Serial Killers - Report Example

Introduction In the modern world, violence and criminal offences have grown on a huge scale in the society. Lawenforcement officers interview convicts regularly in order to understand the motive behind their criminal actions. The law enforcement officers have recorded the existence of serial murders since the 1800s. Theorists and researchers believe that the reasons due to which serial killers commit crime is biological and there are some people who born to be serial killers. There are several researchers and medical practitioners who have contradicted the arguments and stated that serial killers are commit crime due to various motives that they gain from the society. The police officers of several places have stated that recognizing a serial murder is one of the most important tasks in order to seize the killer. Scientists and medical practitioners have discovered that serial killers have determining factor in their personality. Most of the male serial killers have a motive of lust in their behavior and they generally kill women. Murders have become very common in the human society and serial murders are rare event. In the past two decades there has been some significant advancement in the forensic laboratory testing methods, which has proved to be beneficial for the tracking of crime and criminals. This research paper focuses on the research question. Research Question Why do serial killers commit crime? How can the killings be tracked and stopped? Analysis Serial killers are generally referred to people who have committed more than three or four crimes over a period of time. Serial killers majorly target strangers and they usually work alone. After making several encounters over the past few decades the police and law making system have discovered that serial killers do not have a specific motive behind their killings instead they murder people just because they like to kill. According to a recent FBI study it has been observed that almost 400 serial killers have been arrested in the United States of America in the past century. The total victims have been reported to be more than 3000. The Federal Department and the police system have also stated that there are many serial killers who are still in existence and have not been caught because of the lack of technology. Researchers have stated that there is no way to know exactly the number of serial killers that exist in the world because there is a lack of evidence that support their existence. According to the FBI data serial killers have increased in the past 30 years due to various factors. The motives of serial killers are also unknown because most of them have difference in their purpose for murders (Furno 54). It has also been observed that serial killers are mostly males in the society. There can be several reasons for males being the serial killers instead of women. First of all, males have been dominating the human society in the past century with higher numbers however women were lower in numbers. Secondly, males are physically stronger than women and they can easily move out without being suspected in days as well as nights. Women generally catch the attention of people if they move alone in nights. Thus males have additional advantage over females and they are higher in numbers in case of serial murders. Serial murders are very rare in the society compared to other type of murders. Generally people assume serial killers to have a strong personality and a monsters’ attitude. However, serial killers are completely different. Serial killers have a very common lifestyle and they have families and friends. They generally have some mental disorders due to which they have the tendency to murder people. Serial killers are difficult to recognize and convicted because they of their simple and blended nature in the society. They are often overlooked by law enforcement and people. There are many examples that highlight the simple nature and ferocious mind of serial killers. According to the FBI records, Robert Yates was a serial murderer who killed seventeen prostitutes in the Washington area of the United States of America (Schlesinger 72). The man had a simple lifestyle and was residing in a public locality with a wife and five children. He had a middle class lifestyle and was a U.S. Army National Guard helicopter pilot. Reports have also stated that Robert was highly decorated in the society and he had tremendous respect in his society due to his job. Robert used to patronize prostitutes regularly and most of his victims knew each other. Robert had stated that he did-not have any specific reason to commit the crimes in fact his purpose behind the murders was his high level of anxiety against women. On the other hand another serial killer Dennis Rader murdered ten victims without any sexual motives. This shows that serial killers might not have any specific motives behind their killings and their killing pattern many differ vastly with each other. The police and medical practitioners have been able to record some common patterns of different serial killers over the period but those patterns might not be useful to track any new murderer. There are several myths described by people against serial killings but none of those have been proven to be a mandatory factory behind the actual criminal motives of the killings. In the United States of America people had a myth that all serial killers are white males, but the myth did not match the crimes that occurred in the past ten years. Serial killers not only come from the white American community, they also come from the African-American society. Killers have also been traced from the Hispanic and Asian communities. These traces prove that killers can be from different parts of societies and they may be of different community and religion. Thus the myths that people have are only their personal conceptions. Most of the films of Hollywood have shown white males as serial killers which has induced the same perception in the mind of the society (Hickey 18). There is another myth among people regarding serial killers, which links their motives to be sexual. According to police records all serial murders are not sex-based. There are several other factors that influence serial killers to commit crimes including attention seeking