“ 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. Eric Harris, a seventeen year-old who committed the Columbine High School massacre next to his companion Dylan Klebold, wrote “I have a goal to destroy as much as possible… I want to burn the world. Kill mankind, no one should survive” (Cullen). Klebold was said to be suicidal and depressive and would always blame himself for the problems he encountered. On the other hand adults described Harris as a nice sweet-faced young boy, but they didn’t see the cold and calculating person he truly was. Both teenagers have been bullied all through out high school and had an intention to make everyone suffer as much as they did. For Harris the victims meant nothing to him, same feeling as someone who cuts the turkey for Thanksgiving. They both wanted a revenge and control so powerful that it would be assumed to be the greatest massacre in the history of the US, which made that their horrifying motiv... ... middle of paper ... ...superior just as a god. The United States is said to have approximately 600 serial killers making it the leading country. Infamous killers such as Richard Trenton Chase, Ted Bundy Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Rader have permanently smasher fear in masses all around the world. “Practice makes perfect”. Works Cited Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. New York: Crown, 2003. Print. Morton, Robert J. "FBI- Serial Murder." FBI- Serial Murder. FBI, 21 May 2010. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Cullen, Dave. "What A Killer Thinks." Newsweek 160.6 (2012): 30-34. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 2 Apr. 2014. Rubinstein, William D. "THE HUNT FOR Jack The Ripper." History Today 50.5 (2000): 10. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
Mayo, MIke. American Murder Criminals, Crimes, and the Media.. Chicago: Visible Ink Press, 2008. Print.
Charney-Perez, J. (2005, April 1). “History of Serial Killers”. Serial Killers. Retrieved April 23, 2014, http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/spring05/charney-perez/history.htm
10. Horwitz, sari, & Michael E. Ruane., Sniper: Inside the Hunt for the Killers Who Terrorized the Nation., Random House, 2003, pg.119
...words of Ted Bundy, one of the most ruthless serial killers of our time: "Most serial killers are people who kill for the pure pleasure of killing and cannot be rehabilitated. Some of the killers themselves would even say so" (qtd. in Holmes and Deburger 150).
Library, CNN. "Manson Family Murders Fast Facts." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Taking the life of another person is one of the worst infractions of the law to commit. The Bureau of Justice defines serial killing as “[involving] the killing of several victims in three or more separate events” (“Michigan” 1). Serial killers often commit extremely violent crimes; they usually become infamous for these crimes. The first recorded serial killers are probably Jack the Ripper in 1888 and Fritz Haarmann in 1924 (“Michigan” 1). Jack the Ripper is also one of the most well-known criminals, almost everyone knows who he is or has at least heard of him. Most people know what he is famous for and associate him with being a bad person. Serial killers are typically sadistic and sociopathic, meaning that they are unable to feel empathy for people who are suffering (“Michigan” 1). Whimsical sociopaths who have sadistic tendencies are very dangerous. They inflict pain because they do not care that someone else is suffering, they only care that it makes t...
The most common characteristics that many serial killers share are killing and abusing of animals during childhood, fetishism, anti-socialism, high I.Q.’s (while also doing poorly in school), and alcohol and/or substance abuse. Fictional character, Dexter Morgan, exhibited serial killing tendencies from a young age. He would kill neighborhood animals and was forced by his father to fake emotion and normality to fit in. It appears that Showtime hit the nail on the head with this one. One of the most well known serial killers, Ted Bundy, was infamously known for being cold and merciless. During interviews, he responded to questions about his victims by calling himself cold and explaining that he could not care less about his victims. Cannibalistic serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, started out by killing dogs and leaving their heads out on a stick for others to see before moving on to killing and eating people. These are just a few examples of many that prove that commonality is what makes a serial killer, a serial
A serial killer is traditional defined as the separate killings of three or more people by an individual over a certain period of time, usually with breaks between the murders. (Angela Pilson, p. 2, 2011) This definition has been accepted by both the police and academics and therefore provides a useful frame of reference (Kevin Haggerty, p.1, 2009). The paper will seek to provide the readers with an explanation of how serial killers came to be and how they are portrayed in the media.
2011. “Serial Killers and Mass Murderers.” American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 9:
Mass Murderers and Serial Killers are nothing new to today’s society. These vicious killers are all violent, brutal monsters and have an abnormal urge to kill. What gives people these urges to kill? What motivates them to keep killing? Do these killers get satisfaction from killing? Is there a difference between mass murderers and serial killers or are they the same. How do they choose their victims and what are some of their characteristics? These questions and many more are reasons why I was eager to write my paper on mass murderers and serial killers. However, the most interesting and sought after questions are the ones that have always been controversial. One example is; what goes on inside the mind of a killer? In this paper I will try to develop a better understanding of these driven killers and their motives.
Thesis statement: Serial Murderers are not just murderers but also victims of the rotten hand they were dealt.
According to the Serial Killer Statistics and Demographics, the number of active serial killers at any given time in the U.S. is 35. Seeing as one of the main elements of a serial killer is there would have to be at least 3 murders, and there are 35 active serial killers at any given time, so that’s 105 victims if every serial killer only kills 3 people. However, if each killer kills 5 people, then there are 175 victims of serial killers. This number may seem frighteningly high, and it does to me as well, but considering how big our population is, less than 1% of murders are committed by a serial killer each year. There has been a total of 3,204 serial killers in the United States which puts us at number 1 for most serial killers. England comes in at second with 166 and Sweden comes in last with only 12 serial killers. The total number of serial killers per country comes from the number of killers, the number caught, and the number reported by either the police or even the media. It is also good to note that, this number does not include serial killers that are operating in multiple countries so it is a fairly accurate measurement but there is a good possibility that the number of serial killers that The United States has is slighter larger than
O'Driscoll, P. (2005, Jun 28). 'BTK' calmly gives horrific details ; serial killer who stalked wichita enters guilty plea. USA TODAY. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/408976968?accountid=10244
Serial killers have many frightening facets. The most frightening thing about them is that experts still do not know what makes a human become a serial killer. Many experts believe serial killers become what they are because they have a genetic disposition or brain abnormality while other experts believe that a serial killer is created by childhood abuse; and some other experts believe that it is a combination of both brain abnormalities and abusive childhood experiences that creates a serial killer. A murderer is considered a serial killer when they “murder three or more persons in at least three separate events with a “cooling off period” between kills” (Mitchell and Aamodt 40). When defining a serial killer, their background, genes, and brain are not mentioned; perhaps one day those aspects of the serial killer can be included.
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).