Allowing murderers to literally squeeze the life out of their victims strangling is a very common and intimate form of murder as the level of intimacy that arises from being so close to their victims as they live their last moments appeals greatly to those perpetrators who are sexually propelled to strangle their victims while raping them. It is speculated that victims of serial killers who strangled them are largely rapped by their killer as they bask in the intimacy of the moment of death. However, this does not discount that in several homicide cases asphyxiation occurs not for the intimacy of the act but as a means of opportunity as no other means of weapon are at hand. Yet, for a meager group of murderers strangling seems to be an intrinsic
Murder at the Margin is a murder mystery involving various economic concepts. The story takes place in Cinnamon Bay Plantation on the Virgin Island of St. John. It is about Professor Henry Spearman, an economist from Harvard. Spearman organizes an investigation of his own using economic laws to solve the case.
Holmes and Holmes developed this typology based on various characteristics of the crime scenes and the victims themselves of 110 interviews of selected offenders and serial murders (Canter & Wentink, 2004). David Canter and Natalia Wentink conducted an empirical test of this typology and developed several criticisms to their work. Their empirical test concluded that the features described for each category tend to co-occur within each other. For example, the characteristics of a lust killer include a controlled crime scene, evidence of torture, the body being moved, a specific type of victim, no weapon left at the crime scene, and rape; all of these features are also included for the thrill killer. This makes it difficult to categorize these
The present paper intent to enquire into a female serial killer. It shall describe and analyze the theories behind the occurrences and sequent offer explanations. The studies of criminology theories it is important to recognize why humans decide on living a life cycle of crime. Wikipedia.org defines serial killer as, “a person who murders three or more people, usually in service of abnormal psychological gratification, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant break (a “cooling off period”) between them.” Precisely of this, humans who tend to be a serial killer are prone to developmental and physical characteristics. Several of these trends could fit into a model standard of a crime. A good example of analyzing the life and crimes of Aileen Wuornos, an American female serial killer who killed
The sentencing of underage criminals has remained a logistical and moral issue in the world for a very long time. The issue is brought to our perspective in the documentary Making a Murderer and the audio podcast Serial. When trying to overcome this issue, we ask ourselves, “When should juveniles receive life sentences?” or “Should young inmates be housed with adults?” or “Was the Supreme Court right to make it illegal to sentence a minor to death?”. There are multiple answers to these questions, and it’s necessary to either take a moral or logical approach to the problem.
Controlling another’s life and death gives the murderer psychological and sexual pleasure. However, they do not kill simply for sexual gratification such as the hedonist lust type; the sexual gratification is an after result of their primary motivation, to control another. This type of murderer will not kill their victim quickly, usually prolonging torture and often uses a personal weapon such as a knife or their own hands. This is done because in enables them to act out their desires to control and dominate another human making their victim subservient to their command all the way to death. (Holmes, R. M., Holmes, S. T., & Park, H. 2007). This type of killer will often rape their victim as well as it is another form of domination. In addition, in childhood they were either bullied or made to feel powerless through abuse, usually carried out by a family member. Furthermore, this type of killer is generally organized, meaning they will control the crime scene, take steps to hide their victim’s body, and rarely leave behind physical evidence such as a murder weapon. The exception to this is that sexual assault is often a component in their crimes and so biological evidence such as semen will usually be left behind. Control killers can be geographically stable, however most are geographically
Serial killers commonly attack a single target at a time one on one. There also tends to be no or very little relation between the person being killed and the killer (murder 1). “The nature of this drive has been heavily debated, but there is a consensus on some points (Anderson 1).” Many researchers have noted sexual behavior in the murder.
The stereotype that exists for individuals who commit serial murder is one that mainly includes males of a specific race. However, it is now known that white males are not the only individuals who commit serial murder. Men and women from all racial and ethnic backgrounds and socio-economic statuses have been found to be serial murderers. Although this information has been presented to society, the cultural schema of the white male serial killer is still prevalent. The assumptions that involve serial murderers often include two aspects, the serial murderer is male and the serial murder is a type of “lust murder”, often involving sexual crimes by a sadist (Keeney and Heide, 1995). Keeney and Heide (1994) define serial murder to be the premeditated murder of three or more victims committed over time, in separate incidents, in a civilian context, with the murder being chosen by the offender.
