South African Serial Homicide: Offender and Victim Demographics and Crime Scene Actions

TLDR

Serial homicide research has largely focused on Western contexts, leaving a gap in cross‑country comparisons. This study provides an overview of offender and victim demographics in South Africa and compares them with those from other countries. The authors examined 33 solved serial homicide series from 1936–2007, comprising 33 offenders, 302 victims, and 254 crime scenes, and analyzed victim‑targeting consistency relative to international patterns. South African offenders largely mirror international offenders in crime‑scene actions and victim selection, though some notable differences emerged. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract There is an abundance of literature on serial homicide from a Western perspective that outlines operational definitions, types of offenders and how they prey upon their victims. However, currently, there is a lack of studies that compare serial homicide in different countries. The current study aims to give an overview of the demographics of serial homicide offenders and victims in South Africa and compare these to the demographics of offenders and victims from other currently available empirical studies of other countries. The sample consisted of 33 out of the total 54 solved series in South Africa between 1936–2007, which includes a total of 33 offenders, 302 victims, and 254 crime scenes. Results of the sample as a whole showed that South African serial homicide offenders are similar to offenders in other countries in terms of their actions at the crime scene and victim choice, with some notable exceptions. Additional analysis looked at the offender's consistency of targeting certain types of victims across their homicide series in comparison with the patterns of serial homicide offenders in other countries. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.