Differentiate extreme and exception homicides, including effects on victims families and the criminal justice systems response.
Serial Killers
A serial killer is commonly defined as someone who has killed three or more victims with a cooling off period between each killing. However, the FBI defines serial killing more specifically as two or more murders that are committed as separate events often, but not always, by someone acting alone (Morton, 2005). Although serial killers kill for a wide variety of reasons, gratification and power are often underlying motives. Many killers also have sexual gratification as part of their motivation. In addition, many want attention, thrills, and even financial gain that might come from killing (Morton, 2005). According to Aamodt (2015), who has counted the number of serial killers and their victims globally since 1900, around 3,000 serial killers have claimed roughly 10,000 victims. The most common methods of killing are shooting (43 percent) and strangulation (22 percent). Other common methods include poisoning, stabbing, and bludgeoning.
There is a long history of serial killers globally. Modern serial killers tend to get the attention of the media, and brutal or long-acting killers tend to end up as part of popular culture. Victims, on the other hand, rarely end up as part of the cultural narrative (Eliasson-Nannini & Sommerlad-Rogers, 2012). Victims are part of the news cycle as it comes to light that a serial killer is at work. Victims might be an important part of the initial story, but their role often fades once the killer’s identity becomes known, and then the victims are often relegated to an insignificant part of the story. Many victims are not even mentioned by the media and in studies of killers. Eliason-Nannini and Sommerlad-Rogers (2012) found that victims were more likely to be covered if they were children or elderly or if the killer was not a white male (Eliasson-Nannini, Bradley, Sommerlad-Rogers, & Pearson-Nelson, 2010).
A killer’s choice of victim often depends on available targets as well as some underlying motive to target that population. For example, killers within the medical profession are much more likely to choose victims who are patients, caregivers, or nurses. Killers within the medical profession give several reasons for targeting their patients, including financial gain, “easing their pain,” and sadistic pleasure. Killers who target the chronically ill are more difficult to detect because the likelihood that the victims were going to pass soon anyway is high, so their deaths do not arouse suspicion.
Female serial killers are rare, accounting for around 15 percent of the total serial killer population (Hickey, 2013), and women only commit around 11 percent of murders in general. Women are much more likely to target their families, and female serial killers have been known to target both husbands and children. Women who target their husbands for financial gains and kill two or more intimate partners
are considered black widows. Vronsky (2007), in his research, found that female killers have the same motives as male killers. Female serial killers can be difficult to detect because women tend to use more subtle methods, placing more potential victims at risk.
Although serial killers and their crimes make headlines and great thriller movies, serial killers are rare. Since 1980, 87 serial killers have been caught in the United States. Among those cases, 68.2 percent of the victims were white and 23.8 percent were black (this is much different than the homicide statistics presented previously, in which the majority of the victims were black); 53.8 percent of the victims were male while 46.2 percent were female. The percentage of female victims is higher in serial killings than in homicides, partially because the two most prolific serial killers, Gary Ridgway (the Green River Killer) and Ted Bundy, who each had more than 30 confirmed victims, tended to target young women. John Wayne Gacy and Dean Corll, on the other hand, only killed young men and boys.
Whereas Gacy often found his victims through his work or volunteer work, today’s killers are using technology to lure victims. The Internet is fast becoming a tool used by serial killers to get victims to meet them in places. Richard Beasley and John Edward Robinson used websites like Craigslist and chat rooms to get victims. As social media become more commonly used, serial killers are grabbing on to technology to help them kill. Image: John Wayne Gacy. Authored by: White House photographer. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Johnwaynegacyrosalynncarter.jpg. License: CC-0
When law enforcement sees a number of victims who have similar characteristics or are killed in a similar way or situation, they might begin to suspect a serial killer. Detecting a serial killer can be problematic because U.S. agencies are fragmented, making it difficult to detect commonalities across jurisdictions. The core investigation of serial killings mirrors the process of investigating homicides, as described in the previous section. A task force might be created, and information might be shared across many jurisdictions to see if other victims might have similar situations as the victims being investigated by the task force. By working together and ensuring that all relevant information is in one place for everyone to see, law enforcement is better able to inform the public about the possibility of a serial
killer, and hopefully prevent additional victims, as well as get information from the public about potential leads.
If a serial killer is caught and has victims in multiple jurisdictions, the court case can be complex. It might be possible to bundle all of the cases together if they all occurred within one county or state. Multiple court cases might also be possible, which can help ensure a conviction if there was not enough evidence to convince a jury about the first case. However, it can also mean that victims’ families may have to go through more stress as they relive the killings. It also means extended media coverage. The media may want to talk to families, which can be intrusive and cause families additional grief.