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Serial killer
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A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people (although some have been defined as serial killers based on proof of only two such as Ed Gein) with a "cooling off" period between each murder and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification.
One hypothesis is that all serial killers suffer from some form of Antisocial Personality Disorder.
They are usually not psychotic, and thus may appear to be quite normal and often even charming, a state of adaptation which Hervey Cleckley calls the "mask of sanity." There is sometimes a sexual element to the murders. The murders may have been completed/attempted in a similar fashion and the victims may have had something in common, for example occupation, race, or sex.
The term serial killer is said to have been coined by Michigan State University alumnus and FBI agent Robert Ressler in the 1970s.
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A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people (although some have been defined as serial killers based on proof of only two such as Ed Gein) with a "cooling off" period between each murder and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification.
One hypothesis is that all serial killers suffer from some form of Antisocial Personality Disorder.
They are usually not psychotic, and thus may appear to be quite normal and often even charming, a state of adaptation which Hervey Cleckley calls the "mask of sanity." There is sometimes a sexual element to the murders. The murders may have been completed/attempted in a similar fashion and the victims may have had something in common, for example occupation, race, or sex.
The term serial killer is said to have been coined by Michigan State University alumnus and FBI agent Robert Ressler in the 1970s. Serial killer entered the popular vernacular in large part due to the widely publicized crimes of Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz in the middle years of that decade.
Psychology and development Serial killers are specifically motivated by a variety of psychological urges, primarily power and sexual compulsion. They often have feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness, sometimes owing to humiliation, bullying, and abuse in childhood and the pressures of poverty and low socioeconomic status in adulthood. In many cases, serial killers commit crimes to compensate for these factors and to provide a sense of potency and often revenge by giving them a feeling of power, both at the time of the actual killing and afterwards. The knowledge that their actions terrify entire communities and often baffle police adds to this sense of power. This motivational aspect separates them from contract killers and other multiple murderers who are motivated by profit. For example, in Scotland during the 1820s, William Burke and William Hare murdered people in what became known as the "Case of the Body Snatchers."
One theory about the pathology of serial killers, propounded by Helen Morrison, states that they are not a result of sexual abuse, inadequacy, or socioeconomic status, but are rather the result of retarded emotional development. In her theory, the low level of emotional development causes serial killers to have fractured or disparate personalities - that is, they are missing components that are usually present. Stunted emotional development, Morrison wrote, also explains some common traits among serial killers such as enjoying holding soft materials against their mouths (being the primary sensory organ of infants) which was observed in Richard Otto Macek, John Wayne Gacy and others.
Morrison's theory also suggests that a serial killer has not developed basic levels of emotional control and that, as a result, has "feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness, sometimes owing to humiliation and abuse" which draw them to killing; rather, the act of killing is actually a kind of experimentation, which is uninhibited due to the subject's low or non-existent level of sympathy or empathy with the victims.
The element of fantasy in a serial killer's development is extremely important. They often begin fantasizing about murder during or even before adolescence. Their fantasy lives are very rich and they daydream compulsively about domination, submission, and murder, usually with very specific elements to the fantasy that will eventually be apparent in their real crimes. Others enjoy reading stories or seeing photographs in magazines featuring rape, torture, and murder.
Some serial killers display one or more of what are known as the "Macdonald triad" of warning signs in childhood.These are:
- Fire starting, or arson invariably for the thrill of destroying things, for gaining attention, or for making the perpetrator feel more powerful.
- Cruelty to animals (related to "zoosadism"). Many children may be cruel to animals, such as pulling the legs off spiders, but future serial killers often kill larger animals, like dogs and cats, and frequently for their solitary enjoyment rather than to impress peers.
- Bed wetting beyond the age when children normally grow out of such behavior.
When caught and tried in a court of law in the United States, some serial killers will plead not guilty by reason of insanity. In most U.S. jurisdictions, the legal definition of insanity is still generally based upon the classic common law "right or wrong" test delineated by an English court in the 1843 M'Naghten case.
