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Burgess et al. / SEXUAL HOMICIDE their troubles, the murderers as young boys were witness to these deviant role patterns of criminal behavior, substance abuse, and poor interpersonal relationships. In 47% of cases, the father left the home before the subject was 12; in 43% of the cases at least one parent was absent at some time prior to the subject's reaching age 18. This loss of the father required many of the offenders to adjust to a new male caretaker during childhood and adolescent years. Instability in the family residence was also noted in many cases (68%). In addition, 40% of the subjects lived outside the family home before age 18. Locations included foster homes, state homes, detention centers, and mental hospitals. The histories of frequent moving reduced the boys' opportunities to develop positive outside relationships that might have compensated for family instability. Examination of performance behaviors of the subjects revealed that despite employment, and military was often poor. Only one-third did average or better in school, with 68% receiving a fair to poor academic rating. The majority did not finish high school. Thus, although these men were intellec- tually bright, they did not perform to their abilities. There was confirming evidence of abuse in the childhood histories of the 36 murderers. Physical abuse (13/31), psychological abuse (23/31), and sex- ual abuse (12/28) were noted. This reveals that many of the men experienced some type of childhood abuse. It is noteworthy that 25 of the 36 men had some type of psychiatric assessment or confinement as a child or adolescent. Behavioral Indicators Our analysis examined the results of a checklist of symptoms and behav- ioral experiences (see Table 1). This checklist was derived from a standard list of self-report indicators, used in research on a wide variety of psychosocial studies, and also included indicators of thinking patterns (daydreams) and behaviors derived from the FBI profilers' understanding of criminal behavior. However, readers should keep in mind that many of these behavioral symp- toms have no consistent definitions or ways of measurement. For example, there is no method of measuring a pattern of lying or masturbation. Childhood. An analysis of 24 checklist items indicates that over 50% of the murderers reported the following present in childhood: daydreaming (82%). masturbation (82%), isolation (71%), chronic lying (71%), enuresis (68%), rebelliousness (67%), nightmares (67%), destruction of property (58%), fire- setting (56%), cruelty to children (54%), and poor body image (52%). Adolescence. An analysis of 24 checklist items indicates that over 50% of murderers reported the following behaviors: assaultive to adults (84%), rebel- 43