What Type of People Become Serial Murderers - Research Paper Example

What Type of People Become Serial Murderers? Name Institutional Affiliation What Type of People Become Serial Murderers? Introduction Serial murder is described as one of the rarest forms of murder in which a person kills three or more individuals whom he/she had no prior knowledge of, with each of the murder having a “cooling off” period between them (Haggerty and Ellerbrok, 2017). It is reported that serial murder makes up less than 1% of all the murders committed in the US and that it is not something new nor is it only unique to the US. Serial murders have been occurring for a relatively long period of time in different regions of the world. However, a significant portion of the general public’s knowledge of the issue can be attributed to Hollywood productions. The story lines created by movie producers do not accurately capture serial murders given the focus on heightening the interest of audiences. As a result, there has been a lot of confusion and misinformation about the real dynamics of serial murder. Serial murder as a topic has attracted the interest of various groups including mental health experts, law enforcement investigators, the media as well as academics. These groups have for a long time been trying to fully get a grasp of the different complex issues related to serial murders. However, getting a clear picture of the said issues has not been easy given the investigative challenges that often accompany serial murder cases as well as the huge attention that the said cases attract in the media, the general public, and the academic community and among mental health experts. Despite the many studies and independent work that has so far been carried out as far as serial murder issues are concerned, the different experts are yet to reach a consensus about a number of things including the type of people that become serial murderers. The current study seeks to establish the traits that are actually predominant among serial murderers, with the main aim being to dispel any myths and false beliefs about them. Background According to Haggerty and Ellerbrok (2017), the scholarly examination of serial murders has largely been dominated by an individualized focus in investigating the biography of those who commit the offense and the factors that influence people into becoming serial killers. The available accounts of notorious serial killers such as Harold Shipman and Jeffrey Dahmer have largely portrayed serial murders as having sociopathic tendencies, highlighting little of how different personality traits, as well as risk factors, contribute to one becoming a serial killer. Popular texts and books have also portrayed serial murders in a dramatic way, placing emphasis on just some traits and in turn shaped what the general public thinks about serial killers. When the public thinks about serial killers, the popular image is that of a white middle aged male with a charismatic demeanor. However, studies that have so far been conducted show that anybody can be a serial killer irrespective of the race, gender, and even age. The diverse traits of serial killers have seen many researchers spend a lot of time and efforts attempting to establish the factors that lead people into committing serial murders; their main focus is on a sample of convicted serial murderers. Resler (2000) pays particular attention to the role of abuse and neglect during childhood in the making of serial killers. Holmes & De Burger (1985) report that there is a strong causal relationship between neglect and abuse during childhood and the later behavior of a child. Other factors that researchers have sought to establish whether they are related to people becoming serial killers include mental health and the presence of psychological disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. Early studies into the traits of serial murderers took into consideration few factors and then attempted to establish whether the said traits are common among a group of known serial killers. Case studies on specific serial killers have also been done in an attempt to establish the primary traits of serial killers, an example being the study by Rule (2000) on Ted Bundy. Studies taking into account multiple factors and using a large sample of serial killers have also been conducted. Stone (2001) investigated the biographies of 99 killers, including those who did not meet the threshold of being serial murderers. In the study, Stone (2001) compared and contrasted the killers across a number of psychological, biological and sociological factors. Despite being able to highlight a number of predisposing factors for serial murderers, Stone’s broad description of murder and the manner he approached the terms serial killer and serial sexual murderer made arriving at any important conclusion quite difficult. Goal Statement The main assumption of the current study is that certain characteristics and predispositions are common among serial killers. To this end, the study will focus on five key traits, namely gender, occupation, psychological diagnosis, age and marital status. Research Questions i. To what extent does gender correlate with the likelihood of an individual becoming a serial killer? ii. To what extent does a person’s occupation correlate with the likelihood of one becoming a serial killer? iii. How does psychological diagnosis correlate with the likelihood of a person becoming a serial killer? iv. To what extent does age correlate with the likelihood of a person becoming a serial killer? v. To what extent does marital status correlate with the likelihood of one becoming a serial killer? Hypotheses/theories i. There is a strong correlation between gender and the likelihood of an individual becoming a serial killer Many of the studies that have so far been conducted report that the male gender is often overrepresented when serial killers are analyzed. According to Black (2013), nearly all serial killers are men. This assertion is also supported by Hickey (2015) who points out that most of the serial killers who prey on elderly individuals are mostly male. ii. There is a strong correlation between an individual’s occupation and the likelihood of them becoming serial killers Many scholars who have tried to link an individual’s occupation to the chances that they are serial murderers report that on the average, most serial killers have a white collar job. In addition, it is reported that most serial killers have never served in the military (Sterbenz, 2015). Wilson, Yardley, and Lynes (2010), in their analysis of British serial killers also report that a significant portion of the serial killers were in employment at the time of committing their murders. Given the high percentage of serial murderers in active employment, the idea that serial killers are always out there every other time of the day looking for their victims is quite unlikely. iii. There is a strong correlation between