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SATI e-News: October 9, 2002
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High Profile
Cases Highlight Rape of Elderly Women |
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Los Angeles police arrested and
charged 41 year-old Gary David Johnson
for recent attacks on seven women between the ages of 65 and 87,
two of
which resulted in sexual assault. Johnson has a criminal record
in
California, Pennsylvania, Florida and North Carolina.
Separately, San Jose law enforcement officials, investigating
rapes of three elderly women in recent months, learned through
DNA testing that three different perpetrators are involved. The
victims were 55, 71 and 94 years of age. In a fourth case,
police arrested a 19-year old man for the rape at knifepoint, of
a 70 year-old San Jose woman last June.
While crime statistics make it appear practically non-existent,
rape of the elderly can and does occur. When it does, it
frequently turns deadly. According to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics report “Sex Offense and Offenders,” 1 in 7 sexual
assault murder victims were 60 or older. 2.6% of rape victims
over the age of 60 were killed during the rape. Only one age
group of rape victims—ages 13 through 17—had a higher murder
rate, at 3.3%.
Special Agent Mark E. Safarik, a profiler in the Behavioral
Analysis Unit at the FBI Academy, has researched and written
extensively about the topic of sexual homicides of elderly
women. The study, published in the May issue of the Journal
of Interpersonal Violence, involved a review of 110
offenders who perpetrated the rape and murder of 128 women 60
years and older. The mean age of the victims was 77.
“People find it difficult to imagine why a rapist would target
an elderly victim, because society still equates sexual arousal
and desire with rape,” Safarik said in a phone interview.
“You’re dealing with issues of power and anger in these cases,
and for a number of these offenders the victim is largely
symbolic,” he added. Safarik speculated that the anger level,
particularly with those who target elderly women, could be one
explanation for the high murder rate of victims.
Safarik found that rapists who target and murder elderly women
varied greatly by age and race, but were homogenous in many
other characteristics and methods of operation.
The study found that these individuals are typically
undereducated, unemployed and substance abusers--usually
alcohol. They are socially incompetent, do not fit into their
peer group, and sexually inadequate with only 48% of the
offenders leaving semen at the crime scene.
The vast majority (92%) have some sort of criminal history, but
mostly misdemeanor incidents. “In approximately 80% of the
cases, you will not find them in your sex offender database,”
said Safarik.
They are not criminally sophisticated criminals, and frequently
leave evidence at the crime scene. Another commonality is their
proximity to the victim. 56% of the assailants live within six
blocks of their victim, and 30% of those on the very same
street. “Focus the initial investigation on the neighborhood,”
Safarik suggests.
“Contrary to what some might think, their primary goal is the
sexual assault,” says Safarik. Although they will usually make
off with cash or jewelry afterwards, burglary is not the primary
motivation—it is an afterthought.
The victim’s race is a good predictor for the race of the rapist
only if the elderly victim is a black or Hispanic woman. Black
men are the likely assailants if the sexual homicide victim is
an elderly black woman. Likewise, Hispanic men are the likely
attacker if the elderly victim is an elderly Hispanic women.
White women not only make up 84 % of the victims in the study,
but are the targets of rapists of all races. However, white men
are unlikely candidates if the elderly victim is black or
Hispanic, as they focus almost exclusively on elderly white
women.
“The best predictor for age of the perpetrator is the level of
injury,” according to Safarik. The more violent the injuries the
sexual homicide victim suffers, the higher the likelihood that
the offender is younger than the mean offender age of 27 years.
So, why does rape of elderly women not show up in statistics?
The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the most
comprehensive and longitudinal measure of crime and victim
characteristics, is based on a phone survey of 100,000
households. The sub-sample victim populations are small.
Segments within the victim population are even smaller, and so
may not be representative of the population. In addition, the
NCVS does not account for victims who do not survive, which is
where elderly women are most likely to show up. The other major
government crime assessment tool, Uniform Crime Reports (UCR),
captures data on crimes that are reported to law enforcement.
Demographics are only captured on offenders and homicide
victims.
“Rapist targeting elderly women strikes again,” Los Angeles
Police
Department press release, August 14, 2002.
“Unlikely sleuths help catch rape suspects, Los Angeles Times,
August
17, 2002.
“No link in rapes of three women,” San Jose Mercury News,
September 10,
2002.
“DNA evidence links East Bay man to rape of San Jose woman,”
San Jose
Mercury News, July 24, 2002.
“Rapist left clues in struggle with Palo Alto victim,” San
Jose Mercury
News, May 14, 2002.
“Sex Offenses and Offenders,” Bureau of Justice Statistics,
1997.
“Sexual Homicide of Elderly Females: Linking Offender
Characteristics
to Victim and Crime Scene Attributes," authors Mark E. Safarik,
John P.
Jarvis, Kathleen E. Nussbaum, Journal of Interpersonal
Violence, Sage Publications, May 2002, pp. 500-525. |
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