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Serial Killers audience: anyone who likes a thriller movie thesis: define serial killing and compare and contrast several famous serial killers. A. Serial killers 1. Characteristics of serial killers a.
White, normal acting male b. Seldom is there a woman serial killer 2. what makes it serial B. Motive 1.
What drives them to do such crime a. Psychological damage b. Physical damage to the brain 2. Why they leave "signature" on crime scene a. Behaviors of a serial killer b. Sexual desire of a serial killer 3.
How profiler's of FBI get into killer's mind a. All crime has logic b. Profiling the next victim C. The old (Jack the Ripper} 1. His crime and signature a. Victims are all street prostitutes b.
Slicing and removal of internal organs c. Great knowledge of human anatomy 2. His motive a. Hatred toward woman b. Removal of sexual organs 3. Why he was never caught a.
He only works at night b. He might be wealthy and powerful D. The New{ Jeffery Dahmer} 1. His crime and signature a. His victims b. Cannibalism is his signature 2.
His motive a. Unusual serial killer b. Does not stop when the victim dies, his fantasy continues 3. How he was caught E. The elusive (zodiac killer) 1. His crime and signature a.
He picks his victims carefully b. He preannounce's his target c. Claims cracking his encrypted letter to the papers can prove his identity 2. His motive a. Enjoys the game b.
Appears to be highly intelligent 3. Why he was never caught F. conclusion I have always been very fascinated by serial killers. I love watching thriller movies and watching actors portray an intelligent being trying to hunt his next victim.
The best part is when the law officials finally figure out the killers trait and apprehend him, or sometimes the criminals outwit the cops and win. No matter what the outcome is, I am still fascinated by people who cannot stop killing other human beings. Dont get me wrong, I definitely dont enjoy the crime, but it is just a pure interest at how a human being can take away other peoples lives for pleasure. These killers are a rare breed, they often dont stop until they are caught, and they learn by experience and get better, constantly perfecting their skills from one crime to the next. In order to make the number of such monsters less we should carefully study their life stories and investigate their motives. The United States produces more serial killers than any other country.
Almost 85 % of the serial killers in the world are in America. According to an FBI Behavioral Unit study serial killing has climbed to an alarming proportion. At any given time there are estimated 20 - 50 active serial killers. Those who change their targets, methods, are often never identified or caught. Experts speculate on what happens to unsolved cases of murderers. Some may commit suicide, die, be incarcerated in mental institutions, move, or stop killing, a few turn themselves in.
From interviewing with the captured killers, experts understand there are a lot of common characteristics among the killers. Most of them come from a broken home, and they often suffer from abuse, whether verbal, physical, or sexual. They often would wet their bed at inappropriate ages, start fire, and be cruel to small animals. For the reasons unknown, almost all serial killers are male. They are somewhere in his early to mid-twenties to thirties. Almost always these serial killers think they are the victims and are out looking for justice, and in some cases, some killers are fueled by sexual fantasy that associates with killing.
In the reality a serial killer does not often look like a monster, in fact, he could just be as normal looking as you and me. Some researchers believe they are physical differences in the brain between a normal person and a serial killer, and thats what drives them to do such crimes. The neurological differences make the murderers act the way they act, or make them hallucinate. According to FBI profiler John Douglas, all crimes have a motive. No matter how chaotic a crime would seem to be, there is certain logic behind it.
The killer would often leave behind a signature, a clue why he does this. A profiler would look for patterns and get in the mind of the killer. From observations, an agent would begin to uncover the murderers motivation, the things that fulfill killer emotionally and sometimes sexually. Behavior reflects personality.
Once a profiler can understand the thought patterns of murderers, he would have a better chance of capturing the killer. Jack the Ripper is one of the names in history thats instantly recognizable. By todays standard of crime, Jack the Ripper would barely make the headlines, murdering a mere five prostitutes. But he was the first serial killer to be famed by newspaper printing.
Jack appeared at about the same time when the newspaper started to popularize, and he became a household name feared by everyone. There is almost a supernatural quality to it, he came out of the dark in heavy fog and slashed his victims to pieces. Each crime would get more and more gruesome. The final killing he did almost completely disfigured the victim. The man seemed to possess a good knowledge of the human anatomy, so that means he was an educated man. There were letters and body parts sent to newspaper and police, and that further more terrified people at that time.
He was also never caught, and that gave Jack the Ripper mysterious velour. Many people accuse the press of the fact that this killer escaped punishment. All details of his crimes and each move of the police were thoroughly reflected in the press. Reporters always intruded in the course of the investigation and in such a way distracted the police. The 'Ripper's' choice of weapon was a straight razor blade, strong enough to use as a stabbing weapon, but flexible enough to use in the many dismemberment activities that he did. This can also imply the use of some form of medicinal scalpel, and that would indicate his social status.
There were a lot of people that were suspects, but due to the limited experience of the police force, and the fact that ripper did his work at night late with conjunction of the London night fog, he was never identified and captured. One of the most disgusting behaviors of a serial killer is cannibalism, the practice of eating human. Just like in the movie Silence of the Lamb, there are serial killers in real life who are disturbed enough to eat human flesh just like Hannibal Lector in the movie, and this name is Jeffrey Dahmer. He was an American serial killer who killed at least 15 men between 1978 and 1999.
His name has since become almost a synonym for a serial killer. Most of his victims were young, homosexual black men whom Dahmer gave sexual assaults prior to murdering. He made headlines and achieved an infamous serial killer status after his arrest following the discovery of his victims' decaying bodies in acid vats in his apartment, including severed heads in his refrigerator, an altar of candles, and human skulls. Accusations soon surfaced that Dahmer had also practiced necrophilia and cannibalism, although Dahmer denied that this was a common practice. Many people were later outraged to find out that Milwaukee, Wisconsin police returned one of Dahmer's naked, dazed, bleeding, yet still alive victims, Laotian teenager Konerak Sinthasomphone, to Dahmer after Konerak was able to flee from Dahmer.
