Chapter 10

Sex-related
Offenses
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• List and explain the classifications of sex offenses

• List and explain the four types of sexual murder
• Discuss interview procedures and investigative questions for
sexual assault cases
• Explain why women do not report rape to the police and the
motivation for false rape allegations
• Outline the types of physical evidence collected in rape and sexual
assault cases
• Discuss the importance of condom trace evidence
• Identify the use and effects of Rohypnol and GHB
• Assess investigative and evidence collection techniques for drug-
facilitates sexual assaults
• Recognize common characteristics of sexual asphyxia, or
autoerotic death
• Describe a psychological autopsy
• Discuss how to start a cold case investigation

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

 CLASSIFICATION OF SEX RELATED
OFFENSES
• Serious Sex Offenses
– Sex offenses of this type, such as rape or
sexual battery as it is also called, are high-
priority offenses
• Nuisance Sex Offenses
– Included in this classification are such acts
as voyeurism and exhibitionism
• Sex Offenses Involving Mutual Consent
– Sex offenses of this nature involve
consenting adults whose behavior is deemed
illegal by various state and local laws
© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
 RAPE-MURDER CLASSIFICATIONS

1999, Vol. 43, No. 4, p. 420.)

Understanding Sexual Murder,” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology,
(Source: Robert D. Keppel and Richard Walter, “Profiling Killers: A Revised Classification Model for
Keppel and Walter developed a model for
understanding rape-murder by examining:
• behaviors
• homicidal patterns
• and suspect profiles
• of convicted sexual murders

Power Assertive Power Reassurance Anger Retaliatory Anger Excitation

Rape is planned; Rape is planned; Rape and murder are Rape and murder are
murder is not planned murder is not planned planned planned

Power interest Power interest Anger driven Anger driven

Killer’s increasing Killer acts out fantasy Killer seeks revenge Killer engages in
aggression toward the and seeks for anger toward prolonged torture,
victim ensures control reassurance from the another person by exploitation, and/or
victim attacking a symbolic mutilation, thereby
victim energizing his fantasy
life

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

 RAPE OR SEXUAL BATTERY

A legal term defining the crime of a person

having sexual relations with another
person under the following
circumstances: against the person's
consent; while the other person is
unconscious; while the other person is
under the influence of alcohol; with a
person who is feeble minded or insane;
and with a child who is under the age of
consent as fixed by statute.
© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
 INTERVIEW PROCEDURES AND
INVESTIGATIVE QUESTIONS/SEXUAL
ASSAULT CASES
• Type and sequence of sexual acts during an
assault
– To determine the motivation behind a rape, it is
imperative to ascertain the type and sequence of the
rape
• Verbal activity of rapist
– A rapist reveals a good deal about himself and the
motivation behind the assault though what he says
to the victim
• Verbal activity of victim
– The rapist may make the victim say certain words or
phrases that enhance the rape for him
© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
 INTERVIEW PROCEDURES AND
INVESTIGATIVE QUESTIONS/SEXUAL
ASSAULT CASES continued
• Sudden change in rapist's attitude during the
attack
– The victim should be specifically asked whether she
observed any change in the attitude of the rapist
during the time he was with her
• Theft during rape
– Almost without exception, police record the theft of
items from rape victims
• Delayed reporting
– If the victim has delayed making a complaint, the
investigator should establish the reason
© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
 RAPE VICTIM

The teenager victim

in this case was:
– raped
– mutilated
– had her arms
chopped off

(AP Photo/Tampa Tribune, David Kadlubowski)

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
 WHY WOMEN DO NOT REPORT RAPE
TO THE POLICE
• Lack of belief in the ability of the police to
apprehend the suspect
• Worries about unsympathetic treatment
from police and discomforting procedures
• Embarrassment about publicity, however
limited
• Fear of reprisal by the rapist

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

 WHY DO WOMEN SOMETIMES MAKE
FALSE RAPE ALLEGATIONS?
• Prostitutes who have not been paid
• Females caught in the act of sexual
intercourse by relatives, friends, or law
enforcement officials
• Women who cannot explain an unwanted
pregnancy
• Women who want to cause difficulty for
some man because of a real or imagined
interpersonal conflict

