Serial Killers - Essay Example

Serial Killer A serial killer is ically an individual who has taken the life of three or more people in a periodof not less than one month. The motivation of a serial killer to kill results from psychological gratification, serial killers engage in a series of two or more murders that are committed separately as events. In most cases the offender does not act alone in the killings. In some situations there are sexual elements involved in the murders. The murders are often completed or attempted in the same fashion and in most cases the victims share something in common. For instance race, occupation, sex, appearance, or age group. Differences between a serial killer and a killer According to Borgeson, a killer is someone is someone who takes interests to have the life of a person. This is usually to ensure some secrets are kept. Some of the killings made by a killer may be accidental but still they have their own motives when executing the victims. On the hand, a serial killer takes pleasure in taking the life of a specific group of people for reasons best known to them. They are practically hands on in that they possess and/ or use a particular way of taking people’s life. Surprisingly, serial killers often want to be caught down having taken more than 3 lives. Something that is not common with killers. Other killers such as mass killers may take the lives of a group of people in a particular time. These killers in most cases as opposed to serial killers seldom have any sexual motive to do with the killings. Serial killers kill their victims and then have a period of break which can extend sometimes to long years. A killer may only take one life and end up committing suicide, for instance a spree killer. Serial killers kill sometimes may be for fun, they have an urge that compels them to kill. Most of them are sick and are motivated by their sexual gratification sometimes even if there is lack of an assault sexually; they end up on the thrill. A killer may embark on murder assault on the victim in a short span of time and maybe in many locations. The major difference between a serial killer and a spree killer may be the lack of the cooling period, the period between one successful murder and the next murder. Serial killers commit murders as completely separate events that happen at distinct periods of times. On the other hand, the killer attacks are defined by one single incident that has no particular distinctive period in time between one murder and the next murders. Serial killers murder those they do not know. According to Bartol, a killer on the other hand murders people regardless of whether he or she knows you or not. Although the serial killers and killers are sick people and are as dangerous as each other, they are distinct in characteristics. Most killers may kill many victims in a short span of time, in most cases days or hours. Serial killers on the other hand murder his or her victims differently as separate events over a longer span of time, in most cases can last many years until he or she is killed or locked in custody by the authorities. Killers usually choose their victims at random. In some cases, their targets may result from some particular groups. Occasionally, a killer may take his or her own life after killing and/ or receiving the urge to take life. This is probably because the authorities can easily realize that the killer is not stable and in most cases likely to have the killer shot to death so as to protect themselves from him or her. Some killers plot their murders while others just commit it as it comes their way with the strong urge to take someone’s life. Contrary, serial killers often target a single person at a time and its one on one. Usually there is no relationship between the victim and the serial killer. Various studies have cited sexual behaviors to be the causative factors of such murders committed by serial killers. The element of sex in the crime is different and depends entirely on what it means to the offender. Hence, particular things that trademark womanhood may vary among serial killers. However, there are many similarities in the thoughts and actions of serial killers that cannot be over looked. Some killers like mass killers in many cases target universities, schools, and restaurants that can aid their urge to kill a mass of population. They tend to commit suicide in the process. Serial killers are on the hands different in that they do not take their own life. They can also go several years before getting caught. They are usually caught only with the magnitude and weight of the existing evidence against them. The serial killers prefer stabbing or strangling their victims. In some cases, they leave trademarks or trophies of their crimes. It is evident that serial killers prefer raping their victims before taking their lives. On the other hand killers are brutal and do not seem to have the ability to kill. In most cases, killers are triggered usually by a circumstance that may not be related to his or her real concerns or problems. Killers are known to store multiple grievances, disappointments, and frustrations in them until an incident accelerate their explosion for a violent rage. After a killer has carried a huge burden of many elements of sadness and anger inside, he or she begin to react just like a bomb that is set out for those he or she blames for his or her burden. How serial killers are made According to Dobbert, serial killing is something that is developed. Serial killers are not born but are made. Majority of serial killers have a history of common problems and challenges in their development during their childhood. Early childhood trauma results into a deviant behavior in the adulthood and can lead to the act of serial killing. The environment of the child is actually a dominant factor that determines whether the child's behavior will or not escalates into activities considered homicidal. Family is also very vital in the development of a child. Lack of a family may lead