psychological diagnosis and the likelihood of one becoming a serial killer Most of the notorious serial murderers in the history of the US have been found to suffer from mental illnesses. The most common psychological disorders that can be found in serial killers include schizophrenia, antisocial personality disorder and borderline personality disorder (Forensicscolleges, 2017). iv. There is a strong correlation between age and the likelihood of a person becoming a serial killer A number of studies that have been conducted report that most serial killers are in the mid to late-20s. According to Sterbenz (2015), the average age for the first time a male serial murderer killed was 27.5 while the average age for female serial murderers is slightly above 31 years. v. There is a strong correlation between marital status and the likelihood of a person becoming a serial killer. Given their tendency to live in isolation, most serial murderers are often unmarried. In her study, Godwin (2010) reports that up to 59% of the serial murderers were not at the time of their arrest. In addition, a significant portion of serial killers are reported to have been divorced at the time of their arrest. Methodology The current study was based on interviews involving different categories of experts in the homicide field, more specifically those concerned with serial murder, as well as content analysis of published sources about notorious serial killers. The content analysis was aimed at obtaining a more retrospective view of the serial killers’ personal lives and characteristics while the interviews with experts were aimed at obtaining a general profile of an average serial killer from the viewpoint of experts. To be included in the study, the serial killers had to meet the scientific threshold of a serial killer which is having committed three or more murders over an extended period separated by a general “cooling down” period between each killing event. For one to be considered a serial murderer, they also need to have had plans of killing their victims from the beginning and to have attained some enjoyment or personal satisfaction from the heinous act. For the current study, the researcher considered the personal satisfaction criterion to have been met if the offenders reported that they had experienced psychological or sexual arousal from killing their victims. For the purpose of the current analysis, monetary benefits were not considered part of the personal satisfaction. In terms of the geographical location of the murderers and the places where the killings took place, only serial murderers from the US were taken into consideration for the final sample. The main reason for limiting the sample to US serial killers is that a good number of the possible predictive factors examined are strongly associated with the basic ways and cultures of certain societies. As such, it was important for the researcher to limit his scope within a culture he and the target audience is well familiar with. Ensuring that the serial killer population is narrowed down to only those convicted in the US also helped in making sure that the researcher would have access to adequate and reliable published data about each of the serial murderers selected for the study. To select the sample for the serial murderers for the current study, the researcher utilized three different sources with compiled data on different suspected as well as convicted serial murderers. The researcher made sure that the sources were also published by different entities as a means of ensuring that the sample of serial killers to be used is large in terms of variety. The three sources were Fido (2004), Newton (2000) and Cawthorne (2007). Using this sampling approach, the researcher was also able to ensure that a big number of notorious and infamous serial killers were included in the study. Another factor that was considered in selecting the serial killers to be part of the current study was the time periods they committed the crimes. To be included in the sample, the serial murderers had to have been active starting from the 19th century to the 21st century. Looking at the last three centuries, researchers have had a hard time establish the actual total number of serial killers. The main contributing factors to this phenomenon has been the least-known conviction rates of the serial killers over the many years as well as the multiple definitions of what a serial killer is. The FBI estimates put the number of serial killers that have been active in the past three centuries at between 500 and 3000 killers. However, some scholars opine that this is an overestimation and that the accurate estimate should be between 100 to 150 killers. Based on the various estimates proposed in the studies conducted in the past, the researcher in the current study settled on 20 serial murderers as the most appropriate sample size for the study. To get detailed information about each of the 20 serial murderers, biographical information written about each one of them was thoroughly examined. Library searches and the internet were used as the main approach of finding each killer’s biographical data. Great effort was put into ensuring that only factual information about each serial killer was utilized in the study. To obtain additional information about the subject, supplemental sources such as videos and magazines were also utilized. Identification of all the relevant sources was followed by thorough reviewing after which all the important facts about the killers were coded and recorded. Information recorded about each of the killers includes their age, gender, occupation at the time of the killings, marital status, date and place of birth as well as the number of victims. For the interview, a number of experts were conducted over the telephone. The experts that were conducted include academics, mental health experts as well as law enforcement investigators. The main reason the researcher opted for phone interviews is its cost effectiveness. Since the data collection involved interviewing experts spread across the different American states, it made sense to use an approach that is less costly. In addition, phone interviews give researchers more control when it comes to targeting certain types of samples. The approach also has the potential of leading to relatively high rates of responses and can be utilized to arrive at samples spread over a large geographic area. Having properly formulated questions and administering the interviews in a professional way makes it possible for high-quality information to be generated through phone interviews. A total of 100 experts were interviewed over the phone. To achieve the sample size of 100 participants, the snowball sampling technique was utilized. This is a non-probability sampling approach in which participants identified by the researcher help recruit other participants. As such, this sampling approach basically involves two steps, the first one being