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The Male Serial Killer Essay, Research Paper

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The Male Serial Killer: Who is a Serial Killer and How Childhood Experiences Contribute to their Personality Development.

“Serial killers are the cream of the crop – they stay on the street for years. Some never get apprehended at all” (Egger, 1986). Serial killers do things that the rest of society finds deplorable. They murder with incredible depravity, with no outward show of remorse, and evade capture for frighteningly long periods of time. Most members of society ask themselves how someone could be capable of such actions. It is incomprehensible to most people what it is that could drive someone to murder another in the manner of a serial killer. Most people can understand murder in the heat of the moment, even if they find it unacceptable. It is incredibly difficult for the average person to conceive of the type of personality that can kill a stranger simply for the thrill of it. Yet this is what the serial killer lives for – that one moment of perfection when he controls every aspect of the life of another human being. Who is a serial killer, and what contributes to the development of this type of personality? This question has been the focus of intense research by numerous law enforcement agencies and the psychological community for approximately fifteen years.

As research into the female killer has shown that very few, if any, are true serial murderers, this research has dealt strictly with the male serial killer. Generally female multiple murderers have been classified as spree, rather than serial, because of the time frame of their crimes, and the underlying motivations. It has been shown that females tend to kill in bursts of anger or revenge, and murders are closely linked

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chronologically, thus setting them firmly in the category of spree killer (Ressler, Burgess, & Douglas, 1988).

First, clarification is necessary as to what it means to be classified as a serial killer. There are several key distinctions between spree killers, mass murderers, and serial killers. These distinctions are what makes serial homicide unique among all forms of murder. One very recent and highly publicized example of a spree killer was Andrew Cunanan. His murders were committed in a frenzy that suddenly erupted and then ended in his own violent death. The is typical of the spree killer. The crimes are committed in a short time span with revenge as the primary motivator. On the other hand, mass murderers do all their killings at once, usually in one place, and they give little thought to escape or evading arrest (Kelleher 1997). Victims of mass murderers may or may not know the perpetrator. The Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is a classic example of this type of murder. Serial killers are entirely different. The serial killer must be credited with at least three kills before being categorized as serial. A serial killer will kill continuously and not stop unless he is made to stop. This killer will have a cooling off period after each murder, but will continue. A serial killer may even wait years before claiming another victim; the point is that there will undisputedly be another victim. Serial killing has been, in the past, a stranger to stranger crime. It has only been recently that this is beginning to change. For the most part, however, the perpetrator and the victim do not know one another and have most often not has any previous contact. The serial killer is motivated to kill in

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the way that most people need water; it is an absolute need. Generally this need to kill is fueled by fantasies that have been building for a long period of time. They personalize their murders in the manner of death they choose for the victim; very hands on, as in stabbing or strangulation as opposed to killing with a gun, which is seen as a rather distant method. They are sane, plan to avoid detection, and generally seek to control others through their crimes. Power is a central motivator to the serial murderer. The profile of a serial killer as set out by McKenzie (1995) closely follows profiles currently in use by major crime units across North America, and is as follows:

He is male, between the ages of 25-35, and he is white. The majority of the time he will kill white victims. The ages of his victims will vary greatly, depending on his particular “interests.” His intellect ranges from below average to above average. He doesn’t know his victims or have any particular hatred for them most of the time…they are normally strangers to him. He doesn’t come from one social class or another; he can come from skid row or Park Avenue…just as his victims. Like many of us, he is often married, has children, and works. (p. 4)

A common misconception among the public is that there is only one type of serial killer, when there actually are four distinctive types (Dehart & Mahoney, 1994). The Visionary Motive Type is generally considered insane. A visionary killer will often hear voices in his head telling him to commit the crime. The Missionary-Oriented Motive Type displays no psychosis to the outside world, but on the inside this killer has a need to rid the world of what he considers immoral or unworthy individuals. This type

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of killer will select a group of people to kill off (prostitutes, for example). The Thrill

Oriented Motive Type simply enjoys the thrill of the hunt. They are extremely sadistic, reveling in the sheer joy of the act of killing. The final category encompasses the majority of serial killers. The Lust Killer is not truly what the name implies. Their killings do display a certain degree of sexual motivation, however the underlying motivator is the control and power they exert over their victims. For them, the amount of pleasure

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