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Research studies on serial killers
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Psychological factors underlying criminal behaviour
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Imagine a peaceful day in your little town that you can call your home. There are children playing, the sounds of birds chirping and people working. Little do you know that the peacefulness of your town will forever be disrupted by one man and that man is Albert Fish. Albert Fish was a serial killer who killed in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
Albert Fish was born on May 19, 1870 to Randall Fish who was forty three years older than Albert’s mother. This age difference might be why he was so attracted to these young children. His birth name was Hamilton Howard Fish (serial killer book). He started being called Albert Fish after his brother that had died. He grew up in a family that had a history of mental illnesses including one family member that had religious mania. This explains why he has his severe mental illness. After Fish’s father died of a heart attack at the age of eighty, his mother was unable to care for him so he was put into an orphanage. In this orphanage he was in the caretaker beat and whipped young Albert frequently. These beatings would cause Albert to become sexually aroused and the other orphan children would make fun of him. When Albert was nine his mother had gotten a decent job and was able to look after him so he left the orphanage. The orphanage still had an effect on his mentality and his behavior. His first sexual experience was at age twelve with another young boy, this boy got little Albert hooked on drinking his own urine and consuming his own feces. During this time where he explored his homosexuality he visited public bathrooms and bathing houses where little boys got undressed. At age fifteen Albert moved to New York. Upon moving to New York he started raping young boys along with being a male prostitute....
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...ed as an orphan child. He enjoyed the thought of physical pain. This incident just goes to show you that you can never be too careful when it comes to your kids.
Works Cited
"Albert Fish | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers." Albert Fish | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. .
"Albert Fish, 1935." NY Daily News. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. .
"Albert Fish: The Gray Man." Albert Fish: The Gray Man. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
Philbin, Tom, and Michael Philbin. "Chapter 2: Albert Fish." The Killer book of serial killers: incredible stories, facts, and trivia from the world of serial killers. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks, 2009. 16-18. Print.
Sean Vincent Gills was born June 24, 1962, in Baton Rouge, LA to Norman and Yvonne Gillis. His father died of acholism when Gills was just a young boy. His mom working a full time job at a local television station struggled to take care of Gills. Her parents often looked at after him. As a child Gills was thought to be normal. His mother was quoted saying that “I used to call him my little blue-eyed angel. This is the person I loved most in this world.” It wasn’t until his teenage years when others began to see a different side of him. As a teenager he had minor infraction but none to alarm others to think he would become a killer. He was arrested for traffic citations, DUI, possession of marijuana, and contempt of court through tout the years.
The paper will focus on the story that was later adapted into the film Antwone Fisher. Finding Fish depicts the life story of Antwone Fisher, a man who rose above his painful past to beat the odds. The purpose of this paper is to apply the strengths perspective and systems perspective to Finding Fish. Another outcome will be to identify and apply biopsychosocial, sociocultural, and social change theories to the situations in the book Finding Fish.
Erick Larson wrote in Devil in the White City, “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing – I was born with the Evil One standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered in the world, and he has been with me since” (Troy, Taylor). This statement was a quoted confession from Dr. H. H. Holmes himself in 1896. Holmes was the first major serial killer in America, even though he came after many others in his time. Thomas Neil Cream, the Austin Axe Murderer, the Bloody Benders, and Jack the Ripper came before him. His name was originally Herman Webster Mudgett. He was born on May 16th, 1860 in Gilman, New Hampshire. He was raised by his mother and father, who was a wealthy and respected citizen for 25 years. As a boy, Mudgett was always in trouble and was well known in his community for his rather sociopathic behavior. He would show cruelty to both animals and other children. The only thing keeping hope to society was the fact that he was an excellent student. He later changed his last name to Holmes in order to pursue both his medical and criminal careers. He had many other aliases in which he would hide under and try to derail the cops from finding him (Juan, Blanco). Holmes was medically trained to be a doctor and received his degree from the University of Michigan. He was not just into insurance fraud scams. His evil doings included forgery, claiming to find the cure for alcoholism, real estate scams, and pretending to have a machine that turned natural gas into water. He was quite the ladies man, had many wives, whom often had become his victims. Many of his medical partners became subject to him, also. He once even had three wiv...
