Study of Criminology throughout history Throughout history, the work of serial killers gave way to the myths of vampires and werewolves. Finding a particularly mauled body, the killer was believed to be a werewolf. The killer was thought to be out-of-control; most could not fathom a being who voluntarily killed so viciously. [werewolves] However, while werewolves remain mythological creatures, vampires truly exist. Throughout history, killers that drain or drink the blood of their victims gave way to stories of vampires. The Vampire of Dusseldorf, Peter Kürten, drank the blood of his 13 victims, leaving two incision marks on their neck. Fritz Haarmann, the Hanover Vampire, would chew through his victims necks, relishing the taste of their blood. [Dusseldorf, Hanover] Scientist Franz Gall felt that if one could study the shape and protuberances of the skull, one could determine if an individual was inclined toward criminal behavior. He introduced his ideas to the scientific communtiy in the 1790s. His ideas were called Phrenology. It hinged on the theory that the shape of the brain determined the shape of the skull. Phrenology was finally disproven in the 1930s. [phrenology pic] Cesare Lombroso decided that criminals could be identified by key physical characteristics, including receding hairlines, forehead wrinkles, bumpy faces, broad noses, fleshy lips, sloping shoulders, long arms and pointy fingers. A person suffering from these traits was said to have the condition of "avatisim." He also claimed a person's behavior was reflected in their appearace. A man who looked like a lion or other wild animal would act in an aggressive, murderous manner. [animal pic] William Sheldon thought one could predict criminal behavior by studying body type. He classified three main body shapes: mesomorphs, ectomorphs, and endomorphs. He maintained that people with a mesomorphic, or stocky, muscular build, were more likely to have aggressive behavior. Along with phrenology and avatisim, this too was disproved. [mesomorph pic] Modern Study of Murder Types of Murderers Normal or Single-Instance Murderer Most common type Murder is done over a quarrel, rage, reaction to an insult, jealousy, revenge, money, or power. killings are generally one on one killer has a clear motive often do not kill again Mass Murderer number of people are killed by a single assailant during a short period of time in the same location generally caught by police, commit suicide, or turn themselves in Most often die after their attacks, and a very rare type, so little is known of their psychology Example would be the Columbine Massacre Spree Murderer Defined by Bureau of Justice as "killings at two or more locations with almost no time break between murders." involves multiple victims Take place over a few hours or days no "cooling off" period Serial Killers Defined minimum of three victims Killings are repetitive and escalate in intensity over a period of time Killings tend to be one on one the victim and perpetrator lack emotional bonds lack of clear motive excessive levels of brutality are used in the murder itself, often involving torture Causes of Psychopathy Note: not all psychopaths are motivated to kill. They often make successful businessmen or world leaders. Environmental Loss of a parent (60% of psychopathic individuals had lost a parent) Child is deprived of love or nurturing; parents are detached or absent Inconsistent discipline (if father is stern and mother is soft, child learns to hate authority and manipulate the mother) Hypocritical parents who privately belittle the child while publicly presenting the image of a "happy family". Severe head injury, causing personality shift genetic Predispositioned to feel less fear and anxiety than normal people developmental stunted development of the higher functions of the brain 30 - 38% of psychopaths show abnormal brain wave patterns, or EEGs. As a child, slower brain wave activity fails to increase with age, as in normal development Treatment Psychiatrists agree that psychopaths cannot be treated. Shock therapy and drugs have proved ineffectual, and psychotherapy, which relies on the patient's bond with the therapist, is likewise worthless because sociopaths refuse to open up to others and do not want to change. types -Visionaries, including killers who act in response to "voices" and alter egos, where "instructions" received serve to justify and legitimize the act of murder. -Missionaries, comprising murders with a self-imposed nature, which feel responsible for purifying society by expelling its undesirable components. -Hedonists, whose pleasure is the reward they derive from their act. . 