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Recommended: The Case of Aileen Wuornos

Female Serial Killers and Their Influences When babies are born, their parents may look at them and try to imagine what type of adult their child will become. Some parents may be right when it comes to predicting what, or who, their child will become and some may be completely wrong. As a person grows and mature into an adult, there are factors that influence who they become. Those influential factors are environmental and biological. Some children that are raised in a bad environment or born with some type of biological defect may cause those children to become deviant or sinister. A sinister person may become some sort of criminal, or even go as far as becoming a serial killer of some type. When one typically thinks of a serial killer, they most likely imagine a white male, probably in his thirties or forties. One probably would not think of a woman, especially not someone who appears to be a sweet, innocent old lady. However, females can be just as deviant and just as sinister as men, sometimes using different methods. There are certain common biological and environmental factors that are present in the creation of several female serial killers; a few of the females include Aileen Wuornos, Clementine Barnabet, Nannie Doss, Belle Gunness, and a couple others. In order to understand the common traits of female serial killers, one has to know the meaning of what a serial killer is. According to a federal law passed in 1998 by the United States Congress, titled: Protection of Children from Sexual Predator Act of 1998, the definition of serial killings is “a series of three or more killings...having common characteristics such as to suggest the reasonable possibility that the crimes were committed by the same actor or actors” (Seria... ... middle of paper ... ... Confusion." Psychology Today. Sussex Publisher, 15 Apr. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. . Scott, Jan. "Serial Homicide: We Need To Explore Behind The Stereotypes And Ask Why. "British Medical Journal 312.7022 (1996): 2-3. JSTOR. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. "Serial Murder." FBI. FBI, 21 May 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. . "The Fate of Aileen Wuornos." Jalpa Patel. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2014. . "What Are the Different Types of Serial Killers?" Psychology of Psychopaths 2a. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. .

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