The M'Naghten Rules, as it is generally known in the legal profession, hinges upon whether the defendant knows the difference between right and wrong at the time of the offense. With some serial killers, extensive premeditation, combined with lack of any obvious delusions or hallucinations that would hinder the defendant's ability to elude detection after committing multiple murders, make this defense extremely difficult and almost uniformly unsuccessful in achieving a not guilty verdict.
MotivesThe motives of serial killers can be placed into five different categories, although a few serial killers have had featured characteristics of more than one type.
Contrary to popular opinion, serial killers are rarely insane or motivated by hallucinations and/or voices in their heads. Many claim to be, usually as a way of trying to get acquitted by reason of insanity. There are, however, a few genuine cases of serial killers who were compelled by such delusions.
VisionaryHerbert Mullin killed 13 people after voices told him that murder was necessary to prevent California from suffering an earthquake. Mullin went to great pains to "point out" that California did indeed avoid an earthquake during his murder spree.
Ed Gein killed two women (or more, exact number is unknown) who bore passing resemblances to his mother. He also used the flesh of exhumed female corpses to fashion a "woman suit" (as well as various other household adornments, such as curtains and lamp shades) for himself so that he could "become" his mother. After his arrest he was placed in a mental institution for the rest of his life.
MissionarySo-called missionary killers believe that their acts are justified on the basis that they are getting rid of a certain type of person (often prostitutes or members of a certain ethnicity), and thus doing society a favor. Dr John Bodkin Adams, meanwhile, was a British fundamentalist Christian (a member of the Plymouth Brethren). His rich, 'non-believing' victims were killed partly in order to redistribute their wealth to people Adams considered more "deserving," usually - but not always - himself. Missionary killers differ from other types of serial killer in that their motive is generally non-sexual.
HedonisticThis type kills for the sheer pleasure of it, although what aspect they enjoy varies. This is the most common type of serial killer depicted in slasher and horror movies, psychological thrillers, and so on. Yang Xinhai's post-capture statement is typical of such killers' attitudes: "When I killed people, I had a desire [to kill more]. This inspired me to kill more. I don't care whether they deserve to live or not. It is none of my concern." Some killers may enjoy the actual "chase" or "trolling" phase of hunting down and ensnaring a victim more than anything, while others may be primarily motivated by the act of torturing and abusing the victim while they are alive. Some, such as Dennis Rader, Wichita's notorious "BTK (Bind Torture Kill) Strangler," who killed 10 known victims, enjoyed both the hunt and torturing his victims after capturing and subduing them. Yet others, like Jeffrey Dahmer, may kill the victim quickly, and then indulge in necrophilia or cannibalism with the body. Usually there is a strong sexual aspect to the crimes, even if it may not be immediately obvious; some killers obtain a surge of excitement that is not necessarily sexual, such as David Berkowitz, who got a thrill out of shooting young couples in cars at random and then running away without ever physically touching the victims. It is hypothesized that these individuals have a high tolerance for endorphins. Normal individuals can get a natural high from activities ranging from taking a run to riding a roller coaster. Sociopaths, however, have a high tolerance, meaning they must do something that causes more of an endorphin rush. It is also worth noting that some killers of this type, such as Gary Ridgway, the infamous "Green River Killer," may attempt to justify their actions in missionary terms after being caught (Ridgway, for example, preyed primarily, though not exclusively, on prostitutes and runaways), but their choice of socially "undesirable" victims is often a matter of convenience more than anything else... i.e., they know these types of victims will accompany them alone to secluded locations willingly, will probably not be reported missing until a significant period of time after their deaths, and the deaths/disappearances will generally not lead to a large amount of public outcry.
Gain motivatedMost criminals who commit multiple murders for material ends (such as Mafia hit men) are not classed as serial killers, because they are motivated by economic gain rather than psychopathological compulsion. There is a fine line separating such killers, however. For example, Marcel Petiot, who operated in Nazi-occupied France, could be classified as a serial killer. He posed as a member of the French Resistance and lured wealthy Jewish people to his home, claiming he could smuggle them out of the country. Instead he murdered them and stole their belongings, killing 63 people before he was finally caught.
