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

• Author: Julien Chopin,Eric Beauregard
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211049194
• Published date: 01 April 2023
• Date: 01 April 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211049194

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2023, Vol. 67(5) 499 –523

© The Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0306624X211049194

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Article

The Unusual Case of

Sexual Homicide Against

Males: Comparisons and

Classification

Julien Chopin1,2 and Eric Beauregard1

Abstract

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. The sample used in

this research comes from the Sexual Homicide International Database (SHIelD)

including 662 cases of cases—100 cases involving male victims and 552 involving

female victims. Bivariate and multivariate analysis are performed to examine the

differences between the two groups and latent class analysis is used to generate

an empirical classification of cases involving male victims. Findings indicate the

victim’s gender plays an important role in the different choices made by sexual

homicide offenders of male victims to successfully complete their crime. They

adapted their crime-commission process to overcome the risks associated

with a physical confrontation with a male victim (i.e., target selection, approach

strategy, method of killing). Classification analysis suggests that it exists three

different types of sexual murderers assaulting male victims: the robber sexual

murderer, the sadistic sexual murderer, and the pedophile murderer. This

research proposes the first empirical typology of sexual homicide involving male

victims and provides both a true picture of the reality and a comprehensive

understanding of this phenomenon.

1Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada

2University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

Corresponding Author:

Julien Chopin, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby,

BC V5A 1S6, Canada.

Email: julien_chopin@sfu.ca

1049194IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X211049194International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyChopin and Beauregard

research-article2021

500 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 67(5)

Keywords

sexual homicide, male victims, typology, rational choice theory, routine activities

theory

Introduction

On January 18th, 2018, the Toronto police apprehended Bruce McArthur, a

67-year-old self-employed landscaper, in his home in relation to several suspected

homicides. He was originally linked to the death of two men but over the next

3 months he would be charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of six more

men. The police had discovered the human remains of the eight victims buried

inside planters at various homes where McArthur worked as a landscaper. It was

later found that McArthur had sexual intercourse with the victims and that they

were all spending time in Toronto’s Gay Village.

Although unusual, this infamous Canadian serial killer has shed some light on

a specific type of victim rarely researched or even discussed in the field of sexual

violence: the male victim. As to sexual homicide specifically, it has been largely

documented that the proportion of homicide that is sexual in nature is generally

under 4% (e.g., James & Proulx, 2014). Needless to say, sexual homicide cases

involving male victims are even rarer. In order to better estimate the number of

sexual homicides, Ressler et al. (1988) have proposed an operationalized defini-

tion of this type of crime. Thus, to be considered as sexual, a homicide has to pres-

ent at least one of the following criteria: victim’s attire (e.g., torn clothing exposing

the victim’s genitals) or lack of attire, exposure of the sexual parts of the victim’s

body, sexual positioning of the victim’s body, insertion of foreign objects into the

victim’s body cavities, evidence of sexual intercourse, and evidence of substitute

sexual activity, interest, or sadistic fantasy. Previous studies highlight the strong

heterogeneity of sexual homicides and sexual offenders (see e.g., Beauregard &

Proulx, 2002, 2007; Beauregard et al., 2007; Beech et al., 2001, 2005; Chopin &

Beauregard, 2020a; Higgs et al., 2017). Specifically, some research focuses on

victims’ characteristics such as age and found strong differences in terms of

offender profile and crime-commission process. For instance, studies showed that

offenders involved in sexual homicides of children (12 years old or younger) con-

stituted a distinct (Beauregard et al., 2008; Proulx et al., 2018) and heterogeneous

population of sexual murderers (Chopin & Beauregard, 2019c, 2020c). Similar

conclusions were observed with sexual homicide of elderly (65 years old or older)

victims (Chopin & Beauregard, 2020d; Safarik, 2002; Safarik et al., 2002).

Surprisingly, the question of the victim gender and its impact on the crime-com-

mission process has been largely overlooked as very few studies have examined

sexual homicide of men. This study aims to fill that gap by comparing the crime

commission-process in cases of sexual homicide of men with sexual homicides of

women, and test the heterogeneity of this specific type of offenders in terms of

motivations and crime-commission process.