A serial killer is a person who kills multiple people over a long period of time. Everyone has experienced unique events throughout their life that shapes their personality and how they interact with people around them. In the case of Ronald Dominique, a serial killer who suffered a traumatic event while in jail an inmate raped him “so brutally raped his rectum had been ripped (Forsyth 865). Although this event triggered his serial killings it does not justify his actions. Punishing serial killers for their actions with life sentences is the right thing to do because they can no longer function as a normal law-abiding citizen. Serial killers are prone to violence and aggression. They have prior criminal offenses and tend to escalate from petty crimes to murder. For example, Ronald Dominique had criminal offenses for telephone harassment, disturbing the peace, and forcible rape. Lastly, Dominique murdered numerous men (Forsyth 863). Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior and serial killers will continue to engage in criminal activities because they cannot control their violent nature. According to Miller serial killers evolve from their first kill and form a signature, which ultimately leads to their capture (5). Dominique used asphyxiation as his signature and targeted homosexual men. These men would preferably be homeless or prostitutes (Forsyth 863). The reason serial killers target people who will not be missed and are low risk is because they want to
The mind of a serial killer is not right and is considered a psychopath. This can be caused by brain damage. “After Henry Lee Lucas was convicted, he underwent numerous neurological tests that revealed fairly extensive brain damage. Small contusions indicated a frontal lobe injury, and there was damage to his temporal lobe and pools of spinal fluid at the base of his brain” (Vronsky, 2005). Lucas’s brain damage is just one cause. Another common reason is that the serial killer would of had an abusive childhood. “Traditionally, the answer has been a horrific upbringing. Most serial killers were abused as children, many hideously so.” (Sandi, n.d) This can have a range of different abusive activities. One example would be an abusive mother. The killer’s mother would have abused him therefore making him hate women. That would be an example of how a man killing female serial killer would relate. He would physically abuse the women just like his mother abused him. Another form of abuse is an alcoholic parent. The serial killer would wait outside of a bar and look to see of his potential victims were under the influence. If they were then they would most likely kill the person. A serial killer can also have a euphoric moment. He could see his
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 killers are the byproduct of many different things: trauma, death of loved ones, abuse, neglect, adoption, and even witnessing abuse (Are Serial). Serial killers have had to endure a massive amount of something such as trauma or abuse to an unimaginable extent to become what they are; the extent of the abuse, the trauma, the psychological damage they endure is incomprehensible to many. The destruction of one’s innocence can occur at any given time in his or her life, but he or she is more impressionable in his or her youth by the negativism of someone else’s actions (Scott, Shirley L. What Makes Serial Killers Tick ~ Childhood Event). People are susceptible to what they endure in their adolescence, and cruel upbringings, such as
Ever heard of the zodiac killer? He was a serial killer who operated in northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The killer's identity remains unknown. The Zodiac murdered victims in 5 states between December 1968 and October 1969. The general profile for a serial killer is a person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a characteristic, predictable behavior pattern. There are many types of serial killers. There are natural born killers who are born willing to kill someone, insane killers which have mental and physical disorders and criminaloids who do not exhibit specific traits. The childhood of a serial killer would typically be someone who is neglected by their family mainly their mothers. They tend to be antisocial and have anger issues. Poor families often cannot provide what the child always wants so they might commit crimes to get want they want. Abused children have a higher chance of being killers also because they have a lot of built up aggression and anger. All can lead to substance abuse which is never a good thing to mix in with a potential serial killer in the making. General behavioral progression from pre-crime to post-crime are that they use killing as a source of relief. Before committing a serious crime they could have built up anger and hatred. They is a high possibility that they are suffering from depression and anxiety too. After killing someone the killer feels relieved. They also feel
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
There are 4 major typologies of serial murders. One type is referred to as visionary type. A visionary type serial killer murders due to pressure from delusions, hallucinations or visions. They exhibit extreme psychopathy and do not clean up their crime scene. They often report that they have committed the crime because voice in their head told them too. Another type is power and control serial killers, they tend to enjoy their victim’s suffering and torture. They often sexually abuse their victims, but they are not interested by feelings of desire. Mission orientated serial murders feel as through they are doing society a favor by murdering certain people such as prostitutes, drug dealers, or homosexuals, people they feel that society could do without. These murders are very seldom psychopathic. Last, but not least is known as trill-orientated motive type,
A serial killer is defined as “a person who commits more than three murders over a period that spans more than one month. For the most part, serial killers commit murder for some sort of psychological benefit.” A serial killer who is well known in American history is H.H Holmes, as well as the infamous Bloody Benders.
