Serial Murders And The Criminal Justice Field

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).

Serial murder is one of the most baffling crimes that occur in the U.S. and all over the world. Knight (2006) defines serial murder as the killing of three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a significant cooling-off period. The cooling off period may be weeks, months or even years long. Researchers have proposed various psychological, biological and sociological theories that offer a partial understanding of the nature of serial murder. Some propose that the basis for criminal behavior is a predisposition to violence as well as a mix between environment, personality traits and biological factors. Serial killers are predominantly male. Only 3 percent of serial murders are committed by women (U.S. News and World Report,

Throughout the years there has been several Myths and Misconceptions have been made against serial killers. Most “serial killers” are thought to be

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

There are many people who choose to do bad things and break the law; however, there are people known as serial killers who take breaking the law and harming others to an unbelievable level. Murder is a very serious crime. Murders happen for many different reasons such as turf wars and drugs for gangs, by having an argument with another person and not being able to control your anger, or murdering because of a troubled past. Serial killers often come from a troubled past and seek some sort of revenge to what happened to them when they were younger. Serial killers are people who murder over and over again. There are many different types of serial killers. There are serial killers who choose to rape their victims, choose victims whom they know, choose victims because they are a different gender, choose their victims because of some fantasy that they have, or some even choose their victims to prevent them from going through what they had to go through as a young teen. There is no set description of what a serial killer looks like or if they are a woman or a man. Women serial killers tend to be more alluring with their crimes. Women tend to choose victims they may know but murder in a less heinous way. However, there are more male serial killers then women. The male serial killers tend to keep to the more violent and heinous murders. Although not all serial killers have something happen to them in order

The stereotype that exists for individuals who commit serial murder is one that mainly includes males of a specific race. However, it is now known that white males are not the only individuals who commit serial murder. Men and women from all racial and ethnic backgrounds and socio-economic statuses have been found to be serial murderers. Although this information has been presented to society, the cultural schema of the white male serial killer is still prevalent. The assumptions that involve serial murderers often include two aspects, the serial murderer is male and the serial murder is a type of “lust murder”, often involving sexual crimes by a sadist (Keeney and Heide, 1995). Keeney and Heide (1994) define serial murder to be the

The United States holds the record for most serial murders in a country, with a whopping 3,204, making up about 68 percent of every serial killer acknowledged by law enforcement and the media. Protection of Children from Sexual Predator Act of 1998, a federal law passed by Congress, defines the term “serial killings” (Morton and Hilts 8) as “a series of three or more killings, not less than one of which was committed within the United States, having common characteristics such as to suggest the reasonable possibility that the crimes were committed by the same actor or actors” (Morton and Hilts 8).

(Freeman, 2007) The main characteristics of a serial killer are; single, white males, IQ above normal, come from unstable families, high rates of suicide attempts and more than 60% wet their bed past the age of 12. Generally serial killers will target women who are strangers to them. The killings are many times sexually motivating and this is why most victims are female. Gay serial killers have a tendency to go for gay men as their victims. The case of Ted Bundy helped authorities understand the profile of a serial killer, eventually helping them catch the guy who posed a threat to society.

Are the majority of sexual serial killers white males, between their twenties and thirties? Do they have an above average intelligence and psychiatric diagnoses? The authors expected outcome for this research is to prove these questions correct, using a a case study of twenty-one male serial killers.

The fascination with serial killers has grown in the recent decades thanks to people like Ted Bundy, Dennis Rader (BTK), and Charles Manson. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines that the act of “serial murder” is killing of several persons in three or more separate incidents over weeks or extended period (Dalal, Aggarwai, Bhullar & Sharma, 2009, p.110). However some other definitions have been linked to serial killing Frei, Völlum, Graf, and Dittmann use the definition from Holmes Serial Murder and it states “Serial Killing has been defined as three acts of killing within a time span of at least 30 days” (2009, p.168). Numerous types of serial killers have been identified Organized, Disorganized, Visionary, Mission-oriented, Hedonistic

Interviewer: Although these women are sentenced 10–20 years is there a possibilities they are able to commit these crimes again when released?

Okay, so when I was 18 years old, I worked at a department store as an overnight ‘stock boy’. I practically slept during the day and woke up to go to work at night. However, right before heading out to work, I remember watching late night reruns of the shows Forensic Files and Cold Case Files.

Two British serial murders who killed a generation apart but with the same common goals – they killed to achieve an infamy that had eluded them in everyday life.

Most of the time people cannot comprehend why people that work in the forensic department are sometimes overwrought with anxiety when they have a serial killer case brought into their lab. These forensic scientists have these feelings due to knowing that this could potentially help advance technology. Over the years, serial killers have unpremeditatedly helped further advance the criminal investigation process by unintentionally leaving things behind for a forensics team to analyze. When the team finally solves these cases, it continually propels things such as DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) analysis, finger print techniques, and not to mention the investigation process itself.

When an individual is provided with an image of what a motivated is serial killer is, there was always a vision of a man who was a loaner. However, the diversity of serial killers continues to be expanded especially as science and psychological approaches are created towards understanding the mind of these killers. However, female serial killers have become a rarer source of violence and disregard for human life especially after psychology has deemed it that men are much more aggressive in regard to killing and murdering. This of course does not neglect ideas that serial killers do exist and have done so for a tremendous amount of time. However, the characteristics of a female Serial killers are dramatically different than that of a male. Female serial killers are much more focused on their victim and usually create a level of emotional attachment. In many of these situations, serial killers are highly organized and can have a mixed bag of emotional attachment towards the victims. Female serial killers are connected to the victims and may have a mixture of organize and disorganized approaches (Harrison et al., 2015). Therefore, it is critical to look at the motive of a serial killer and its possible biological and sociological understandings of how serial killers are created within the female mind.