Abstract
This last issue of the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology (IJOTCC) for the year 2013, as does every issue of the journal, offers various forensic topics that represent studies of international interest: the criminalization of persons who attempt to commit suicide, the homicidal murderer, the sado-masochist offender, the sexual murderer, social corruption as seen by young people and their reaction to it, and, last, inmate views of conjugal visits in prison. The variety of the topics, in a certain sense, may remind the reader of scenes portrayed in the nine circles of the Inferno, the first book of Dante Aligheri’s The Divine Comedy (Aligheri, 1982), and at the same time confirm Karr’s (1849) statement: “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” (the more things changes, the more they remain the same).
Among the various topics presented, the one by Nitschke, Osterheider, and Mokros (2009) reported the history of sexual sadism and summarizes research on their Severe Sexual Sadism Scale (SESAS). The creation of the scale brought new thoughts as it attempted to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of the sexually sadistic offender and offered possible changes in the approach to their clinical diagnosis.
As reported by Nitschke et al. (2009), in 2002, Marshall, Kennedy, and Yates had questioned the reliability of the diagnosis of sadism. And in 2006, Marshall and Hucker wrote that more attention should be devoted to the proper diagnosis of a sexual sadist. This was, they wrote, due to the fact that the communications of these offenders in a clinical interview are often unreliable, placing public safety in danger and further stigmatizing the offender, who may not be a sadist, if an incorrect diagnosis is made.
After reviewing various scholarly contributions on the topic of the diagnosis of sexual sadism, Nitschke et al. (2009) decided that for a better diagnostic evaluation, it would be helpful to create a scale that would include the offenders’ crime-scene behaviors. They believed that such behaviors could possibly corroborate the offender’s sexual gratification at the crime scene, their sexual fantasies, and their sexual urges as reported by investigators. They believed that such a scale would aid in reaching a better clinical diagnosis than the one reached using the clinicians’ interpretation of the offenders’ verbal communications. In so doing, the authors collapsed the number of items in Marshall and Hucker’s approach, reducing them and creating the SESAS. The scale, Nitschke et al. assert, has a highly efficient scalability, responsibility, and interrater agreement. They conclude that the SESAS is a well-validated diagnostic tool, capable of overcoming the possible dissimulations of sadistic offenders seen in a forensic setting.
Nitschke et al. are certainly on good grounds. Indeed, the analysis of the crime scene and the behaviors of the offenders at the scene are of great importance in the assessment of the type, quality, and intensity of the criminal act of the offender, so much so that they are used in criminal profiling. Therefore, it is hoped that the SESAS behavioral indicator scale, together with the use of penile plethysmography, will aid in providing a more accurate diagnosis of the severe sadistic offender.
As the year draws to an end, I wish to thank the IJOTCC editorial board members for the assistance throughout the year, the many outside reviewers who unselfishly gave their time to comment on the articles submitted to the journal, and all the authors whose articles have contributed to the furthering of scientific investigation in the field of criminal justice. My best wishes for the holidays and a healthy and prosperous New Year.