Serial Killers: To End the Trend
On the news, researchers, experts, and so-called professionals claim that violence is on a rise. While not all crimes have increased exponentially, violent crime remains a top contender in the struggles between society and its deviants. Serial killings from 1906 until 1990 have risen by nine-hundred forty percent (Ann, Ressler, and Douglas) and it doesn’t show any signs of stopping, even a decade later. What is so shocking about this number is that it is growing, despite the effectual diagnosis of more than 400 mental disorders. Despite clinical help and treatment of psychological problems, so called sociopaths continue to kill rampant and many cannot help but think, “Why is that?” Murder is a problem that has plagued humanity even from the Bible when records say that Cain killed Abel, even when history was first recorded. Serial killing is especially terrible; however unlike a regular murder, the motives behind the crime are almost mind boggling. There is a tool that has expounded this question. Behavioral profiling has used something called a Modus Operandi, or MO, and a signature. While the MO is how the criminals operate and how they act, a signature provides obsessions that a serial killer, or any serial offender for that matter, have to do as witnessed by their actions. What is especially useful about the MO is that a majority of killers perform the same way. This tool has allowed psychologists to backtrack into the criminal mind and find traits of similarity among these human predators. By using observations about past serial killers and with a little human support, it is highly probable that serial killer activity can be reduced by recognizing signs of their obsessions and, like a disorder, treat the problem.
To understand the enemy, we must first understand the topic at hand. Surely a crime of passion is different from a crime of accident or a crime committed when inhibitions are lowered due to alcohol. By the most accepted definition, Serial killing, or serial murder, as it’s commonly known, is defined as acting “In a series of five or more murders with a cool off period between each murder” (Ann, Ressler, and Douglas). The cool down is important for psychologists to delve into the minds of these psychopaths. If a killer loves the hunt, why would he have to “cool off”? The disorder that most serial killers have forces them to isolate themselves and because of this, they rely on different coping mechanisms (Anderson). While “normal” outcasts rely on things like gambling or drinking to help them survive stressful situations, serial killers rely heavily on fantasy to the point that they’re addicted. Even after they kill they use memories to fuel their fantasies day to day. Unfortunately, like a drug, the fantasies don’t satisfy the craving, and they find themselves lashing out to create new memories. The signature tells us that the criminal’s cravings mutate to become an even uglier beast than before. Serial killers even admit that the fantasies drive them. One serial murderer stated that, “I knew long before I started killing that I was going to be killing; that it was going to end up like that” (Zonderman 151). To end the threat of serial killers, citizens must be able to recognize signs of a psychopath-to-be before it is too late, but if that is the case, how can people see into the criminals’ minds?
These monsters are the inspiration for many tales of fiction and news. Only one organization is truly trying, and succeeding, to uncover the secrets behind these assassins, and that would be the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who has developed a system for discovering the motives and traits of the psychopaths using a method called behavioral profiling. The need arose for profiling when the police couldn’t detect a serial killer among a population. It is not easy to detect someone with mental irregularities. “On an everyday basis they do appear to go about their business and ordinary lives just like the rest of us” (Douglas 6). They act exactly as we do, performing jobs, going to the local library, and drinking coffee in the morning, meaning they can kill and avoid detection. They don’t feel remorse and therein is the problem. Profiling helps alleviate some anxiety when trying to find these outcasts by looking into their minds and trying to find what makes them tick. Killers have been classified into seven categories, and each has its own flaws and soft spots. The types are “visionaries, missionaries, hedonists, lust killers, thrill killers, gain killers, and power killers” (Ann, Ressler, and Douglas). While every case of these offenders is different, they have displayed many traits similar to the other fiends in the same category. For example a power killer is always seeking to control others. Because of these traits, criminologists and the police may look into the background of the offenders. Perhaps the power killer had control issues or maybe an over-dominant parent figure in their past? Because of the type of killer they are, the criminologists can then use past data to identify things to look for such as car type, possible occupation, or lesser past offences, which are all too common among that breed of murderer. Profiling is not a magic bullet against the army of violent offenders by any means. It has its limits. “Facts and statistics can be perverted when carried out by people who are not trained in criminal investigation…” (Zonderman 156). Criminal investigators maybe professionals but they are still human. Mistakes are made, especially if not all the facts are taken into consideration, however, profiling still remains a useful and promising to tool to predicting and stopping serial homicide.
