A study released yesterday detailing the psychological profile of sexual offenders indicates that the types of crimes they commit -- and the victims they choose -- are often clearly identifiable by their character types.
In presenting the findings, Huang Fu-yuan (黃富源), a crimonoligist at the Central Police University (??央警1?j學), said sex offenders usually have low education levels and are quiet and anti-social. Most come from dysfunctional families and have problems with schooling and work.
Huang said sex offenders usually have their first sexual encounter at an early age, like to patronize brothels, and often suffer from sexually transmitted diseases.
The study, initiated by the Ministry of the Interior and conducted by a group led by Huang, included interviews with 50 sex offenders, including notorious killer Chen Chin-hsing (
Psychological profiling has been carried out by psychologists for the past 20 years in helping prosecutors better understand the mental capacity of criminals, especially those who commit manslaughter, arson and sex offenses, according to Huang.
"We have found that their personalities don't change, and this is given away by clues they leave at the crime scene. The way they commit crimes is consistent, and the character traits they leave at the scene -- their `signature' -- is usually unique," Huang said.
The study identifies five basic categories of rapists. The first are "taxi" rapists, who usually plan their crimes carefully. Then there are "gang" rapists, who usually are driven by a group dynamic and are fundamentally opportunists. "Robbery" rapists, meanwhile, pay close attention to victims' everyday lifestyle patterns by stalking them. "Incest" rapists suffer from family problems themselves. And finally, "child" rapists usually pick their victims at random, and are defined by their mobility -- most are scooter drivers, with a tendency toward alcohol abuse.
"Before 1996, about a fifth of the overall number of rapes reported was committed against children younger than 12 years," Huang pointed out, adding that there had been some improvement since then. "After 1996, the number was down to one tenth."
Huang said this should not be taken as meaning the crime of rape was being effectively combatted, however. In fact, even though rape is a crime that victims tend to be most reluctant to report, the number of cases reported to police has been increasing over the past 10 years.
In 1992, for example, 523 individual rapes and 11 gang rapes were reported; but by1997, those numbers had increased to 1,026 and 40, respectively.
The US FBI has its own official categories of rapists, such as "power-reassurance" rapists, "anger-retaliation" rapists, "power-assertive" rapists and "sadistic" rapists.
According to the FBI, rapists usually have low self-esteem, feel insecure, inadequate and alienated, are usually anti-social and short-tempered, and usually see other men as their enemies and women as untrustworthy and easy to manipulate, he said.
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