Lost Highways: An Examination of the Question of Risk Involved in Sexual Homicides of Hitchhiking Victims.

Despite cultural references to the dangers of hitchhiking, particularly for sexual homicide, no published research investigates these incidents from both an offender and crime scene perspective. Using the Sexual Homicide International Database (SHIelD), we explore lifestyle risk by comparing sexual homicide cases involving hitchhiking victims to those involving victims engaged in sex trade work. The results, based on the use of bivariate and multivariate statistics, indicate that offenders view hitchhiking victims as opportunities for confinement without physical restraint, often engaging in sexual acts and theft.

Stranger Danger: Analyzing Offender Behaviors Based on Victim Approach Tactics in Sexual Homicide.

Victims of sexual homicide may be deceived by perpetrators who use a friendly approach to gain access to them, making it difficult for the victim to assess the danger posed by the stranger. When investigating sexual homicides committed by strangers, investigators often lack direct information, including how the perpetrator gained access to the victim. To identify potential predictors of the approach method used in sexual homicides, this study analyzed the preferences and behaviors of sexual murderers who target strangers based on their approach method.

Gold Nanoparticles Cause Radiosensitization in 4T1 Cells by Inhibiting DNA Double Strand Break Repair: Single Cell Comparisons of DSB Formation and γH2AX Expression.

Metal nanoparticles sensitize cancers to radiotherapy however their mechanisms of action are complex. The conceptual inspiration arose from theories of physical dose deposition however various chemical and biological factors have also been identified. Interpretation of data has been limited by challenges in measuring true DNA damage compared to DNA damage repair factors.

What if Marquis de Sade Was a Woman? New Evidence of Sex Differences in Behavioral Manifestation of Sadism.

This study aims to explore the behavioral manifestation of sadism in females involved in sexual crimes. The sample includes 24 female sex offenders for which sadism was assessed with the SeSaS. To conduct a gender-based comparison analysis, we conducted a random selection of 100 sadistic male offenders.

Identifying victim types in sexual homicide: A latent class analysis using interactional victimology theories.

Sexual homicide (SH) research has focused on those who commit these crimes and the crimes themselves. This leaves the victim, an equally crucial piece to the puzzle, left as a sort of afterthought, despite the valuable insight that victimology provides to the crime. For the current study, victim information related to their routine activities and lifestyles was taken from an international database containing 662 solved cases of SH.

Trophy, souvenir, or simple theft? Taking items from the victim in sexual homicide.

Although most people have heard the terms 'souvenirs', 'trophies', and 'mementos', discussed in books and movies on the true crimes of sexual murderers, limited research has delved into the phenomenon of theft in sexual homicide (SH). Using a sample of 762 SH cases coming from the Sexual Homicide International Database, the current study examines the crime-commission process of the pre-crime, crime, and post-crime phases of sexual homicide offenders (SHOs) who engaged in theft during a SH. Additionally, this study seeks to determine if a specific type of SHO engages in this behaviour over others.

How to get away with (sexual) murder? Unraveling cold cases in sexual homicide using a hybrid modeling probabilistic approach.

This study examines Sexual Homicide (SH) cases, analyzing the transition to cold cases through a non-discretionary lens. Utilizing the SH International Database, it explores the interplay between offender behavior, victim characteristics, and crime context. Advanced methodologies, including sequential logistic regression and Artificial Neural Networks, identify key predictors of case resolution.

Energetics of twisted elastic filament pairs.

We investigate the elastic energy stored in a filament pair as a function of applied twist by measuring torque under prescribed end-to-end separation conditions. We show that the torque increases rapidly to a peak with applied twist when the filaments are initially separate, then decreases to a minimum as the filaments cross and come into contact. The torque then increases again while the filaments form a double helix with increasing twist.

A Criminological Perspective on the Sexual Victimization of Older Adults.

Purpose Of Review: This review presents recent research on the sexual abuse of older adults and examines this phenomenon from a criminological perspective. Much of the previous work has neglected to consider the entirety of the crime-commission process. Therefore, the work highlighted in this review showcases important information regarding the individual who committed the crime, the victim, and the criminal event as a whole.

Violent Partners or a Specific Class of Offenders? A Criminal Career Approach to Understanding Men Involved in Intimate Partner Sexual Violence.

The current study investigates the criminal career of individuals involved in intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV). Specifically, the goal is to determine whether men who engage in IPSV can be distinguished from those who engage in intimate partner non sexual violence (IPNSV) only and whether criminal trajectories in the resulting subgroup are heterogeneous. The sample comes from a Canadian database including a total of 12,458 individuals involved in IPSV and 32,474 individuals involved in IPNSV).

Interactions Between Offender and Crime Characteristics Leading to a Lethal Outcome in Cases of Sexually-Motivated Abductions.

Despite the widespread public concern regarding abduction, research on this type of crime is scarce. This lack of research is even more pronounced when looking at cases that end with the death of the victim. In fact, all of the research looking at lethal outcomes in cases of abductions has focused exclusively on child victims and has failed to consider the interactions at the multivariate level between the factors related to the death of the victim.

Adverse childhood experience trajectories and individual high risk-behaviors of sexual offenders: A developmental victimology perspective.

Background: Developmental victimology theory suggests that developmental features of risk and impact stemming from various types of victimization depend on the age of the child or adolescent.

