Dark Dreams: Sexual Violence, Homicide And The Criminal Mind by Roy Hazelwood, Stephen G. Michaud Page B
Authors: Roy Hazelwood, Stephen G. Michaud
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masochism, transvestitism, fetishism, telephone scatology, exhibitionism, pedophilia, and necrophilia, to name a few. The ritualistic offender will have a paraphilic fantasy, and he will almost always express this deviance in his crimes.
Robert Leroy Anderson, for example, demonstrated at least two paraphilias: sexual bondage (not officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association as a paraphilia but generally accepted as one) and sexual sadism.
Situational
The third facet of fantasy is the situational component. What circumstance or setting does the offender wish to realize? To help my audiences understand the meaning of the term situational I use my lectures as an analogy. They take place in a situation, or setting, of the classroom; and the relationship between myself and the people in the audience is teacher-student.
Anderson’s situational fantasy was a torture chamber. He constructed a platform that conformed to his Bronco’s cargo space. He had materials to restrain his victim. He also had implements to cause his victim’s suffering. In essence, he had created a dungeon within his Bronco.
At the opposite end of the situational continuum, Tom’s situational fantasy was domestic, a “home and hearth” setting for his rapes.
Victim Demographics
The fourth component is victim demographics. Recall that the impulsive offender’s victim criterion is simply a female who is vulnerable. Not so with the ritualistic criminal. As a result of the great amount of time he spends in fantasizing, this imaginative offender develops highly specific selection standards for his victims. Leonard Lake, as we’ve noted, always looked for a slim, petite, small-breasted female of eighteen to twenty-two, with shoulder-length blonde hair.
Pedophiles select victims by gender and age but may also have a preference for victims of a particular race, hair color, or even a particular nose shape. Necrophiliacs require a dead victim, of course; beyond that their fantasies are wide-ranging. Whatever the ritualistic offender’s demographic profile, it will always be specific to his, or her, fantasy.
Self-Perceptional
The final area of fantasy is the self-perceptional component. How does the offender fantasize his role in the crime? The continuum here ranges from godlike omnipotence to feelings of extreme inadequacy.
Examples of the first type abound. Paul Bernardo, the “Ken” of Toronto’s infamous husband-and-wife, “Ken and Barbie,” sexual murders forced his victims (including “Barbie,” his wife, Karla Homolka) to call him “master.” By contrast, San Diego serial rapist Kenneth Bogard, just like Tom, imagined himself the desirable object of his victims’ affections.
Never mind that it was necessary to kidnap someone in order to play out their scenarios. Judging from the number of victims the two offenders involved in their fantasies, Bogard and Tom obviously never tired of repeating them.
4
Fantasy Made Real
Intelligent and cunning for the most part, ritualistic offenders take a wide variety of routes in pursuit of their hidden desires. With their vivid imaginations, they generate an astonishing array of perversely creative ideas.
They may coerce a wife or girlfriend into helping them realize their fantasies, or they may kidnap, rape, or kill a stranger. But it is important to know that sexual criminals don’t always require victims. A ritualistic offender may also enact his fantasy using inanimate objects, paid partners, compliant partners (wives or girlfriends), or even himself.
Also, his behavior may or may not escalate from passive fantasy to outright assault. Any level of behavior may be an end in itself, as is usually true of dangerous autoeroticism. Or the offender may act out in multiple ways at the same time.
For example, he may seek out an aberrant, albeit noncriminal, sexual experience even as he is committing rapes and murders.
Inanimate Objects
Many sexual criminals who act out against
Robert Leroy Anderson, for example, demonstrated at least two paraphilias: sexual bondage (not officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association as a paraphilia but generally accepted as one) and sexual sadism.
Situational
The third facet of fantasy is the situational component. What circumstance or setting does the offender wish to realize? To help my audiences understand the meaning of the term situational I use my lectures as an analogy. They take place in a situation, or setting, of the classroom; and the relationship between myself and the people in the audience is teacher-student.
Anderson’s situational fantasy was a torture chamber. He constructed a platform that conformed to his Bronco’s cargo space. He had materials to restrain his victim. He also had implements to cause his victim’s suffering. In essence, he had created a dungeon within his Bronco.
At the opposite end of the situational continuum, Tom’s situational fantasy was domestic, a “home and hearth” setting for his rapes.
Victim Demographics
The fourth component is victim demographics. Recall that the impulsive offender’s victim criterion is simply a female who is vulnerable. Not so with the ritualistic criminal. As a result of the great amount of time he spends in fantasizing, this imaginative offender develops highly specific selection standards for his victims. Leonard Lake, as we’ve noted, always looked for a slim, petite, small-breasted female of eighteen to twenty-two, with shoulder-length blonde hair.
Pedophiles select victims by gender and age but may also have a preference for victims of a particular race, hair color, or even a particular nose shape. Necrophiliacs require a dead victim, of course; beyond that their fantasies are wide-ranging. Whatever the ritualistic offender’s demographic profile, it will always be specific to his, or her, fantasy.
Self-Perceptional
The final area of fantasy is the self-perceptional component. How does the offender fantasize his role in the crime? The continuum here ranges from godlike omnipotence to feelings of extreme inadequacy.
Examples of the first type abound. Paul Bernardo, the “Ken” of Toronto’s infamous husband-and-wife, “Ken and Barbie,” sexual murders forced his victims (including “Barbie,” his wife, Karla Homolka) to call him “master.” By contrast, San Diego serial rapist Kenneth Bogard, just like Tom, imagined himself the desirable object of his victims’ affections.
Never mind that it was necessary to kidnap someone in order to play out their scenarios. Judging from the number of victims the two offenders involved in their fantasies, Bogard and Tom obviously never tired of repeating them.
4
Fantasy Made Real
Intelligent and cunning for the most part, ritualistic offenders take a wide variety of routes in pursuit of their hidden desires. With their vivid imaginations, they generate an astonishing array of perversely creative ideas.
They may coerce a wife or girlfriend into helping them realize their fantasies, or they may kidnap, rape, or kill a stranger. But it is important to know that sexual criminals don’t always require victims. A ritualistic offender may also enact his fantasy using inanimate objects, paid partners, compliant partners (wives or girlfriends), or even himself.
Also, his behavior may or may not escalate from passive fantasy to outright assault. Any level of behavior may be an end in itself, as is usually true of dangerous autoeroticism. Or the offender may act out in multiple ways at the same time.
For example, he may seek out an aberrant, albeit noncriminal, sexual experience even as he is committing rapes and murders.
Inanimate Objects
Many sexual criminals who act out against
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