Because of profiling, a certain level of diagnostic value has been given to those who study the killers mind. This has also allowed for some unique studies on the perpetrator that is a serial killer. Studies on a group of serial killers reveal different facts, or statistics, which are trends in the data. The general serial killer, or the so-called stereotype of a murderer is that seventy-six percent are in the United states, are white males eighty-four to ninety percent of the time, and their victims are usually white, eighty-nine percent of the time (Ann, Ressler, and Douglas). These statistics are rather high, so it means that in every group of homicidal sociopaths, over three-fourths of the group with fit this category. No it is important to notice that this is from the group of killers and not of regular citizens. One theorist stated, “The mere existence of common characteristics among serial killers does not constitute a distinct psychological phenomenon” (Anderson). While the above characteristics are so called “target group” for this plague, it doesn’t mean that over three-fourths of white, American men will be liable to snap. It’s a misconception. Numbers don’t lie. Only people who use them incorrectly can make inaccurate assumptions. This can be in reverse as well. When talking about prevention methods, these statistics will be brought up again. With that premise in mind, the other characteristics of common killers are as follows. Fifty percent of males had a family history of criminal behavior (Zonderman); seventy percent did alcohol with a third that used drugs (Zonderman). Seventy percent of the killers didn’t care for their father and seventy percent of them had history of psychological abuse and forty percent suffered physical and sexual abuse as well (Zonderman.)
Now all serial offenders whether serial killer, rapist, or arson is suffering from a mental problem that most normal people have from time to time (Douglas). Fantasy and daydreaming are things that everybody experiences to some extent. Whenever a person thinks of an ideal situation, that person is fantasizing. There are two reasons why a serial killer’s fantasies are so negative. The first reason is that the fantasies of a sociopath are of a considerable darker level than most people, elevating to beatings, rapes, shootings, stabbings, elements of romantic domination, and other such terrible elements that would make most normal people cringe. The main aspects of these fantasies are dominance, manipulation, and control (Douglas). May it also be stated that “Parallels between the ways that profilers analyze the behavior of the rapist and the killer are apparent” (Zonderman). The reason why this is important is that is supports the idea that they operate in promiscuous ways as part of that fantasy. “Sexual undertones in the murder have been noted by many researchers” (Anderson). The second reason why such fantasies are dangerous is because they are constant. Even antisocial killer, Theodore “Ted” Bundy, admitted that these fantasies are highly pervasive in everyday life. He said that he was afflicted “constantly with this “fantasy” into the realm of actually performing some of the things he thought about (Dobson). He was nurturing the fire with more mental kindle, so to speak. The fantasy is just an idea, however. Most people have occasional bad thoughts from time to time, but it is acting on these thoughts that separate rowdy teenagers, who love violent television, from Columbine shooters. This is because unlike the next serial killer, normal citizens aren’t addicted to their fantasy world of dark domination.
Now addiction is another key word in defining these predators. This is not to relieve killers from their terrible crimes. It is more for understanding their drastic and terrible behavior. Addiction is almost a common term to hear. It is often associated with drugs, alcohol, and gambling, which from the earlier statistics are common among serial killers already (Zonderman). Now killing is a little bit of a stretch when thinking about the differences between drinking too much alcohol and ending another human’s life, correct? Surprisingly, the characteristics of addictions are similar between physical things, like smoking, and actions, like drinking or killing (Anderson). The serial killer uses fantasy as a coping mechanism for the stress of every day life like an alcoholic turns to whiskey for his problems (Anderson). So in a sense the serial killer is more like a person with anger issues when thinking about it. Why would anyone need a coping mechanism? This is because their lives are stressful, and instead of venting their anger in constructive hobbies like exercise, charity, or writing poetry, as some stressed people do, they kill. In a sense, if they had therapy, than doesn’t that mean that possibly, like an anger management problem, a therapist could give a killer, someone with lowered inhibitions or lack of morals to something more constructive? Unless they do that they will rely on their fantasy to stay “sane” and will attempt to lead semi-normal stressful lives. Going back to that “cool-off” period from earlier, it has been said that “He (a serial offender) may take personal items such as drivers’ license, lingerie, or a photo of the victim, to remind him of the offense and help him in fantasizing about the next attack” (Zonderman.161). He doesn’t want to forget the crime. This correlates with addiction. A smoker might find it comforting to have a cigarette in this house when trying to quit, but like that the serial killer always tries to keep little tokens of his successful murders to keep him mentally occupied as to prevent his anxiety and stress. Just like the off-the-wagon drinkers, a murderer recidivates to his crime because of the addiction and, “So strong is the compulsion that the serial killer murders to preserve the addiction, in essence preserving his only remaining coping mechanism” (Anderson). These men are pitiful outcasts indeed, and it shows the recipe for disaster. A person with low standards plus stress and a target during a large fit of rage equals a violent criminal. While this is not always the case, It happens gradually, in steps” (Dobson).
