Sex-Related Homicide and Death Investigation: Practical and Clinical
Perspectives
Author: Vernon Geberth
Publisher: CRC Press
Reviewed by Bryan Nelson
Vernon Geberth has put out another excellent book with this title. There is some
overlap with his other text Practical Homicide Investigation: Tactics,
Procedures, and Forensic Techniques, but there is a concentration on
criminal sexual behaviors, which is very interesting. The overlap comes from the
explanation of forensic techniques and crime scene processing to investigate
these type of crimes.
Although the previous text did contain elements of this text in regards to
paraphilias and sex related homicides, it was only a single chapter. This text
is nearly 800 pages devoted to this topic and can be (and probably should be)
read by students and professionals working with or interested in this subject.
To give the reader of this review an idea of the material covered in this text,
I will list the chapters.
Chapter 1 Human Sexuality and Sexual Deviance
Chapter 2 The Investgative Significance of Fantasy in Sex-Related Incidents
Chapter 3 Journal of a Serial Rapist: A Case Study
Chapter 4 Sexual Asphixia and Autoerotic Fatalities
Chapter 5 The Crime Scene Investigation
Chapter 6 Collection and Preservation of Physical Evidence in Sex-Related
Death Investigations
Chapter 7 Interpersonal Violence-Oriented Disputes and Assaults and
Sex-Related Domestic Violence Murders
Chapter 8 Rape and Sodomy-Oriented Murders
Chapter 9 Lust Murder and Deviant-Oriented Assaults
Chapter 10 Serial Murder
Chapter 11 Sex-Related Child Homicides and Child Abduction Cases
Chapter 12 Sex Slave Torture and Serial Murder Case
Chapter 13 Investigative Analysis: Criminal Personality Profiling and the
Signature Aspect
Chapter 14 Psychopathic Sexual Sadism: A clinical Study
Selected Readings
Index
A warning to the reader, this is a professional text with graphic photos and
descriptions of horrific crimes perpetrated against victims. There are several
chapters in the book that have statements or journal entries of sex offenders
and the damage they did to their victims. Therefore, this may not be for
everyone. For those of you who are sickened by seeing or reading about the
effects of sexual sadists, pass on the text or skip chapter 12, it is simply
brutal.
For those of you out there like me who are interested in the fantasy component
of deviant crimes, this is an awesome book to read. There are case studies,
examples, and more that enough information provided to make this book worth
buying. This book is not cheap! However, for those serious about the subject of
sex-related homicide it is a must read and I would highly recommend purchasing a
copy in the very near future.
E-mail your questions or suggestions to
Bryan Nelson
