Ch. 10 Multiple Murder, School and Workplace Violence Flashcards
Multiple Murders
MASS MURDER – The act of murdering a large number of people.
- FBI criteria: Defines it as killing 4 or more people with NO “cooling off period” between murders.
- Usually occurs in a public building among strangers
- Or among a family where the whole family is murdered and the perpetrator is usually a family member.
SERIAL MURDER – The act of murdering 3 or more individuals over time WITH a cooling off period.
- FBI criteria (2005): 2 or more murders in separate events – because the lower number allowed for the faster allocation of resources.
SPREE MURDER – The act of murdering 3 or more individuals ,spread over 2 or more locations with NO cooling off period
Crime Scene Profiling
Criminal profilers rely on behavioral and psychological trace evidence to deduce an offender’s likely characteristics or even to link that person to a series of offenses.
Modus Operandi ( M.O.)
The method employed by a criminal. It can help find clues to the offender’s psychology. It largely consists of examining the actions used by the individuals to execute the crime, prevent it’s detection and facilitate escape. A suspects M.O. can assist in their identification, apprehension, and link between other crimes.
Equivocal Death Analysis.
An investigative process that can aid in determining the manner of death by examining existing forensic evidence and the behavioral and psychological history of the deceased.
Familicide
Type of murder or murder-suicide in which a perpetrator kills multiple close family members in quick succession In about half of all cases the killer lastly kills themselves in a murder-suicide. Between 1900 and 2000 there were 909 victims of mass murder in the US. Of those, more than half occured within an immegiate family Although familicide cases are relatively rare, they are the most common form of mass killings.
David Wilson has divided familicide cases into 4 categories:
- Anomic
Sees his family purely as a status symbol. When his economic status collapses, he sees them as surplus to requirements
- Disapointed
Seeks to punish the family for not living up to his ideals of family life
- Self-Righteous
Destroys the family to exact revenge upon the mother, in an act that he blames on her
- Paranoid
Kills their family in what they imagine to be an atempt to protect them from something even worse
Psychological Autopsy
An in-depth reconstruction of an unclear suicide death. A trained mental health expert interviews family members, friends, and others who are able to provide relevant info about the victim and the behaviors and events which led up to the death
Geographical Profiling
A criminal investigative methodology that analyzes the locations of a connected series of crimes to determine the most probable area of offender residence.
It also helps give an understanding of the spatial pattern of a crime series and the characteristics of the crime sites can tell investigators other useful info, such as whether the crime was opportunistic and the degree of offender familiarity with the crime location. This is based on thr connection between an offender’s behavior and his/her non-criminal life.
Serial Murder Myths
Myth: Serial killers are all dysfunctional loners: FALSE
- Most serial killers are not reclusive misfits who live alone.
- They may live & work in plain sight within the community.
Myth: Serial killers are all white males: FALSE
- Serial killers span all racial groups
Myth: All serial murders are motivated only by sex: FALSE
- There are many motivations for serial murders including:
- anger
- thrill
- financial gain
- ideology
- psychosis
- attention seeking
NOT Myths: these are TRUE
- Serial murders have been around forever
- Serial murders are a global phenomenon
- Richard Von Krafft-Ebing – 19th Century – first to study on violent sexual offenders. He was best known for his text book “Psychopatha Sexualis” 1886 In which he documented various incidents of sexual homicide, etc.
Serial Murder (Developmental Aspects)
Serial murderers Background: There is no single developmental causal factor. Just like all criminals, there are a bunch of risk factors at play that contribute to their ultimate behavior. (Genetics, upbringing,
-
Tend to come from DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES with histories of:
- Abuse
- Neglect
- Domestic violence
- Alternatively, they may have grown up isolated & lonely in childhood & adolescence.
-
There is NO evidence that serial murders simply have an irrisistable urge to kill or are even psychologically disordered other than their antisocial behaviors.
- Instead, their behavior seems to be based on a sense of satisfaction in their ability to control or dominate, or be the focus of attention.
- Most of the time there is no identifiable material gain from their actions.
- The # of perpetrators and victims is difficult to estimate because they often kill STRANGERS – individuals with a low risk of being missed.
- The strongest determining victim selection factor is that it’s usually those who are most vulnerable or available.
- If serial murderers are successful with that population, they may move on to more challenging victims.
- Serial murders are PREMEDITATED and often SEXUAL in nature.
- At least 400 Serial killers and 4,000 victims in the last century.
- But some think the victim tally could be 10 times that. That’s because their victims tend to be marginalized citizens who won’t be missed – prostitutes, addicts, hustlers, runaways, etc.
- Most Serial Murderers have a “comfort zone” – a central point from which they work.