Serial killers can be defined as a person who kills multiple people over a long period of time. American media spreads stereotypical information about serial killers. The media portrays serial killers as either a monster or a charming guy next door (Forsyth 868). Serial killers cannot be fitted into the medias cookie-cutter definition. Everyone has experienced unique events throughout their life that shapes their personality and serial killers are not an exception. Ronald Dominique, a serial killer suffered a traumatic event while in jail; he was raped, and this event triggered his serial killings. “Serial murderers like those who kill only once, fit into no single profile; and create too wide a burden to be explained with one idea. They do seem to have one similar characteristic –that is; to blend into society and appear normal” (Forsyth 872).
This serial killer was chosen because this serial killing pair is the most infamous English serial killers duo in the 1990s. Fred and Rosemary West were not convicted of all the murders they participated in; however, they were sentenced to life imprisonment. Also, this case is interesting because Rosemary West, to this day, does not claim to know anything about the murders even though she has victims that survived her attacks and have spoken against her in court.
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
Serial murders are events that can be categorized as three or more kills by one particular person. Although the question society as a whole still has is why would someone become this type of person and how. Some researchers have started looking into serial killers who have some brain disorders like autism, ASD, ADHD, and Asperger’s. “One researcher suggested that Autistic Psychopathy may underlie the motivation of some of these serial killers. He suggests a new diagnosis Criminal Autistic Psychopathy, a subcategory of Asperger's syndrome. He has also explored head injury as it has been shown that this is more prevalent in serial killers, with one study suggesting that one in four serial killers had suffered
What is a serial killer? Serial killers are very sick and distraught compared to others. As indicated by the Vancouver Sun, a serial killer is characterized as somebody who is responsible for more than three killings over a period that than traverses over one month.In 2005 the fbi changed it to at least two killings with no reference to intention or time span. Generally, serial killers murder for some kind of mental benefit. Serial Killers can come in all shapes and sizes: don 't be tricked by moxy, charm, and attractiveness.The MO is basically the way the predator commits the crime. While the MO tells us something about how he did it, the signature gives us some insight into why.The signature is a ritual, something the subject does intentionally for emotional satisfaction. The MO could be changed throughout the time of the killings. Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgway are two serial killers with some similarity in their style but different MO’s.
The connection between psychopathy and serial killers is that most killers are diagnosed with this disorder after being caught and brought to justice. A study done by Michael Stone named, Personality disorders, psychopathy, and serial killers, states that, “with regard to personality characteristics, in a study carried out by Stone, 86.5% of the serial killers met the Hare criteria for psychopathy, and another 9% presented only a few psychopathic traits (not enough to be classified as psychopaths)”. People are diagnosed with this disorder by using the 20-Hare Psychopathy Checklist, which includes a list of certain aspects of the person’s life: the biggest “symptoms” or “traits” include: having no regards for morals or laws, feeling no remorse or guilt, a disregard for the rights of other individuals, and the tendency to display violent behavior to themselves or others. These traits are the most common and dangerous when it comes to serial killers with psychopathy, these personality traits are a key function and role when serial killers commit their crime. These are the most important factors to take into consideration when bringing the idea of letting serial killers back into our modern society.
go back as far as the fifteenth century, only a few were written about prior to
They usually hate their parents. Almost every serial killer is abused as a child, whether it is sexually, emotionally, physically, or psychologically. This abuse may come from a stranger or a family member, but many serial killers try to lie about this history of abuse. Most serial killers have records of early psychiatric problems and often spent time in institutions as children (i.e.: mental hospitals or psychological rehabilitation centers). They have an intense interest in voyeurism, fetishism, and sadomasochistic porn at a very early age, and they also have a very high rate of suicide attempts. Future serial killers share three other traits in their childhoods. More than sixty precent of serial killers wet their beds past the age of twelve. They also have a fascination with fire, which may be an early manifestation of their fondness for mass destruction. In addition, almost every serial killer starts his abuse and sadistic torture on animal victims (Fisher and Fisher, 2003).