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. -Power Seekers, who desire to have control over the life and death of others to such a degree that it serves as an intrinsic motive of murder. There are generally three methods of approach, described as con, surprise and blitz. The "con" describes an offender who deceives a victim into believing an imaginary situation exists, with the intention of luring the victim into a more favorable position for the offender, or lowering the victim's guard to make the attack easier. One possible example of this type of behavior is the offender posing as a delivery or maintenance man to gain access to a house or other residence. The "surprise" approach is usually characterized by an offender laying in wait for his victim, then quickly subduing that person. The offender may wait for certain conditions to be met (such as allowing a car to pass, or allowing the victim to fall asleep), or may be relatively uncaring about the presence of eyewitnesses. This approach, too, may be combined with the blitz approach. An example of this approach would be where an offender hides in some bushes near a car park, waiting for a lone female to walk to her vehicle. While she waits near the car looking for her keys, the attacker walks up behind her and grabs her without her noticing his approach. The "blitz" describes an approach where an offender rapidly and excessively uses force to quickly overcome the victim's defenses to get control of the situation. The problem with this is that it requires the use of force, therefore the blitz would most accurately be described as an attack (Turvey). Usually, the blitz will be preceded by a surprise approach, as in the example above. All of these methods describe the approach only, and not the subsequent attack, which is why it is difficult to apply the blitz style to the way the offender approaches the victim. Victim risk is broken into three basic levels: low risk, medium risk, and high risk. They all refer to the degree of chance of someone coming to harm by virtue of their personal, professional and social life. An example of someone who has at high risk of becoming a victim would be a prostitute, as a prostitute is constantly exposed to a large number of strangers, may travel alone late at night, is often in contact with drugs or drug users, may be of low priority to police (if attacked or killed) and will usually not be missed until long after the event. A low risk victim may be someone who has a steady job, lots of friends, rarely travels alone, and does not have a predictable travel schedule. There are a large number of factors that contribute to the risk of an individual, and the above examples provide just a few of these. The Stable Killer (e.g. Gacy, Dahmer) lives and works in one location for an extended period. He hunts and kills within the local area, disposes of bodies in the same or similar areas, and the disposal site selected for concealment. He may return to the crime scene or burial site. He seldom travels, but when forced to travel it is usually for business, family visits, or personal recreation. The Transient Killer (e.g. Ted Bundy) seldom stays in one spot more than a few weeks. His kills are spread out over a large area. He disposes of bodies in random locations, disposal site selected for convenience, and he seldom returns to the region of the crime. He travels continuously either for pleasure, to confuse law enforcement, or for new hunting grounds. There are disorganized killers and organized killers. Most serial killers (about 3/4) are organized and their victim counts seem to be higher, that is also because they are usually above average intelligence. The disorganized offender is lonely and his murders usually display his anger, most are of a low IQ and suffer from some mental disorder, the killing is not planned and is a usually spur of the moment thing. It should also be noted that some serial killers display both the characteristics of a disorganized and organized killer, these killers are typed as being 'mixed'. The Organized Killer(e.g. Gacy, Bundy) plans out the murder(may become accustomed to using it quickly). He will bring a 'rape kit' (rope, handcuffs, chloroform etc) if desired. He often personalizes himself with the victim (talks, leads, captures etc. the victim into/for planned murder situation). Rape, torture etc. may take place before murder, for the killers own gratification. He kills victim with awareness of evidence at crime scene (which may be cleaned, destroyed etc). He might move the body to hide, bury it etc. in an attempt to evade/delay discovery. The killer will not be involved further with the victim's body, but may take articles, jewellery etc. for trophy or gain. The Disorganized Killers (e.g. Berkowitz) murder usually happens spur of the moment (with no planning but the one simple objective to kill). He does not bring any tools to the kill except maybe murder device. No contact with the victim prior to spur of the moment murder. No rape, torture etc. will take place before murder. He kills victim but does not care for evidence usually left at the crime scene (high degree of violence takes place at murder). He will not move body in an attempt to hide, bury it etc., unconcerned of its discovery. The killer might be involved further with the dead victim (mutilation, necrophilia, cannibalism, etc) and may also take souvenir. Female: Money- 74% Control - 13% account for only 8% of all American serial killers low visibility Kelleher & Kelleher (1998) argue that female serial killers are more successful, careful, precise, methodical, and quiet in committing their crimes. They examined 100 cases since 1900 and found an average duration of 8 years before being caught -- double that of the male serial killer. a 140% increase in the number of crimes committed by women since 1970, females who were incarcerated for murder were twice as likely as men incarcerated for murder to have killed someone intimate (husband, boyfriend, or child). Other common traits: white70 percent of all serial killers are white male95 percent are males lower to middle class background heterosexual low self-esteem low level jobs married with children twenties or thirties physically or emotionally abused by parents adopted enuresis, arson and animal torture as a childset fires, torture animals, and wet their beds as children(these red-flag behaviors are known as the "triad" of symptoms.) 