It is said that an average person walks past a murderer 36 times in their life. Serial Killers are glorified through television, movies, and videogames everyday and numb the human brain to the reality of it all. Everyone knows what a Serial Killer is but not many know how in depth you can look at them through theories, categories, processes and perspectives.
Many wonder how serial killers are made meaning how they don’t have or lose the normal compassion of a regular human being, but there are some theories that have been proposed. One theory is the Diathesis Stress Model, which is that “all serial killers have a propensity to act and think a certain way due to environmental stressors. Through a combination of other factors such as self-esteem and self-control with social skill issues, the person retreats to serial killer mode.” (Ultius, par 2) Serial Killers can fall into different categories, all categories seem to have an underlying theme which is organization. Serial Killers that find amusement by somewhat outsmarting the law are called Thrill Seekers. Being pursued by the police and the media gives them the attention they are looking for. Ways you can tell that these type of killers are Thrill Seekers is through them sending messages to people and how detailed they record their killings, they are categorized as organized but not good at planning. “Thrill seekers typically uses rape and/or rape their victims before killing them.” Killers that feel that they are doing good for society by killing other people that they think society could live without such as women, homosexuals, or people with color. These killers are easy to track down because of how detailed they are and the specific people they go after. People that suffer psychotic breaks in society are known as Visionary Serial Killers. They believe that a higher entity such as a god has told them to commit such a crime. “The two most common subcategories for visionary serial killers are demon-mandated and God-mandated. David Berkowitz is an example of such a killer. He claimed that a demon transmitted orders to him through his neighbor's dog that told him to kill. Since visionary killers tend to be more organized than other killers, they are very easy to track down. One last category is a power and control serial killer which is when they enjoy their victims suffering, pain, and screaming. “These killers tend to be very organized and have a history of child abuse, which left them powerless and inadequate as adults. Many of these killers also sexually abuse their victims, but they are not motivated by feelings of lust. To them, rape is simply another form of dominating a victim.”
According to Serial Killer statistics and demographics, it states that 90.8% of men are serial killers and only 9.2% are women. Women serial killers are more based on significant data to the killer for money or just for fun. A common technique used by female serial killer is poison. “Female serial killers also have been shown to have longer careers as murderers than their male counterparts and they typically carefully plan their crimes through a methodological process. Seven categories of female serial killers are black widow, angel of death, revenge killer, murder for profit or crime, killer whose sanity is in question, team killer, and sexual predator. The sexual predator is defined as women who commit based upon sexual motivation. This particular form of serial killer is rare. Serial Killers are emotionally callous and often are reactively psychopaths. (Myers et. al)
Surprisingly not all serial killers are insane. Many are diagnosed with a personality disorder which is usually sociopathic or psychopathic. They are found to be emotionally unstable, self centers and prone to be manipulative. Psychologists have also found that some suffer from schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder. “The origins of a serial killer are widely misunderstood because of the complexity of different frameworks that have been presented.” (Warf and Waddell) It’s difficult to understand the serial killer. *It is important to recognize that in spite of the insanity posture that has been taken by many serial killers, research studies have illuminated further that individuals who are serial killers often slip through the cracks in the justice system. Serial killer observations have yielded startling information to this assertion. The field of psychology is not helped, then as most serial killers are put to death when caught and further research into the insanity definition is not found. As serial killer characteristics encompass one's mental state, psychologists have tried to also assess reasons for the insatiable obsessions and drives that push these killers to the brink. In many cases, most research has unearthed that the insatiability is the result of filling some type of void that the killer has within him/herself. Additional research has found that the serial killer is devoted to violent fantasies that provoke their feelings to harm and hurt others.This is common for all serial killers within the typology model (Apsche). Other studies have supported these findings and conclusive evidence presented has offered distinct patterns in reinforcing the behavioral context that serial killers have.
Another perspective of serial killers is through sociology. “The American public is commonly fascinated by cruelty and horror as noted by characters such as Hannibal Lecter and Michael Myers of Silence of the Lambs and Halloween respectively. Eric W. Hickey, author of Serial Murders and Their Victims, finds that serial killers kill over a period of time.” (Ultius Par. 19) Experts in the field of sociology have marked this definition as needing to be a bit more descriptive in context because it is rather open ended in trying to explain serial killers. However, consensus in the field of sociology has found the premise useful. Criminology, then associates statistical data when discussing serial killers. Serial killers are assessed through quantitative and qualitative data to ascertain the frequency of committing, and why the crimes occur. Educated guesses have been proposed on the biological explanation of why serial killings occur and criminologists have found that fear is the greatest motivator for serial killers. In fact, individuals understand that fear is a powerful emotion and thus violence makes each and every one of us fearful. In spite of sociological research, little is still known about serial killers and their reasons. One prominent form of thought in the area of sociology is the McDonald Triad. Through this framework, an understanding of serial killers is ascertained through comprehending the early warning signs. Sociologists contend that there are certain requirements that must be met in order for an individual to be deemed a serial killer (“Schemata”). This they say allows for law enforcement and other arenas of protection of society to have preventative measures in place. One theory on preventative measures is Gottfredson and Hirschi's Self-Control Theory. The theory suggests that "crimes are committed due to a lack of self-control, which is a result of poor parenting during childhood".Gottfredson and Hirschi even go as far as to say that "self-control is fully formed by the fifth grade. Those who develop poor self-control will fail throughout life in adapting to social norms." They also state that people with low self-control are impulsive, insensitive, risk-taking, non-verbal, and short-sighted" (“Schemata”). The theory in effect seeks to link self-control to childhood. Almost all research on the subject of serial killers states that childhood is the undercurrent of why serial killers act the way they do and Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory confirms that.
Although there are many films that seem to glorify serial killers, people still can compare them to monster based on their characteristics and actions. Categorically serial killers can be characteristically proven through their categories, theories, gender differences, psychological processes, mental processes, and sociological perspectives. How many serial killers have you walked past today?