final exam study guide
Demographics of female serial killers
average age = 39 average age apprehension = 44 average span of offender killing = 6 total number of victims = 65-81 span of offender killing = 1952-2013 few are found to have criminal histories black women seldom engage in serial murder 95% of all serial killers were white as of 2011 murder more family members than strangers, but since 1975 there has been an increase in killing strangers ¡Biographical data on female serial murderers indicate several instances of broken homes, displaced children, and other emotionally traumatic experiences. ¡Female multiple murderers generally do not appear to have experienced more traumas as children than other criminals, or perhaps even non-criminals.
Herb Baumeister (pg. 372)
typified the jekyll-hyde personality cycles known for being an entrepreneurand generous in his gifts to charities appeared normal killed 20 or more gay men son came upon remains of victims
Occupations of female serial killers
unemployed 8% unskilled 10% semiskilled 15% skilled 5% professional 11% other 11% unknown 40%
Mobility of female serial offenders
"quiet killers" invisible to public view and can kill over many years without detection Place specific = common among female offenders, repeatedly murdered their victims in the same location; nursing homes, hospitals, and private homes 1/3 were identified as place specific females identified as place specific were responsible for nearly half of all murders committed by female offenders
Demographics of abducted children and risk for murder
According to the U.S. Dept. of Justice, by 2011: ¡797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year period of time studied, resulting in an average of 2,185 children being reported missing each day. ¡203,900 children were the victims of family abductions. ¡58,200 children were the victims of nonfamily abductions. ¡115 children were the victims of "stereotypical" kidnapping, where someone the child does not know or of slight acquaintance holds the child overnight or transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently.
Motivations of female serial killers
1981-1983 = 42% killed for money 73% were motivated partially by money, 26% murdered only for money less likely now to kill because of abuse compared to in the past
current fbi mission
As an intelligence-driven and a threat-focused national security organization with both intelligence and law enforcement responsibilities, the mission of the FBI is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners.
German serial killers-length of killing and characteristics, distance traveled, taking trophies, sexual behavior
Harbort Study: ¡The typical killer possessed minimal to average intelligence ¡Emotionally void ¡Have histories of criminal behavior ¡Abusive childhoods marked by rejection, alcoholism, and violence ¡Many of the offenders were found with various brain abnormalities ¡Usually do not rearrange the crime scene ¡Rarely leave behind signatures ¡Seldom take gruesome trophies ¡Usually do not travel widely to find victims ¡The higher the intelligence level of the offender, the faster the arrest of the killer
Keppel's solvability factors
Keppel found the most important solvability factors involved in serial murder investigations to be: ¡Quality of police interviews with eyewitnesses ¡Circumstances that led to the initial stop of the murderer ¡Circumstances that established probable cause to search and seize physical evidence ¡Quality of the investigations at the crime scene(s) ¡Quality of the scientific analysis of the physical evidence
Four crime phases of murderer behavior
Four "crime phases" of a murderer's behavior (McCrary): ¡Antecedent: Was the killer involved in fantasy about killing, simply planning to kill, or both? Was the act spontaneous or did the murderer have a plan, including a designated day and time? ¡Method and manner: What type of victim or victims did the murderer choose and what method was used to kill, such as poisoning, shooting, stabbing, beating, drowning, strangulation? ¡Body disposal: Did the murder(s) and body disposal occur in the same location? ¡Post-offense behavior: Is the killer using the media to insert himself into the investigation? Does the killer make contact with investigators?
Rational choice, routine activity, crime pattern, and life-course theories of serial murder
Rossmo and Proulx (2007) examined rational choice in the hunting process of 69 convicted serial sex offenders. From the accounts of the offenders a descriptive model was created containing nine phases: offender and victim routine activities, victim selection, transportation of the victim to crime site, choice of hunting ground, attack location, method of approach, method to commit crime, crime location choice, and the victim release location. ¡Crimes are more likely to occur closer to an offender's domicile and the farther away he or she travels from home base the fewer crimes he or she will commit. ¡Serial predators prefer to operate within comfort zones, and experience a distance decay function as they leave that comfort zone. ¡Serial predators usually create a buffer zone between their crimes and their residence.