There are two serial killers that have come from different backgrounds, but have a very similar hobby. This hobby is serial sexual homicide, and although carried out differently, traits have been examined that have matched in both categories. The two killers are Ted Bundy; the demon from earlier that had described the addiction that had took hold of him, and Jesse Pomeroy. Jesse is the youngest serial killer in United States history. Now when Jesse was sentenced as the killer, serial killers did not need five kills, but he had been a repeat offender of torture, mutilation and committed more than two murders. These men were both lust killers and took advantage of their intelligence to lure young targets into their traps. They also are examples of how “The serial killer feels more aggression than the average child (Anderson). During these two case files, notice how they were raised and how the people around them noticed nothing of their homicidal nature.
The first offender is one that people can look at and question, how nobody could have investigated him. Jesse Pomeroy is labeled: America’s youngest serial killer. He murdered a pair of children, possibly killed an adult, and tortured countless boys (Schechter).Though his story is better told through his biography, written by Harold Schechter, there are many warning signs before his killing phase, and even his torturing phase. Remember how over seventy percent of serial killers had some form of abuse in their childhood? Well, His drunkard of a father was never kind to Jesse. He even went to the extreme of “stripped off all his clothes and flogged him unmercifully” (Schechter 22). As it turns out, in almost a bout of psychoanalytic projection, this is exactly how he started his hobby of torturing boys. First though, there were signs among signs that suggested his conscious mind was more than dark. His mother “Found the two canaries she had recently purchased, on the bottom of the cage, their heads twisted off their bodies” (Schechter 23). Also “He was sent home for sneaking up on children and making faces. He had made his teacher at Winthrop grammar school…angry by tossing a firecracker into a group of little boys” (Schechter 23). This was all before he actually began torturing boys or killing humans. However, it is very interesting that he did not just kill. He tortured kids and killed animals first. He progressed his killings. He actually just progressed and his modus operandi became more efficient and his signature changed to suit his fantasies.
This is now the point in young Jesse’s life where he begins torturing young boys. Interestingly enough his torturing style was very similar to that of his father’s beatings. In fact, this quote showed how infatuated Jesse was with this pain and torment. “Though the floggings he had gotten from his father hurt worse than anything he had ever felt in his life, Jesse couldn’t stop thinking about them. He kept replaying them in his mind, almost as if he took pleasure…” (Schechter 34). Later he got pleasure from those same beatings. This time however, it was the beatings of a small child that he performed, almost as if to assure his dominance. He undressed a kid, threatened him and forced him to swear. “Hearing these profanities seemed to make the boy more excited. He began to breathe very hard and fiddle with himself through his coveralls” (Schechter 17). This gives more credit to the theory that he was a sexual sadist. Now his mother had to move after a rough patch in her life. Before they moved the newspapers were filled with examples of his work and after they moved, the new city had just as many such newspaper headings as the previous town, only these only began to occur after they had arrived to the new town. Now most people have questioned the mother as being incompetent, after all she herself had found the mutilated birds at the bottom of the cage. But this is true of many serial killers. I recall a hearing of the killer John Wayne Gacy, the killer clown, as having a wife who also didn’t know of the treachery. This is due to a bias that people have with people they love. Pomeroy’s mother, “Could not help feeling protective of Jesse”. After all she was his little boy and boys teased him all the time because of his funny eye. (Schechter 23)
Continuing the story of the young man, he became highly efficient with his kidnapping abilities. He would lure young boys into his web with promises to meet soldiers and then he would torture them. Sometimes he would use weapons like pins and knives, and sometimes he would just pummel them (Schechter). There were signs of his alter-ego. It would have made him a much more likely suspect if this had been noticed by more people.”With his eyes cast down, sticking his knife into the sod, absently…” (Schechter 33). It was also apparent in his life. When young boys would play cops and robbers, Jesse was always a robber and interesting “was his preference for the villainous roles” (Schechter 33) Also; he would have fun with the prisoners of war, describing all the ways he would torture and kill his victims (Schechter 33). He shows all the signs of a killer to be as discussed later, and he has a lack of remorse. In fact, He even tried to torture an older boy, who didn’t get a good look at him. When the boy was recounting his experience, Jesse smirked in front of them. He not only didn’t have guilt, he enjoyed their pain. He wasn’t the only one.
