Behavioral Indicators of Sadistic Sexual Murder Predict the Presence of Sadistic Sexual Fantasy in a Normative Sample

Abstract

Burgess, Hartman, Ressler, Douglas, and McCormack noted a high prevalence of certain behavioral and experiential characteristics in sexual murderers and argued for their etiological importance. The present study aimed to measure the prevalence of these indicators in a nonoffending control population and to evaluate whether they identified sadistic sexual fantasy. The prevalence of behavioral and experiential indicators and degree of sadistic sexual interest were measured in 50 healthy nonoffenders. Compared to Burgess et al.'s sexual murderers, higher prevalence levels for most experiential indicators were found, whereas many of the behavioral indicators were less prevalent. Three of the behavioral indicators were significantly associated with the presence of sadistic sexual fantasies. The presence of behavioral indicators that predict sadistic sexual fantasy confirms the importance of these factors in the etiology of the development of sadistic sexual fantasy in both offenders and nonoffenders and may be useful in risk assessment.