to a child acquiring homicidal behavior due to frustrations and suffering. A serial killer just like any other individual often seeks approval from sexual partners, parents, and friends. But it they are turned down or rejected or neglected, their self esteem may be lowered and results into a fantasy world that they are the ones in control, hence ends up a serial killer. Preventing a serial killer According to Burkhalter, serial killers can be prevented majorly through arresting them. Some are killed on their crime scenes while others are taken to custody by the authorities. To prevent the serial killers, they are murdered and eliminated from the society using the huge evidence against them. The convicted serial killers are sentenced to life imprisonment to keep them away from the society, while others are executed in case there is an existence of a death penalty in that state. Researchers from various schools of thought have concluded that there is no cure for serial killers. Some who were taken to psychiatric treatments and released still went ahead to kill according to the research by the scientists. Therefore the only existing way of preventing them is life imprisonment or death. Why most serial killers are white America has a large proportion of whites compared to blacks. This is a good explanation for many whites being serial killers. This is just because there are more white people. The variation of the white is greater than that of the blacks. Therefore the distribution curve of criminality for whites is wider than for blacks, hence many crimes by serial killers are associated with whites. The demography of racism regarding serial killing is usually subject to debate. According to Howard, in America most of the investigated and reported serial killings are committed by white males. These are whites from backgrounds of lower to middle class who are in their early thirties or late twenties. However, there are Asian, African American, and Hispanic serial killers too. According to the FBI, due to the population percentages of the people of America, whites are more likely to be serial killers than other races. Criminal profiler Pat Brown has asserted that most serial killers are always reported as white since the media on average focuses on All the American white female victims who are the major targets of the white male attackers, who commit crimes among the minority crooks in the urban societies. Although the rates of crime are higher, not fully investigated, and that the marginal serial killers are likely to exist in the same ratios as that of the white serial killers in the whole population, Pat Brown believes that the whites are always the serial killers. This may be true in the research fields because of the over-reporting of the serial killers who are white in the media. Serial killers born or made As indicated before, serial killing is developed from the early childhood development or acquired by a child depending on the environment that the child hails from. It may be due to rejection, neglect or abandonment by the family or society. However, some serial killers are also associated with their parents who in one way or the other were involved in serial killing. According to Hickey, some theories however believe that the reasons for serial killings are biological, which suggests that serial killers are actually born and not made. In fact such theories have claimed that the violent behavior exhibited is due to abnormal brain activity. Other scientists such as Holmes and Holmes have ascertained that there is no particular scientific statement that can possibly be made about the exactly what biology plays as a role in determining the factor of serial killing personality. Other researchers such as Erving Goffman have suggested that social events, and/ or series of events that takes place during a person’s childhood or in someone’s stage of adolescence may particularly result into the fracturing of the serial killer’s personality. This may lead to a breakage in the personality often felt by the serial killer, but not visible to the outside world. Can serial killers be rehabilitated or cured As stated before, serial killing cannot be cured or rehabilitated. Researches have been carried out and some serial killers taken for psychiatric treatments and released, but the still go ahead and kill. The only way that may be used to rehabilitate a serial killer is by having the in custody by the authorities if not killing them on spot. Common characteristics of a serial killer Serial killers may kill for different motives, but there are common characteristics they share such as follows: They have an intelligence quotient in the range of the bright normal They usually have problems staying in their employment places or trouble working in menial jobs They are in most cases abused physically, sexually, and/ or emotionally by a particular family member They often engage in paraphilias organized along side continuum and participate in various fantasy levels through focusing on body parts They are usually enthralled with a fire setting Most of them are involved in activities which are sadistic especially with those below sexual maturity Majority wet their beds up to 12 years and above They are often bullied in their childhood Some of them are usually involved in minor crimes like fraud, theft, dishonesty, vandalism among others Works Cited Bartol, Curt. Introduction to Forensic Psychology: Research and Application. New York: SAGE Publications, 2004. Print. Borgeson, Kevin. Serial Offenders: Theory and Practice. London: Jones & Bartell Learning, 2002. Print. Burkhalter Chmelir. Serial Killers. New York: Macmillan, 2003. Print. Dobbert, Duane. Halting the Sexual Predators Among Us: Preventing Attack, Rape, and Lust Homicide. Boston: Greenwood, 2004. Print. Hickey, Eric. Serial murderers and their victims. London: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print. Howard, Amanda. River of Blood: Serial Killers and Their Victims. London: Universal, 2004. Print. Read More