Anders Breivik (pg.377)
diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic believed to be delusional when he bombed government office buildings in osio norway; killed 8 traveled to the island of otoya where he attacked a labor party youth summer camp; killed 69 advocated expulsion of all muslims from norway antifeminist rebellious underwent cosmetic surgery to look like Aryan set up a geofarm to produce vegetables, used it as a coverup found my psychiatrists to be psychotic, displaying no empathy for his victims or others Knights Templar, used in rhetoric of extreme right wing groups
Colonel Russell Williams (pg.389)
epitome of a military man commanded the largest air base in Canada married to Mary Elizabeth Harriman on track to be promoted to general began as voyeur at night; stripped and masturbated infront of victim homes acted out fetishes for panties and lingerie targeted girls as young as 9 and young adult women then he committed hot burglaries, which then lead to brutal rapes
Christine Falling (pg,328)
highschool drop out with vocab of a sixth grader obese, epileptic, intellectually stifled born into an unstable family christine and her sister were adopted by a couple named Falling had been known to torture animals by age 9 described as compulsive liar and thief brunt of peer's jokes at 12, she married a man in his 20s began to babysit, loved children no one knew her methods for silencing children cassidy muffin johnson was the first victim, 2 years old smothered them in their sleep was given life sentence
Psychological autopsy
investigators apply nonscientific information to explain the motivations of a person or group engaged in suicide pacts or difficult-to-explain deaths. Dr. Edwin Schneidman (Litman et al. 1963) describes psychological autopsies as "a reconstruction of the motivations, philosophy, psychodynamics, and existential crises of the decedent."
Nannie Doss "Giggling Grandma" (pg.320)
laughed and smiled while admitting to killing four of her five husbands Charles Bragg escaped; felt that nannie didn't murder because he had no insurance Robert F. Harrelson was murdered by putting rat poison with arsenic into his corn whiskey she told police he was an awful drunkard and decided to teach him a lesson Arlie J. Lanning was poisoned because he was "running around with other women" Richard Morton was murdered by arsenic collected 5 insurance policies "searching for the perfect mate" killed four husbands, her mother, two sisters, two children, one grandson, and one nephew sentenced to life in prison
sexual component to female serial murder
less likely to have sexual component compared to males
Motivations of female and male serial killers who kill children
males = sexual gratification females= finance both sometimes derived enjoyment 21%
Aileen Wuornos (pg.316)
not the first serial killer after being linked to killing seven men with a gun, she was quickly labeled the nation's first female serial killer arrested near Daytona beach florida drifter= lived out of a suitcase and sleeping wherever possible connected to seven men along the highway born in Oakland county Michigan in 1965 to a 16-year-old girl and a 19-year-old handyman abandoned by her mother at 6 months, adopted by grandparents at 10 months learned about her real parents in school earned money from prostitution and panhandling, dropped out of school in the 9th grade six suicide attempts by age 22 claims to have killed only men who attacked her several victims were found nude and were robbed and shot sought men with more expensive cars portrayed herself as dominant and aggressive
John Wayne Gacy (pg. 370)
the killer clown could never get approval from father despite efforts made accidentally struck by a swing in the head as a kid experienced blackouts until blood clot was diagnosed dropped out of high school his senior year gacy talked about his experience in the military despite never being in the military grand jury indicted gacy for handcuffing an employee and trying to sodomize him arrested for picking up a teenager and attempting to force the youth to engage in sex bisexual dressed up as pogo the clown and performing at children's parties and at hospitals crawl space at home held young males whom he had sexually tortured to death some victims had worked for gacy others were male prostitutes convinced them to participate in a handcuff trick, then would chloroform and sodomize them burried 29 victims in the crawl space confessed five itmes and then recanted it, saying other people mustve put the bodies there 1980, sentenced to death by electric chair
Crime Scene profiling
¡Also referred to as criminal investigation analysis, this form of profiling is based on the FBI model developed by its Behavioral Science Unit. ¡Investigators focus on crime scene descriptions, photographs, offender behavior before and after the criminal act(s), traffic patterns, physical evidence, and victim information and place less credence on psychological data.
What is included in geographic profiles?
¡Also referred to as spatial mapping, this technique combines geography and environmental criminology to connect crime scenes to offender habitats and hunting grounds. ¡Such profiling is empirically based and has not placed much value on motivation or personality. ¡It does help law enforcement personnel in deciding where to begin knocking on doors and setting up stakeouts.
