From Date Rape to Serial Predator?

Accused serial murderer Bradley Edwards’ trial is currently underway in Claremont, Australia. While he has pleaded not guilty to the three murders he is accused of, he has admitted two previous sexual assaults, including the rape of a teenage girl. This, of course, surprises no one; many sexually motivated serial killers were rapists before they “graduated” to serial murder. Before Joseph James DeAngelo was the Golden State Killer, he was the Eastside Rapist and is believed to have committed 45 to 50 rapes. Samuel Little had been arrested dozens of times for armed robbery as well as assault and rape before he began killing. Serial killer Anthony Sowell was a convicted rapist.

But what does this mean? Most murderers never kill again. In fact, because of the premeditation involved in serial murder, criminal profilers often don’t see much in common between the one-time murderer-who tends to kill in the heat of the moment-and the deliberate predator who kills over and over. Isn’t the same true for rape? Isn’t there a vast ocean between the aggressive date who refuses to take no for an answer (or who interprets someone who is unable to say “no” as a “yes”) and the serial rapist who creeps into a stranger’s home?

Perhaps not as much as we once thought.

A 2019 study of 12,624 college men across 49 campuses calls into question some common…