It was hypothesised that there would be behavioural consistencies in the offences of South African serial killers. The themes underlying these observable differences can help us understand the nature of these offences. Crime scene data was ohtained from police records, and structured, in-depth offender interviews. 73 offences, committed by 13 offenders, were analysed. The analysis used Smallest Space Analysis (SSA), a Multidimensional scaling (MDS) procedure. This analysis revealed systematic patterns of behaviour in the offences. It was found that the focus of these offences is an impersonal, hostile, and act-focused murder were the victim is treated as a depersonalised object. Empirical support for an underlying thematic structure to these offences was also provided. The offence themes identified relate to the nature of the actions committed during the offence, and the function these actions had for the offender. These fmdings thus support the hypothesis that these offences will display meaningful behavioural variation. These findings have direct utility in the investigation and study of serial killing in South Aflica. They also provide the basis for comparison with previously suggested typologies of serial killing, and indicate directions for future research into this phenomenon in the South African setting. / KMBT_363 / Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in

Thesis (M.A. (Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo / The aim of the current study was to explore and describe the views on child homicide by mothers. The qualitative research approach, and in particular the phenomenological method of inquiry was used. A sample of seventeen mothers (with ages ranging from thirteen to fifty three years) was drawn from four female correctional centres in South Africa, namely; Thohoyandou (Limpopo Province), Polokwane (Limpopo Province), Johannesburg correctional centre (Gauteng Province) and Durban Westville correctional centre (KwaZulu-Natal Province). The sample was obtained through purposive sampling. All the participants were interviewed using in-depth semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using the phenomenological method. The themes that emerged from data analysis were: a) Motives for child homicide; b) Type of methods used in child homicide; and, c) Pre- and post-homicidal ideations and behaviour. The study revealed that there were different motives leading mothers to commit child homicide. These included: child homicide as a result of everyday stressors that the mothers encountered;child homicide as an act of altruism; child homicide to gain acceptance; perpetrators of child homicide as victims of abuse; child homicide as accidental; child homicide attributed to witchcraft; and, mental illness as amotive for child homicide. The study also highlighted different types of methods used by the mothers to commit child homicide. The methods included: the use of weapons; hitting, dropping and strangling; suffocation; drowning; and, poisoning. The findings also suggested that pre-homicidal ideations and behaviour of the participants were associated with anger, depression, frustration and self blame. The participants showed post-homicidal ideations and behaviour such as remorse, regret and guilt, whilst others felt a sense of relief and were somehow hopeful about the future. The study is concluded by making recommendations for further research on child homicide based on larger samples.

Serial crime is an element of society that continues to disturb and fascinate scholars. There is thus a need to understand the uniqueness of serial murderers and their psychological development. The field of psychobiography is a qualitative approach to uncover the story of an individual life through greater understanding of psychological concepts. Psychobiographical research is invaluable in the application of theory to the finished lives of exemplary or enigmatic individuals to develop and test theories of human development. Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (1960 – 1994), a cannibalistic serial killer who killed 17 young men, served as the single psychobiographical subject in this study. Dahmer was selected based on interest value, his uniqueness and the lack of a specifically academic and psychologically focused case study on his life. A qualitative psychobiographical research method was utilized in this study. The primary aim of the research was to explore and describe Jeffrey Dahmer’s personality development across his lifespan. This was achieved by applying Erikson’s (1950) psychosocial theory of staged developmental crises to the lifespan developmental process and Adler’s (1929) dynamic individual psychology to provide a more comprehensive idiographic interpretation of Dahmer as an individual. Jeffrey Dahmer’s life history was uncovered in this psychobiographical case study research through the systematic and consistent collection, analysis and interpretation of life history materials, which highlighted five significant historical periods: (a) Childhood of Fantasy, (b) The Quiet Loner, (c) Hiatus – or Build-up, (d) Seeking a Compliant Partner and (e) Arrest, Trial and Death. The two theoretical frameworks were used to discern, transform and reconstruct his life into a coherent and illuminating narrative of his psychological movement through life. Alexander’s (1988) model of identifying salient themes was used to analyze data for analytical generalization (Yin, 1994). A conceptual framework derived from the two theoretical perspectives was constructed to organize and integrate data and to guide the presentation and discussion of the findings of the study in an integrative and comprehensive manner. The findings suggested that both theoretical perspectives considered the biopsychosocial as well as cultural and historical influences of situations and experiences in Dahmer’s personality development throughout the lifespan. Adlerian theory indicated that Dahmer held a socially useless lifestyle whose movement was guided purposively towards a fictional goal xxii of godlikeness through creative, concrete expressions of personal superiority. Eriksonian theory held that Dahmer remained in role confusion, which was viewed as a functional, fragmented identity to survive in society and achieve a fantasy. Thus, both theories indicated, despite their different conceptualizations, that Dahmer’s personality development was ultimately not socially beneficial. The study of Dahmer’s personality development has provided a positive demonstration of the value of both Erikson (1950) and Adler’s (1929) theories to understand the processes of personality development in an individual life. It has further highlighted the uniqueness of individual responses to life tasks and consequently unlocked the possibility of perceiving people and their actions differently. Recommendations were made for future research undertakings that utilize a psychobiographical research design and methodology to uncover, illuminate and reconstruct the lives of enigmatic personalities.