Konerak did not speak English and Dahmer told officers that Konerak was his adult homosexual lover. On July 22, 1991 with handcuffs still attached to one wrist, another man, Tracy Edwards, was able to successfully escape from Dahmer's apartment and flag down a police squad car. Police were led back to Dahmer's apartment, where the remains of eleven victims were found. After being charged with fifteen counts of murder he entered a plea of guilty but insane.
On February 17, 1992, a court sentenced Dahmer to fifteen consecutive life sentences which required a minimum of 936 years imprisonment The explanation offered by Dahmer himself for his behavior was that he was attempting to remove the free will from his victims so that they would stay with him. Dahmer had experimented with removing sections of skull and pouring various chemicals into the brain cavity to create automation compliant to his wishes and acquiescent to his sexual desires. Dahmer had a history of abandonment and feared loss and further social upheaval. It is thought that these feelings, filtered through his mental illness, created an 'internal logic' that justified his actions to himself. In another word, his mind made it alright for him to kill. He was clubbed to death by a deranged fellow inmate named Christopher Scarver at the Columbian Institute of Correction gymnasium.
Scarver stated that he was the "son of God, " and was acting out his "father's" commands to kill Dahmer and another inmate on Dahmer's work detail. One of the serial killers thats never been caught occurred right here in the bay area. The Zodiac Killer stalked Northern California in the late 1960 s and early 1970 s when he killed 5 people beginning in 1968 and claiming responsibility for 17 murders in the San Francisco area in the late 1960 s. The Zodiac killer, claimed he chose his victims based on their astrological signs. He planned his crimes very carefully and often turned them into a play in which he played the key role. After the attack on Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau on July, 4, 1969, Zodiac called the police department to brag about his crime.
It was evident that he had rehearsed his speech beforehand. From that time on he began a new stage of his career. He understood how powerful he can be with the help of mass media and began writing letters to newspapers threatening the whole society. Zodiac compulsively read about his crimes, followed news reports on the radio and television and never stopped writing his own letters to the local newspapers. From 1969 to 1971 his letters were very full anger, threats and bragging.
He described his crimes with much detail, implying that such details could be known only to the murderer, but as the time went on his claims turned from factual to unreliable and even ridiculous. But those letters still intimidated the public, though Zodiacs claims of more and more new victims were vague. The Zodiac has been profiled as a sexual sadist, a person who cannot achieve sexual fulfillment any other way than through the torture and ultimate death of another human being. According to the research of Dr. Kelleher, he may have been unpopular as a young boy and adolescent, consequently spending a good deal of time alone.
Rejection was almost certainly a significant issue for Zodiac and may lie at the heart of his urge to murder. The only victims officially attributed to the Zodiac Killer are Cheri Jo Bates, 18, killed at Riverside City College. Betty Lou Jensen, 16 on a first date with David Faraday, 17 killed while trying to escape. Darlene Ferrin, 22, and Mike Mageau, 19.
Mageau survived. Cecelia Shepard age 22 and Bryan Hartnell age 20 were tied and stabbed. Shepard died at the hospital. Hartnell survived. The last victim is Paul Stine age 29. As Dr.
Kelleher stated, from the nature of Zodiacs crimes and the content of his letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, he harbored a deep and insurmountable hatred for women, as well as unconscious fear of male power. This hints at the possibility of a chaotic and perhaps violent childhood. There is also a likelihood of a protracted period of time in Zodiacs youth when his primary male parent was absent from the family home. Though Zodiac had no higher education, he was very intelligent and could pragmatically plan each move. For more than a decade he managed to keep the society in fear and awe having found its Achilles' heel the importance of mass media in life of modern people.
No one knows if the Zodiac is still alive. The original investigators have all retired. He reminded the society of himself in April 1978 when he wrote his last letter to the Chronicle. The lives of these serial killers prove once again that childhood is one of the most important periods in the life of a person. A real personality is formed in childhood, and if a child suffers some problems in this period he / she is sure to suffer even more problems as an adult. It is extremely important for a child to have a loving and caring family in which the growing person would feel comfortable and secure.
If the family is not stable and the child feels lack of love and attention, he becomes vulnerable and as time goes by the vulnerability turns into aggressiveness. This person desperately tries to attract the attention of other people to his personality. If it is impossible to do in a legitimate way, he does not even hesitate and violates the law. By killing others such people usually revenge for their unhappy childhood, though they do not always realize their true motives.
When seeing their victims sufferings they feel themselves powerful, and in such a way attain self-confidence that they always lacked in childhood. One of the points that should be taken into consideration is the role of mass media in identification and capturing such serial killers. For many of them fame and popularity declared in all newspapers was the best tribute the society could give them. They committed most of their crimes only to make headlines. This fact should make our press think a little bit over the ways such information should be reflected in newspapers. Reporters definitely should not seek cheap sensations and intervene with the investigation.
What they should do is to adequately state facts. References: 1. Chitolie, Raymond. Lack The Ripper. The World Wide Serial Killer Homepage. 1997. 5 May 2004 < web. 2. Kelleher, Michael D.
Zodiac The Man and His Crimes 1998. 5 May 2004 < web > 3. Clark, Denise M. Jack the Rippers Victims. Crime Magazine. 15 Mar. 2002. 5 May 2004 < web > 4. Serial Killer Hit List 2004. 5 May 2004 < web > 5. Hickey, Eric W.
Serial Killers: Defining Serial Murder. From "Serial Murderers and Their Victims." 5 May 2004. < web >
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Research essay sample on Jack The Ripper Serial Killers
