Related Papers
Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
Mass, serial and sensational homicides: the investigative perspective
1986 •
Vernon Geberth
Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
‘Mass, Serial and Sensational Homicides’
Park Dietz
2006 •
Alexandra Warwick
The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology
Female serial killers in the United States: means, motives, and makings
2015 •
Thomas Bowers, Claire Flaherty
Criminal Justice and Behavior
An Empirical Test of Holmes and Holmes’s Serial Murder Typology
2004 •
Natalia Canter
Social & Legal Studies
The Scene of the Crime: Inventing the Serial Killer
2006 •
Alexandra Warwick
This article examines the meanings of the crime scene in serial killings, and the tensions between the real and the imagined in the circulation of those meanings. Starting with the Whitechapel Murders of 1888 it argues that they, as well as forming an origin for the construction of the identity of ‘the serial killer’, initiate certain ideas about the relationship of subjects to spaces and the existence of the self in the modern urban landscape. It suggests that these ideas come to play an integral part in the contemporary discourse of serial killing, both in the popular imagination and in professional analysis. Examining the Whitechapel Murders, more recent cases and modern profiling techniques, it argues that popular and professional representations of crime scenes reveal more of social anxieties about the nature of the public and the private than they do about serial killers. It suggests that ‘the serial killer’ is not a coherent type, but an invention produced from the confusions...
Serial Killers; A Homicide Detective's Perspective
2004 •
nelson andreu
ABSTRACT People who kill strangers all have their own macabre reasons for their acts. There is much to learn from those who are willing to divulge their reasons, and sometimes from the acts of those who don’t. Lieutenant Nelson Andreu retired from the Miami Police Department in 2002 where during his tenure as a detective, he investigated six serial murder cases. In this article he first attempts to track similarities among people who kill strangers and then presents how the six cases he investigated may or may not have conformed to these generalities. Five generalities are discussed based on a consensus of the majority of criminal profilers, based on actual cases investigated: (1) common knowledge, (2) genesis of a serial killer, (3) victim selection, (4) victim objectification, and (5) denouement. A summary of these generalities begins with that most, although not all, serial killers begin their lives as petty criminals. They frequently suffer from low self-esteem, often complicated by some type of sexual dysfunction. Many were victims of sexual abuse or raised in a violent household. Generally, serial killers select their victims based on certain physical and/or personal characteristics. When a serial killer begins their hunt for human prey, it is almost always true that they know absolutely nothing about the person who is to become their victim. Lastly, once a serial killer is in possession of a living victim and has the victim where he/she feels safe enough to act out his/her fantasies, the acts are often performed as if on “autopilot.” The killer’s acts appear to be a close reenactment of what they previously did in his/her imagination.
The Social Construction of Serial Murder. A Philosophical Critique
Andreas Wilmes
Since the publication of Philip Jenkins’s essay The Social Construction of Serial Homicide (1994), it is now widely acknowledged that serial murder shall be considered as an ill-founded criminological category mainly maintained by statistical errors, political strategies and ideological interests. Moreover, recent critiques of the FBI profiling methods (Muller 2000; Canter & Youngs, 2009) put into question the idea of tailored investigation techniques with respect to serial homicide. Last but not least, psychiatrists disagree on whether or not serial killers shall be qualified as a homogeneous group from a psychopathological or psychodynamic perspective. The aim of this contribution is to introduce a philosophical critique of this commonly accepted constructivist approach of serial homicide. Our study will start with some epistemological considerations on criminological classifications and investigation techniques. This will not only help us to clarify the methodological flaws in social constructionism essays (Caputi, 1987; Cameron & Frazer, 1987; Seltzer, 1998; Tithecott, 1998), but also enable us to refine our domain of inquiry with more specific guidelines. Secondly, aided by the works of Ian Hacking (1998; 2000; 2002), we will question the philosophical implications of the social construction of serial murder. Eventually, we will vindicate an anthropological approach for prospective researches on serial murder. In brief, we would like to establish two claims: (1) in the United States, serial murder was experienced as a nightmarish episode of the sexual revolution; (2) on a cross historical and cultural level, serial murder has to be described as a sacrificial practice—that is as a type of crime tying violence to the sacred.
The British Criminology Conferences: …
British serial killing: Towards a structural explanation
1999 •
Chris Grover
Murderous Nation: A Review of Randolph Roth's 'American Homicide
2010 •
William Trollinger