Escalation from Fetish Burglaries to Sexual Violence:
A Retrospective Case Study of Former Col. D. Russell Williams
ANDREW E. BRANKLEY* ALASDAIR M. GOODWILL and KYLIE S. REALE Department of Psychology Ryerson University Toronto Canada
Abstract Criminal history narrative studies reveal an escalation in sexual offender behaviour from non-contact to contact offending with an ever-increasing likelihood of sexual violence and homicide. In particular researchers have found that sexual offenders often have a history of committing burglaries prior to contact offences. Accordingly researchers have suggested that burglaries may be associated with an increased likelihood of future sexual offending particularly when they have a sexual element to them. However to date there has been little quantitative research focusing on the mechanisms of escalation in sexual of- fences. This paper seeks to study factors associated with sexual offence escalation in terms of changes in offence seriousness and frequency. Speci?cally case evidence was gleaned from a series of fetish burglaries and subsequent sexual assaults and murders committed by the former Canadian Colonel David Russell Williams (RW). Cluster analysis chi- square ANOVA and regression analyses were conducted on the crime scene information of RWs 82 cases of fetish burglary. Analyses revealed a signi?cant escalation in the fre- quency and seriousness of RWs fetish burglary offences prior to committing acts of sexual violence and ultimately sexual homicide. Recommendations for future research predicting escalation of sexual offending by frequency and seriousness of offending behaviour are discussed. Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Key words: escalation; sexual offenders; fetishism; burglary; non-contact offending
The current scienti?c framework to psychological research provides for both nomothetic and idiographic approaches but the latter is sadly underutilised particularly in criminal forensic and investigative psychology. In clinical forensic case studies idiographic approaches are thought to be useful in identifying variations in assessment and treatment ef?cacy at the individual level (Smith 2012). Within criminal and investigative contexts it is argued that although police investigations tend to work in a reverse manner where the
*Correspondence to: Andrew E. Brankley Department of Psychology Ryerson University 350 Victoria Street Toronto M5B 2K3 Canada. E-mail: andrew.brankley@psych.ryerson.ca The authors would like to dedicate this paper to the lives and memories of the victims discussed herein and all individuals affected by these offences. We hope that future crimes may be prevented through further understanding of sexual offending behaviour.
Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Pro?ling J. Investig. Psych. Offender Pro?l. 11: 115135 (2014) Published online 5 November 2013 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/jip.1406
Copyright 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
intent is to identify the offender
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