Power and controlTheir main objective for killing is to gain and exert power over their victim. Such killers are sometimes abused as children, leaving them with feelings of powerlessness and inadequacy as adults. Many power/control-motivated killers sexually abuse their victims, but they differ from hedonistic killers in that rape is not motivated by lust but as simply another form of dominating the victim.
VictimsCriminologists have long recognized that there are links between most serial killers and their chosen victims. One such link is the association between demographic factors and likelihood of victimization. While overall the odds of falling victim to a serial killer are very minute in comparison to other violent crimes, and to the population as a whole, the outcome of these crimes can often be the most extreme. Compared to all other types of crimes, homicide in general has one of the lowest victimization rates.
Demographically, serial murderers tend to target more women than men, and kill strangers more often than family or acquaintances. This as opposed to single-homicide offenders, who tend to kill men and women equally, while killing friends and family more often. Serial murderers’ killings are often sexually motivated. The sexual motivation supports the idea that serial murderers tend to have specific criteria and specific sexual interests that motivate their selection of certain victims. This victim selection process sets serial murderers apart from other types of killers.
Serial killers in popular cultureSerial killers have been featured in many novels, movies, songs, comic books, true crime, soap operas, video games, and other media. Films such as The Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, Scream, Se7en, Copycat , , Halloween, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, the Saw series, and the Friday The 13th series, have featured serial killers as villains, antiheroes, and even protagonists as in the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter and its television adaptation. Examples of famous fictional serial killers include Hannibal Lecter, Norman Bates, Freddy Krueger, Carnage, Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Patrick Bateman, Serge A. Storms, John "Jigsaw" Kramer, Sylar, Dexter Morgan, and various others. A few of these have become some of the most famous and popular characters in modern popular culture. Serial killers have also been portrayed in video games such as , and its recent sequel .
Serial killer memorabilia and serial killer lore is a subculture revolving around the legacies of various infamous and notorious serial killers. While memorabilia is generally confined to the paintings, writings, and poems of infamous killers, a market has expanded in recent years with serial killer encyclopedias, trading cards, and action figures. Some of the best known articles of serial killer memorabilia include the clown paintings of John Wayne Gacy and the poetry of Jack Unterweger.
See also
Bibliography - Douglas, John and Olshaker, Mark. Journey into Darkness. Pocket Books, (1997). ISBN 0-671-00394-1
- Douglas, John and Olshaker, Mark. Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit. Pocket Books, (1997). ISBN 0-671-01375-0
- Lane, Brian and Gregg, Wilfred. The New Encyclopedia Of Serial Killers. Headline Book Publishing, (1996). ISBN 0-7472-5361-7
- MacDonald, J. M. "The threat to kill." American Journal of Psychiatry 120 (1963).
- Norris, Joel. Serial Killers: The Growing Menace. Arrow Books, (1990). ISBN 0-09-971750-6
- Ressler, Robert K. and Schachtman, Thomas. Whoever Fights Monsters. St. Martins Mass Market Paper, (1994). ISBN 0-312-95044-6
- Schechter, Harold and Everitt, David. The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. Pocket Books, (1996). ISBN 0-671-53791-1
- Vronsky, Peter. Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters, The Berkley Publishing Group, (2007). ISBN 0-425-21390-0
- Vronsky, Peter. Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters. The Berkley Publishing Group, (2004). ISBN 0-425-19640-2
- Wilson, Colin. A Plague Of Murder. Robinson Publishing, Ltd., (1995). ISBN 1-85487-249-4
- Elliott Leyton. Hunting Humans: The Rise of the Modern Multiple Murderer (1986) McClelland and Stewart ISBN 0-7710-5025-9
External links- , Federal Bureau of Investigation Headline Archives, 7 July 2008. Accessed 8 July 2008. Includes links to the report, Serial Murder: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators, in PDF and HTML formats.
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