Based on a true story, this biographical drama centered around Antwone “Fish” Fisher. In the beginning of the story, he was a sailor prone to violent outbursts. On the verge of being kicked out of the Navy for repeated fighting, he is sent to a naval psychiatrist for help. Refusing to open up, Dr. Davenport slyly slips his way into getting Antwone to talk. Antwone eventually breaks down and reveals a horrific childhood with neglect and abuse. With the help of Dr. Davenport, he is able to face his past and strive for success to find the family he has never met. At the same time, he is able to turn his life around and change it dramatically. In the end, he is reunited with both his father’s side of the family and his mother who has abandoned him.
Loiaconi, Stephen. "When Serial Killers Strike: The Green River Killer." . HLN, 8 July 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. .
Newton, Michael. "BERKOWITZ, David Richard." The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. 2nd ed. New York: Facts On File, Inc, 2006. 16-19. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Albert Fish is the man who some believe to be the "most deranged killer in American history" (Rampo Catskill Library system, Biography resource center, Albert Fish ). So much so, that the character, Hannibal Lector in the movie Silence of the Lambs is partially based on him. Murder was not the only thing that Albert Fish indulged in. He also dabbed in cannibalism, fetishism, pedophilia, voyeurism, exhibitionism, and masochism.
Edmund Kemper, an active serial killer in the 1970s, was also known as the Co-ed killer. When Kemper was young, his parents had gotten a divorce. He then moved with his mother and two sisters. Moving in with his mother seemed like a good idea in the beginning, but then began to be his biggest nightmare. He had a difficult relationship with his alcoholic mother, who abused him as a child and would lock him in the basement, scared he would hurt his sisters. Kemper found interest in taking lives of cats away. His mother could not handle him anymore, therefore she sent him off to his grandparents. Kemper’s first murder was when he was only 15, he murdered his grandmother and then grandfather minutes later. He was then sent to
Serial killers aren’t the main topic in your day to day conversations, but they are very common in our day to day lives. Edmund Kemper was born on December 18, 1948 in Burbank, California. He was the middle child and had two sister. His parents divorced in 1957 when he was 9 years old. After his parents divorced, he lived with his mother: whom he had a difficult relationship with. She was very critical and judgmental in him, if you tell your child they are bad kids they will grow up believing and acting upon it as they are bad kids. When he was young he would dream of killing his mother, and would decapitate and perform sexual rituals with his sister's’ dolls. And when he played with his sisters it wasn't an average game of house he wanted
Beasley, James. 2004. “Serial Murder in America: Case Studies of Seven Offenders.” Behavioral Sciences and the Law 22: 395-414
A serial killer is traditionally defined as the separate killings of three or more people by an individual over a certain period of time, usually with breaks between the murders. (Angela Pilson, p. 2, 2011) This definition has been accepted by both the police and academics and therefore provides a useful frame of reference (Kevin Haggerty, p.1, 2009). The paper will seek to provide the readers with an explanation of how serial killers came to be and how they are portrayed in the media. Several serial killers have a definitive and common personality profile.
Investigative Reports: Inside the Killer's Mind. Perf. Arthur Shawcross. A&E Television Networks, 2000. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
Serial killers are everywhere! Well, perhaps not in our neighborhood, but on our television screens, at the movie theaters, and in rows and rows of books at our local Borders or Barnes and Nobles Booksellers” (Brown). When people think of serial killers, names such as Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy, and Gein are cited. During the time Jack the Ripper was executing his victims in London, Holmes began his gruesome career in Chicago (America’s Serial Killers). “Despite being America’s first serial killer, Holmes is hardly a familiar name and until now we haven’t had any popular visual record of his crimes: (Spikol). Why is it that people only think of the more popular killers with higher known profiles? They are all very similar to one another because they share characteristics. H.H. Holmes was a successful serial killer because he was well educated, cunning and charming. Those are just a few traits Holmes ...
Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer active between 1978 and 1991, during which time he murdered 17 young men. His first crime took place when he was 18 and living with his family in Ohio. Just weeks after graduating high school, he picked up a hitchhiker and took him back to his parents’ house. When the man attempted to leave, Dahmer struck him in the head with a barbell and killed him. This first victim was dismembered and buried in the nearby woods. As Dahmer was driving with the body parts in black garbage bags in his backseat, he was pulled over for crossing the centerline. As the officer wrote the ticket, he asked what was in the bags. Dahmer said he was taking garbage to the dump, and the officer allowed him to go on his way (McGregor, 2005). It would be the first of many missed opportunities by law enforcement to stop Dahmer’s impending murder spree.