Severe sexual sadism is a disorder of sexual
preferences that focuses on humiliation and domination of the
victim, sometimes causing grievous injury or death. Because
offenders with high levels of sadism represent a risk to both
reoffend and cause considerable harm should they reoffend, a
diagnosis of sexual sadism has serious implications. The actual
diagnosis of sexual sadism is fraught with problems (i.e., low
reliability and validity) and exhibits poor consistency across
assessments and studies (Levenson, 2004; Marshall, Kennedy,
& Yates, 2002a). Various authors have proposed that sadism
should be reconceptualized and have suggested that a dimensional
approach may be more effective than a classificatory one for
diagnosing sexual sadism (e.g., Marshall & Kennedy, 2003;
Nietschke, Osterheider, & Mokros, 2009b). The dimension
versus taxon question also impacts debates about the etiology and
treatment of sadism. We assessed the taxonicity of sexual sadism
by conducting a taxometric analysis of the scores of 474 sex
offenders from penitentiary settings on the MTC Sexual Sadism
Scale,using Meehl’staxometricmethods(Meehl &Yonce, 1994;
Waller & Meehl, 1998). Findings indicated that sexual sadism
presents a clear underlying dimensional structure. These results
are consistent with earlier research supporting a dimensional assessment of sexual sadism and indicate that the diagnosis of
sexual sadism should be reconceptualized. The theoretical and
clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

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• Sadistic Offender or Sexual Sadism? Taxometric Evidence for a Dimensional Structure of Sexual Sadism