Serial killers and serial rapists: Preliminary comparison of violence typologies

Abstract

This chapter reviews the typologies for serial murder and serial rape. The aim here is to showcase the principal conceptual models that have accounted for these two forms of criminal behavior in the extant literature. Additionally, however, the chapter considers where and how the typologies on serial rape and murder could be integrated, especially with respect to offender motivations, cognitions, biological predispositions, fantasies, impulses, and personality structures. Along these lines, several points of continuity and discontinuity are featured. The chapter concludes by speculating on the relevance of the proposed exploratory analysis, particularly in relation to future research efforts that seek to explain and prevent both forms of violence based on scientific model making, theory testing, and empirical validation. © 2008 Humana Press.