identifying a limited number of potential subjects with the second step being asking the identified subjects to bring on board other participants within their circles. The technique is usually utilized if the sample being studied is hard to come by. Apart from being less costly and simple to use, snowball sampling also comes with the advantage of making it possible for the researcher to reach participants that will otherwise be difficult to reach using other sampling methods. After identifying and recruiting the participants, the researcher utilized the interview guide presented in appendix 1 to find their professional opinion about the key traits of the participants. After recording each of the participant’s personal information, the researcher was interested in knowing whether the participants had interacted with any convicted or suspected serial murderers in the course of the work. The researcher also sought to find out the average number of serial murderers that the participants had ever come across and whether the serial killers were mostly male or female. Another thing that the researcher was interested in finding from the experts is whether the serial murderers had ever interacted with any kind of employment. The participants were also asked about the dominant marital status of the offenders they had ever interacted with. Lastly, the researcher asked the participants whether the suspected or convicted serial killers had interacted with any apparent psychological problems. Results and Discussion After the recording and coding of all the bibliographic information about the variables of interest for each of the serial murderers, the researcher conducted a frequency analysis of all the variables. To test for significance and predictive value, the researcher also carried out chi-square goodness of fit test. This was aimed at establishing whether some categories were more likely than others and whether the distribution of the outcomes was in line with a chance distribution. Gender Most of the serial killers analyzed were male. From the table below, up to 95% of the serial killers included in the current study were male. Running the chi-square goodness of fit test revealed that the distribution of male and female killers within the sample was significant, meaning that the distribution is quite different from chance. Male 95% Female 5% The data in the table above strongly supports the current study’s hypothesis Occupation The analysis of the biographical sources revealed that a huge percentage of the killers (55%) were in employment. On the other hand, 30% of the killers were found to be self-employed and only 15% of the serial killers were not in active employment. The information is summarized in the table below. Employed 55% Self-employed 30% Unemployed 15% The data in the table above strongly supports the current study’s hypothesis Psychological diagnosis An overwhelmingly large number of the serial murderers were found to be having one or more psychological problems. Out of the 20 subjects, 75% were reported to have one or more psychological disorders. Psychological disorders 75% No psychological disorders 25% The data in the table above strongly supports the current study’s hypothesis Age The serial killers were placed in four age groups, namely young adults (ages 18 to 25), Middle aged adults (ages 26 to 35) and older adults (ages 36 and above). Only 10% of the subjects were young adults. On the other hand, 55% of the subjects were middle ages while 35% were older adults. Young adults 10% Middle aged adults 55% Older adults 35% The data in the table above strongly supports the current study’s hypothesis Marital status The serial killers were categorized as either being unmarried, married or divorced. From the analysis, the findings reveal that 57% of the subjects were unmarried at the time of their arrest and that 33% were divorced. Only 10% of the subjects were married. Married 10% Unmarried 57% Divorced 33% The data in the table above strongly supports the current study’s hypothesis Information from the phone interviews conducted with various experts was also analyzed. Gender 90% of the experts who were interviewed reported that the serial killers they had ever interacted with were male. Only 10% of the participants said that the serial killers were female Male 90% Female 10% The data in the table above strongly supports the current study’s hypothesis Occupation 60% of the experts who took part in the study reported that the serial murderers they had interacted with were in active employment. On the other hand, 25% of the participants said that most of the serial killers they had interacted with were in self-employment while those who reported that the killers were not employed were only 15%. Employed 60% Self-employment 25% Unemployed 15% The data in the table above strongly supports the current study’s hypothesis Psychological diagnosis Most of the experts (70%) reported that the serial killers they had ever interacted with had one or more psychological issues. However, 30% pointed out that the serial killers had no psychological disorders. Psychological disorders 70% No psychological disorders 30% The data in the table above strongly supports the current study’s hypothesis Age The percentage of experts who reported that the serial murderers they had interacted with were young adults was 15%, while 65% reported that they were middle aged. 20% of the interviewed experts said that the serial murderers they had come across were older adults. Young adults 15% Middle aged adults 65% Older adults 20% The data in the table above strongly supports the current study’s hypothesis Marital status 65% of the experts said that most of the serial murderers they had come across were unmarried while 20% said they were divorced. Incidences of married serial killers were only reported by 15% of the participants. Married 15% Unmarried 65% Divorced 15% The data in the table above strongly supports the current study’s hypothesis References Black, D (2013). Bad Boys, Bad Men: Confronting Antisocial Personality Disorder (Sociopathy). New York: OUP USA. Forensicscollege. (2017). Dangerous Minds: The Mental Illnesses of Infamous Criminals. Retrieved from http://www.forensicscolleges.com/blog/resources/dangerous-minds-criminal-mental-illness Godwin, G.M. (2008). Hunting Serial Predators. New York; Jones & Bartlett Learning Haggerty, K, and Ellerbrok, A. (2017). The Social Study of Serial Killers. Retrieved from https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/cjm/article/social-study-serial-killers Hickey, E (2015). Serial Murderers and Their Victims. New York: Cengage Learning, Sterbenz, C. (2015). Here's a surprising look at the average serial killer. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/a-surprising-look-at-the-average-serial-killer-2015-5?IR=T Wilson. D, Yardley. E and Lynes, A (2015). Serial Killers and the Phenomenon of Serial Murder: A Student Textbook. New York; Waterside Press Read More