Sociology of murder exam 2

Spree Killers

several victims over a short period of time with no cooling off period

Serial killers

Murder of a number of people over weeks, months, or years but in between attacks they live relatively normal lives

True or false: serial murder is a relatively rare event

True

Serial murders account for what percent of all murders in a given year

1%

Most common type of serial killers

One who is satisfying their sadistic urges or their excessive need for control

True or false: serial murder is not motiveless

True

Organized serial killer

Lives an orderly life with average to high intelligence. Socially competent, more likely to have skilled employment. Plan their offenses, uses restraints, will bring a weapon and take it with him.

Disorganized serial killer

Little, if any, preplanning. Disorder causes them to leave evidence at the scene. Minimal use of restraints, body will often be displayed in open view. Socially incompetent and below-average intelligence

True or false: there is little validity that serial killers want to be caught

True

Most serial killers are

manipulative allowing them to lure vulnerable people

True or false: not all serial killers are charming, charismatic, and attractive

True

Most serial killers go after

vulnerable targets

When did public fascination with serial killers start

in the late 1880’s after a series of unsolved prostitute murders by Jack the ripper

Although serial murders account for only 1% of all murders in the US

there may be many overlooked victims because of missing people and unidentified bodies

Trend of serial killing

Grew rapidly from the 1960s to the 1980s with a peak in the 1970s. Declined since.

Decline in serial killing

Amber alert system, sex offender registries, GPS tracking, hospital death surveillance, DNA analysis, and reduced prevalence of hitchhiking.

True or false: Serial killer are all dysfunctional loners

False, many hide in plain sight with families and jobs. They appear normal

True or false: Serial killers are all white males

False, 40-50% of serial killers are nonwhite

What percentage of serial killers are male

94%

True or false: Serial killers are only motivated by sex

False, some are motivated by anger, thrill, financial gain, and attention seeking

True or false: all serial murders travel and operate on the interstate

False, most have a very defined geographical area of operation based on an anchor point.

Why might the geographical area of a serial killer expand

Their confidence grew

If serial killers travel what 3 categories do they fall into

Traveling individuals who move place to place, homeless individuals who are transients, and individuals whose employment lends itself to interstate or transnational travel

True or false: Serial killers cannot stop killing

False, some will stop killing before being caught.

True or false: All serial killers are insane or evil genuises

False, they range in intelligence and may suffer from a personality disorder but are not legally insane

Characteristics of serial killers

Most tend to be lower class white males in 20-30s with a victim count of 6-7 and a career length of 5 years

Serial killers are often

abused and bullied

The percentage of black serial killers

increases with each decade

Serial killers will often change

their modus operandi, method of killing because of improved techniques, response to investigation, or stubborn victims

True or false: serial killers rarely change their signature

True, their sexual fantasies are embedded into the crime scene

Act-focused, quick kill serial killers

The visionary and the missionary

The vissionary

Hears voices and sees visions that tell him to kill, usually by god or the devil

The missionary

goes on hunting missions to eradicate a group of people

Processed-focused, slow kill serial killers

Comfort-oriented hedonist, lust-oriented hedonist, thrill-oriented hedonist, the power/control freak

Control-oriented hedonist

Takes pleasure from killing, but also gets some profit or personal gain from it. Female serial killers are usually in this category

Lust-oriented hedonist

Associated sexual pleasure with murder

Thrill-oriented hedonist

Gets a rush or high from killing

Power/control freak

Takes pleasure form manipulation and domination, experiences a rush or high from victims’ misery

True or false: it is argued that female serial killers are more successful

True, kelleher and kelleher believed they are more careful and precise with an average duration of 8 years before being caught.

