This study aimed to (1) classify individuals committing serial rapes based on their decision-making behaviors before the criminal acts using latent class analysis, and (2) test the homology assumption that individuals displaying a similar offense style would have similar offender-characteristics. Four groups were identified: “Intruding into private spaces and raping sleeping victims,” “Outdoor assault,” “Non-violent approach,” and “Intruding into private spaces and raping non-sleeping victims.” Significant associations were found between the groups and characteristics of individuals committing these offenses. The “Intruding into private spaces and raping sleeping victims” group exhibited characteristics similar to burglars, including targeting a place prior to the crimes and intending to steal. The “Outdoor assault” group was younger and less likely to commit offenses in areas close to their residence than the others. The “Non-violent approach” group tended to be opportunistic in selecting their victims and traveled further than others did. The “Intruding into private spaces and raping non-sleeping victims” group had a lower intention to steal than the “Intruding into private spaces and raping sleeping victims” group. These results supported the homology assumption, but the associations between offenders’ decision-making behaviors before committing rapes and the offender characteristics were weak to moderate in strength.

The aim of the current analyses was to examine the possibilities of sustainable contributions in Japanese criminal psychologists after detached from their practices. This study analyzed bibliometric data of Japanese criminal psychologists who had worked at practical fields as scientist-practitioners. Final data were identified under the three conditions: the researchers have (1) attributed to the Japanese Association of Criminal Psychology, (2) published scientific papers in Japanese Journal of Criminal Psychology, and (3) changed their job to academicians. The number of their published papers was the target variable. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests showed that the Japanese criminal psychologists increased the number of the published papers after detached from their practical fields. Multidimensional scaling for the journals in which the papers accepted and text-mining methods for the title of the papers revealed that research theme after job change diverged from the original one as induced in their practical fields. In conclusion, findings suggest that Japanese criminal psychologists can continue their researches after detached from their practices although their research theme could not be sustainable.