Since the early 1660s, we know that murder is a common crime in society. Many historians have studied the topic of crime and found evidence that murder was committed in Ancient Rome. This evidence has continued to the present day. Jack the Ripper in 1888 murdered five prostitutes in London’s East End and then mutilated the rest (Wilson, 1990). This was one of the first examples of what we would call a serial killer. American society started to use the term serial killer as a way of describing different types and types of murders.
It seems that serial killing is something we only hear or see in movies or in true crime books. Serial murder is an old crime that occurs in distant places, such as London’s Jack the Ripper. American society is conditioned to believe that serial killings are very rare and easily detected.
This is the start
A serial killer is someone who murders at least three people. This is usually done for abnormal psychological satisfaction. Different authorities use different criteria to identify serial killers. Many authorities establish a minimum threshold of three murders. Others increase it to four, or reduce it to 2.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), serial murder is:
“A series or multiple murders that were committed in separate events. Usually, but not always, one of the offender acts alone.”
The FBI says that although psychological gratification is the main motive for serial killings, and most serial killings involve sexual contact between the victims, it’s possible for serial killers to have other motives. You may attempt to commit the same murders or you might succeed in doing so. It is possible that the victims share some commonalities, such as their appearances, gender, or races.
Serial killers are neither mass murderers nor spree killers. However, there might be conceptual overlaps. Experts in the field are predicting that between 35-50 percent and 50% of serial killers might be active in the United States. The reason this is so is that multiple homicides do not always occur in a clear pattern. This profile is not comprehensive enough to explore the motivations behind a serial killer. Research on serial killings has tried to identify the motivations behind a person who commits a series. Dr. Ronald Holmes’ book
Statement of the Problem
Research has shown that there has been an increase in murders in the second half century. This trend is likely to continue. Law and psychology continue to look for patterns in behavior that can be used by mental health professionals to identify serial killers.
The Purpose of the Study
This study is intended to review and critically analyze the literature and research related to serial killers’ behavior. It will also examine criminal aspects related to serial killers. The findings will be shared with professionals in the field offorensic psychology.
Different types of murder
– Serial killing: A serial crime is an act in which one person kills multiple victims in unrelated incidents.
Mass murder is an act of killing for more than one victim in a single place and time.
– Spree Killer: A spree is a single murder that occurs in multiple locations with no emotional cooling.
– Cannibalism: Consumption of human flesh.
– Cult: A term that is used to denote certain religious groups.
The serial killer’s dream
The serial killer kills his first victim and activates what is called a cyclical mechanism. This causes him to enter a complex circular mental process that leads him to murder again (Bruno & Marrazzi). A murder is a transposition of a number of mental images within real context. This dynamic process is bound for repeating itself with specific features. The imagination is a fundamental part of the human psyche. It can be used to create, alter, or replace reality. Adults and children use it most often to imagine situations.
Any mood, like anger, can be created by imagination. It is orientated towards a goal or a direction (Carlisle).
Children, as they are growing up, seek refuge from fantasy to escape reality and to be able to relate to others.
The child will imagine a world that is not real and will then project the hate and hostility they feel in it. Any individual can create a fantasy world where he or she imagines that he/she is infinite and unbound. The only difference between a criminal versus a normal subject lies in the fact that the former believes he can satisfy his fantasies through some form of divine right, which is free from moral and legal restrictions (Norris 1987).
As a serial killer, his imagination plays an important role in his fantasies about the acts he will perform to assert his dominance over other people. It is possible to feel omnipotent because of the power that he uses to decide on life and death. Once his delusional fantasies reach their peak, it is time to indulge in his murderous actions until another emotional need or compulsion forces him to kill again. The victim is like a pawn in a game of checkers, which can be controlled to his will to win.
They retreat to their imaginary worlds in order to cope with their loneliness. No matter the motive, serial killers always start their destructive paths through fantasies.
Serial killers:
Thought Patterns & Actions
A number of studies were done in this field to identify the serial killer’s thoughts and actions. They can be divided into five phases that repeat in a circular pattern (Ciappi. 1998)
– The distortion of thinking phase is a psychological stage most common to serial killers. Because he doesn’t consider the consequences of his deviant acts, he is more concerned with the emotional satisfaction that may result.
– Motivational phase: One or more events or sets of events that are real, imagined or created by the stage transition. The stimulus is perceived to be personal. Subjects with distorted mentalities will respond in adisproportionate way to incidents.
– Inner Negative Answer Phase: This is where the murderer must confront feelings of inadequacy and negative messages from society.
– External negative reaction phase: This element confirms the subject’s superiority as an individual. His criminal activities are not of any interest to him.
– The Restoration phase: This is the stage that restores the equilibrium the subject enjoyed at the beginning. Also, the killer considers how to minimize his personal risk in future murders.