Female serial killerd account for

8% of all American Serial killers

American females account for

765 of all female serial killers worldwide

Team killer female typology

Kills or participates in the killing of others with at least 1 other

Question of sanity

Kills in apparent random manner and later judged to be insane

Unexplained

Kills for reasons that are totally inexplicable or for unclear motives

Unsolved

a pattern of unsolved killings that may be attributed to a woman

Black widow

Systematically kills multiple spouses, partners, or other family members

Angel of death

Systematically kills people who are in her care for some form of attention

Sexual predator

Systematically kills others in clear acts of sexual homicide

Revenge

Systematically kills out of hate or jealousy

Profit or crime

Systematically kills for profit or in the course of committing another crime

Most common method of killing for female serial killers

Poison

Most common motive for female serial killers

Money

Victim profile of serial killers

Most are white, female, with a primary method of gunshot followed by strangulation

True or false: serial killing by males is typically a stranger-perpetrated crime

True

What fraction of males operate in teams of 2 or more

1/3

What fraction of females operate in teams of 2 or more

1/2

Most common serial killing team

consists of 2-3 males

True or false: over half of the world’s serial killers are located in the US

True

True or false: serial killers rarely kill themselves

True

Macdonald’s Triad

Bed-wetting, fire-setting, and cruelty to animals. Many exhibit 1 or more.

Medical murder

Healthcare serial killing committed by staff in a medical setting against unwilling patients under their care

Medical murder does not include

Deaths not related to their profession, convincing naive people to use their treatment, incompetence, malpractice, or error

Medical murderers are often called

Angels of mercy and angels of death

True or false: it is a challenge to accurately assess the number of medical murders that have occurred over time

True, it is impossible to know if an increase is due to improved reporting.

Trend of medical murders

Peaked in the 1980s and has been declining ever since

Who are medical murderer likely to be

Nurses and nurses aids

60% of medical murders are

outside the US

Slightly more than half of medical murderers use

drug injection

Medical murders are hard to

prosecute, many people have the opportunity to kill the patient

Like serial killers, medical murderers

rarely kill themselves

True or false: medical murders are more likely that any other type of homicide to be committed by women

True, women are over-represented in these professions

What percentage of healthcare killers are female

54%

Power killers

Medical murderer that kills in silence, night shift, will continue killing over a long period of time. Decides who gets to live and who gets to die. Subtl approaches.

Hero killer

Medical murderer that craves attention and will create life-or-death emergency situations to either watch people try to save the patient or save the patient themselves.

Hero killers tend to be

narcissistic

Power killers tend to

feel worthless and lack control

Munchausen syndrome

Making yourself sick or faking an illness usually for attention and sympathy

Munchausen syndrome by proxy

Inducing or faking an illness in someone else, usually a child

True or false: most nurses that kill patients do not have a criminal history but do have a history of munchausen

True

Munchausen by proxy is similar to

hero medical killers, they crave attention while jeopardizing the lives of others

True or false: more individual cases of homicide implicating munchausen by poxy than of medial murder

True

Facilitators of medical murder

Easy access to drugs, inadequate surveillance, administration covering up suspicious deaths, a code of silence

Prevention of medical murder

Sustain a suitable staff-patient ratio, surveillance and mortality analysis systems, document drug use and patient deaths.

Mass murder

event in which an assailant or assailants kill 4 or more victims in a single explosion of violence, no cooling off period

Mass shootings

A subset of mass murder that involves a handgun or rifle

Mass murder is also known as

rampage killing

Victims of mass murder are

marginalized or vulnerable groups. Students, teachers, coworkers, friends, and family

True or false: we all bear some risk of being a victim of mass murder

True

Profile of mass murderer

41% are white, 93% male, 70% in their 20s-30s, 82.5% use a gun

Half of mass murder victims are

family members usually killed by a father

True or false: mass murders do not just snap

True, there is usually planning that includes an arsenal of weaponry

When it comes to victims mass murderers are

selective in their victims, they choose who they believe are responsible for their miseries

Mass murder usually occurs in

a workplace or residence

2 main types of mass murders

Family annihilators and workplace violence

Most common type of mass killing

Family annihilation, typically a middle-aged white male who appears normal

Why are guns usually used in mass murder

It corrects the perceived power imbalance and allows for a larger number of victims

Terrorists tend to use

explosives as they are not as selective of their victims as other mass killers

How many mass murderers a year kill indiscriminately

5

Murder by proxy

The mass murderer seeks revenge by targeting the primary victim as well as anyone he associates with the victim

Going postal

During the 1980s and early 1990s there was a string of post office massacres