- Media pays much more attention to WHITE serial killers who attack other WHITE people.
-
FEMALE Serial murderers are rare.
- They tend to look for some material gain (where men do not)
- There preferred method of killing is through some chemical like poison or drugs
- Juvenile Serial murderers are VERY rare, but their motives seem similar to ADULTS by GENDER.
- Serial murder by children & adolescents are RARE.
Serial Murder (Holmes and DeBurger Typology)
Holmes and DeBurger Defined FOUR DIFFERENT TYPES of SERIAL MURDERERS:
-
All are based on MOTIVES:
- Visionary – psychotic and compelled to murder becasue they hear voices or see images that ‘tell them to kill certain types of individuals’.
- Mission-oriented – not psychotic, but they also tend to target certain groups of people – people they believe to be immoral or unworthy of life, and they feel the need to rid the world of them. They often feel it’s their duty to clean up society.
- Hedonistic (lust, thrill, or comfort) – gains pleasure from the pure act of killing. They kill for the thrill. To them (even moreso than other nut-cases, people are OBJECTS to be used for their own enjoyment.
-
Power-seeker – kill to exert the control of life or death over others. They are not psychotic, they kill for excitement, but they are obsessed with capturing and controlling their victims and forcing them to obey their every command.
- Jeffrey Daumer was a serial killer who practiced Cannibalism to assert this control.
Serial Murder (Ressler Typology)
Ressler Defined TWO DIFFERENT TYPES of SERIAL MURDERERS:
-
All are based on METHOD of KILLING:
-
Organized
- At least average IQ
- Socially Confident
- Control Emotions during crime
- Methodical
- Well-planned
- Follows their crime in the news
-
Disorganized
- Low IQ
- Not socially proficient
- sloppy and anxious during crime
- sex with dead victim
- does not follow their crime in the news
-
Organized
PROFESSOR COMMENT: Moving forward – The typologies MUST look beyond ONLY motives or ONLY methods and at the very least look at GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION And TYPES of VICTIMS being chosen.
- We need a more MULTI-DIMENSIONAL TYPOLOGY becasue Serial murders are complex phenomenons and they will require a complex explanation.
Mass Murder Typology
MASS MURDER – FBI criteria: Defines it as killing 4 or more people with NO “cooling off period” between murders.
- Usually occurs in a public building among strangers
- Or among a family where the whole family is murdered and the perpetrator is usually a family member.
TYPES of MURDERERS
- Classic – Barricades himself into a public building
- Disciple killer – follows the directions of a charasmatic leader – (ex: Desciples of Charles Manson)
- Family – at least 3 members were murdered – usually by another family member before that member kills themself.
- Pseudocommando – preoccupied with weaponry – kill after a long period of planning with motivation sourced in their own internal world thinking “The world needs a lesson and I’m the one who’s ging to give it to them.” – usually dresses in fatigues and uses heavy weapons.
- School shooter – personality reactionary to school life – males who are socially rejected.
- Disgruntled employee – former employees who are retaliating for perceived injustice.
- Set & Run killers – Motivated by need for revenge, but fraud and extortion are also motives. Plans carefully to make their escape. Unlike many other types who commit suicide at the end of their murders or allow themselves to be killed by the police, this type wants to get away.
Fox & Levin (Mass Murder Typology)
Fox & Levin – Introduced the idea of MURDER by PROXY – when a killer chooses victims the he believes represent the target of their revenge (ex: targeting a race, religion, gender, etc.)
- Revenge – want to get even
-
Power – delight in the fear that they instill in others and the sense of control that comes with it
- Often, REVENGE and POWER types exist together.
- Loyalty – kill for a warped sense of love and loyalty to save loved ones from hardship (ex: Massacre the family to spare them from pain and suffering)
- Profit – Eliminate witnesses of a crime – like a bank robbery
- Terror – send a messsage of terror. They want others to feal fear.
Mass Murder
MASS MURDER – FBI criteria: Defines it as killing 4 or more people with NO “cooling off period” between murders.
-
Perpetrator Characteristics
- Frustrated, angry helpless about their lives
- Suffered some type of loss or personal failure
- Males between the ages of 35–45 (some younger examples in recent years)
- Socially isolated
- Limited support network
- Convinced there is little chance things will get better
- Carefully planned
- Targets are selected are symbolic of discontent
Dylann Storm Roof: White Supremecist fired 77 rounds during prayer service, killing 9 people, all African American. Tried to start a race war. Was calous-unemotional.
Spree Murder
SPREE MURDER – The act of murdering 3 or more individuals ,spread over 2 or more locations with NO cooling off period.
- Ex: Beltay Snipers killed 10 people during a 3-week period over several states.