56% of serial killers were arsonists as children60% of serial killers were wetting the bed past the age of 12 Brain injuries very intelligent In half of serial murders families, the biological father had left before the child was 12 years old. In the cases where the father did not leave, he was domineering and abusive alcohol and/or drugs show great promise as successful professionals fascinated with the police and authority in general The killer will fantasize about the murder until the fantasy is no longer enough to bring about pleasure, and he must commit the crime. attempted to become police or worked as security guards, or had served in the military. Their studies have shown that 84% of serial killers are Caucasian, 90% are males, and 89% of the victims are white. There are four types of serial killers*. The most common one is the Lust Killer who kills to sexually stimulate themselves. The more they torture a victim, the pleasure the serial killer receives (Who is a Serial Killer?, 5). Although serial killers are well known today, they originated as far back as ancient Rome. victims victims share personality traits such as vulnerability and confusion Wille (1974) identified ten different types of murderers covering a broad range of bio-socio-psychological categories: depressive psychotic afflicted with organic brain disorder psychopathic passive aggressive alcoholic hysterical juvenile (the child was the killer) mentally retarded sex killers Lee (1988) also created a variety of labels to differentiate killers according to motive, including: profit passion hatred power or domination revenge opportunism fear contract killing desperation compassion ritual Myths by pat brown 1. Unless you hear about a serial killer at large in your area, you can assume no serial killers are living in your community. Police are reluctant to label a murder as a possible serial homicide. Telling the community a serial killer is out there stirs up a lot of unpleasant attention. The bad publicity kills tourism, and citizens start asking police what they are doing about catching this creep terrorizing their neighborhood. Besides, if one follows the "gotta have killed three" requirement, unless there are at least those three and there is DNA matching the murders or the bodies are all dumped in the same place, the police aren't going to say there is a serial killer involved. The average serial killer will be ignored because he isn't "cool" enough or he simply didn't get convicted of enough murders to be considered a serial killer. Of course, it is also possible you will never hear about them because they never got caught. 2. Serial killers are strangers who leap out at you in the night -often are aquainted with victim -many chat before kill -background check are often not intensive, co-worker, social group 3. The killer always leaves evidence at the sceneLocard's Principle of Exchange which states when a crime is committed the killer will always leave some evidence at the scene and take some evidence away with him. The world where the fingerprints found belong to everyone but the killer (including the cops, the emergency medical team and the mayor), the DNA is too minimal to test, and when the firefighters came in to put out the fire used to cover up the murder, they drowned every shred of evidence under a foot of water. In reality, those rare few cases with good forensic evidence are the ones that make it to court. Prosecutors hate to lose their cases and ruin their reputations. They make darn sure they have a slam dunk case before they hit the courtroom doors. The rest of the cases aren't prosecuted even though we know who committed the crimes. The killer stays out on the street and his name falls through the cracks and by the time he commits his next crime one county over, the police department in that jurisdiction will have no clue as to who he is. 4. Serial Killers are Super Clever Is this the same Ted who couldn't make it through law school, who drove a GOLD Volkswagen to the lake in broad daylight and went up to women he was planning to kidnap saying, "Hi! My name is TED!"