Cannibalism is a practice that has been present in numerous cultures. Personal cause or criminal cannibalism is arguably one of the most unfathomable acts which an individual might perpetrate. This study examined the patterns of those who engage in cannibalism in comparison to those who posthumously dismember or mutilate their victims but do not consume their flesh. Cases were extracted from the Serial Killer Database, as well as media sources, and assessed for characteristics of the perpetrators. An informational form was developed and used to establish quantitative parameters and objectively extract pertinent information that could be used for comparison and pattern analysis. Variables including motives, styles, and level of organization during the crime were examined for each case. The majority of the cannibalism cases were consistent with an offensive style (56.7%), while cases in the dismemberment-only group were marked by a defensive style (66.7%). Whereas the majority of dismemberment/mutilation cases have the ultimate goal of disposing of evidence, the dataset demonstrated that cannibal cases are primarily planned, organized and driven by sadism. The findings support two primary patterns among cannibalistic offenders: ‘psychosis-driven, disorganized and aggressive’ and ‘sadism-driven, organized and offensive’.

同类相食是一种在许多文化中都存在的习俗。个人原因或刑事食人行为可以说是个人可能犯下的最不可思议的行为之一。这项研究比较了那些食人族的模式与那些死后肢解或残害受害者但不消耗肉体的人的模式。从“连环杀手”数据库以及媒体来源中提取案件，并评估肇事者的特征。开发了一种信息形式，用于建立定量参数并客观地提取可用于比较和模式分析的相关信息。针对每个案件检查了犯罪期间的动机，风格和组织水平等变量。大部分的自相残杀案例符合进攻风格（56.7％），而肢解专用的案例则具有防守风格（66.7％）。尽管大多数肢解/肢解案件的最终目的是处理证据，但数据集表明，食人案件主要是由虐待狂策划，组织和推动的。调查结果支持食人犯罪者的两种主要模式：“精神病驱动，组织混乱和好斗”和“恋爱症驱动，有组织和冒犯”。