LUNATIC ARTICLES -SERIAL KILLERS

Serial Murder : In the last three decades the USA has been troubled by an approaching problem, the serial killer. A serial killer is a person who kills a number of people(usually considered over five) with a cooling off period between each murder(usually one murder at one given time, but two murders at one time occasionally happens) and these murders may go on for a period of months or years until the killer is caught. Throughout the last three decades the US serial killer rate has risen 940% and it is estimated that by the next millennium it will claim an average of 11 lives a day. Serial Murder is an epidemic, there are at least 35 serial killers active in the USA today who claim one third of the annual murder rate. The USA has 6% of the world's population yet it has three quarters of all serial killers. Not only are serial killers appearing in more numbers in the US but all over the world countries are terrorised by serial killers which are appearing in more numbers year and year after.

Types of Serial killer

- organized = plans to murder
- not organized = spur of the moment murder
- transient = remains mobile to continue to kill, or confuse law enforcement
- stable = will kill in same area and be part of the community

McDonald Triad:

 1. Bed wetting beyond the age of ten.
2. Abuse to animals as a child.
3. Fasination with fire at a young age.

Profile of a Serial Killer:

1. Caucasian male between the ages of 18 to 32.
2. Abused physically or emotionally as a child.
3. Operates alone.

Motive:

1. Sex
2. Power
3. Manipulation
4. Domination
5. Control

Sub Motives:

1. Visionaries - Acts in response to voices and is instructed by these voices to perform the act of murder. These killers are usually schizophrenic and psychotic.
2. Missionaries - They think it is their responsibility to rid society of unwanted elements.
3. Hedonists - Kill because murder causes them pleasure.
4. Lust Killers - Kill for sexual gratification with acts that are usually sadistic.
5. Thrill Killers - Kill because of a desire for a thrill or experience.
6. Gain Killers - Kill for personal gain. The killer premeditates the act to require financial gain or materialistic goods. While gain is not the main motive in a murder some serial killers have took the opportunity to steal from their victims for their own personal gain.
7. Power Seekers - Kill for the desire to have control over the life and death of others.

Characteristics :

1. Killings are seperate ('serial'), occuring with greater or less frequency, often escalating over a period of time, sometimes years, and will continue until the killer is taken into custody, dies, or is himself/herself killed.
2. In common with normal homicides, killing tends to be one on one. There are however instances where a serial killer has struck down more than one victim in a single incident.
3. There is no (or very little) previous connection between the perpetrator and the victim, the persons involved rarely being related.
4. Although there may be a 'pattern' or 'victim trait', individual murders within a series rarely display a clearly defined or rational motive.
5. An increasingly greater spatial mobility (since the advent of the automobile) has enabled killers (if they wish) to move rapidly from one place to another, often before a murder has even been discovered.
6. There is usually a high degree of redundant violence, or an 'overkill', where the victim is subjected to a disproportionate level of brutality.

THE FEMALE SERIAL KILLER

Female serial killers account for only 8% of all American serial killers, but American females account for 76% of all female serial killers worldwide. Hickey's (2002) subsample of 62 females out of 399 serial killers used the following methods and motives.

Methods of Killing

1. Poison (80%)
2. Shooting (20%)
3. Bludgeoning (16%)
4. Suffocation (16%)
5. Stabbing (11%)
6. Drowning (5%)

Motives

1. Money (74%)
2. Control (13%)
3. Enjoyment (11%)
4. Sex (10%)
5. Drugs, Cult involvement, cover up, or feelings of inadequacy (24%)

Only two types of female serial killers:

1. Angel of Mercy A rare type of serial killer who is usually female, and employed as a caretaker. The angel of mercy is often in a position of power and decides the victim would be better off if they no longer suffered. This person then uses their knowledge to manufacture the death of her/his victim. As time goes on, this behavior escalates to encapsulate the healthy and the easily treated.

2. The Black Widow BLACK WIDOWS (BW) usually begin their criminal career after age 25 and then they start a decade or longer cycle of systematically killing spouses, partners, family members, and indeed, anyone with whom they develop a personal relationship. The typical cycle is 6-8 victims over a period of 10-15 years, although in places where law enforcement is lax, the victim count may go up as high as 13. Poison is the preferred weapon of choice, dosing the victim with a wide variety of lethal substances to mimic more medically appropriate and diagnosible illnesses to collect life insurance & inheritance proceeds.

List of serial killers by country : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_serial_killers_by_country