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SERIAL KILLERS: CLASSIFICATION AND KILLING PATTERNS OF MONSTERS The term serial killer was first used on Ted Bundy. Although the term is relatively new, the phenomenon is not. It dated far back in history, and no one is really sure how it has begun, but there are records of serial killing crimes such as Jack the Ripper dated back in the 1800 s. What defines serial killer is not exactly clear.
Generally, its agreeable that when theres three or more murders committed by the same offender, the offender will be defined as a serial killer. The murders are usually committed at different time and place with a cooling-off period. Serial killer is not the same as mass killer, those who killed all their victims at once, and often killed themselves afterward. Serial killers are more complex in their crimes, and often killed many victims before being caught. An average killing career for a male serial killer is four years, while a female serial killer is eight years. Although there are many subtopics of serial killers, this essay will focuses on two subtopics of serial killers: the classification of serial killers, and their patterns of killings.
Before recently, serial killers are viewed as an outcast, a monster, someone who does not belong in the society. However, when Ted Bundy was arrested, many citizens were alarmed with his normal-looking. Citizens are faced with unidentifiable killers who can happened to be their next door neighbors, or even their close friends. The searches for the convicts are much harder this way, and most cases often go unsolved. In order to prevent the crimes, one needs to understand these serial killers.
Criminologists worked tirelessly to come up with any possible ways to identify the killers, and one way is to attempt to classify the killers into different categories. The classification of the killers will help the police constructs probable characteristics of the killer who committed the crime. In order to investigate each serial murder, the FBI attempts to classify serial killers into different groups based on their crimes method. FBI classified serial killers as organized, disorganized, and mixed-category. The organized serial killers planned their murder ahead of time, with the plan for disposing the corpse, and covering his / her tracks. Weapons are brought to the crime scenes, and crime scenes are often left spotless of any evidence.
The organized killers in majority are well educated, have good social skills, and have an apparent normal life. The disorganized serial killers do not plan their murder act, or their escape route. They simply committed the crimes, usually using nearby weapons, and escape. They rarely covered the evidences, and are easier to catch compare to an organized serial killer.
Disorganized serial killers often suffer from mental illness, and may have record of being admitted into a mental institute. Their main motive is simply to kill and then leave. The mixed-category serial killers are both organized and disorganized depending on the circumstances. Its also possible that there are two or more killers working together, one is organized, and the other is not. Many critics feel that this system of organized / disorganized category is insufficient.
Since not many crimes are clearly classified as committed by organized / disorganized killers, many of them are classified as committed by mixed-category serial killers. The FBI classification offers little help in psychological or criminological study (Vronsky 147). Although the FBI classification is not very helpful, it is the basic of other types of classifications. As opposed to the FBI classification which focuses on unknown killers methods, criminologists Ronald Holmes, Stephan Holmes, and James De Burger classified serial killers based on their motives. This method is more accurate because it represents the psychological aspect of classification. According to Holmes, Holmes, and De Burger, there are four motive types.
The first one is visionary. This is when the serial killers hallucinated some kind of voices or visions that tell them to kill. This type of killers is most likely disorganized, and suffered from mental illness. The second type of killers is mission-oriented; they believe that they are completing a mission by killing certain types or racists of people. The third type is hedonistic killers, which can further breakdown into three more subtopics: comfort killers, lust killers, and thrill killers. The hedonistic killers are those killers who kill for personal financial gain or sexual pleasure.
They are less complicated in their crimes, and are easier to understand. The fourth and last type of serial killers based on Ronald Holmes, Stephan Holmes, and James De Burger is power / control -oriented which is the most common of all the other types. Serial killers of this type kill for the pleasure of being in control, especially sexual dominance. They enjoy abusing their victims, and offensively torture them until their deaths. There are still flaws in the two previous classifications. The FBI system of organized / disorganized /and mixed-categorized is too rough because too many killers fall into the mixed category.
The Holmes and De Burger classification is more lucid, but it does not offer any possible identity of the killers; it only provides motives for the crimes, the psychological motives of the killers. Both of these classifications lack strong profiling of the killers, and offer little or no suggestion for the possible killers. None of these two classifications are helpful in investigating the crimes. Criminologist Dr. Robert Keppel recognized this problem, and suggested another type of classification especially for investigative purposes. His system is focused on classifying sexual signature murderers, both single and serial... (Vronsky 202).
Keppels classification is most helpful, and is used wildly in investigating murder cases. In this classification of sexual single and serial murderers, there are four categories: power-assertive, power-reassurance, anger-retaliatory, and lastly anger-excitation. The first category is power-assertive killers. These killers seek to rape, but do not plan to murder their victims. Its the sexual act that the killers want to enjoy, not the murder.
However, its most likely that the victims became uncooperative and murdering the victims becomes necessary. Usually, the power-assertive killers are in their twenties, and are highly insecure of their masculinity. They have little or no social interaction, especially in romantic relationships. They often are body-builders, display tattoos, drive powerful well-maintained a confident body posture and form (Vronsky 203). They might also hold a criminal record for crimes such as robbery. The victims of power-assertive killers are randomly picked.
Almost always, the victim and the killer are stranger to each other. The killers usually find their victims in public places such as malls or parks. Power-assertive killers rarely mutilate the corps of their victims. At the crime scene, traces of ejaculate can be found, but most of the time the killer will cleaned up and leave behind an organized crime scene, leaving little evidences to be found. The second category is power-reassurance killers.
They are also planned to rape their victims, but do not initially planned to murder. These killers have sexual fantasies which derive their crimes. The killers often believe that they are doing their victims a favor by pleasing him / her in the most unusual ways. During the initiation of the rape, the offender might be described as polite and gentlemanly, asking if the victim is comfortable and enjoying himself / herself ... (Vronsky 204). If the victim disagreed or objected with the killer, they will be murder out of the killers anger. The victims of the power-reassurance killers are carefully selected.
Its also possible that the killers are acquaintances of the victims. After the crimes are completed, the killers might take some mementos to continue their fantasies with their victims. At the crime scenes of the power-reassurance killers, there might be traces of ejaculate, although this is unlikely because the rape was unsuccessful which lead to the murder. The crime scenes are disorganized, with rarely any apparent attempts to cover up the crimes. The killers of this type are profiled to be in their mid twenties.
They are often perceived as foolish and disturbed person. Lacking confident, a power-reassurance killer fears rejection and cannot have romantic relationships. The third category is anger-retaliatory killers. These killers planned both rape and murder.
They are extremely violence toward their victims because of their need to let out their frustrations. The victim is used as a substitution for another person who the killer deeply despite such as his / her boss, father, or mother. The death of the victim is usually caused abruptly by strangulation or shot to dead. Once the victim is dead, the killer will rape the corpse.
When the killer is done with the crime, he / she will leave a disorganized crime scene, leaving weapon behind. The anger-retaliatory killers are said to be around mid to late twenties, and have a short temper. The killers are not exactly a loner, but only maintain shallow relationships with others (Vronsky 206). If he / she does happen to have a romantic relationship, its most likely to be an abusive one. The last category is anger-excitation killers.
Many of the serial killers fall into this category. These killers again both planned to rape and to murder their victims. They are sadistic sexual killers who enjoy the tortures more than the killings. A victim of an anger-excitation killer is most likely to be a stranger who fit into the killers preference such as having long hair or wearing a certain type of shoe. Once the victim is captured, an anger-excitation killer will torture the victim, savoring the fear projected by victim. He may very calmly and matter-of-family tell the victim, I am now going to rape and torture you for three days and then I am gong to kill you slowly and painfully (Vronsky 207...
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