Objective: A next step is studying the developmental victimization trajectories of individuals involved in sexual crimes by focusing on traumatic events occurring during childhood and adolescence respectively. Building on the developmental victimology perspective, the study's specific aims encompass two key objectives: 1) exploring the diverse trajectories of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) within a sample of individuals involved in sexual crimes, and 2) assessing whether these ACEs trajectories influence the emergence of distinct high-risk behaviors.

Strangulation in sexual homicide: Is it opportunity, victim's vulnerability or sadism?

Although most homicides involve the use of a weapon, some offenders still prefer killing with their own hands, using strangulation. In fact, when disaggregating the various types of homicides, sexual homicide offenders appear as having a preference for "personal weapon" to kill the victim. Personal weapons, such as strangulation, asphyxiation, and beating, are the most commonly used killing methods in sexual homicide.

Sadistic Sexual Crimes Against Children: Comparing the Manifestation of Sexual Sadism and Crime-Commission Process.

Individuals who commit sexual offenses against children have been shown to be distinctive from adult offenders across both individual and crime characteristics. However, an examination of the literature shows that there are gaps in the research related to whether sadism manifests differently between those who target child compared to adult victims. The current study therefore aimed to explore the differences in the characteristics, crime-commission process, and the dimensions of sadism between sadistic crimes of children ( = 101) compared to those of adults ( = 433).

Modus Operandi in Sexual Assaults of Female Strangers Does Not Change Over Time.

Criminological theories and widespread assumptions about crime suggest that the modus operandi involved in sexual crimes should have changed over time given various contextual changes, such as better criminological knowledge (e.g., forensic awareness) as well as improved investigative techniques (e.

Developmental Sequela for Sexual Homicide: Testing an Integrated Multi-Theoretical Model.

Research focusing on the role of adverse childhood experience (ACE) of individuals involved in sexual homicide (SH) is scarce. Theoretical models of SH have postulated a connection between these adverse experiences and the development of internal risk factors. However, such assumptions have never been empirically tested.

Sexual homicide and the forensic process: The decision-making process of collecting and analyzing traces and its implication for crime solving.

The focus of the current study is to examine the collection and analysis of traces that are related to crime scene behaviors in sexual homicide cases as well as the factors influencing the solving of these crimes. Using 230 sexual homicide cases from the SHielD database, we computed two neural network models based on the multi-layer perceptron algorithm. First, we determined whether certain crime scene characteristics predicted the collection and analysis of traces (dependent variable for Model 1).

Manifestations of sexual sadism in child sexual assault and the associated victim, offender, and offense characteristics: A latent class analysis.

Background: Although sadistic child sexual abuse (SCSA) is rare, existing typologies of child sexual abuse have identified the existence of sadistic subtypes in child molestation, as well in the sexual homicide of children. Nonetheless, no study has sought to determine whether there is heterogeneity in the manifestation of sexual sadism between sadistic child abusers.

Objective: The present study seeks to examine how SCSA manifests differently between offenders, and whether these differences are associated with specific victim, offender, and offense characteristics.

Childhood victimization and poly-victimization of online sexual offenders: A developmental psychopathology perspective.

Background: Research on childhood victimization of individuals involved in online sexual offending during adulthood is scarce. Studies focusing on adverse childhood of individuals involved in offline child abuse suggested that childhood trauma was associated with an increased probability of sexual offending during adulthood.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to explore the role that childhood victimization may have in the development of risk factors that increase the likelihood of being involved in online sexual offending.

Child sexual exploitation material offenders, one-size-fits-all for? Exploring tailored clinical dimensions based on cognitive and behavioural criminogenic factors.

Background: Interventions for individuals involved in sexual offending behaviours are likely to be more effective if adapted to focus on their specific characteristics, suggesting that men who engage in sexual offences against children over the Internet should be treated differently from those who have actual physical contact against children.

Aims: The goal of this study is to explore possible associations between the criminogenic cognitions and behaviours of men using online child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) and variables relevant to intervention. We hypothesised that antisocial tendencies, sexual, emotional and relational problems and self-regulation problems, as well as cognitive distortions would be associated with CSEM use.

Tensional twist-folding of sheets into multilayered scrolled yarns.

Twisting sheets as a strategy to form functional yarns relies on millennia of human practice in making catguts and fabric wearables, but it still lacks overarching principles to guide their intricate architectures. We show that twisted hyperelastic sheets form multilayered self-scrolled yarns, through recursive folding and twist localization, that can be reconfigured and redeployed. We combine weakly nonlinear elasticity and origami to explain the observed ordered progression beyond the realm of perturbative models.

Criminal Expertise and Sexual Violence: Comparing the Crime-Commission Process Involved in Sexual Burglary and Sexual Robbery.

Criminal expertise relates to the notion that some individuals may develop domain-specific offending skills that differentiate them from those with less skills or experience (i.e., novices).

The Unusual Case of Sexual Homicide Against Males: Comparisons and Classification.

This study examines the specificities of sexual homicides involving male victims. First, this study aims to identify characteristics specific to SH involving male victims by comparing them to SH involving female victims and determine whether rational choice approach and routine activities theories are useful to explain the crime-commission process. Second, this study aims to provide the first empirical classification of SH involving male victims.

Expert Versus Novice: Criminal Expertise in Sexual Burglary and Sexual Robbery.

Although there has been considerable variation in the application of expertise to offending populations, one aspect that is widely agreed upon is that expertise is best represented on a continuum from novice to expert. The present study, therefore, investigated criminal expertise in 877 hybrid offenses that involve sexual assault and robbery (i.e.