Reasons for failure in criminal investigations
¡Cognitive biases, such as tunnel vision, that can facilitate errors in reasoning. ¡Organizational traps, such as groupthink, to which investigators sometimes succumb as a function of working in their agencies. ¡Probability errors, such as the "prosecutor's fallacy" where an assumption that the odds of a statistical event points strongly to the odds of a defendant being guilty. issues when interviewing serial killers ¡Maintaining objectivity ¡Acknowledge their perspectives ¡Recognizing that asking the "right" questions is more important than finding quick answers
Muti in South Africa
¡Four types of criminal mutilation based upon motive in South Africa: §defensive mutilation §aggressive mutilation §offensive mutilation §necromanic mutilation ¡For centuries muti murder has been a distinctive part of African cultural beliefs. ¡The word muti is a Zulu word that means medicine and when used in the context of murder implies the intentional gathering of body parts for use in traditional African medicine. ¡Muti murders are not ritual murders per se in the sense of a sacrifice. ¡Human body parts removed from persons while still alive are considered to be exceptionally powerful for making strong muti. ¡There are usually four role players involved in muti murder: §Client §Traditional healers/witches §Murderer §Victim
Rossmo's offender styles
¡Hunter — Identifies a specific victim in his home area. ¡Poacher — Prefers to travel away from home area for hunting victims. ¡Troller — An opportunistic killer, he attacks victims while carrying out his regular activities. Trapper — A spider-and-fly scenario in which an offender enjoys laying a trap for a victim
Paraphilia profiling
¡Involves the identification of various forms of paraphilia engaged in by the sexual offender or sexual predator. ¡Critical to the understanding of paraphilia is the role of relational paraphilic attachment (RPA) and how offenders explore their attachments through fantasy and behavior with their victims. ¡Sex crime scenes are often replete with evidence of paraphilic behavior.
Offender profiling
¡Law enforcement agencies collect data, often using case studies or anecdotal information, which then are transformed into general descriptions of the types of persons most commonly associated with a certain type of criminal activity. ¡David Canter and S. Hodge along with Gabriella Salfati (1999) from England made significant progress in elevating offender profiling from a street-level operation to a sophisticated approach to criminal investigation. ¡An excellent resource is the text Behavioural Analysis of Crime: Studies in David Canter's Investigative Psychology edited by Dr. Youngs (2013).
Rate of serial murder in Japan
¡Lust murder continues to be very rare in Japan and sex crimes in general have been decreasing for decades. ¡A small but steady number of serial killers continues to emerge even in Japanese culture. ¡Offenders in this study killed an average of 12 victims per case, similar to cases in the U.S. ¡Females comprised about 18% of Japanese serial killers. ¡In one case, a 41-year-old woman was arrested for suffocating her nine newborn babies over a 10-year period. A search of her apartment revealed nine mummified infants stored in plastic boxes. ¡Americans were more likely to kill alone than Japanese offenders. ¡About 44% of offenders had at least one accomplice compared to only 26% found in the United States. ¡Male offenders overall (60%) preferred to strangle or asphyxiate their victims, compared to 35% of offenders in the U.S. ¡American offenders were at least five times more likely to use firearms to carry out their murders.
Major issues in managing major cases
¡Media impact—Long-term media coverage creates immense pressure on law enforcement efforts. Police must nevertheless establish an acceptable working relationship with the press. ¡Management of departmental resources—Who will take charge of the investigation and maintain a coordinated flow of command? ¡Multiagency jurisdiction—Coordinated investigations, reporting, and expenditure of resources need to be addressed. ¡Unusual complexity of the case—Numerous victims, locations, and modes of death can create problems in sorting out evidence, investigative leads, and so on.
Key issues to explore in global serial murder
¡Multiple homicides occur throughout the world. ¡We are more likely to learn of mass murders in other countries that produce high body counts than in cases of serial murder(there are some exceptions) with only a few deaths. Three key issues surface as we explore serial murder from a global perspective: ¡Serial murder is defined or viewed differently in other cultures. ¡Cultural differences influence the methods and motives for serial murder. ¡Serial-murderer profiles constructed in the United States are often contradicted by profiles created by law enforcement agencies in other countries.
Victim profiling
¡Profilers identify the personality and behavioral characteristics of crime victims who tend to fall prey to certain types of offenders. ¡Information can be gathered through personal records; interviews with witnesses, victims, family, and friends; crime scene examination; and autopsies. ¡Black offenders were noticeably over-represented in the study population. Whites were most likely to kill intra-racially across all four age groups: children, adolescent, adult and elderly. Blacks, however, killed both intra-racially and inter-racially. For blacks, inter-racial killing increased with age of the victim.
