Serial Killers Theories

Ted Bundy, the Zodiac Killer, Donald Henry Gaskins, Ahmad Suradji, Jack the Ripper, Alexander Pichushkin. Throughout history names such as these have brought terror into the hearts of many around the world. Through organized acts of deviance these individuals represent an entire subculture of monstrous humans. However many ask if these serial murderers are actually human, were they born murders or were they created by their environments. In 2005 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (2010) held a Serial Murder Symposium to help create a unified understanding of the complex issues of serial murders, during this meeting they come to a conclusion that serial murders are “unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate

According to Hall, E. (2011) sociologists examining the external influences they have developed theories. The Social Structure Theory has three sub- theories, which explains that the reason that individuals commit crimes, such as serial killings, is due to financial instability.Though this Theory does not fit the relation of serial killers. Another Theory group they have developed is the Social Class Theory group, one theory in this group is the General Strain Theory. This theory states that an individual reacting to multiple different strains , such as stimulus or socially desirable goals, at once are more likely to commit crimes. This theory works best in relation to serial killers because they have been found to be dealing with multiple issues at once. For groups of serial killers fit into the social learning theory, this theory claims “criminals learn from other criminals, and that crime in itself is learned behavior instead of ingrained”(Halls,2011). Another theory that summarizes serial killers is the neutralization theory, this claims that criminals, in this case, serial killers, will not act like criminals all the time. We can see this in killers such as Ted Bundy who worked for a suicide hotline company, helping individuals keep on

Movies such as “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” , “Silence of the lamb”, “Hannibal” and, “Scream” have created a misrepresentation on the individuals. According to Sterbenz, C. (2015), only 12.5% of serial killers fit the popular culture definition of a serial killer. Not only have the created a false representation of serial killers but they have also created a how-to guide for getting away with violent outbursts. Statically Serial killers are one of the rarest types of murders, however, it has become a dominant cultural category. The circulates detail of serial killers up to six months after it is relevant in some cases, these leads to dragging cases out and the idea of these killers always present in our minds. In a video by Charlie Brooker(2009) he shows an example of media 's role in killers, his example is a mass shooter but it is still relevant to this topic. He uses a protest of 1000 that had no media coverage compared to a school shooting that dragged on for days of things that had no relevance to the case, even after the individual was in custody. He also has a short clip in the video of a forensic psychiatrist saying the exact things the media creates more mass hysteria and the potential for copycat