The second killer that had a violent fetish, even into his youth, that had fueled his bad behavior. He was interviewed just a day before his death and had much to say about his development as a killer. Even before his days a Ted Bundy the serial killer, he was Theodore Bundy the child. Some of this darkness was illustrated by John Douglas, a professional FBI profiler, who wrote, “There were other warnings that things were not all okay with the youngster.” (Douglas 375) He had placed knives in his female family members’ bed at the age of three. (Douglas 375). Also his behavior in school was less than ideal. “Several times Louise and John received notes from teachers about the boy’s fierce temper” (Douglas 375). These were more warning sides; however, these are common in the prospect of most anti-social personalities. Bundy himself had a suggestion for how he became such a monster. He said that the reason that he in particular was heavily influenced by the media and the evils of pornography (Dobson). So strong was his conviction that he said that there were others like him and said, “Dangerous impulses are being fueled, day in and day out, by violence in the media in its various forms.”
Bundy had been interview right before his death by a man named James Dobson. There Bundy talked about his descent into violence in stages. He started off by telling James that as a child, he was raised by good parents, in a good home, and in a good community. Then what could have turned his behavior? The explanation was that as a boy he was exposed to pornography. He started on something he called “soft-core” pornography by soon became more accustomed to a “more violent…damaging…pornography that brings about behavior that is just too terrible to describe” (Dobson). When he said this he was referring to fantasy, murder based pornography such as dark sleuth-type magazines James asked if the filthy magazines were the singular reason for his murderous rampages. Bundy thought for a little while as offered this as a response: “This kind of literature contributed to and crystallized this behavior” (Dobson) Then he begins to recall how this was an addiction. He said that there was a point that he constantly wondered if doing some of the violence would be more intriguing than watching it” (Dobson). This terrible addiction mixed with alcohol and drugs brought about, “Certain violent feelings I (Ted Bundy) began to act out” Dobson. With lowered inhibition, an anti-social personality, and mind-altering substances, we see that Ted was reared from a nice Christian family to the electric chair.
The target groups have been identified, but there millions of Americans that fit the description of white male. How can the search be refined? The FBI, in all their profiling ability had a similar study done. After the Columbine shootings and various other measures of school violence, the FBI studied targeted schools and made a report over 50 pages in length to identify and handle violent threats (O’Toole). The report in detail identified common, easy-to-spot, traits that fit students that have a disposition for violent behavior. Stopping it now could prevent it from escalating. Some of the traits include violent “leakage”, or expressions of their hostility in forms of drawings, words, or poems that they write, Low tolerance for frustration, lack of resiliency, failed love relationships, feels injustice, depressed, narcissistic behavior, alienation, exaggerated need for attention, dehumanization, lack of empathy, sense of entitlement, and many, many other such traits. (O’Toole). Notice the similarities between these traits and those exhibited among young Jesse Pomeroy. He was always absent-mindedly fantasizing, alienating himself, and in their childhood Indian games, leaked his violent tendency for torture (Schechter). A professional FBI profiler by the name of John Douglas pointed out that, “All of the came from abusive…backgrounds, but that doesn’t explain or excuse what they do” (Douglas). He noticed a reoccurring trend of circulating violence in family units of serial killers that he had to hunt. Another known statistic that backs up this thought is that “seventy-two percent report a lack of attachment to and no positive image of, their fathers…” (Anderson). Friends should be wary of kids who display an interest in violence, has family issues, has some form of personality problem, isolates themselves, subverts responsibility, and has a sense that there is some injustice against them. For example, they might complain that they are always persecuted by a classmate or their teacher “hates” them. Now the common response to most people is to stay away from these individuals. There are two problems with this methodology. The first being, this is one of the traits that help contribute to them becoming a killer. Second, if they do end up becoming violent no individual will see it coming.
