Book Review: Shon, P. C., & Milovanovic, D. (Eds). (2006). Serial Killers: Understanding Lust Murder. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. ix, 227 pp

• Author: Heng-Choon Chan
• Published date: 01 September 2009
• Date: 01 September 2009
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734016808328801

United States, where universities and departments appear more concerned with selling their services

and assisting the strengths of markets than with conducting politically neutral research. I agree with

the editors on this final point.

Barry Goetz

Western Michigan University

Shon, P. C., & Milovanovic, D. (Eds). (2006).

Serial Killers: Understanding Lust Murder.

Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. ix, 227 pp.

DOI: 10.1177/0734016808328801

In Serial Killers: Understanding Lust Murder, editors Philip C. Shon and Dragan Milovanovic

offer a comprehensive overview on the topic of lust murder within the study of serial killers. A num-

ber of notable scholars, both academics and practitioners in the field, have contributed to this work,

making this an excellent reference book. Shon, an assistant professor of criminology at Indiana State

University, has published widely in the areas of discourse analysis, police, homicide, psychoanalytic,

and other criminological related studies. Milovanovic, a professor of justice studies at Northeastern

Illinois University, has authored, coauthored, and edited 18 books and more than 150 scholarly pub-

lications. He is also the editor of the International Journal for the Semiotics of Law.

This book consists of 10 chapters and is divided into three parts. In chapter 1, the editors provide a

thorough overview of the study of serial lust murders. They discuss the rise of serial killers, defini-

tions of sexual and serial homicide, theoretical models, and the role that paraphilia often plays in lust

murders. The media influence and public perception is also presented in this introductory chapter.

Chapters 2, 3, and 4 examine the theories of sexual homicide and relevant legal issues. In chapter

2, Margaret Kohut, Mark Carich, and Angeline Stanislaus provide the legal perspectives surrounding

the topic of serial sexual homicide. This chapter focuses on sexual psycholegal issues within the judi-

cial system, such as pretrial assessment, competency to stand trial, the insanity defense, and many

other ‘‘designer’’ defenses frequently offered by the defense side. Next, in chapter 3, Mark Carich,

Dawn Fisher, and Margaret Kohut propose a developmental theory of the sexual serial killer. This

proposed theory of mindbody development with different developmental perspectives within the

developmental psychology discipline is built on several psychopathological themes. Based on their

clinical experiences, Carich and colleagues provide treatment applications for this specific group of

offenders. In chapter 4, Bruce Arrigo and Catherine Purcell focus on the theoretical integration of

two widely cited models (the motivational model and the trauma-control model) of sexual homicide

and identify the practical limitations within the literature on this topic.

Part II of this book focuses on the core of the subject matter that deals with the study of paraphilias

in lust murders. In chapter 5, Dawn Fisher, Anthony Beech, Mark Carich, and Margaret Kohut offer

a constructive view of sex crimes by distinguishing rapists from sexual murderers from a British per-

spective. The highlight of this chapter is the theoretical frame-work of five sexual homicide implicit

theories that is constructed based on the five offense-supportive implicit theories in rapists. In chap-

ter 6, DeVere Woods, Jr. provides a rather practical view regarding the investigation of serial mur-

ders. This chapter focuses on the issue of piquerism (overkill by cutting and stabbing parts of

another’s body for sexual pleasure) as a signature of crime by differentiating it with the modus oper-

andi. Challenges frequently faced by the investigators when investigating serial murders are also

350International Criminal Justice Review