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'Stranger' Child-Murder - Issues Relating to Causes and Control

NCJ Number
105351
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 31 Issue: 1 Dated: (1987) Pages: 49-59
Author(s)
P R Wilson
Date Published
1987
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Life sentences without parole or lengthy prison terms may be the only punishment acceptable to the community for murderers of children, who usually are not mentally ill but who may be susceptible to the influence of pornography.
Abstract
Twenty percent of homicides in the United States today have no apparent motive, compared with 6 percent in 1966. Many of these apparently motiveless killings involve brutal killings of children and adolescents by strangers. Some of these murderers commit multiple crimes, and many derive sexual satisfaction from their acts. Police find it difficult to develop typologies of strangers who kill children because of the variations in their backgrounds, personalities, and reactions to their crimes. Researchers such as Bartholomew have concluded that sexual murderers are only aggressive behavior generally and should be studied within that framework. In addition, available evidence indicates that pornography, including some popular music, either creates or reinforces predisposing patterns of destructive behavior in some murderers by making violence and premature killing seem commonplace. Investigation and apprehension of child killers is being aided by the FBI's criminal apprehension program (VICAP), a computer and communications system. The characteristics of these offenders suggest that severe penalties will not deter them and that imprisonment without parole may be the only penalty the public will accept. 28 references.