You’d be hard pressed to find one in a crowd. The average serial killer generally blends in with everyone else (Directory Journal, 2010). In fact, most are soft-spoken and even polite. Their monstrous nature only comes through when you dig deeper into their personalities, actions, and habits. Most seem to have come from dysfunctional family settings and were emotionally, sexually, or even verbally abused as children (Directory Journal, 2010). It is almost as if this background activates some psychological trigger that increases their feelings of inadequacy or worthlessness that led them to seek out their own heinous form of release. Often considered America’s first female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos was neither first nor the worst. She had been suspected of committing at least seven murders and was sentenced to four of cases she had confessed to police. All the while, she maintained her innocence claiming that some or all of the killings were in self-defense. Born Aileen Carol Pittman on February 29, 1956 to Diane Pratt and Leo Pittman in Rochester Michigan (Osborn, 2009). He...
“It’s a good thing Florida has the death penalty, because if it didn’t, I would kill again,” Aileen Wuornos.
What drives serial killers to kill their victims in the most brutal way possible? The answer to that question is still being researched today. The psychopathic mindset of serial killers tend to be influenced by abuse, insanity, and mental illness. In Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Capote shows great examples of mental illness and how being abused can affect their mind. An example of this is when Perry was abused by his parents, he had troubles wetting the bed and sucking on his thumb at ages “normal” people would consider troublesome. Serial killers are often portrayed as bloodthirsty monsters, when in reality, their psychological mindset needs to be considered.
Many people have a lot of trouble trying to understand exactly why serial killers do what they do, but in the killers minds they have certain motives that make sense to them. Holmes and DeBurger were two men who characterized serial murderers based on their motives. They “explain that the reward for killing is generally psychological even though some killers may benefit materially from their crimes” (Hickey, 2002). The first type of serial killers they described were the visionary type. These killers would be motivated by the commands,voices, or visions of some type of good or evil force. These killers usually suffer from some type of psychosis. The second type is the mission-oriented type who think it is their mission to rid the society of certain groups of people. The third type is the hedonistic type. These are the killers that get some type of thrill from killing their victims. The last type that Holmes and DeBurger categorized is the power/control-oriented type. These killers don’t get pleasure sexually, but rather get pleasure over simply having control and power over the helpless victim. The FBI has also tried to categorize killers by using profiling into “organized” and “disorganized” killers. The organized killers are often highly intelligent, charismatic, lives with a partner, and has controlled emotions during the crime. Unlike the organized killers, disorganized killers are very often below-average intelligence, live alone, high school dropouts, and have high anxiety during crimes. Although there is many different ways to categorize serial killers, they have been categorized both in a psychological perspective and also profiled by the
An abused child who later earned her living as a sex worker, Aileen Wuornos was found guilty of killing six men and was later executed in a Florida prison by lethal injection in 2002. Having been involved in previous incidents with the law, she made a living as a sex worker on Florida's highways, and in 1989 she killed a man who had picked her up. She went on to kill at least five other men and was eventually caught, convicted and placed on death row.
They have no close relationships with friends or family members. When this group of serial killers choose their victims, is usually when the opportunity is brought to him, like an impulsive action. They do not plan their attacks or take any steps to cover up their tracks; they usually kill at one site and consider their mission over, leaving behind evidence such as blood, semen, fingerprints, and the murder weapon. A character of this type is usually compelled to perform other rituals with the victim's dead body, like cannibalisms, sexual intercourse, or cutting it up; they tend to depersonalize the victim with a "thing" or "it." Moreover, considering their careless mechanism, they tend to move cities and even states a lot to avoid arrest. Disorganized serial killers are very straightforward: messy and
Almost all people know who serial killers are, but what exactly defines a serial killer. The FBI defines serial murder as “a minimum of three to four victims with a ‘cooling off’ period between, the killer is usually a stranger to the victim, the murders reflect a need to sadistically dominate the victim, and the murder is rarely for profit.” (Vronsky, 2004, p.36) Serial killers are usually a white male from a lower-to-middle-class background typically in his twenties or thirties. Also, 85% of the world’s serial killers live in America, with at least twenty to fifty unidentified active serial killers plotting another one of their killings. On average, every person has seen or met at least 37 serial killers in their lifespan.
By definition, a serial killer is one who has murdered three or more people with extended periods of time in between each victim, oftentimes with increasing frequency. Serial killers do not normally know who their victims are, so that they are complete strangers who fit their “ideal” type. More often than not, these victims are women because they are physically and mentally easier to manipulate than men. Through their smooth words and welcoming appearance, serial killers are able to lure their victims into their control (Schlesinger, 2000). There are various, grotesque ways that they go about murdering their victims, but they usually leave a trademark pattern. These patterns vary from how they leave the crime scenes, what “trophies” they take, the profile of their victims, and many other distinguishable factors (Zeigler, 2009).