Wilson, Colin, and Donald Seaman. The Serial Killers: A Study in the Psychology of Violence. London: Virgin, 2007. Print
There are less female serial murderers than there are males, but their careers last longer because, they use subtle methods of killing (Johnston, 2012).Women serial killers will often know their victims, and their methods of killing are covert (Frei, Völlm, and Dittmann, 2006). However the most popular methods they use are poison, drowning, stabbing, suffocation, and shooting (Taylor, Lambeth, Green, Bone, Cahillane, 2012). Only few female serial killers use guns (Frei et al,. 2006). Men will kill their victims in a shooting, but there are patterns to the killing (Petherick, Kennedy, & Homant, 2005). Other methods used by men include strangling, torture, and using weapons (Interviewing Serial Killers, n.d.).
Contrary to popular belief, non-fatal and even fatal strangulations leave very few, if any, signs of external injury (Strack et al., 2014, p.88). Frequently, the only indicators of strangulation are internal and therefore harder to detect without proper training. By contrast, choking is an internal blocking of the airway by a foreign object, but this is often used incorrectly to describe strangulation. Subtle signs and symptoms of strangulation are: headache, sore neck, sore throat, trouble swallowing, raspy/hoarse voice, breathing difficulty, vomiting, petechial hemorrhage, loss of bowel control and loss of memory (Strack et al., 2014, p87). A sore throat and/ or voice changes are present in 50-70% of evaluated cases (Foley, 2015, p89). Repeated acts of non-fatal strangulation lead to long term behavioral, neurological and psychological disorders (Strack et al., 2014, p87). Victims of strangulation can die hours or weeks later from a strangulation event if immediate medical intervention is not sought. A published study through the Journal of Emergency Medicine ( October 2008, 35(3), pages 329-335) showed that if a woman survives strangulation even once she is 700% more likely to be strangled again and 800% more likely to be killed later. The lack of physical evidence in strangulations has caused many to treat it as a minor incident, when in fact, they are some of the most lethal cases we will deal with (Gwinn, Strack, Mack., 2014,
Serial killers have captivated the attention of scientists from the first signs of their existence to modern day. Interested by these killers’ inhumane actions, researchers set out to determine the cause of such graphic, horrific crimes. The brain has been brought into question regarding the motivation of these cold blooded killers. After extensive research, abnormalities of both the chemical composition and material makeup have been identified within the brains of numerous serial killers. These differences are more than mere coincidence, they are evidence that killers do not think in the same way. The killers’ drives and motives are irregular, just as their brains are. Not only are these variations interesting, but they are also crucial to the justice system in regards to the punishment of past, future, and present sequential murderers. It is important that as a society we learn the differences in the mind of a killer, and also recognize and understand them. A serial killer’s brain greatly differs in function from the average citizen’s brain due to physical variations in the brain and a different chemical makeup.
The expression "serial killer" intends to murder three to four victims through a range of days, weeks, months, or even years with a "cooling period" in the middle of (Castle & Hensley, 2002). The homicides are generally detached, and the executioner is a finished outsider to the casualties. The thought process is mental and comprises of mortifying the casualties. By and large, the executioners are sexual degenerates and play out their sexual dreams with their casualties. They originate from broken homes and have a past filled with being ignored or mishandled as kids. This is the motivation behind why they ask on helpless casualties, for example, kids, young ladies, whores, as well as youths (LaBrode, 2007). ...
Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac Killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Son of Sam, the BTK Killer. The names and assumed names of these cold-blooded serial killers are forever branded into the cognizance of people everywhere. This is mainly due to the mass media coverage, including newspapers, movies, television specials and books. This media coverage brought to light that these killers were, on the surface, normal, successful, attractive, productive members of society – that is, until the time that their heinous crimes came to be discovered.
Proponents of the death penalty are right to argue that capital punishment does provide a sense of “closure” to those who are faced with the tragedy of losing a loved one due to homicide, but they exaggerate when they claim that this is the only means by which murderers receive just punishment for their crimes. Advocates of the death penalty fail to recognize that there are alternative methods – such as psychotherapy – that are able to replace the barbaric method of the death penalty.