Psychological profiling
¡Profilers match the personality characteristics of a certain type of offender with those of a suspect . ¡Investigators use batteries of interviews and testing to establish their base of information. ¡Experts are frequently called on to predict future behavior of offenders including pedophiles, child molesters, rapists, and other sexual deviants.
Public response to female serial killers
¡Public perception of violence may play an important role in our treatment of female offenders. ¡Compared with male offenders, female serial killers in this study appeared to have been preferentially treated by the media and the criminal justice system. ¡Women offenders are far more likely to have been confined to mental institutions than men for their multiple homicides.
Classification of murdered children/missing and murdered children typologies
¡Runaways — Children who voluntarily leave home without parental/guardian permission.; greatest percentage found alive ¡Parental abductions — Children abducted by the noncustodial parent or the parent who does not have legal guardianship.; 3/10 ever see the other parent again and physical and sexual abuse is common ¡Relative abductions — Children abducted by a relative, such as an uncle, aunt, or in-law who takes a child from the parent or legal guardian.; 1/4 had been murdered ¡Discarded children — Children who are forced to leave their homes by parents or guardians who reject them. ¡Disposable children — Children who are murdered by their parent(s) or legal guardians. ¡Stranger abductions — Children who are taken by persons who are strangers to the victim and the victim's family.; the greatest percentage of children found dead ¡Abbreviated abductions — Children who are abducted for a short period of time (minutes or hours) and then released. These children may never be recorded in police records. ¡Aborted abductions — Children who manage to escape the attempted Kidnapping. ¡The percentages of male children being murdered in the U.S. in all age categories, with the exception of the 15-19 group, are similar to those of female children in respective age groupings. §Nearly 75% of child abduction murder victims are killed within two to three hours of being abducted. ¡Approximately 20% of all girls and 10% of all boys in the United States will be sexually victimized before reaching adulthood. ¡For male serial killers the primary motive reported for the killing of children was sexual gratification. ¡Female serial offenders were much more likely to kill children for financial reasons. ¡Since 1984, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has assisted law-enforcement with the recovery of more than 200,000 missing-child cases. The NCMEC have a recovery rate of 97% as of 2014. parental and relative abductions account for nearly half of all missing children reported to the agency risk of a child being abducted by a stranger is much lower than previous estimates
Gorby study (Russia) on gender and killing methods vs. US patterns
¡Since the collapse of the Soviet empire and greater globalization, Russia has been much more forthcoming regarding their new cases of serial murder. ¡The horrific case of Andrei Chikatilo is an excellent example of what can happen when the press and law enforcement officials are silent. ¡Since 1900, the percentage of European serial murder cases has decreased steadily, while just the opposite is occurring in non-European countries. ¡Females comprised about 25% of serial killers, whereas in the United States, only 15% of offenders are females. §They mostly used poisons or withheld medical assistance. A few others strangled their victims, but in only one case was a gun used or a victim bludgeoned to death. data set of 300 serial killers representing 241 cases of serial murder (pg 395)
Team killers compared in US and other countries
¡Team killers, or those who killed with accomplices, appear to be much more common in the United States than in other countries. §However, team killers in other countries appear to kill twice as many victims each as their U.S. counterparts. ¡U.S. killers appear to be much more mobile and travel more than foreign offenders do; those in other countries are much more likely to be classified as "local" killers. ¡In the majority of cases, both U.S. and foreign offenders were strangers to their victims. ¡Americans sometimes use guns to kill or torture their victims; however, foreign offenders appear to rarely use firearms. ¡Team killers and solo killers, regardless of whether they were American or foreign, murdered approximately the same percentages of all victims.
Sexual orientation and serial murder
¡There is fallacy in suggesting that homosexual serial murders are more bizarre than heterosexual serial killing. Serial murder is, by its very nature, obscene. ¡The homosexual serial murders by Dahmer, Gacy, Baumeister, and Kraft are equally rivaled by the heterosexual savagery of Bundy, Kemper, Robinson, and DeSalvo.
