COMPARISONS BETWEEN SEXUAL AND NONSEXUAL RAPIST SUBTYPES - SEXUAL AROUSAL TO RAPE, OFFENSE PRECURSORS, AND OFFENSE CHARACTERISTICS

Sixty incarcerated rapists were subtyped according to the Massachusett s Treatment Center Rapist Typology as either ''nonsexual'' (i.e., the opportunistic and vindictive subtypes) or ''sexual'' (i.e., the nonsad istic and sadistic subtypes). Subjects were then tested using the circ umferential penile plethysmograph, assessing their erectile responses to verbal descriptions of consenting sex and rape. Additionally, the P sychopathy Checklist-Revised was scored for each subject, and institut ional files were summarized and coded. The index offenses committed by the nonsexual subtypes were more violent and resulted in greater vict im damage; the offenses of the men in the nonsexual subtypes were more likely to be impulsive; the men in the sexual subtypes were more soci ally isolated at the time of the offense. Relative sexual arousal to r ape descriptions was greater among the sexual subtypes than among the nonsexual subtypes. These results are discussed in terms of two separa te cognitive-behavioral processes leading to rape.