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

 THE VICTIM AND PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
• Instructions to the Victim
– The officer responding to a reported sexual assault
should make a great effort to ensure that any
evidence that may be on the victim is secure
• Semen and Hair Evidence
– Semen that contains sperm and hair with the root
attached can now be identified as coming from a
specific individual as a result of DNA typing
• Information for the Examining Physician
– The physician responsible for examining the victim
should be provided with all of the available facts
before the physical examination
• Collection of the Victim's Clothing
– The victim's clothing should be collected as soon as
possible

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

 THE VICTIM AND PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
continued
• The Role of the Investigator in Securing the
Rape Scene
– It is the criminal investigator's job to collect, catalog,
and store physical evidence for later analysis in the
laboratory
• Incidence of Errors in the Collection of Evidence
– In spite of the importance of proper handling,
evidence still continues to be mishandled
• Sexual Battery Examination
– Most hospitals of crisis center responsible for the
collection of evidence from sex-offense victims have
developed sexual battery examination kits

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

 SEXUAL BATTERY EXAMINATION KIT

Sexual-battery
examination kits
contain items such as:
• blood vials
• paper bags
• sterile dacron-tipped
applicators
• envelopes for swabs
taken

(Courtesy Pinellas County, Florida, Public Health Unit, Sexual Assault

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Victim Examination Program)
 THE VALUE OF CONDOM TRACE
EVIDENCE
• Condom trace evidence can assist
investigators in several ways.
– In Providing Corpus Delicti. Trace evidence may
help prove the crime occurred.
– In Providing Evidence of Penetration. Condom
traces found inside a victim can provide evidence of
penetration.
– In Producing Associative Evidence. Recovered
condom traces may correspond to those found in
certain brand or used by a certain manufacturer.
– In Linking the Acts of Serial Rapists. A serial rapist
likely will use the same brand of condom to commit
repeated acts.
© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
 DRUG FACILITATED SEXUAL
ASSAULTS
• Rohypnol (street name Roofies), known as the
drug flunitrazepam, belongs to a class of drugs
called benzodiazepines
– It produces a spectrum of effects including skeletal
muscle relaxation, sedation, and reductions in
anxiety
• GHB. Gamma hydroxybutyrate or GHB (also
known as Gamma-OH, Liquid Ecstasy, Georgia
Home Boy, or Goop)
– It is another central nervous system depressant that
is used to perpetrate sexual assaults

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

 ROHYPNOL

• Drug used by sex offenders at:

– parties
– bars
– clubs
– social drinking
locations

(Courtesy Sergeant Christopher McKissick and Detective Tyler Parks, Port

Orange, Florida, Police Department)

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

 INVESTIGATING AND COLLECTING
EVIDENCE IN DRUG-FACILITATED
SEXUAL ASSAULTS
• Evidence Collection and Processing
– Because victims may be unaware, or only suspect,
that an assault has occurred, law enforcement has
the critical task of gathering as much physical
evidence as soon as possible
• The Investigation
– Law enforcement officers cannot rely on forensic
toxicology reports alone. Accounts from any people
at the scene will be important
• Evidence
– At the proper time a warrant can be obtained for the
search of a suspect's residence, car, or place of
work for evidence of Rohypnol or other drugs

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

 AUTOEROTIC DEATH

• Death from accidental asphyxiation

occurring as a result of masochistic
activities of the deceased. Also called
sexual asphyxia.

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

 AUTOEROTIC DEATH

• In autoerotic death cases the investigator will

typically find:
– a white male partially suspended and nude
– dressed in women's clothing or undergarments
– or with his penis exposed

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill

 PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY

• An analytical statement prepared by a

mental health professional based upon
the decedent's thoughts, feelings and
behavior. Its purpose is to form a logical
understanding of death from tangible
physical evidence, documented life
events, and intangible often musive
emotional factors.

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

 Cold Case Team for Sex Crimes

A. Developing a Strategy
1. Dealing with Neglected Victims
B. Investigating “New” Cases
C. Reevaluating Evidence
D. Identifying Suspects from DNA
E. DNA Success
F. Statute of Limitations

© 2006 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.