Traveling killers and their victims (mobility typologies)
¡Traveling ~ Those who kill while traveling through or relocating to other areas in the United States. ¡Local ~ Killers who remain within a certain state or urbanized area to seek out victims. ¡Place-Specific ~ Those who murder within their own homes, places of employment, or institutions.
Hickey's recommendation for best response to reduce serial murder
¡We must remember that children may often forget what we, as adults, say or do to them, but children never forget how we make them feel. ¡We must realize that reducing violence in the home appears to be the most significant action we can take to affect the circle of violence outside our homes. A Depravity Standard may help us determine more appropriate responses to crimes.
Factors in victim selection
¡We run a greater risk of being a victim of domestic homicide and an even greater risk of being a victim of other violent crimes than we do of dying at the hands of a serial killer. ¡Serial murderers usually have distinctive victim-selection criteria, motivations, and often sexual interests that set them apart from other types of killers. ¡Thus, many people, because of their routine activities, employment, socioeconomic status, education, where they live, and other social indices, will have varying probabilities of being targeted by serial murderers. While we do see a number of outliers who kill many victims, serial offenders currently kill, on average, 3.2 - 4.4 victims per offender (N=701 offenders). ¡A need exists to focus research efforts on examining victim-offender relationships. ¡One factor that influences victim selection is the degree of power and control the offender is able to exert. §Serial killers rarely seek out those who are as physically or intellectually capable as themselves. ¡Young women, especially when they are alone, and children, tend to be the primary targets of serial killers. ¡In recent years the number of hospital patients and those in residential care who become prey to sexual predators and serial killers has been increasing. ¡Involvement of the victims of serial murder in their own victimization may be best determined by the degree of facilitation created by the victim, often unwittingly. serial homicide offenders target more women than men and kill more strangers single homicide offenders kill men and women with equal frequency but kill more family and friends than strangers and are often motivated by anger serial murderers were much more likely to be sexually motivated
Victim data-who is at highest risk, gender, age, etc...
¡fewer number of victims per offender ¡fewer cases of only female victims ¡an increase in males being targeted ¡fewer strangers and more family members being targeted ¡fewer cases of prostitutes being singled out for killing ¡fewer cases involving more than one state ¡more cases involving shooting as the sole method of killing ¡fewer cases of strangulation/suffocation §Average # of victims per offender: 3.7 - 4.6 §Male victims only: 26% §Female victims only: 36% §Male and female victims: 38% §At least one male victim: 64% §At least one female victim: 74% §Adult victims only: 89% §At least one adult victim: 97% §Child victims only: 7% §Adult and child victims: 8% §At least one elderly victim: 6% §One or more family members: 12% §Strangers as victims: 81% §Prostitutes as victims: 14% §Case involved victims from more than one state: 18% ¡Method of killing: (N=270 offenders) §Shoot only: 38% §Strangle only: 19% §Stab only: 7% §Beat/blunt force only: 5% §Poison only: 2% §Other: 1% §Combination of strangling, beating, stabbing, poisoning, and/or shooting: 26% ¡Offender killed victims within: (N = 270 offenders) §Same year: 35% §1-4 years: 29% §5-9 years: 14% §10-19 years: 11% §20-29 years: 7% §30+ years: 4% ¡Average span of killing per offender: approximately 7 years The impact of redefining serial murder has triggered a seismic shift in how we need to view serial murder in the 21st century.
victim targets of female serial murderers (pg. 318)
§Adults only: 81% Children only: 14% §Average number of victims per offender: 3.1-3.9 §Strangers only: 43% §Prostitutes: 5% Elderly: 10% Patients: 10% §Males only: 38% Females only: 14% §Male and female victims: 48%. §Involving more than one state: 24% patients in hospitals, nursing homes, and other care facilities husbands are the primary target serial monogamy
Methods used for killing by female serial killers
§Poison only: 19% §Strangle/smother only: 19% §Shoot only: 25% §Stab only: 5% §Blunt force only: 5% §Combination of poisoning, beating, strangling, stabbing, and/or shooting: 27% most who have accomplices use violent means ¡Female offenders, were most likely to use poisons at least some of the time to kill their victims. ¡Some of the poisons administered to induce death quickly or gradually were large doses of potassium chloride, which attacks the heart, and strychnine or arsenic. §Arsenic was popular for hundreds of years as a method of murder. §In the 1800s arsenic could be purchased at any chemist's shop and was commonly used in small quantities by women to improve their facial complexions.