Furthermore, academic research on the subject of occult religions typically situates them within the discipline of new religious movements, which is fraught with controversy. Hence, ritual violence is not often recognized, reported, or investigated accurately. Due to the lack of standardized categories, law enforcement professionals cannot agree on the extent of ritualistic crime, the types of crimes committed by individuals and religious groups, or the motives of the perpetrators. Problems arising from investigating ritualistic crimes are generally beyond most investigators’ typical experience.
In the law enforcement community, the investigation and analysis of ritual murder is viewed from a behavioral science perspective derived from methodologies in the fields of psychology, criminology, and forensic science. There have been no serious empirical studies of ritualistic crimes or classifications that adequately distinguish between ritual homicides committed for sacred versus secular motivations. Due to many legal, practical, and ethical controversies the study of contemporary religious violence is in its infancy.
SATANIC CEREMONY SACRIFIRE SERIAL
Institute for the Research of Organized & Ritual Violence, murder includes a wide variety of both sacred and secular acts committed by groups and individuals and is most often attributed to practitioners of occult ideologies such as Satanism, Palo Mayombe, Santeria, and other magical traditions, or to serial killers and sexual sadists who ritually murder their victims.