The subject thus completes his/her cycle and returns the subject to the distorted-thinking phase.
Serial killers: Biological pedis positions
Many people wonder about the unimaginable and horrifying acts of serial killers. It is important to clarify the origins of a serial killer(Giannangelo,1996). These questions can be answered using the three-phase model.
Some people have a predisposition to violence. It is caused by brain systems that are not well-equipped for dealing with frustration. Stress events and other traumas can be added to the volatile brain structure. He can only see the real world through his serial killer fantasies of criminal activity. This has led to him to commit his first crime.
He likes to escape into his private world and indulge in fantasies that satisfy him. The killer will continue the vicious cycle of murder and turn into a serial killer once he has convicted. After the murder, he chooses the victim. He then spends some time in relative calm, where he elaborates on the crime and relieves himself of it. Then, he will feel the urge to kill again.
Childhood is a serial killer.
Not all children who have been abused are serial killers. It is important to not dismiss the connections between them as mere coincidence. It is possible for personal traumas to affect behavior choices.
Dr Adrian Raine, criminologist, says that both social and biologic factors are important in the creation of a killer. Research of over 100 twins and adoption analysis revealed that roughly 50% of antisocial behavior variation can be attributed directly to genetic factors.
Dr Raine explained in The Anatomy of Violence that violence is a result of genetics and environmental factors. If they were raised in abusive homes, for example, people with a particular variant of the enzyme monoamineoxidase A gene are more likely to display violent behavior.
An individual who is genetically inclined to violent behavior does not automatically become a criminal. Genetics work in conjunction with environmental factors like violent childhood experiences to create a person.
Case Study
– Case 1: Richard The Night Stalker RAMIrez from El Paso Texas. Ramirez was found guilty for murdering 13 people in San Francisco. Henry Lee Lucas (a serial killer) and Ottis toole (a serial killer) were both victims to physical and psychological abuse. They were forced to dress as young girls, and then beat.
– Case II: Kenneth Binachi (one of the “Hillside Stranglers”) murdered girls and women of all ages and races because he had different sexual urges and required increasing intensity and stimulation.
– Case 3: Jeffrey Dahmer sought out his ideal fantasy partner-beautiful and submissive, but also eternal. He tried exotic sex, alcohol, and drugs to satisfy his growing desire. His desire to stimulate himself was clearly demonstrated by his attempts at controlling a “living virus” by injecting acid into the skulls and dismembering victims. Dahmer once stated, “Lust played an important part in it.” Control and Lust. It just seemed as though it controlled my life every day from that moment on. The end was not reached by the killing. It was not the most satisfying part. It was not something I enjoyed doing. So I created living zombies with acid, the drill and other tools. He continued, explaining that it was possible to create living zombies with acid and the drill. I then began drilling. He tried to make sure his victims were always a part of him by trying cannibalism.
– Case IV: In December 2006, Mohinder Singh Pandher, 53 years old, and Surendra Kohly, 36 years, were arrested in Noida. The two-year-old duo killed 38 children and then dismembered the bodies and dumped them in drains nearby his Bungalow. CBI sources say that the investigators found skeletons in the drains.
Case V: Robert Hansen sent his victims into a remote location, where they would be free to hunt and kill each other.
Case VI: Ted Bundy seemed like the most unusual serial killer. This made Bundy’s decade-long, multi-state killing spree even more remarkable and appealing. Bundy, a teenage boy, was born to an unwed mother. Bundy believed his grandmother was his mom and his sister was his aunt.
Bundy grew up in a difficult environment and graduated from Washington University. In 1966, Bundy killed his first victim at Seattle. Bundy focused primarily on his college friends and committed several murders throughout the Pacific Northwest. He went on to Utah, Colorado and killed many more women before he was finally arrested. He was convicted in kidnapping. However, he was able to escape police custody twice while waiting for his Colorado trial. He was sentenced to death for kidnapping and moved to Florida.
Bundy’s trial became a media hit when he was captured driving a stolen vehicle in his car after his murder. The first television-televised murder trial featured Bundy as one of his defense attorneys. In an effort to delay his execution, Bundy became a media superstar, receiving letters of admiration and even marriage proposals from his lovelorn fans. He was executed in the electric chair on 1989. His true victims are unknown.
– Case Seven: Auto Shankar. Nineteen girls from Chennais Thiruvanmiyur, India, went missing over six months in 1988. Subalakshmi, an elementary schoolgirl, claimed that an auto-rickshaw driver attempted to kidnap her in front of a local vineyard. The police undercoverly worked in the shop to uncover the serial abduction case. Gowri Shankar was the man behind it all. Shankar kidnapped and killed girls, then he buried their remains in the Bay of Bengal. Shankar and Eldin und Shivaji, his two aides, were hanged.
