Gary Ridgway 's The Green River Killer

Crime occurs every day, all over the world. Most crime is unreported or is unknown to the vast majority of the populations. Over time, crime has grown to become a normal part of society and typically people are not surprised to hear that a crime has been committed. Most crimes are dealt with and forgotten, however a few crimes grab the media’s attention and are highly publicized, ultimately giving the criminal their 15 minutes of infamy. Ted Bundy was one of these criminals. Bundy was a law student in Utah and during the 1970’s, he assaulted, raped and murdered at least 30 known women with some criminologists suspecting as high as nearly 100 victims. The tactics he used along with the extent of his killings is how Bundy acquired his long lasting infamy and notoriety as one of America’s top 10 most wanted during his time. Our true focus here is explaining why these murders occurred; truly understanding the motivation behind Bundy’s actions and finding the roots of causation which could lead a person to commit such serious crimes.

From Ted Bundy to BTK to the “Zodiac Killer”, serial killers have been around the United States for a long time, but none is better than Richard Chase, or better known as the “Vampire of Sacramento”, to investigate the reasons behind serial killers. Born on May 23, 1950, Chase was raised in a very strict house and was constantly abused by his parents. As a

This can cause a lot of psychological damage knowing that this isn’t common and is highly frown upon in society to have sexual feelings towards someone in your family especially towards your mother. As a teenager he tried to commit murder, there was a 6 year old boy playing outside and he lured him into some bushes where no one could see him and without a cause he stabbed the boy in the stomach and wiped the blood of the blade of the knife on the little boys shirt. (Montaldo 2011) This must have been a trial run and an early indicator that this boy was disturbed and in need of some immediate help. Especially since he had no probable cause to stab the little boy knowing that he is vulnerable and can’t fight back. Ridgway’s childhood is far from ordinary he had a lot of psychological damage and if only his parents would have known they could have brought him to a psychiatrist to try and prevent what we all now him now as the green river killer.

This essay aims to examine weather serial killers are born a certain way and their genetics define their psychotic tendencies or whether they're a product of a bad environment that they grew up. This essay looks at recent killings in the late 20th century as there is more information on the killers from this period and it's easier to gain details about their childhoods. Whilst I will look at various different killers to reach more rounded conclusions (see appendix for comparison table), this essay will focus on four in detail to examine the debate; Ted Bundy (1946-89), Jeffery Dahmer (1960-1994), John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994) and Gary Ridgway (1949-present).

This paper is based on the life of Ed Gein. He was an unusual character, born on a farm, and raised by a religious crazy, domineering mother. In the space of a few years his entire family passed away and he was left to take care of his farm all by himself. In the next few years he became a grave robber, a necrophiliac, a cannibal, and also took up arts and crafts in body parts. He is known as one of the weirdest serial killers of the twentieth century. He also inspired movies like Psycho, Silence of The Lambs, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

My research paper is on Anthony Sowell, a serial killer, identified in press reports as the Cleveland Strangler. My research will examine and explain Anthony Sowell’s life and history prior to his crimes, the crimes and personality theories that apply to his deviant behavior.

Out of all the Infamous killers in the U.S the two well-known killers that I will be researching are Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy. These two murderers share many similarities such as their backgrounds, Crimes, and Motives. Both Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy are serial killers who’ve killed over a dozen people each. They’ve committed crimes including rape, murder, and kidnapping. In this research paper I will be comparing and contrasting the two serial killers.

Ted Bundy was one of the most vicious and notorious serial killers in United States history. His success in finding and slaughtering his prey was often due to his meticulous planning and preparation. In other moments he simply seized upon the opportunity to charm a woman he met without any prior planning and lured her to a place where he could kill her. He killed as many as 36 women, although authorities suggest that there may have been more victims than that. Was Bundy a classic case of a criminal whose activities can be linked to the "Rational Choice" theory? Do the principles of "Trait" theories explain his behaviors? This paper looks into those theories as they may or may not apply to the murderous life of Ted Bundy. This paper finds that Rational Choice theory fits the facts of Ted Bundy's serial killing more appropriately than Trait theories.