Now that most people reading can look for identifying characteristics of the violence predisposed, what is the most effective measure to stop the individual? While hostility and anger is one approach, it tends to make the situation worse. The only true way to stop a fire is to take away the ingredients that make them. Talking about serial killing one theorist said, “It continues to substitute for real feelings of control, and also comes to compensate for feelings of low self esteem, and feelings of general failure” (Anderson). Isolation, violent hobbies, including pornography as Ted Bundy points out (Dobson); alcohol and drugs, feelings of injustice, and other such fire starters can be stopped with one beautiful word. To stop their addiction before it starts, it would be good to have a pre-emptive intervention. Now this statement isn’t referring to having a room full of people saying how that individual has hurt them. Small gestures and acts of friendships towards the afflicted killer-to-be will allow them to have other coping mechanisms more than persecuting their hobbies. It’s been said that the progression of a killer “Happened in stages, gradually…” (Dobson). If help is given to the subject before they progress too far down the line, good, tender loving care can bring the personalization to the people who depersonalize and bring them back to society, before it is too late for them.
Serial killing is a disorder that has been fed by isolation, fantasy, and stress. It is highly likely that by recognizing the signs of their dangerous obsessions, average citizens can stop a serial killer more effectively than the police or the FBI. No matter what the situation, it is better for these antisocial kids to get treatment before they solidify their hatred of humanity and begin to act upon it. There might be tools to catch the killer like statistics, profiling and insights in their interests which allow cops to find the killers after they’ve killed. We saw how Ted Bundy and Jesse Pomeroy were very obviously disturbed children that should have had help before they began their career and we’ve heard of Bundy’s fatal interview that has help researchers understand his transitions between humble beginnings into a creature with no control of his own violent thoughts. Finally, we’ve seen how to identify possibly violent offenders before they commit there first crime and we have a theoretical approach to stop the killings before they begin. Now truly ponder this question. Which has more winners, a persecuted child who kills someone and invokes the wrath of the federal courts, or the same child that, through the love and support of his family, becomes a successful judge in the court system? These are extreme examples, but serial murder has been increasing recently and it would be better if we as a humanitarian community could reach out to these individuals. Sure, the kid down the hall is strange, and no one can quite relate to Sally next door, but not trying to at least say hello and scorning them for saying anything could end up costing you and your friends’ lives when that person finally snaps. People can only stand so much stress in their daily lives. Do you really want to contribute to making a homicidal murderer?
Works Cited
Anderson, Jeremy. “Genesis Of A Serial Killer: Fantasy’s Integral Role in the Creation of a Monster.” Angelar. May 1993. Luther College. 26 Jan. 2010.
Burgess, Douglas, and Ressler. “Common Childhood Traits among Known Serial Killers”. Serial Killers Exposed. 26 Feb, 2010.
Dobson, James. “Fatal Addiction: Ted Bundy’s Final Interview.” Focus On The Family Daily. 22 Jan. 2009. Family Media Center. 13 Feb. 2010.
Douglas, John. Obsession: The FBI’s Legendary Profiler Profiles The Psyches Of Killers, Rapists, and Stalkers, And Their Victims Tells How To Fight Back. New York, NY: Pocket Books, 1998
O’Toole, Mary Ellen. “The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective.” FBI. 26 Feb, 2010.
Schechter, Harold. Fiend: The Shocking True Story of America’s Youngest Serial Killer. New York, NY: Pocket Books, 2000
Zonderman, Jon. Beyond the Crime Lab: The New Science of Investigation. New York, NY: Pocket Books, 1990
