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Essays on the psychology of serial killers
Essays on the psychology of serial killers
Essays on the psychology of serial killers
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Harold Shipman was a British doctor accused of killing 218 patients, but only 15 of them were corroborated. He is known as one of the worst serial killers in the modern history. In 2000 he was convicted to 15 life terms in prison. After the trial, the police kept investigating Dr. Shipman’s files because it was suspected that he had killed more than 250 patients, 80% of them were women and the youngest was 41 years old Peter Lewis. The investigations concluded with an official number 218 highly possible assassinations and more than 250 possible. Most of medicine and health care laws were reviewed and significantly modified as direct and indirect result of Shipman’s crimes, specially after the results of investigations into Shipman. Shipman’s mother died of cancer when he was 17, Shipman was an overprotected and overrated child; when he was sick he will relieved with morphine injections, something that he will use in his assassination ritual. After his mother's funeral, he studied with very discrete grades and in the University of Leeds he met his future wife. …show more content…
There was also a suspicion, which harbored on the death of a girl who was four years of age. This happened when the doctor was still starting out at the general hospital in Pontefract.The total number of people who died under the care of Dr. Shipman is 459; however, it is not certain how many of them were intentionally killed by the doctor. The trial started on October 5, 1999 and was presided over by Justice Thayne John Forbes. The doctor was prosecuted for death caused by murder for 15 women. After the jury deliberated on the case for 6 days, he was convicted on January 31, 2000, for murdering his patients. He was sentenced to 15 successive life sentences—and was recommended for non-release. It was also asserted that he killed himself as a last gesture to control his own life. (Colliflower, W.
Most medical experts often had to supplement their findings with more conventional detective work. Rob Rapley recounts the famous cases of the day including the factory workers who painted glow in the dark watch dials with radium paint. Women who worked in these factories were unknowingly being poisoned as they put their brushes in their mouths to touch up the point. Since women were dying years after having access to the paint, it was hard to tell whether or not they died from the paint at work or from another cause. It wasn’t until Gettler ran tests on a woman’s bones five years after her death and found radium still remaining in her bones. Also, a man named Mike Malloy miraculously survived tragic situations such as being run over by a taxi and being fed rotten food before finally dying from poisonous gas. The cause of his death, however, was not spontaneous and was a result of money hunger than those who insured him shared. This models that murderers used poison to commit crimes in search of money. One pair of murderers, exculpated by Gettler’s evidence in 1924, was finally caught in 1936, when they killed again using the same poison.
The issue with this is that Mr. Swensen was not diabetic. How can a non-diabetic have an insulin shock? The only answer would be that he was administered insulin voluntarily and thus murdered by an individual with good medical knowledge, and access to medical facilities. Another medical mystery is related to Mr. Calley’s infection a few days after his penile prosthesis placement surgery that was also done by Dr. Mathis. Although infections are a common risk after surgeries, Moe was very meticulous in performing the surgery and made sure no such compromising mistakes were made. Upon inspection, he identified the infection cause to be due to a streptococcus bacterial species that contaminated one of the scalpels. This bacteria is commonly found in the human mouth and; therefore, a logical and likely cause would be someone spitting on the operating material. Who would do such a thing? And for what reasons? In addition, Dr. Ray Mosdell a close friend of Dr. Mathis who had Coronary Heart Disease and Serious Heart problems fell into a coma for unknown reasons. He then died shortly after of heart failure. There is a medical mystery surrounding what caused Dr. Mosdell’s coma, heart
sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. The case against him was largely
he “decided that he was going to commit suicide and go around and say his goodbyes”(World
Harold Henthorn claims that his second wife Toni Henthorn fell off of a cliff in Colorado when she was taking a picture of them on their 12th wedding anniversary. However a jury in Colorado felt that the claim wasn’t true, and found Harold guilty of first-degree murder. The prosecutors of the case, accused Harold of pushing Toni off of a cliff in Rocky Mountain National Park. They believe the reason he pushed his wife off of the cliff was so that he could get millions of dollars in insurance money. The authorities stated that they are re-opening the case of Harold’s first wife’s death in 1995. However, Harold claims that his first wife Sandra Henthorn died when she was changing the tire on the car, the car fell on her. Henthorn’s conviction
During the investigations, the Royal Conspiracy developed. The Royal Conspiracy goes as follows; Prince Eddy fell in love with Annie Crook. They eloped and had a daughter. When Queen Victoria found out about her grandsons marriage, she was determined to put an end to their relationship. Mary Kelly, who was their daughters nurse, Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols, Annie Chapman, and Elizabeth Stride knew about Annie Crook and Prince Eddy’s secret relationship. Dr. Gull was accused of killing those four women as a result of their knowledge. However, facts show that this was only a theory. While the Jack the Ripper murders were committed, Dr. Gull was seventy years ol...
