Serial Murder Flashcards
Serial killings
FBI def- 3 or more separate events in 3 or more sexier are locations with emotional cooling off period in between homicides
Egger def- 2 or more separate murders, often in widely different geographic areas & involving victims who are usually strangers, murders usually compulsive acts of gratification based on fantasies
More recent def- 2 or more forensic linked murders with or without revealed intention of committing additional murder, discrete events over time, primary motive is personal gratification
FBI now agrees serial murder involves 2 or more murders
Prevalence
USA- 12 serial killers arrested a year
UK- 4 serial killers active
1/million odds of being serial killed in UK
Difficulties in quantifying figures
Huge number of missing persons, destruction of bodies, difficulty in linking crimes, inconsistent definitions
Figures typically only show male prevalence
Would be higher if included as 15% are female
Characteristics
Tend to be male
Disproportionally more likely to be black
Non-white serial killers less newsworthy as don’t fit prototype
Hickey (1991)
169 male serial killers
Mean age is 28.5 yrs
Mostly unskilled jobs
60% had history of prior criminal activity
Majority not highly educated
Prentkly et al (1989)
IQ study
58% had high IQ
Burglary & rape common in background
Often loners- some married or in stable relationships
10-37% are team killers
Basis for Graduation Hypothesis
Bed wetting, cruelty to animals, fire setting
Walters (2016)- animal cruelty & fire-setting, seem to be markers for broader traits, such as fearlessness & callousness
BGH Evaluation
- Wright & Hensley (2003)
- Behavioural indicators in childhood- isolation (71%), firesetting (56%), cruelty to children (54%)
- Behavioural indicators in adolescence- same indicators plus assault to adults (84%) & cruelty to animals (46%)
- Theory is based on clinical patients, not serial killers so not categorically supported
Offending behaviour
For males, victims typically young women & strangers, choice typically based on vulnerability, powerlessness & opportunity
Selection, stalking & capture of victims often integral (foreplay)
Signature left at crime scenes
Seen as psychologically meaningful
Ressler et al (1988)
Interviews with serial killers
Came up with 2 types
Organised- planned, stranger, control, submissive victim, restraints, body hidden, weapon/evidence absent
Disorganised- spontaneous, victim/location known, random & sloppy crime scene, body left, evidence/weapon present
Evaluation of O/D Dichotomy
- Small sample size (36)- v small to develop a system, no follow up
- Selection bias- only those who wanted to take part included- not representative of target pop
- Mainly sexually motivated killers- questions it’s generalisability
- Interview related biases- memory issues
- Taylor et al (2011)- found an underlying organised element most serial murder & that serial murders differ according to nature of disorganised crime scene criteria present
How is sex involved with sexual murder
Act of murder may be sexually arousing
Offender may want to have sex with corpse
May want to cover up rape offence
May use sex as form of aggression
Offender may be sexual sadist
Campos & Cusson (2007)
Compared 25 SK’s with 41 non-serial killers
SK murders more likely to include strangers & premeditation
Deviant fantasy & compulsive masturbation prevalent in serial killers
Integrated model of lust murder
Formative development -> low self esteem -> early fantasy development -> paraphilic development
Either orgasmic conditioning process or paraphilic fantasy stimuli (often stress/trigger for this)
Facilitators between the 2
Paraphilic fantasy stimuli -> behaviour manifestation -> violent fantasy -> orgasmic conditioning process
Psychopathy & Homicide (application)
Hakkanen-Nyholm (2009)- psychopathic murderers tend to have multiple victims, stranger victims, male victims, leave scene of crime & deny responsibility
Psychopathic murderers more likely to engage in instrumental homicide compared to non-psychopathic murderers
