T he FBI defines serial murder as A minimum of three to four victims with a cooling off period in between The murders reflect a need to sadistically dominate the victim The murder is never for profit the motive is psychological not material ID: 743565
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Forensic Psychology:Serial Killer ProfilingSlide2
The FBI defines serial murder as:
A minimum of three to four victims, with a "cooling off" period in between;
The murders reflect a need to sadistically dominate the victim; The murder is never for profit"; the motive is psychological, not material; The victim may have "symbolic" value for the killer; method of killing may reveal this meaning;
What is a Serial Killer?
Many victims are surrogates.
They stand in for people in the
Killers life. What types of relationships
Might create this? Slide3
Serial killers kill several people over a period of days, weeks, months, and even years. It is not a one-time event. The serial killer kills in cycles, shifting between an active period and a cooling off period.
A mass murderer kills several people in a matter of hours at most, murdering in an outburst without a cooling off period.
What is the difference b/w a serial killer and a mass murder?
What recent mass murders can you think of? Slide4
Because of their psychopathic nature, serial killers do not know how to feel sympathy for others, or even how to have relationships. Instead, they learn to simulate normal behavior by observing others.
They
blend in, camouflaged as “average” peopleThe most coveted role of roaming psychopaths is a position of authority. Some join the army or masquerade as police officers. The Mask of Sanity
Why do you think that psychopaths would want to get into a position of power? Where do you think they could achieve this? Slide5
Serial killers can be act-focused (who kill quickly), OR
process-focused
(who kill slowly), they cannot be both. For act-focused killers, killing is simply about the act itself. Within this group, there are two different types: the visionary and the missionary.
Types of Serial Killer: Act FocusedSlide6
Visionary: Murders because he hears voices or has visions that direct him to do so.
Missionary
: He believes that he is meant to get rid of a particular group of people.Act Focused: Visionary & Missionary
What psychological disorders might visionary and missionary killers be suffering from? Slide7
Process-focused serial killers get enjoyment from torture and the slow death of their victims.
The Lust Killer
: The lust killer is sexually motivated. These killers derive pleasure from torturing their victims. Most serial killers are of this type. Process Focused: LustSlide8
Thrill-Oriented Killer: These guys kill for the joy of it. They enjoy killing very sadistically. They are into the killing for excitement, the chase.
Power-seeking Killer
: They believe they are “God” and play with people as if they are toys. Their main objective for killing is to gain and exert power over their victim. Process Focused: Thrill and PowerActivity: Go through the serial killers and try to Categorize them. Slide9
Child is deprived of love or nurturing; parents are detached or absent.
Inconsistent discipline: if father is stern and mother is soft, child learns to hate authority and manipulate mother.
Hypocritical parents, who privately belittle the child, while publicly presenting the image of a "happy family".Being publically humiliated as a child.
Childhood Environmental Factors
What are some ways in which a child might be publically humiliated? Slide10
Many children have suffered horrible abuse at the hands of their parents, but did not grow up to be murderers.
The abuse of children by their parents is barbaric, and it seems little wonder that anything but a fledgling serial killer could be the result.
Children can learn the "Jekyll and Hyde" routine from parents . Environmental Factors: Child Abuse
What might the “Jekyll and Hyde” routine mean?Slide11
Authoritarian Parenting: Creates a lack of love in the child’s life.Insecure Attachment: Leads to disconnection from people and withdrawal into a “
fantasy world.”
Environmental Factors: ParentingWhich of Erikson’s Stages might be relevant here? Slide12
The three indicators reported with highest frequency are daydreaming,
compulsive masturbation
, and isolation. Additionally, fantasy has emerged as a major component of the psyche of the serial killer.
Environmental Factors: Patterns
Daydreaming
Compulsive masturbation
Isolation
Chronic lying
Enuresis (bed wetting)
Rebelliousness
Nightmares
Destroying property
Fire setting
Hurting Other Children
Pick thee and discuss how they relate to the concept of fantasySlide13
Many multiple murders are isolation for differing reasons as children. However, they are also rejected by their peers. Strange and bizarre fantasies
thrive
in isolation. For the serial killer, fantasies of violence create further isolation, which creates a greater reliance on fantasy for pleasure.Environmental Factors: Peer Rejection and Isolation
How does isolation lead to fantasies? Slide14
TRIAD 1 - ANIMAL CRUELTY Torturing animals is a disturbing red flag. Animals are often seen as "practice" for killing humans.
Torturing animals and setting fires will eventually escalate to crimes against fellow human beings, if the pattern is not somehow broken.
Environmental Factors: Triad of Behavior
What should we do with children who are caught torturing animals? Slide15
PYROMANIA
Pyromania is often a sexually stimulating activity. The dramatic destruction of property feeds the same perverse need to destroy another human.
Because serial killers don't see other humans as more than objects, the leap between setting fires and killing people is easy to make.Environmental Factors: Triad of Behavior
Why do you think some peopleBecome obsessed with fire? Slide16
BED WETTING
By some estimates, 60% of multiple murderers wet their beds past adolescence.
