Serial killers; A Cultural Phenomenon of the US?

[Killean]

After bringing my encyclopedia to the attention of my Father, we had a three hour conversation trying to categorize the serial killers. These results might not be considered accurate; it has taken many years with the best criminal investigators trying to profile these people. But it's a good place to start from. All percentage results are taken from 80 different serial killers in this book.

Categorization of Serial Killer Causes
Mercy Killings: 2 cases -> 2.5%
These have been done because the individual does not wish to see their victims suffer.

Greed: 21 cases -> 26.2%
This category can range from wanting more power, money, women etc.

Power: 26 cases -> 32.5%
This section refers to individuals who sought domination of their victims. When they killed it made them feel more powerful then everyone, or they believed that by killing they would gain more power.

Jealousy: 4 cases -> 5%
This one could be fairly obvious. Cheating husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends. Or it could mean being envious of others.

Sexual Inadequacies: 9 cases -> 11.2%
This category can be tricky. The killers felt as though normal sexual activities did not get the results they required, so they killed because of the frustration.

Abuse (Physical, Mental, Sexual): 7 cases -> 8.7%
The three different forms of abuse have been merged into one category to reflect many kinds of abuse on an individual. These cases usually happen when the killers were young.

Abandonment Issues: 11 cases -> 13.7%
Because they were disowned, kicked out, left out, the killers got upset and killed because of abandonment.

Morbid Fascinations: 20 cases -> 25%
These can range from just the pure thrill of killing, to cannibalism, and anything else that falls under a morbid fascination.

Sexual Gratification: 26 cases -> 32.5%
These people just felt as though they had to have sexual intercourse all the time.

Mental Issues: 12 cases -> 15%
This section qualifies as the real nutcases who believed in the voices in their head telling them what to do, believing they are werewolves or pure mental breakdowns.

Psychotic: 8 cases -> 10%
This section is sort of the 'all of the above' choice. Those who have been declared as psychotic show signs from most if not all categories either in a major/minor way.


Countries of Serial Killer Reports
United States: 35 cases -> 43.75%
Australia: 1 case -> 1.25%
Canada: 2 cases -> 2.5%
Germany: 7 cases -> 8.75%
France: 5 cases -> 6.25%
England: 17 cases -> 21.25%
Russia: 2 cases -> 2.5%
Mexico: 1 case -> 1.25%
Scotland: 2 cases -> 2.5%
Poland: 2 cases -> 2.5%
India: 1 case -> 1.25%
Czechoslovakia: 1 case -> 1.25%
Holland: 1 case -> 1.25%
Hungary: 1 case -> 1.25%
Italy: 1 case -> 1.25%
Ecuador: 1 case -> 1.25%

Mind you there are tons more out there, but this is what my book had to say converted into a form of statistics. I need some sleep now, I hope you find this helpful.

[pgrmdave]

Those statistics provide a good overview, though the breakdown by country fails in some ways - England has half as many cases, but the US has more than twice England's population. However, I was surprized to see so many kill for greed. I expected that most would kill more for the pleasure they receive. That's one of the difficulties with catching them - it isn't obvious who the targets will be, though they tend to share charecteristics.

[zadojla]

I think these statisitics may not be reliable, but it may also be related to the fact that the USA has amog the highest murder rates in general for first world countries. See http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_mur_cap .
I would think it's a cultural thing, a sort of frontier-inspired willingness to take matters into one's own hands.

[Buffy]

It can also be argued that in the US there's actually a much lower *tolerance* for violence: in much of the 3rd world, there's lots of murder and mayhem and it *never* gets reported because its not recognized for what it is (a serial killer takes lots of evidence to identify among a bunch of dead bodies that just get buried without autopsies or investigations). Also a lot of it is just plain covered up: I'm *sure* the Chinese government would insist that there are *no* serial killers on record in China...

"You talkin' to ME?!?!?"
Buffy

[Tormod]

Originally Posted by Killean

Countries of Serial Killer Reports

Norway gets off the hook again.

[paultrr]

The first known Serial Killer in modern times was Jack the Ripper, which was in England, not here. America does seem to have a high number of them. However, I suspect its correct that we also tend to investigate such a lot better in the open than some other countries do. I do not think its actually a Cultural Phenomenon at all and that if history and investigation had been better before the turn of the last Century one would find such has been with us throughout history.

[C1ay]

Originally Posted by Buffy

in much of the 3rd world, there's lots of murder and mayhem and it *never* gets reported because its not recognized for what it is (a serial killer takes lots of evidence to identify among a bunch of dead bodies that just get buried without autopsies or investigations).

I think you've probably got a point there that many serial murders are not recognized or investigated as such in many parts of the world. Many countries do not have the forensic science that more advanced nations like the U.S. and England have. They have a series of dead bodies over a period of time and they just think they're all unrelated deaths. It takes a certain amount of science to tie murders together that may be seperated by weeks, months or years and many countries just don't have it.

It's probably also important to note that the killer's actions play a part in this indentification. Had Jack The Ripper not chosen the same kind of victims repeatedly and used the same method to kill all of them, he would never have been recognized as a serial killer. Many disorganized, unmethodical serial killers are probably never realized as such. Where their victims vary and their methods change from killing to killing, their individual killings are probably thought to be singular crimes unrelated to other murders on record. I wonder how many serial nurse or doctor killers there have been whose victims all appeared to die of natural causes, undetected as murders at all.

[Fishteacher73]

The Renesiance brought about a period of relative stability. People were stationary outside of the warring kings (Which I feel probably was an outlet to the blood lust of some killers). Most serial killers also tend to focus on victims that they do not have a connection with socially. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, there was great influx of people into the cities. This produced a society of disconected people. This was the grounds that many first were able to ply their "hobby". This is when the first recorded seirial killers showed up; Jack the Ripper.

[Fishteacher73]

Originally Posted by Tormod

Norway gets off the hook again.

They just got the blood lust out early with the Norse invasions.....

[Fishteacher73]

Originally Posted by pgrmdave

However, I was surprized to see so many kill for greed. I expected that most would kill more for the pleasure they receive.

I think these categories can be cross applied, ie someone killed for sexual pleasure as well as greed, etc. Just eyeballing the %'s they total over 100%. (Actually 180.8%). So yes I would assume that killers can fall in multiple categories. (Or Killean has some problems w/ his calculator. )