– Case VII: Cyanide Attack. Mohan Kumar, who was a primary school science teacher killed 20 girls in just 5 years. His target group consisted mostly of women from lower income families. He loved to visit bus stops and make friends with them. His plan included marrying, elopement, and then running away with their jewellery and money after they had killed him. In search of no dowry and sex, he lured women with him to distant towns to have sex. In December 2013, he was sentenced.
– Case IX – India’s first serial killer targeted women who were devotees to temples. She was a religious person who befriended well-to do women and acted as if she were a very religious person. After building their trust, she advised them to go to a faraway temple together. Mallika asked them to wear gold and fancy clothes.
Mallika would pretend to pray when the woman entered the temple. Later, Mallika would ask for the woman’s blessing and then offer to give her holy water. In 2010, she was sentenced with death to six of her victims for this scheme. In 2012, she was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Activate
A trigger refers to a single event in a serial killer’s life that triggers his underlying killer instinct. If the trigger is not there, a serial killer with a tendency toward killing multiple people can sometimes stop.
Modus Operandi
Modus Operandi can be described as the most popular method used by serial killers in order to murder. Modus operandi is what an offender must do to execute the crime. The Modus Operandi is a way for the criminal to control the victims, such as by tying them up. Modus operandi is an innate behavior that is susceptible to change.
Serial killers will modify and refine their Modus Operandi in order to adapt to new circumstances and incorporate new skills. The offender might decide that handcuffs are more efficient and effective than using rope to tie a victim. Jack the Ripper’s Modus Operandi was, for instance, that he used a knife to attack prostitutes on the streets at night.
This book examines the profile and motivations of serial killers. A profile of a serial killer is created by analyzing the development and behavioral traits. He discovered that serial killers are most likely to be from abusive homes (Sears 1991, p.37). He concludes his short overview by saying that serial killers are clearly a dangerous and distinct criminal. He is a superficial charmer who may be able to imitate socially acceptable behavior in any situation.
An exhaustive FBI study revealed that many serial killers grew up in abusive, neglectful and unhealthy homes. Study also revealed that serial killers have multiple issues in their families, including drug and alcohol abuse. It was found that the majority of murderers were weakly attached to their families and had at least one parent who suffered from substance abuse, criminality, or inappropriate sexual behavior. All murderers shared a common theme: a childhood without self-worth.
Although there are varying degrees of criminals who see the connection between criminal behavior and genetics, it appears that this is a real phenomenon. Jim Clemente, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), profiler, said: Genetics loads the gun. Their personality, psychology, and experiences aim it.
An important study that examined 50 serial killers revealed that lust serial killers were more likely to have suffered childhood abuse. Michael G. Aamodt was one of the researchers of the study. He explained that our data revealed that serial killers are more likely to have been abused as children than the general population. It is obvious that the type or severity of abuse received in childhood could influence a serial slayer’s behavior as well as his choice of victim.
While abuse is a risk factor that can lead to the creation of serial killers, it’s not common for people to be subject to abuse to turn out to be serial killers. The study revealed that 32% had no history or abuse. Child abuse is a common problem among serial killers
The cycle of violence is described in the book as generational. Children who are physically and/or psychologically abused by their parents have an almost instinctive reliance to violence as a solution to any problem (Norris J.
New York, Serial Killers) Another study looked at serial killers to find out the causes of sexual violence toward victims and childhood mistreatment.
Researchers discovered that serial killers who had suffered abuse in childhood were more likely to attack and then murder victims. The reverse was true for serial killers not subject to childhood abuse. They did not exhibit sexually violent behavior.
Asa Brown: Childhood trauma is not one thing.
Female Serial Killers
Kelleher and Kelleher (1998) developed several categories for describing female serial killers. They created the following categories: black widow, angel, sexual predators, revenge or crime, profit or loss, team killers, question of sanity and unsolved. They found that the majority of women fall into the category of black widow or team murderer.
Female serial killers may be motivated by addiction or attention seeking. The majority of female serial killers are thought to be motivated by material gain. They often have close relationships with their victims and need to share their emotions. This is why the “black widow” image has been created.
James Knoll a forensic psychiatrist provided psychological insight on what it means to be a “black-widow” type when describing Stacey Castor’s crime. In simple terms, it is a woman that kills multiple husbands or lovers to gain material wealth. Female serial killers often use low-profile or covert methods for murder, such as poisoning murder (the preferred method).
Female serial killers also use shootings (20%), suffocation (16%) and stabbing (11%). Aileen Wuornos, a notable exception, is a female serial killer who used poison instead of poison, killed strangers rather than friends, and murdered for her own pleasure.
Juvenile
Rare are juvenile serial killers. Juvenile serial killers can fall into one of three categories: primary, secondary, or maturing killers. These three types of serial killers have been compared and contrasted in studies (Kirby, 2009). While these types are not as common as the others, it is possible for researchers to examine what causes them. Harvey Miguel Robinson is the youngest of the death row felons, although it is uncommon.
