Chapter 1 Flashcards
Myths regarding serial murder
Nearly all white All male Insane Driven to kill due to sexual abuse Highly intelligent Lust killers Kill alone Cannot stop killing Highly mobile Most have a desire to be caught Dozens of victims and all die violent deaths
Characteristics and classification/types of serial murderers
characteristics:
In recent years the majority of serial killers are Black
Nearly 17% are female
Insanity is a legal term: only 2-4 percent are legally insane
Most serial killers are of average intelligence
Some killers are motivated by material gain
Many kill due to rejection and abandonment in childhood
Most kill under 10 victims
Most kill in a local area
Some have several years between murders
About 1 in 4 have one or more killing partners
Some victims are poisoned
Some learn from experience and avoid detection while
others are caught and imprisoned only to be released and kill again
Primary Motivations in Serial Murder:
Anger
Criminal enterprise
Financial gain
Ideology
Power thrill
Sexual
Psychosis
TYPOLOGIES:
organized and unorganized
Visionary
Mission-Oriented
Hedonistic
Power/Control-Oriented
Characteristics and classification/types of mass murderers
Holmes Mass Murder Classifications:
Family Slayer or Annihilator—a person who kills his family and commits suicide.
Murder for Profit—a person who kills in order to profit materially.
Murderer for Sex—a person with the primary goal to sexually torture, rape, and murder their victims
Pseudo-Commando—a person with an obsession for guns and a fantasy for murder.
Set-and-Run Killer—a person who plans an escape route following the mass killing.
Psychotic Killer—a person suffering from acute or chronic psychosis; someone legally insane: J. Kallinger
Disgruntled Employee—a person who seeks revenge for real or imagined wrongs at the hands of coworkers or employers; “going postal”
Disciple-Type Killer—a person who commits murder at the behest of a charismatic leader such as Charles Manson.
Ideological Mass Murderer—a person, especially a cult leader, who is able to persuade others to kill themselves or each other: Jim Jones; Herff Applewhite; David Koresh.
Facts About Mass Murderers:
Appear to give little concern to his or her inevitable capture or death.
Some are killed by police during the attack
Others kill themselves once they have completed the massacre
Some offenders surrender to police or offer no resistance
Institutional Mass Murderer—a person who commits mass murder as a crime of obedience when ordered to by his or her leader: genocides
Bifurcation in Mass Murder:
Most mass murders usually occur at or around one distinct location such as a school, office building or a private residence.
In some mass killings an offender begins his/her murders in one location and then moves to another building or address to continue the killing. This is referred to as bifurcation.
Public to public events that are deemed mass murders are extremely rare.
Private to public mass murders, however, are much more likely to occur when mass murders events are bifurcated.
Compare and contrast serial murder to mass murder
Mass murderers usually are apprehended or killed by police, commit suicide, or later surrender.
Reactions to mass murder are often media intense, focused and of short duration while cases of serial murder may extend over several years.
Serial killers usually make special efforts to elude detection. They may continue to kill for weeks, months, or years before being stopped.
A mass murderer kills groups of people usually within a few minutes or hours, whereas the serial killer individualizes his or her murders over days, weeks, months or years.
Different types of murder
FIRST DEGREE MURDER:
Often includes felony murder, or murder committed while in the course of committing another felony (i.e., killing someone while robbing a bank.)
May involve poisoning, lying in wait, torture, or use of explosives.
CAPITAL CASES:
From a judicial point of view the most serious of murders are those that are capital cases involving premeditated murder, or the willful, intentional killing of another person(s).
Non Capital Types of Killing:
Justifiable homicide is sometimes referred to as “no fault” homicide, and usually involves the killing of someone under necessity or duty. These killings lack criminal intent. This can include various forms of defense of family, self or others.
Manslaughter can be either voluntary manslaughter that involves the killing another person(s) in the heat of passion, in the commission of another felony or in self-defense.
Involuntary manslaughter is sometimes referred to as negligent homicide and involves the killing of another person(s) while committing a non-felony offense such as reckless driving (also referred to as vehicular manslaughter).
OTHER TYPES OF HOMICIDES:
Neonaticide: killing of a newborn within the first 24 hours of his or her life.
Infantcide: Killing of an infant child who is less than one year of age.
Siblicide: typical in survival behavior of animal groups the term is also used to refer to the killing of an individual by a sibling or siblings or facilitated by the parent(s).
Fraticide: killing of one’s brother or sister. Often used in terms of military fratricide or the act of killing a relative(s) or countrymen; killing of own military forces such as “friendly fire” incidents.
Prolicide: killing one’s own children including infanticide and killing of a fetus in utero. Commonly referred to as filicide which usually refers to the killing of a minor, including a step-child.
Parricide: killing of a parent(s) or other relative. Patricide refers to the killing of one’s father while matricide is the killing of one’s mother
Genocide: extermination of a specific racial, ethnic, religious or national group of people.
Premeditated: thought out
age-relationship: similar age group
Stumbling blocks to understanding serial murder
DEFINITION: the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offenders in separate events (FBI, 2008, p. 12). Serial murder is often confused with mass murder
Organized-disorganized classification system for serial killer
Organized killer- has a good intelligence and being socially competent
plan their murders, target strangers, and demand victims to be submissive
one who has been killing for a long time and is able to prevents him/herself from being caught
Disorganized killer- viewed as being of average intelligence and socially immature
may know their victims, inflict sudden violence on them, and spontaneously carry out their killings
most difficult to catch due to the unknown ways of capability in killing, also messy easy to identify due to inability to hide eveidence
- Visionary type of serial killers
kill in response to the commands of voices or visions usually emanating from the forces of good or evil
these killers suffer from psychosis
- Mission-oriented type of serial killers
they believe that it is their mission in life to rid the community or society of certain groups of people
may target the elderly, whereas others may seek out prostitutes, children, or a particular racial/ethnic group
- Hedonist type of serial killers
often stereotyped as “thrill seekers” those who derive form of satisfaction from the murders
according to Holmes and DeBurger these killers kill for “creature comforts” or “pleasure of life” (subcategory)
Another subcategory Holmes and DeBurger refer to was “lust murderers” these offenders who become sexually involved with the victims and often perform postmortem mutilations
- Power/control-oriented type of serial killers
the fundamental source of pleasure is not sexual,sit is the killer’s ability to control and exert power over his helpless victim (contended by Holmes)
they enjoy watching their victims, cower, cringe, and beg for mercy
