SERIAL KILLERS Since the 1970s media accounts o

Since the 1970s media accounts of savage and lurid serial killings and their perpetrators have generated exaggerated and distorted accounts of the extent of the threat posed by serial killers and the etiology of their crimes. Serial killers have diverse backgrounds and personal histories; however, most of them are extremely maladjusted to society and are the product of severe psychological trauma dating back to their troubled childhoods, which largely account for their bizarre conduct. This research paper presents a sociological and psychological view of serial killers.

Definition. Jenkins (1994) defined serial killings as "multiple acts of criminal homicide committed over a period of time" (p. 23). This would exclude killings committed purely for profit or for military or political reasons, such as acts of terrorism.

Popular Myths about Serial Killings. Serial killings have occurred during many eras and in many areas of the world. In early 15th century France, Gille de Rais, a young follower of Joan of Arc, murdered over time as many as 40 children whom he first sexually assaulted and ritualistically tortured. In 1888 Jack the Ripper, who was never identified or caught, terrified the population of London by cutting the throats and otherwise mutilating five female prostitutes over a period of a few months. As the homicide rate increased in the United States during the last quarter of the 20th century, a number of particularly cruel, lurid and grotesque serial killings

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what he [the killer] perceives as his social exclusion from society" (Lester, 1995, pp. 85-86). Lester said that serial killers are often "ambitious but untalented middle-class individuals who have found it difficult to achieve any measure of success" (p. 34). Some minority groups, such as blacks, gays, and feminists, regard serial killings as "a manifestation of generalized injustice and prosecution" in American society (Jenkins, p. 12). Jenkins said these groups interpreted serial murders "in a manner advantageous to their particular interests or ideological stance" (p. 13). Reactionary or conservative groups in contrast have "a general tendency toward viewing wrongdoing and deviancy as issues of personal sin and evil rather than social or economic disfunction" (p. 9). Sociological explanations. Many serial killers have interrupted socialization patterns --i.e. they reject the norms of society. This appears to be traceable to their dysfunctional family life, including cruel, indifferent or neglectful parents, alcoholism or drug use in the family, patterns of physical, sexual or emotional abuse, etc. Ressler & Schachtman said that their 25 subjects "to a man . . . were dysfunctional sexually" (103). Ressler said serial killers

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