Characteristics Of Serial Killers

In the sick minds of those who murder, pain and death are twisted into a passion to kill. Unlike a “normal” individual, serial killers rely on murdering to fulfill their craving of their gruesome thrills and addiction. Most of society incorrectly views serial killers because of how they are portrayed on television. For example, Dexter is a handsome serial killer who does lead a normal life but, he takes it upon himself to rid all of the “bad guys” in the world in order to accomplish his need to kill. Then there’s Freddy Krueger, he gets revenge and kills people in their dreams, causing their death in the real world as well.

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.

A serial killer is a person that murders three or more victims on partitioned occasions, but then again, the same may be true in the case of a mass murderer or a spree killer. The one thing that sets the serial killer apart from the other two is the fact that a serial killer carefully plans out his attacks specifically chooses his victims and in most cases, gets to know them. A serial killer

These psychological impairments that accompany most killers include characteristics like superficial charm, unreliability, untruthfulness, lack of remorse, and failure to follow any life plan. Although there is no exact answer for why these criminals keep on killing, scientists believes they have a theory. These scientists claim that by charting traumatizing events in a killer’s childhood along with their crimes, they can explain why they kill (Life’s Little Mysteries, 1). Although t... ... middle of paper ... ...lso the children who carry characteristics of psychopaths. “Roughly 40% of all reported murderers were neglected in childhood and carried psychopathic characteristics” (“Serial Killers” 2).

Visionary serial killers have another personality, this is known as dissociative identity disorder. They tend to think that God or the demon has told them to do this. Power and control serial killers kill because it gives them power. They like to watch their victims suffer and scream. The tend to be abused when they are

Each serial killer is motivated to kill for different reasons: “Serial killers usually kill for one of several reasons, including personal enjoyment, stress relief, or even to uphold a personal set of moral or rational values” (Parker 9). The most common motivation to kill is the satisfaction serial killers feel from having complete control over their victims; therefore, victims are usually raped or tortured. Many serial killers will even commit necrophilia on their victims. According to researchers at Bath Spa University and Cranfield University, serial killers satisfy their need for power by torturing their victims: “They rape and overkill their victims often by mutilation--all of which provide sexual gratification” (Taylor et al. 37).

Not all sociopaths become serial killers, but the combination of abusive childhood, environment and genetic influences pushes them to repeatedly kill and take innocent lives. Peoples ideal definitions of a sociopath often mislead them. A sociopath is classified as a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.Sociopaths are not as uncommon as most people think Your average neighbor may even have the urge to kill and dismember bodies. This being said, not all sociopaths take the leap to murder and often keep their thoughts to themselves . Sociopaths have completely different personality traits and characteristics than the normal human being.

One of the biggest reasons seems to be a need for sexual release. Sexual pleasure achieved only through violent acts was one reason why he killed couples. His hunt for his victims would be the “foreplay”, when he tortured and killed the victims, that was the sexual release. Greysmith stated that this was due to the fact that love and violence are somewhat intertwined. The Zodiac Killer is a sexual satanist, which means they have a tendency to be very intelligent and proficient at concealing their identity.

Serial killer is a broad term to describe a large group of killers. Among this group are sadists, it is believed that sadists are the most dangerous, hard to catch, gruesome, killers that will and ever shall walk this planet, this is made possible by their occasionally inconsistent methods, motives and targets, their ability to blend in with everyday life, and in some cases their lack of any empathy toward the victim. To uncover the fearsome behaviors of sadistic killers we must define what sadism is, the definition of sadism is as follows “a sexual perversion in which gratification is obtained by the infliction of physical or mental pain on others (as on a love object)” (Sadism). Sadism doesn’t always mean killer, there are plenty of sadists

Serial Killers' Modus Operandi A plethora of serial killers, dead and undead, have been most horrifying in their methods. There are several types of serial killers, some have been caught while others continue to haunt their surroundings. There are several approaches in categorizing serial killers. One method requires examination of the crime scene, the other requires counseling with the serial killer. In profiling a serial killer, law enforcers realize that serial killers are not unlike regular people; there are several exceptions like schizophrenics but most of them look like everyone else.