attitudes, anger, financial gain and thrill. The Asian serial killers residing in America mostly have the tendency to murder people due their anger and financial gain. This shows that the myths about sexual motivation do not fit perfectly on serial killers. Another pivotal myth about serial killers is that all serial killers are evil in nature and genius or insane. Since most of the serial killers suffer from some kind of personality disorders, they are believed to be insane, which is not correct. Serial killers posses’ anti-social personality and they have some psychopath issues but they are not adjudicated as insane under the law (Osofsky 12). The myth about serial killers being evil geniuses is also not true because in most of the cases it has been observed that media has profiled the serial killers to be geniuses. Most of the serial killers do not get caught easily because they belong from middle class or higher class of human society and they are not easy to be recognized because they do not have prior criminal records. Moreover, they do not have any revenge intentions in most of the cases. These factors make them efficient to continue their work as long as they do not make terrible mistakes. Thus it can be stated that the myths about serial killers being evil geniuses is not accurate. Discussion Based on the analysis it is clear that serial killings have been in existence from a prolonged period of time and they are lower in numbers compared to other murders that have happened. Serial killers can be classified by their social and organizational skills. From the analysis it is clear that the majority of the identified serial criminals were nonsocial and organized. Most of the serial killers had one similarity i.e. about 80 percent of them were males and fell in the age group of 20 to 35. Based on the detailed analysis it has been observed that most of the serial killers had some issues from their childhood. Either they were cruel to animals or they came from broken family or they were neglected and abused by others. Serial killers can be either shy in nature or can be very gregarious. It depends on the nature of the person that develops their personality. As mentioned in the analysis that serial killers have some psychiatric problems due to which they have the capacity to perform cold murders. There are various theories that have been explained to discuss the motive of serial killers behind their offensive actions but none of the theories are perfect and the explanations cannot be fit for every serial killing activity that has occurred till date. Researchers have been able to focus on three issues that have the ability to motivate people to become serial killers. The possible theories are based on mental illness, brain injury and childhood abuse and negligence. Childhood abuse and negligence has been supported more by theorists as a possible reason for people to become serial killers because abuse and negligence can induce anger and disrespect against people in the society. According to researchers, childhood abuses can be either mental or sexual harassments that occur in schools or in other play zones (Wilson 22). Childhood sexual abuses can lead human mind to a state of revenge and people can start killing innocent people with normal mind due to the minute mental disturbance. There are some children, who are born with some mental disabilities and they are mostly dangerous in the society because they do not have the power to judge their actions based on the rules and regulations established in the world. People generally regard serial killers as mentally ill or insane and they are afraid of them. According to the United States code, insanity is defined on the terms of the action of a person. The arguments that have been provided so far in the favor of serial killer are that the accused was not able to differentiate the right from the wrong during the time of action. In several court cases the serial killers have been sent to mental health treatments based on the mental disabilities of them. Serial killings can be stopped by implementation of better security systems in the society. Children with mental health issues should be kept in track from very beginning. Schools should take more initiatives to reduce harassment cases on children in order to reduce crime in the society. Government and the police department should try to incorporate more technologically equipped instruments that can reduce crime and enhance safety of people. Conclusion From the analysis and discussion mentioned above it is significant that serial killings have been in the society from a long time and it has increased in the past few decades because of various factors. There are several motives that can encourage people to murder in their cool state of mind including anger and lust. Serial killers are most psychopaths as declared by medical practitioners but some of them are absolutely normal and they commit crime in order to gain attention. According to the discussion it has been observed that serial killers are mostly males and they cannot be caught easily because they generally do not have any previous criminal records and they belong from an established class in the society. The reports obtained from the FBI clearly states that most of the serial killers ranged from the age group of 20-35, which makes the job of the police difficult because the criminals are generally active and posses good technical knowledge. In order to reduce serial murders the federal agencies should incorporate more security measures in the society and people with minute mental issues should be focused more in the society. Serial killing is a rare and important issue and this research paper will be helpful for people to understand the nature of serial killings and make them aware. Work Cited Furno, Fuf. “Silver Nano-particles and polymeric medical devices: a new approach to prevention of infection?” Journal of modern sociology (2, 1): 54. Print. Hickey, Eric. Serial Murders and Their Victims. New York: Springer, 2015. Print. Osofsky, Jack. “Children in a violent society”. Journal of Social Review (3, 1): 12. Print. Schlesinger, Luke. “Is serial homicide really increasing?” Journal of American Sociology (12, 2): 72. Print. Wilson, C. The Serial Killers. New Jersey: Pearson, 2011. Print. Read More