From Right to Left it Had No End: Discrepancies

Freud concluded in his Theory of Sexuality that such perversions as sexual murder and necrophilia as in this quotation “It is impossible to deny that in their case a piece of mental work has been performed which, in spite of its horrifying result, is the equivalent of an idealization of the instinct.” Freud’s statement seems to set the direction for the classification of the serial murderer’s aggression as a sexual perversion, and many theorists have argued that the disorganized murderer kills primarily for sexual gratification. The asocial (disorganized) serial murderer is described as a loner, withdrawn,and more cowardly in his crimes. His crimes are often committed without aplan, and the victims are usually attacked in a blitz style. Some researchers suggest that the disorganized crime scene reflects a serial murderer whose motivation consists of uncontrolled sexual drives, reflected by the murderer’s inability to control impulsive behavior or change his action in consideration of others.

 

The researchers suggest that the psychological gain for the disorganized serial murder is sexual exploitation of the victim in the form of torture. However, the term “torture” was not defined by the researchers. The literature asserts that a sadistic sexual drive is the impetus for the disorganized serial mur- derer. What is derived from this perspective are biases gleaned from offenders’ self-reports. Consequently, no exploration of the different emphases murder has for different offenders is considered. Traditionally, the sadistic aggressive explanation suggests that the offender derives sexual gratification by the infliction of pain and degradation on living victims. It is argued in the serial murder literature that the etiology for serial murder is sexual gratification. The sexual attack is posited to be a way to degrade, subjugate, and ultimately destroy the victim. In the sadistic drive formulation, it is postulated that the offender kills out of sexual frustration because of a specific need for an object he can humiliate and torture. Some researchers also claim that sadism reassures the individual of his power by easing his worries about, for example, castration. However, The murder has less to do with sex and more to do with pseudo-sexual activity, power, and control. Domination is a crucial element in serial crimes with a sexual theme. Another problem is the traditional definition of sadism. For example, no consideration has been given to the offender’s perspective — that during the course of a violent attack, determining when sadistic gratification begins or ends is problematic. It may be more logical to consider violent behavior as a continuum of actions.

 

The disorganized offender is also described as one who shows no forensic awareness, often leaving fingerprints, bloody footprints, semen, and evidence of little or no preparation for the murder by selecting weapons of opportunity. The disorganized serial murderer is not likely to use restraints because the victim is killed immediately. In the disorganized type murder, the victim is depersonalized by cuts and stab wounds to specific areas of the body. Other examples of depersonalization and sadistic acts on victims occur in the form of inserted objects, which the FBI suggests is a form of regressive necrophilia and sexual substitution rather than an act of mutilation or control. Additional sexual exploits may include features such as mutilation, disembowelment, amputation, and vampirism.

 

The FBI’s description of organized and disorganized types, there appear to be some discrepancies in their “narrative descriptions” when compared to the respective “crime scene checklist”. The narrative version of the disorganized type actually seems to contain a number of organized types of behaviors that require extensive planning and forethought. For example, behavior such as post-mortem sexual activity, revisiting the crime scene, and the use of gloves would appear to indicate cognitive planning and an instrumental focus. However, the checklist, which is the list of descriptive words that are assigned to each crime scene type, seems to reflect more a mixture of revenge and expressive aggression. The actions of blunt trauma to the face and blitz attack are embedded with a primary focus, sexual gratification. The combination of these modes of behavior is commonly cited as indicative of the organized serial murderer, however, actually they appear to represent disorganization rather than organization. The hypothesis that serial murderers who perform mutilations, post-mortem sex, and cannibalism are also disorganized is certainly open to question. In addition to these discrepancies, there are two further shortcomings in the organized and disorganized offender typology. First, the behaviors that describe each type are not mutually exclusive; a variety of combinations could occur in any given murder scene. Second, there is no discussion of why serial murderers have the need to repeatedly murder. Both the revenge and sadistic drives seem too vague. The organized and disorganized scheme also provides no reason why serial murders select some victims and pass up others. The organized and disorganized labels appear to be clinical assessments, it is primarily a measurement of antisocial and criminal behavior and does not measure the affective and interpersonal characteristics of the personality disorder commonly associated with individuals displaying psychopathological behavior.

 

One theme that dominates serial murder classifications is the role that fantasy has in facilitating the murders, that “sexual murder is based on fantasy.”  Several methodological constraints become relevant when inferring motivation through fantasy, for example the distortion most likely found in self-report studies. The FBI’s serial murder classification relies on self-reports of personal history background and elements of how the crime was committed. However, research by Lewis et al., in a study that required independent confirmation of reports of trauma (e.g., those found in hospital or on police reports at the time of the incidents), found that convicted killers tend to under-report histories of trauma and deny symptoms of psychiatric disorders. For example, during the interviews with serial murderers, the FBI researchers ultimately found the disorganized murderers’ unanimous assertions of heterosexuality to be unreliable, but the researcher’s suspicions were not aroused about whether retrospective accounts of the offenders’ fantasy states prior to the murders were accurate. 

 

Fantasy is described in the FBI motivational model as a linear relationship between a dominant mother, abusive personality, and arousal levels. Abused children could become either aggressive or withdrawn, and children with non-abusive backgrounds demonstrated a range of responses from psychosis through neurosis. This suggests that subtle yet crucial distinctions may be overlooked when an interviewer inquires only whether or not the offender’s mother was dominant in his childhood. 

 

Acknowledgements:

www.aivd.nl    AIVD ©

Algemene Bestuursdienst – @Erik Akerboom ©

www.politie.nl  Politiekorpschef  @Janny Knol©

www.politie.nl WEB Politie - @Henk van Essen©

https://english.marechaussee.nl  Royal Netherlands Marechaussee    @Willem-Alexander King of the Netherlands©

PolitieAcademie - https://www.politieacademie.nl/en©

 Author: W.R. Łaskawiec ©

 

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