Serial Killer Article Analysis

Serial killers are probably one of the most horrified subjects ever. I mean could you imagine being killed? By a person who sees you’ve done something so wrong to them and you may not even know their name? Maybe they’re just crazy and you’re their innocent victim, or maybe it’s all a part of revenge. The thoughts running through the killer and victims heads, are unrevealed. The gruesome facts, are stomach turning. The way the killers or survivors describe what happened, would make you very paranoid. Don’t say it wouldn’t ever happen in your home- town. Because it has, it has happened right here in Arkansas.

You’d be hard pressed to find one in a crowd. The average serial killer generally blends in with everyone else (Directory Journal, 2010). In fact, most are soft-spoken and even polite. Their monstrous nature only comes through when you dig deeper into their personalities, actions, and habits. Most seem to have come from dysfunctional family settings and were emotionally, sexually, or even verbally abused as children (Directory Journal, 2010). It is almost as if this background activates some psychological trigger that increases their feelings of inadequacy or worthlessness that led them to seek out their own heinous form of release.

In the essay “What Makes a Serial Killer?” author LaDonna Beaty discusses the causes of serial killers. Beaty states, serial killers are the most hated and feared out of all the criminals. Over 5000 people will be victimized each year by serial killers alone, says Beaty. Her research estimates there are 350 serial killers within a large society. Beaty stated that investigations on serial killers had been dated back to 1911. However, she also asks, what does a serial killer look like? Beaty gives the readers great details on her ideal serial killer. For example, he will typically have bloodshot eyes, curly black hair, strong jaws, abnormal ears, straight thin lips, and menacing grins. Although, today, we can’t expect serial killers to have

What is a serial killer? Retired Special Agent Robert Ressler, a twenty-two year veteran of the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit in Quantico, Virginia, is responsible for creating the term “serial killer.” He defines this person as “one who commits a series of murders, usually three or more, the victims most often being strangers, and usually with a cooling-off period in between each kill” (Kelleher & Kelleher, 1998; Pearson, 1998; Ressler and Shactman, 1997). This precise definition is necessary to distinguish this type of predator from the mass murderer (who kills many simultaneously), mercenaries, war criminals, or mafia hit men.

Statistically, the average serial killer is a white male from a lower-to-middle-class background, usually in his twenties or thirties. Many were physically or emotionally abused by parents. Some were adopted. As children, fledgling serial killers often set fires, torture animals, and wet their beds (these red-flag behaviors are known as the “triad” of symptoms.) Brain injuries are common. Some are very intelligent and have shown great promise as successful professionals. They are also fascinated with the police and authority in general (Scott).

There are many myths that describe, or stereotype a serial killer. You may have heard that serial killers are all dysfunctional loners or that all serial killers are white males. One might also hear that

Cohle, Rust. " Serial Killer / Hitman - Richard Kuklinski (The Iceman) - Documentary." YouTube. 7 Oct. 2012. Web.

Serial killers are a relatively rare, yet commonly publicized, part of our society. The media portrayal of serial killers skews the opinions and creates a stereotype of murderers for the public. James Knoll, MD states in his article, “Serial Murder: A Forensic Psychiatric Perspective”, that no evidence supports the idea that serial murder is a “growing epidemic” as people believe it is (qtd. in Johnson-Sheehan & Paine, “Writing Today”, pg 332). This misperception of serial killing was exhibited in the way the media portrayed the “Hillside Strangler”, a murderer who was killing women in the Los Angeles area by strangling them and leaving them nude in the hilly areas in 1977. The articles reporting the

The media and people have always liked to portray killers in a different light by making them seem not as if they’re so corrupt, but simply just misunderstood. The moral behavior of serial killers is different than what a great deal of society agrees to, but to themselves, the morality doesn’t affect them (Zavaliy 365). To be exact, they’re shown as simply troubled and are just as much as people as anybody else. The media doesn’t seem to want to show that there was more to them than what seemed to be. Why is it that romanticizing serial killers is something that is common? Why not show these people’s true selves? By considering what goes into romanticizing a serial killer, finding out the reason as to why the public does this so interprets how altered the minds are.

A serial killer could be dining, sitting, or even living next to you at this very moment. Most killers offer little to no obvious clues that will lead anyone to detect their often secretive, undercover actions. I ask myself, “How can we be so naive to these types of people?” Serial killers amongst us are often well educated, portray an All-American image, yet have a psychotic side to them.

4. Serial killers also show signs of a psychopath though this is not always the case. Psychopaths lack empathy and guilt, are egocentric and impulsive and don’t conform to social, moral, or legal norms. Psychopaths have a distinct set of rules for themselves. They appear normal and are often very charming and charismatic.

Serial killers are people who have committed mass murders and feel no remorse for the people they kill. They can use their charm, to persuade you into liking them which in turn makes it easier for them to slaughter you. The psychology of a serial killer is a mostly unsolved mystery. It can have so many different contributing factors such as there past, there family life, there mental state. Many different tests that have been done on criminal serial killers are mixed, the results never add up correctly and correspond with other tests that have been done.

Society is very prejudiced towards serial killers. “Dysfunctional loners” is one phrase that is used to describe serial killers (James, et al). This is just a myth about modern day serial killers. Most serial killers are not isolated and are able to blend in with society (Cooper 203). Serial killers are also misrepresented because of the myth that serial killers are only white males.

Serial killers represent a social problem in many ways. Many innocent lives are taken away by these serial killers. We as a society should care if serial killers or spree killers operate within our culture because we never know that we or a family member could be next on the list. People’s lives are taken away by these criminals; people who have a whole life ahead

There could be several difference from a films portrayal of a serial killer when comparing them with facts. The media portrayal of a common criminal can be seen as the psychopathic criminal, or super-villain with characteristic they may seem indestructible. It’s what calls the attention of many viewers. The criminal may possess superior strength (book). Crime in films may be acts of revenge, or just irrational violence. In addition to a serial killer portrayal, films show criminals to be more violent and show their crime to appear more graphic (book). But the fact is that many crimes that is shown in the media are less likely to really occur in real life. The violent crime presented in film may over represented than what really is. Furthermore,