Serial Killers

Serial Killers

Introduction

A serial murderer is a person who murders three or more people within a period of thirty days or more. The serial murderers are specifically motivated by a multitude of psychological impulses, especially lust for power and sexual compulsion. The crimes are usually carried out in a similar fashion and the victims often share some characteristic (e.g. occupation, race, appearance, sex or age). The serial murderers should not be confused with mass murderers, who kill a large number of victims simultaneously in a short period of time, nor the lightning murderers, who commit multiple murders in a short period and in different places, nor have to do with the genocide, murderers of entire peoples for political reasons (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot) race (Hitler) or economic (Leopold II). The term serial killer (mass murderer) was coined by Special Agent FBI Robert Ressler in the 1970s although it had been described many years before.

Motives of the Serial Killers

The literature shows that the behaviors of the criminals are due to several factors. There are many theories, which have been, put forward by the experts. The two of them being, the Social learning theory of Sexual Violence and the Theory of Sadistic of Sexual Murder. Social learning theory was initially proposed by Burgess and Akers (1996) and integrates Edwin Sutherland's theory of differential association. It focuses on violations of social and legal norms with advanced principles of modern learning theory, with emphasis on the behavioral specification of the learning process (Newton, 2006). According to Revitch & Schlesinger, in the theory of sadistic of murder, such murders are committed by individuals who are described as loners who have feelings of hate towards women or men (Ramsland, 2006). They also spent several times in the fantasies of sadistic thoughts. These fantasies induce a state of ...