“ I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing”(Larson, 109). Those were the exact words of the American serial killer Herman Webster Mudgett also known as H.H.Holmes. The FBI states that a serial killer is any one who kills three or more people with an premeditated murder (Morton). It is nearly impossible to find two serial killers with similar characteristics since all of them have distinct methods in ending the lives of their victims. Even though each serial killer differs in many ways, they all crave for power, control and dominance because of their need to kill and punish is much greater than any rule or law. They do not kill for money, but for the trill and excitement they get and to feel superior from everyone else.
A killer is not born. A killer is made. However, we are all born with the potential to kill, and any one of us can be made into a killer. It might take a lot to drive us to murder, but some people are simply more susceptible to the idea than others. People tend to believe that serial killers are mentally ill individuals, however, more often than not, they are rational beings who have suffered tremendously. Often, we cannot tell who is a serial killer. It could be the person standing next to you, and you would not have the slightest indication. Serial killers are shaped by isolation from their peers, neglect from loved ones or caregivers, and copious amounts of physical and psychological abuse as children.
They need to be broken down into the categories of sociopaths and psychopaths before that is determined. The research provided explains that in the case of sociopaths, they are more likely to be made into serial killers based on the types of environments they are around as they grow up. In the case of psychopaths, they are more likely to be born serial killers rather than made due to abnormalities found in their genetic makeup. But because such a difficult question cannot be answered with both choices there must be one answer that overpowers the other. In this case, the answer that is more logically sound is that serial killers are made. Although the sociopath category of serial killers are more likely to be born, it has been proven that the environment a person is raised up in influences how they grow up to be as an adult. “Combine this faulty wiring with inconsistent, too harsh, or even downright abusive parenting that confuses the child as to what the rules are and why one should obey them, and you quickly have an out-of-control child” (Lamb, Kassandra). Either way, the actions of a serial killer, whether sociopath or psychopath, should never be simply okayed or go
Many serial killers suffer from anti-social personality disorder or dissocial personality disorder. They are also psychopathic, meaning they have no empathy or guilt. They kill impulsively and they make up rules for themselves which are they only rules they follow. They have a “Mask of Sanity” meaning they never let anyone but their victims see their true selves. They also have resentment towards society for their own failings and can never take responsibility for their own actions.
The murders committed are not just random, as we saw with the hit men. These organized killers typically are aware of the police system and know how to make their way around it. “The organized serial killer is often familiar with police procedures and takes great pride in thwarting investigations and taunting law enforcement officials by the careful placement or concealment of evidence” (Miller 5.6.1). This organization and careful placement allow the serial killer to become exceedingly dangerous, allowing them to accomplish their crimes. This adds to their motives that it is easy and there are no consequences. This allows the murder to continue to kill for their own personal reasons with no remorse. What adds to the aspect of a serial killer other than no remorse is the social alienation which we see often in the non typical serial killer due to the fact that they like normal serial killers, are often loners (Culhane 32). The hit man is another example of the non typical serial killer, yet he still follows this social alienation in his life. Even the most non typical killers have this social alienation in common whether it is before and continues after or during their kill
There have been many serial killer cases that have attracted the attention of not only the media but of mental health experts as well. Many experts from a variety of different fields have come together to answer one question: Why did they do it? It is believed that most, if not all, serial killers have a mental illness, motives, and/or trauma during their lives that made them start killing. Serial killers are not only the effect of nurture but also nature. The environment of their country, the United States is our focus, can cause the number of serial killers to increase especially if the country itself is unstable.
On macro sociological level, we must first acknowledge the existence of patriarchy. Patriarchy is, according to Dictionary.com, a social system in which power is held by men, through cultural norms and customs that favor men and withhold opportunity from women. This the type of society we have lived in for thousands of years and this is the society that Aileen Wuornos grew up in. Kate Millett states in her book Sexual Politics, “patriarchy’s chief institution is the family.” The family’s role in a patriarchal society is to “encourage its members to adjust and conform” (33) Aileen Wuornos’s family life was not typical however. Wuornos was frequently sexually abused as a child by male figures in her life. Her grandfather Lauri and her brother
Serial killers are usually young, white males who are quite intelligent and often come from broken homes. They may have been abused either physically or sexually during childhood and they have serious personality defects, such as low self-esteem and a lifelong sense of loneliness. Although no two serial killers are alike, they all fit this description somewhat. In the sixth edition of Crime and Criminality by Sue Titus Reid, a serial killer is defined as a person who commits more than one murder but at different times (Reid, p. 134).