Serial murder crime though rare, is not a a new phenomenon. This crime has been committed for centuries and will continue to be a crime that is committed throughout the world. It is unfortunate and scary that this is probably one of the most serious of crimes that cannot be prevented. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, serial murderers commit their crimes because they want to. Rehabilitation is not obtainable for serial killers due to their inability for remorse and empathy, or to see people as people and not objects(Knight 2006). This research paper will focus primarily on serial murder within the U.S. First and foremost, a legal definition provided by the U.S. Department of Justice will be presented to set forth the discussion of this research paper. As follows will be a detailed discussion explaining serial killer typologies with the use of examples of known serial killers in the U.S. Types of serial killers are: power oriented, mission oriented, visionary, and hedonistic, each typology will be clearly defined and explained. Some serial killers can have a mixture of each typology’s characteristic. Serial killers that will be discussed and used as examples to represent the content of this research paper will be, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Robert Berdella, Jeffery Dahmer, and lastly the most prolific serial killer in American history, Gary Ridgeway. Problems with studying serial killing, are that because of rarity and access. Most of what we think

A serial killer is traditional defined as the separate killings of three or more people by an individual over a certain period of time, usually with breaks between the murders. (Angela Pilson, p. 2, 2011) This definition has been accepted by both the police and academics and therefore provides a useful frame of reference (Kevin Haggerty, p.1, 2009). The paper will seek to provide the readers with an explanation of how serial killers came to be and how they are portrayed in the media.

This research paper will explore the life of a serial killer named Ted Bundy. We will look at the cause and effects of him becoming a serial killer. We will also discuss the different criminology theories behind Ted Bundy’s actions. Based on what was discovered in the research no one theory can explain the action of Ted Bundy as a serial killer. The remainder of the paper is laid out as follows: biography of Ted Bundy, introduction, discussion of crimes and theories, and the conclusion.

Gary Ridgway grew up like any other ordinary suburban kid. He had a problem of wetting the bed which his mother would make fun of him and embarrass him in front of family and friends. As a young teen, he was always getting into trouble such as stabbing a six year-old boy in the ribs when he was a young teen. In high school Gary continued to go down hill and get bad grades. Gary graduated high school and joined the Navy. While he was in Vietnam, he discovered prostitutes and ended up getting sexually transmitted diseases. Soon after being home from Vietnam, Gary was killing and raping prostitutes on the streets of Seattle, Washington. Gary would go on to murder about 71 young women who he targeted because they were either prostitutes or runaways.

Serial killers traumatize entire communities and cause tremendous disturbance to everyone. The Gilgo Beach serial killer is also known as the Long Island serial killer and Craigslist Ripper is said to have been responsible for 10 to 17 murders. The killer is said to target those who work in the sex industry and is believed to have been active for more than 20 years. Although the killer has been active more than 20 years the police are nit anywhere near to catching him. This essay will take a look at the investigation of the serial killer, take a look at who some of the victims were and finally give my opinion on how the case is being handled. It is important to note that the identity of the killer has not been identified therefore there has not been a trial and a sentencing. Also for the purpose of this essay I will be referring to the Unsub as The Gilgo Beach serial killer or simply as the killer.

The idea of serial killers and the role they play in our lives has fascinated people since the cases of Jack the Ripper and H.H. Holmes, although serial murderers existed before them. The infamous and mysterious complexities of these cases have puzzled and terrified people for over a century. Perhaps due to the deviant and taboo nature of serial killings, people in our society and others have tried to attribute many reasons for why they occur. In this search for answers, one major scope has been widely left out of the research: the sociological imagination. It is through this method of understanding that I will attempt to explain the development of serial killers and apply theories that explain the frequency of serial killings in our society.

On December 6th, 1941 the world welcomed Richard Benjamin Speck, who would become a well-known mass murderer. Speck, having a rather rough childhood, had an extensive criminal background before committing the unspeakable murders that made him famous. After being found guilty, Speck spent his remaining days in Chicago’s Stateville Penitentiary. One can look at Richard’s personal history, crime and criminal history to try and pin him to one criminological theory, when in reality, none will really fit him to a “T”. He was a psychopath who was in great need of psychological help, among other things.