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The Traits and the Thrill of Serial Killers

2015; Index Copernicus International S.A.; Volume: 7; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5604/20805268.1212110

2719-9606

Ürmösné Simon,

Crime, Deviance, and Social Control

The traits and the thrill of serial killers motto:"We are serial killers, your sons, husbands, we are everywhere."Ted Bundy The concept, and the characteristic features of serial killersA serial killer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a "cooling off" period between each murder, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification (Douglas et al, 2006).Sexual element is often involved in the killings.Macdonald has set up a triad by which he characterized the childhood of serial killers as potential psychopaths.He highlighted bedwetting, arson and torturing of animals as appalling phenomena (Innes, 2007).According to Edwin H Sutherland, crime can be acquired from our environment, therefore, childhood imprinting is substantial (Korinek, 2010).The murders may have been attempted or completed in a similar fashion and the victims may have had something in common; for example, occupation, ethnicity, appearance, sex, age group, taxi drivers, homelessness, and the social circumstances.Interestingly enough, civilians, wearing red jacket were also targets of one of the serial killers.The intruding, or the method of commitment, can also be similar.They may exhibit varying degrees of mental illness and/or psychopathy, sociopathy, which may contribute to their homicidal behaviour.They were often abused -emotionally, physically and/or sexually -by a family member.There was deficiency in their rearing: some of them were dressed like girls as being boys, neglected, or had sadistic parents (Douglas, 1998).Some of them, were taken into reformatory institution, or orphanage, lacking of parents, or the parent was a prostitute.No wonder, they are dissociative, and have identity disorder.Due to the lack of parental rearing, they have no moral values, because they could not acquire it.They cannot make a distinction between good and bad, do not have guilty conscience, therefore, reward, or punishing is ineffective for them.Subsequently, they will become fraudster, perpetrator or gambler.They were frequently bullied or socially isolated as children or adolescents, or suffered from childhood trauma.Alcoholists and mentally disordered people might have been among their family members.They were abandoned or alone in many cases in their childhood.Childhood trauma may create irreversible changes in the structure of the brain, due to which it begins to think in a diverse way (Farkas, 2015).Most of them eagerly need power, and want to show off, yet, they are incapable of achieving it in a moral way.The more they force their victim in a subordinate position by violence, the better they feel.Those who were abused in their childhood, most of them will take a revenge in their adulthood.For the reason why, some of them are narcissists, they are unable to endure failure, and they think, that they are entitled to revenge.Most of them, do not learn from their experience and mistakes, do not have self-control, and have difficulties to adapt to society (Bottyán, 2015).They are egoistic, intolerant, feel inferiority, have ambivalent feelings, and endure frustration hard.For the reason why, they feel worthless, due to childhood abuse, or