowledge pertaining to such cases and the sensitive nature of these types of investigations when presented with these cases. Thus, they preferred the straightforward, “who-done-it” murders, not realizing that a significant number of the homicides they investigated were, in all probability, sexually motivated or involved a sexual component.