The extant South African literature base on male homicide is relatively small and reveals a paucity of qualitative studies. This study aimed to elicit discourses embedded within the narratives of men involved in homicidal encounters, and to analyse them from a social constructionist perspective. Semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted with 30 male prisoners who were convicted of murder. An analysis of narrative forms, followed by a critical discourse analysis of the narrative contents, was conducted and aimed to assess the social and ideological significance, functions and effects of these discourses. Participants' talk included masculine performances that allowed for positive self-presentation and ways of constructing meaning of their actions for themselves, the interviewer and an `invisible audience'. Narrative forms of stability/continuity, decline, and transformation/growth that relied on normalising, reifying, tipping point, propitiatory and rehabilitatory lexical registers were deployed as a means to position participants as reasonable, normal, rehabilitated, and as `successful' men. Within the narrative contents, participants constructed homicide through exculpatory and justificatory discourses to rationalise and minimise their agency, and drew on essentialist, moral and deterministic notions of male violence. Discourses of spectacular and instrumental violence were also evident. References to male honour, status and power; a defence against emasculation; the assertion of control over commodified female partners; the maintenance of referent familist and ageist discourses; and the normalisation of male violence as a utilitarian tool to access resources in unequal social contexts, underpinned these discourses. The homicidal acts thus represented adapted performances of hegemonic masculinity in a noxious context where this dominant form of masculinity is often unattainable. While participants' talk reproduced hegemonic constructions of masculinity within broader social contexts, it also contested hegemonic orders of moral discourses that govern the legitimacy or illegitimacy of violence. The findings reveal how contexts of discoursal production have a contradictory response to violence - denouncing it, but also simultaneously acting as a pernicious incubatory environment for male homicide. It concludes that the prevention of male homicide must involve the de-linking of masculinities and violence at material, structural and institutional levels, but also within systems of signification, if non-violent masculinities are to gain ascendancy. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil.(Psychology)

The extant South African literature base on male homicide is relatively small and reveals a paucity of qualitative studies. This study aimed to elicit discourses embedded within the narratives of men involved in homicidal encounters, and to analyse them from a social constructionist perspective. Semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted with 30 male prisoners who were convicted of murder. An analysis of narrative forms, followed by a critical discourse analysis of the narrative contents, was conducted and aimed to assess the social and ideological significance, functions and effects of these discourses. Participants' talk included masculine performances that allowed for positive self-presentation and ways of constructing meaning of their actions for themselves, the interviewer and an `invisible audience'. Narrative forms of stability/continuity, decline, and transformation/growth that relied on normalising, reifying, tipping point, propitiatory and rehabilitatory lexical registers were deployed as a means to position participants as reasonable, normal, rehabilitated, and as `successful' men. Within the narrative contents, participants constructed homicide through exculpatory and justificatory discourses to rationalise and minimise their agency, and drew on essentialist, moral and deterministic notions of male violence. Discourses of spectacular and instrumental violence were also evident. References to male honour, status and power; a defence against emasculation; the assertion of control over commodified female partners; the maintenance of referent familist and ageist discourses; and the normalisation of male violence as a utilitarian tool to access resources in unequal social contexts, underpinned these discourses. The homicidal acts thus represented adapted performances of hegemonic masculinity in a noxious context where this dominant form of masculinity is often unattainable. While participants' talk reproduced hegemonic constructions of masculinity within broader social contexts, it also contested hegemonic orders of moral discourses that govern the legitimacy or illegitimacy of violence. The findings reveal how contexts of discoursal production have a contradictory response to violence - denouncing it, but also simultaneously acting as a pernicious incubatory environment for male homicide. It concludes that the prevention of male homicide must involve the de-linking of masculinities and violence at material, structural and institutional levels, but also within systems of signification, if non-violent masculinities are to gain ascendancy. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil.(Psychology)