? Is this the same brilliant guy who nearly strangled his girlfriend who then found in his bureau drawer the plaster of Paris he used for fake casts in some of his abduction ruses? This same girlfriend and a couple of other people who knew him went to the police with their suspicions. The police ignored the information because he didn't seem the type. I think the movie "Dumb and Dumber" comes to mind for the killer and cops involved here. Ted was finally caught, not by clever investigative work but because he was caught speeding. He was so bright that he lied to the police officer about seeing a movie the cop knew didn't exist and then he let the police officer look into his trunk and note his rather obvious rape kit. 5. Serial Killers are caught though DNA banks, profiles, and brilliant police deduction the majority of the time it is not brains that catches serial killers. Usually it is just dumb luck. Ted was speeding. One Alabama serial killer I was investigating was doing just fine until he took a girl out to the woods to kill her. His car got stuck in the mud and he had to call a friend for a tow. DNA banks only work if you have DNA. Then you have to match that DNA to someone. Either that someone must also be in a bank, like a felon DNA bank, or that person must already be a suspect and agree to the testing. If everyone in the United States were required to have DNA on record, this would work great. However, because of privacy issues, I don't think this is a methodology we will be able to depend on any time in the near future. In a department that is understaffed, struggling financially, and seeing a homicide a day dumped into their workload, the ability to put such an effort forth may be near impossible. (overworked police) 6. The victims of a serial killer all look alike One cannot stand around waiting all day and night for the perfect victim. This is not to say serial killers don't have a preference. Some will actually work pretty hard at getting their top choice; others just grab the first reasonable victim that comes along. short height and low weightThese small lightweight victims are easy to attack, easy to beat up, easy to carry or drag, easy to put in the trunk of a car, and easy to dispose of. Big victims are far too much work. Smallish men, smallish women, and children are easy for the killer too handle. This is one reason why the top choices for women serial killers are invalids and babies. 7. Signature is the mark of a serial killer converned with not getting caught, rarely leave notes 8. You can link a serial killer to crimes by his MO (modus operandi(method of operation)) Gary Taylor is one such serial killer whose MO was all over the map. He started his criminal career by hitting women over the head with a wrench at bus stops. Then he started shooting women with a rifle. Next he chased women with a machete. He went on to using a ruse to get women out of their apartments. He would call up the victim and claim there was a fire at her place of employment or an emergency of some sort and attack her when she was getting into her car. He also posed as an FBI agent at the door of one of his victims. Near the end of his killing career, he kidnapped two women, tied them up in the basement, shot them in the head, and buried them in the backyard. Then he stopped killing and went about the country raping but letting his victims live. 9. VICAP catches serial killers The FBI has something called VICAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program). When a murder occurs, the police investigator fills out an ungodly long form with details of the crime scene. This form (if it is actually filled out and many times detectives don't bother) is sent to the FBI where all the data is added to a database. Somehow, the incredible mass of information with MO details and particulars (was the victim naked or not, was she tied up or not, etc.) is matched with other crimes and, lo and behold, crime linkage is accomplished. It would be far more effective to have a suspect bank that would match suspects with victims through relatives, mutual friends and acquaintances, residences, work, hobbies, amusements, and travels. It would be nice if this bank would detail any odd behaviors on the part of the suspect that would help identify him in another crime. It would be advantageous for a police department to know that one of the people they were interviewing was actually a suspect in two other homicides in two other jurisdictions. cuttling up clothes 10. Our present methods of catching serial killers workYes, we have finally caught the Green River Killer. Only 48 (give or take) women later, we have him in custody. Fifty-four year old Gary Ridgway enjoyed his decades of free reign and now he will hardly suffer all that much in his later years since the prosecution handed him a life sentence on a silver platter. God knows how much money was spent on the investigation by taxpayers while one woman after the other wThe typical scenario in a serial homicide investigation follows a well trodden path. First, the police try not to let the public know there is a serial killer out there. If they get lucky, there will be only a small paragraph in the local paper and within a short time, everyone will forget about the murder. Then, hopefully the killer will move to another jurisdiction. If he doesn't stop killing in your jurisdiction, just keep denying that the string of murders in your community are linked. Before DNA actually linked the death of five women in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2002 the police steadfastly told the community there was no serial killer on the loose. This was rather hard to believe considering how many women were dead. The words of victim Pam Kinamore's brother-in-law, Ed White, sum it up rather well. "The truth is I don't care how many of these cases have been linked by DNA evidence. The truth is either we have one serial killer in Baton Rouge or we have a lot of killers in Baton Rouge, and either way we've got a serious problem here." as brutally murdered by Ridgway.