final Flashcards
About how much more likely is it that a random citizen of the United States is a victim of murder as compared to murder by a serial killer?
250-300 times more likely
(Module 1: avg. number of homicides attributed to serial killers = 50 , approx. rate of homicide by serial killer per 100,000 = .02 (roughly 1 in 5 million))
T or F: In terms of the likely cause of his actions Charles Whitman is viewed as a pretty typical mass shooter.
FALSE
(Module 1: Charles Whitman was likely affected by a brain tumor which caused him to become aggressive and lose emotional control, he is NOT typical)
What does “bifurcation” in mass murder typically refer to?
Most mass murder occurs at ONE location , but occasionally there is movement between places (and sometimes a delay); public to public, private to public
What was the major problem with the FBI study of mass shootings?
It did not set a minimum number of victims.
(Analysis studied any situation where an individual(s) is killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area, this is more typical of homicide not mass shootings)
With respect to prevalence, Lanskin and Silver’s (2020) study of mass shooters concluded that:
Mass shooting events are increasing and high fatality mass shooting events (12 or more victims) are increasing even more.
Considering high-fatality mass shootings from 1966-2009 and from 2010-2019, Lanskin and Silver concluded that in the more recent time period these characteristics are present:
Fame and attention seeking are increasingly common as motives, Shooters are more likely to plan the shooting for a year or more, An assault weapon is used at the time
(ALL OF THE ABOVE)
In the United States, mass shootings by people with serious mental illness represent:
Less than 1% of gun related homicides
Aside from killing at least 4 people, serial killers and mass murderers share certain characteristics. Which of the below is a characteristic both tend to share (according to research)?
Their murders are seen as means to provide more control over their life.
(Victims are usually female: INCORRECT, They are usually arrested or killed at the crime scene: NOT TYPICALLY TRUE of serial killers, but for mass shooters)
ESSAY QUESTION:
application of Jack Katz’ Righteous Slaughter Theory
- Draws attention to the positive stimuli of crime or the “experience” of crime from the perpetrators’ point of view.
- Righteous Slaughter describes the motivation behind (typically impulsive) homicides, which (seemingly paradoxically) are committed because, from the perpetrators point of view, the victim(s) violate fundamental unassailable values (sanctity of marriage/family, fairness and equity, honor, devotion to “higher calling” such as religion, identity group, nationalism, etc.).
- Context of domestic homicide: examples of typically males (not always) murdering their spouse/partner generally pointing to something like the sanctity of marriage/family/children and justifying their murder with the “higher calling”.
- Context of mass shooters: rectifying some kind of justice, worship of “higher calling”, in the mind of the shooter they equate their murder to some kind of “noble” act rather than just a cowardly act of shooting.
What distinguishes first-degree murder from second-degree murder?
First-degree murder is premeditated.
(First degree murder: the premeditated/deliberate, unlawful killing of another person. Second-degree murder: the intentional, unlawful killing of another person, but without any premeditation (sometimes called voluntary manslaughter))
What is true about the murder rate in the United States?
It is much lower than it was in the 1980’s
(PEAK was in the 1980’s and 1990’s, MUCH lower now, aging population is one reason for this)
Homicide is roughly what percent of all reported serious violent crime?
1%
(Homicide represents about 1% of all reported serious violent crime, and .1% of all reported serious crime)
What was discussed in the lecture as an important reason for changes in the patterns of homicide in the present day as compared to the 1980s?
Age structure
(Little use of the death penalty: NOT CORRECT, Poverty: correct but age structure is the answer - crime is disproportionately committed by young people and we are a steadily aging population, median age in U.S. is about 30)
The — explanation for the size of place-homicide association points out that large cities have lots of people with particular characteristics (e.g. young, unmarried, etc.) who tend to commit more crimes, regardless of where they live.
Compositional Perspective
(Urbanism and Homicide - Ad Hoc Application of Theory)
What is “collective efficacy”?
Refers to the perceived ability of neighborhood residents to activate informal (and sometimes formal) social control when confronted with acts of deviance or crime around their neighborhood (examples: neighborhood watch, speaking out, getting police involved, etc.)
What is a better predictor of homicide - Absolute or Relative Deprivation?
Relative Deprivation
(absolute deprivation represents poverty in an objective sense while relative deprivation represents a perceived difference between what people have in comparison to others; stronger predictor of violence)
ESSAY QUESTION:
what is meant by the term “murder inequality”
- The fact that there are some cities with MANY times the homicide rate in other cities; large cities in same country
- Massive DIFFERENCES within cities
- Select number of neighborhoods that represents majority of homicide rates
The largest portions of homicide are characterized as:
Impulsive, emotional outbursts by people who know one another.
(Atypical crimes, difficult to investigate, do not have typical leads)
What is the primary reason serial homicide murder cases are so difficult to resolve?
The motive, and the connection between the victim and the offender, are very atypical for murder generally
(Serial killers tend to be highly intelligent: NOT TRUE but SOME can be, Almost all serial killers are highly forensically aware: NOT TRUE, stuff in movies, SOME can be)
Herbert Mullin was a serial killer and one of his victims was a hitchhiker that he beat to death with a baseball bat because he claimed he received a telepathic message instructing him to do so. He then dumped the body on the side of the road. Under the FBI typology Mullin would be considered a(n):
Disorganized killer.
(Happened on the victim by chance, left the evidence at the crime scene, sudden violence to the victim, etc. typical of the disorganized killer)
Which of the characteristics below is NOT one that differentiates organized and disorganized crime scenes/offenders?
Whether a motor vehicle was used.
(Not a characteristic that is mentioned/looked at in the disorganized/organized offender typologies)
A mental state in which there is a severe break with reality, which may include hallucinations (audio and/or visual) is also called:
Psychosis
David Berkowitz, the so-called “Son of Sam”, killed six people and shot seven others in 1976. Berkowitz supposedly believed that his neighbors dog was possessed by a demon and that demon ordered him to kill people parked in a nearby lover’s lane. Based on the typology of serial killer motive proposed by Holmes and DeBurger and discussed in class, Berkowitz would be considered what type of serial killer?
Visionary
The video lecture and required videos covered “The Iceman” Richard Kuklinski. Based on the typology of serial killer motive discussed in class, Kuklinski would be considered what type of serial killer?
Comfort