Desire
They kill for their sexual pleasure, even if the victims are already dead. Their victims’ level of torture or mutilation is an indicator of their sexual gratification. To satisfy this psychological need, the sexual serial killer uses torture, pain, death to try to control their victims.
Thrill
Inducing terror or pain in victims is the primary motivation of thrill killers. This creates excitement and stimulation. They desire the adrenaline rush they get from killing and hunting victims. Thrill Killers murder victims for their thrill. While the victim may be a stranger, the killer may have been following them over a time. The thrill killers may be able to abstain for long periods and still succeed in killing. Many criminals attempt to commit the perfect offense and hope they are not caught.
Reasons
The motives behind serial killers can generally be divided into four types: visionary, mission-oriented and hedonistic. However, motives for any killer could overlap with one another. The World of Serial Killers identified four types of serial murderers. Visionary serial killers make up the first category. Visionary serial killers are those who are commanded by voices and visions to kill.
The mission serial murderer is the second type. The mission serial murderer is looking to take control of the community and eliminate undesirable people. A hedonistic serial murderer is the third type. The hedonistic serial murderer is motivated by lust, thrill, or comfort. The power/control serial murderer is the last type. The desire for dominance and power is the motivation of the power/control serial murderer.
Examining
The likelihood of serial killers engaging in homicide may increase if they have varying levels of mental illness. According to FBI’s crime classification manual, serial killers can be classified into three types. Organized serial killers are those who plan their crimes carefully and abduct victims before killing them. They often use tricks to get victims to fall in love with them. Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy.
These disorganized serial killers tend to be more impulsive than others and often use random weapons.
It is difficult for the investigating agency, forensic and corrective specialists to establish the link between serial killers and crime. There may be a variety of motives or compulsions behind serial killers. Multi-disciplinary solutions can help solve the crime against the society. Sears states that this can cause extreme frustration in these individuals.
A buildup of energy due to the lack of a home that is safe and secure, which makes it hard for people to handle failure, can lead to violent behavior. Sears discovered that children who are not loved and nurtured by their parents are more likely to become serial killers. Research has shown that children who have been abused as adults are more likely to be violent. He also discovered an unusual or unnatural relationship between serial killer mothers.
There have been many studies that show the environment of a home can influence the development of serial killers. Federal Bureau of Investigations research has shown that serial killers often grew up in abusive, neglectful and unhealthy homes.
In conclusion,
While serial murder isn’t a new crime, it still puzzles psychologists. Researchers tried to investigate the sociological, biological and psychological factors that might have led to the criminal mind developed by serial killers. Norris (1928), in Serial Killer, lists a behavior pattern that he calls serial killer disorder.
The 21 symptoms or patterns of episodic aggressive behavior that make up the serial killer syndrome are indicative of a predisposition or profile. These behaviors include ritualistic behaviours, compulsivity and search for help.
This is a great summary of the criminal mind and actions of serial killers. Freeman and Strean argue that all people have the desire to kill and that not everyone can control them.
A situation where you get mad at your spouse, partner, children and make a comment that angers them, is an example. Is it possible to kill this person? It is quite alarming to think that you could kill someone.
This question is not answered by the research literature. Psychology has not been able explain serial murder, and murder in general. There are many traits that serial killers share, but nobody has ever been able to identify the criminal mind.
Suggestions
Research into the criminal mindset of serial killers remains incomplete. This gap is filled by studies that focus on a small number of serial killers. Research on serial killers is lacking in the majority of current research. It has been done using samples from a variety of mass murderers, and it has been restricted to one type of serial killer.
Hickey(1991) lists 11 specific areas that require research.
– More interaction between law enforcement and academicians through seminars and workshops.
– Greater cooperation among law enforcement agencies in order to improve the flow of data about violent offenders.
– Enhanced training for state and local law enforcement officers regarding serial murders, profiling.
– To establish a consistent operationalized definition for serial murder which will reduce confusion between the governmental agencies and the private sector.
– To investigate improving the methods used to collect and analyze data on multiple homicide offenders.
– To analyze prevention strategies with a team that includes law enforcement personnel, academic, psychiatric, and medical professionals.
– To develop a public awareness program to filter information in a responsible and rational manner.
– To establish federally funded projects specifically to advance multiple homicide research.
These questions have multiple answers. Serial killers are not just driven by one biological, sociological or psychological cause. Researchers must consider a holistic approach to understand that serial killers are complex individuals with unique characteristics.
The profile can only be used as a guideline and cannot be used to determine the traits of all serial killers. Our society is responsible for the burial of approximately 20,000 victims of serial murder each year. Statistics show that we are still missing many victims. This is a social problem that will not go away.