As the isolation of a child grows more severe, the reliance on fantasies, especially destructive ones, can grow. Environmental Factors: Triad of Behavior
Have you wet the bed? How did it make you feel? Was it isolating? Slide17
Disorganized vs. Organized: There are important differences between a psychotic individual with a diagnosable mental illness (Disorganized) and a psychopathic individual with a Personality Disorder (Organized).
Asocial vs. Nonsocial: Offenders who are alone because they are inexperienced and lack basic social skills. (Asocial). Offenders who are alone out of choice and preference for solitary (Nonsocial).
Holmes TypoologySlide18
Most Organized Serial Killers have Antisocial Personality Disorder. This type of person was previously referred to a psychopath or a sociopath. The key aspects of this disorder are that the person lacks empathy & morality and is extremely manipulative.
Organized: Antisocial Personality Disorder
How could we test someone to see if they have Antisocial Personality Disorder? Slide19
Psychosis: When someone has a break with reality they are undergoing psychosis. At some point they had a psychotic break.
Disorganized
While going through psychosis, they may experience delusions (false beliefs) and hallucinations (seeing things, hearing voices).
Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder that includes psychotic breaks of different lengths. Slide20
DISORGANIZED, ASOCIAL OFFENDERS ORGANIZED, NONSOCIAL OFFENDERS
IQ below average, 80-95 range
IQ above average, 105-120 range socially inadequate socially adequate lives alone, usually does not date lives with partner or dates frequently
absent or unstable father stable father figure
family emotional abuse, inconsistent
family physical abuse, harsh
lives and/or works near crime scene
geographically/occupationally mobile
minimal interest in news media
follows the news media
usually a high school dropout
may be college educated
poor hygiene/housekeeping skills
good hygiene/housekeeping skills
keeps a secret hiding place in the home
does not usually keep a hiding place
nocturnal (nighttime) habits
diurnal (daytime) habits
drives a clunky car or pickup truck
drives a flashy car
needs to return to crime scene for reliving memories
needs to return to crime scene to see what police have done
may contact victim's family to play games
usually contacts police to play games
no interest in police work
a police groupie or ‘wanabee’
kills at one site, considers mission over
kills at one site, disposes at another
usually leaves body intact
may dismember body
attacks in a "blitz" pattern
attacks using seduction into restraints
depersonalizes victim to a thing or it
keeps personal, holds a conversation
leaves a chaotic crime scene
leaves a controlled crime scene
leaves physical evidence
leaves little physical evidence
The Holmes Typology
Look at the chart. Discuss the difference between the two types for each of the actions. Choose one that you think is interesting to report back to the class. Slide21
Souvenirs: Personal items allow the killer to enjoy the memories of the crime.
A trophy can become something of a shrine
Souvenirs and TrophiesWhy would a serial killer want to collect
trophies and souvenirs? Slide22
The MO (Modus Operandi) is basically the way the predator commits the crime. While the
MO tells us something about how he did it
, the signature gives us some insight into why. The signature is a ritual, something the subject does intentionally for emotional satisfaction -- something that isn't necessary to perpetuate the crime. (For example, posing a body.)
Signatures
What was Jack the Ripper’s Signature?Slide23
Generally, the signature is a more reliable guide to the behavior of serial offenders than an MO. That's because the MO evolves, while the
emotional reasoning that triggers the signature doesn't
. SignaturesWhat was Gacy’s MO? Slide24
There is a withdrawal from reality into fantasy. The killer may attempt to self-medicate. They fantasize about the murder.
The 6 Phases: AuraSlide25
Consists of the behavior patterns that a particular killer uses to identify and stalk his victim. They look for victims and begin to plan the crime.
The 6 Phases: TrollingSlide26
The time period when most killers win the confidence of victims before luring them into a trap.
The 6 Phases: Wooing
How might you gain a victim’sTtrust if you were a serial killer?Slide27
May include the locking of a door or a blow that renders the victim helpless. The killer savors this moment.
The 6 Phases: Capture
How was Bundy able to convince all Of these girls to get in his car? Slide28
The ritual reenactment of the disastrous experiences of the killer's childhood, but this time he reverses the roles.
The 6 Phases: Murder
What might you predict thatGacy’s childhood was like? Slide29
After the kill, murderers sink into a depression. The trophy or souvenir is meant to give the murderer the same feelings of power he experienced at the time of the kill.
The 6 Phases: Totem
Why did Pickton keep
Body parts on his farm? Slide30
A victim, now killed, no longer represents what the killer thought he or she represented.The killer sinks further into depression
In each subsequent murder, he attempts to make the scene of the crime equal to the fantasy.
The 6 Phases: Depression
Why will the serial killer neverfully recreate the traumatic experience? Slide31
Profiling the UNSUB is, in the simplest terms, coming up with a reasonable composite of the person, or people, who committed one or more crimes.
Profilers employ psychological theories that provide ways to detect mental deficiency such as delusions, spot imprints from hostility, recognize criminal thought patterns, and predict the right character defects.
Profiling