Serial Killers

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Serial Killers

Introduction to Psychology

Introduction

In the past two decades, the creature known as the serial killer has captured the attention of the American culture. With the dozens of books and movies centered around serial killers the term has become a trendy catch phrase, replacing earlier terms such as "homicidal maniac". Fiction and screenwriters use the term "serial killers" with such casual abandon that is seems the meaning of the term escapes them.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my family and friends for encouraging me back to school so I can one day parlay my BIZARRE interest into a bonafide career.

Justification of Problem

Are serial killers born or made? What stops us from killing a disloyal friend or total stranger with nice shoes? Or ? to rephrase the question ? what fails to stop some people from committing such murders? This question has baffled psychologist, sociologists and criminologists for many years, and is the very essence of trying to establish the nature of this crime. The born or made argument, known as the "Nature versus Nurture" debate, asks whether criminality is due to genetic factors, and therefore unavoidable, or whether it is the product of social situations, environmental surroundings or other external factors. While the debate is a noble one, we must first answer the question ? What is a serial killer?

Literature Review

On February 9, 1978, 12 year-old Kimberly Leach disappeared; she was found in the first week of April, her body discovered near Suwanee State Park. In 1609, 25 handpicked daughters of Polish nobles left home to attend instruction in social graces at the Csejthe Castle; none left alive. The body of Rose Ambramovitz was found sprawled a...

... middle of paper ...

...nd just as the heroin addict?s need for a fix may drive him to steal, the serial killer?s obligation to the fantasy drives him to murder. In short, the cycle of the serial killer is no different from the cycle of any other addict, the end result being functionally the same as the heroin addict?s theft.

Bibliography:

References

Abrahamsen, David. (1973). The Murdering Mind. New York: Harper & Row.

Alexander, Bruce. (1988). "The Disease and Adaptive Models of Addiction." In Stanton Peele (ed.), Visions of Addiction. Lexington: DC Heath & Company.

Rule, Ann. (1996). "The I-45 Killer". New York: New American Library.

Schechter, Harold & Everitt, David. (1996). "A to Z: Encyclopedia of Serial Killers". New York: Pocket Books.

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. (1984). "Serial Murders". Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office

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