Due to very little being said by Dr. Shipman before his quick demise by suicide, or hanging himself in prison, no one really knows what caused him to become a serial killer, only speculation. After multiple counts of murder, Dr. Shipman was incarcerated before hanging himself while locked up (Saferstein, 2015). Based on the evidence, from forged wills to stolen jewelry from his deceased victims, greed had to be one of the motives. When Dr. Shipman was finally captured and imprisoned, he did not let anyone know why he committed any of the crimes, which is a secret that he carried to his grave. There are some that would argue that his domineering mother played a role in his murderous
There are many tragic events that happen in our world. But nothing is scarier than when it comes to the death of someone else committed by another person. In our world today, many sad and devastating events happen. There are many crazy people in our world. Some, whose names are still very well known nation wide due to some of the tragic events they have caused us. Even some that have happened many years ago. There is one man that stands out because of the tragedy he has brought to our world that no one will ever forget. His name is Charles Manson. Charles Manson is known as the worlds number one serial killer. Charles Manson he began a cult when he was in his twenties, went to prison numerous times and committed some murders people today will never forget.
notorious serial killers of his time. His family had a history of mental disorders, which may have
Born in England in 1946, British most notorious serial killer Harold Shipman became known as Dr. Death. His fascination for the world of medicine can be traced back to as early as taking care of his dying mother. Shipman became obsessed with the positive effect of how morphine was administered. This serial killer killed over 215 of his patients. Shipman lived by the motive, "if you want to become a serial killer, become a doctor." In 1974, Shipman joined the Abraham Ormerod Medical Practice in Todmorden. Until September 1975, when his partners discovered that he had been stealing controlled drugs for his personal usage. Shipman pleaded guilty in February of 1976 at the Halifax Magistrates’ Court of these allegations. There was no disciplinary
Harold Shipman is known as one of Britain’s worst serial killers. Over twenty-five years it is suspected he killed 251 individuals while working as a medical doctor (“Harold Shipman”, n.d., para 1). Shipman had been injecting fatal amounts of poison into their bodies (para. 1). Shipman’s actions and why he acted in this manner can be explained from the sociological perspective and psychological perspective. The sociological perspective examines factors including social setting, level of education and positive or negative role models in a person’s life (Pozzulo, Bennell & Forth, 2015, p.338-341). The psychological perspective examines colorations between an individual’s mental process, their behaviour, their learning process and traits an individual
“My consuming lust was to experience their bodies. I viewed them as objects, as strangers. It is hard for me to believe a human being could have done what I've done”(Dahmer). Jeffrey Dahmer is notably one of the most infamous serial killers in the United States. Along with seventeen murders under his belt, he was also a pedophile, cannibal and necrophiliac.
At noon, while staff were having difficulty attempting to draw blood, Lewis became unresponsive. Helen called for help and Dr. Murray arrived to the room (Monk, 2002). A code was called and the on-call physician, Dr. Adamson, arrived and subsequently attempted to resuscitate Lewis for an hour before calling a time of death at 1:23pm (Kumar, 2008; Monk, 2002). An autopsy later revealed that Lewis Blackman died from internal bleeding caused by a perforated ulcer with close to three liters of blood and digestive fluid
Serial killers have been around for decades but According To Jack Levin, 'seven of the ten largest mass killings in American history have taken place in the last decade (Douglas, p. 137). One of the most popular and well-known serial killers in history was Ted Bundy. He was convicted of killing three women but is suspected of killing thirty-six other women (Douglas, p. 137).
On November 13, 1974, in the house at 112 Ocean Ave., Amityville, 24-year-old Ronald DeFeo murdered his family. DeFeo used a high-powered rifle, shot to death his father, mother, two brothers and two sisters. All six members of Ronald DeFeo’s family were killed as they slept and all, said police, were found lying in the same position, on their stomachs with their heads resting on their arms.