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Understanding the Geography of Rape through the Integration of Data: Case Study of a Prolific, Mobile Serial Stranger Rapist Identified through Rape Kits

Author

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  • Rachel E. Lovell

    (Criminology Research Center, Department of Criminology and Sociology, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 44115, USA)

  • Danielle Sabo

    (Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA)

  • Rachel Dissell

    (Independent Researcher, Cleveland, OH 44115, USA)

Abstract

Environmental criminological research on rape series is an understudied field due largely to deficiencies in official and publicly available data. Additionally, little is known about the spatial patterns of rapists with a large number of stranger rapes. With a unique integration and application of spatial, temporal, behavioral, forensic, investigative, and personal history data, we explore the geography of rape of a prolific, mobile serial stranger rapist identified through initiatives to address thousands of previously untested rape kits in two U.S. urban, neighboring jurisdictions. Rape kit data provide the opportunity for a more complete and comprehensive understanding of stranger rape series by linking crimes that likely never would have been linked if not for the DNA evidence. This study fills a knowledge gap by exploring the spatial offending patterns of extremely prolific serial stranger rapists. Through the lens of routine activities theory, we explore the motivated offender, the lack of capable guardianship (e.g., built environment), and the targeted victims. The findings have important implications for gaining practical and useful insight into rapists’ use of space and behavioral decision-making processes, effective public health interventions and prevention approaches, and urban planning strategies in communities subjected to repeat targeting by violent offenders.

Suggested Citation

  • Rachel E. Lovell & Danielle Sabo & Rachel Dissell, 2022. "Understanding the Geography of Rape through the Integration of Data: Case Study of a Prolific, Mobile Serial Stranger Rapist Identified through Rape Kits," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-24, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6810-:d:830464
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lovell, Rachel & Luminais, Misty & Flannery, Daniel J. & Bell, Richard & Kyker, Brett, 2018. "Describing the process and quantifying the outcomes of the Cuyahoga County sexual assault kit initiative," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 106-115.
    2. Hewitt, Ashley & Beauregard, Eric, 2014. "Sexual crime and place: The impact of the environmental context on sexual assault outcomes," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 375-383.
    3. Lussier, Patrick & Bouchard, Martin & Beauregard, Eric, 2011. "Patterns of criminal achievement in sexual offending: Unravelling the “successful” sex offender," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 433-444.
    4. Deslauriers-Varin, Nadine & Beauregard, Eric, 2014. "Consistency in crime site selection: An investigation of crime sites used by serial sex offenders across crime series," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 123-133.
    5. Lovell, Rachel & Luminais, Misty & Flannery, Daniel J. & Overman, Laura & Huang, Duoduo & Walker, Tiffany & Clark, Dan R., 2017. "Offending patterns for serial sex offenders identified via the DNA testing of previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 68-78.
    6. W. David Allen, 2007. "The Reporting and Underreporting of Rape," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(3), pages 623-641, January.
    7. Hewitt, Ashley N. & Chopin, Julien & Beauregard, Eric, 2020. "Offender and victim ‘journey-to-crime’: Motivational differences among stranger rapists," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    8. W. David Allen, 2007. "The Reporting and Underreporting of Rape," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(3), pages 623-641, January.
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