Examples Of Serial Killers

Serial Killers: A Personal Issue or a Public Issue?

Introduction:

Deviance, in sociology, is the behaviors that contradict society’s norms, such as laws or widespread mannerisms and traditions in cultures. Every society develops their own system and expectations as to which the members of the society pursue or are expected to pursue. Deviance can be described as a rebellion to such norms. There is a large spectrum of deviance that members of a society can fall under; examples of such are petty crimes and misdemeanors to extreme acts of deviance approximating homicides and acts of violence to people. Although deviance can be dependent on place and time since not every culture shares the same norms, there are 5 universally acknowledged types

of deviance that can be seen in cultures around the world. The five behaviors are named Innovation, Conformity, Ritualism, Retreatism, and Rebellion.
Innovators are those who can accept the society’s ways of reaching goals but find their own ways of reaching their own goals, the majority of which go against the law. This type of deviance stems from the society having unbreakable walls that prevent a member of the society to break through them, they then resort to alternative methods of reaching any goal that they might have, through illegal actions such as selling drugs, stealing, and gambling (Janney). Conformists are those that accept society’s way of reaching goals and follow those ways without resorting to illegal activities, effectively opposing the views of innovators. Conformists are usually those that fall under the middle class (Janney). Ritualists believe that there is no other way of achieving goals than to work at a job for a large period of time, they work for large periods of time in unfulfilling jobs. They are opposite of innovators as well (Janney). Retreatists have effectively rejected society. They behave in ways that contradict social norms and ways of achieving goals (Janney). Rebels one-up Retreatists. They have a want for a different society, they join large established groups to create such societies and go against already established norms (Janney).
The Low Self-Control Theory of criminology and sociology (along with other fields) basically states that children develop levels of self-control around the ages of 7 and 8, and these levels remain relatively stable for the rest of their lives.

Those children that develop low levels of self-control are prone to criminal behaviors. Those children that develop medium or higher levels of self-control are less prone to criminal behaviors by a large margin and as those children age; their levels of self-control become clear. Those that act without thinking first and that are unable to delay gratification, are those children that grew up without developing decent self-control. They act on impulse and are the risk takers of society. These children usually begin by harming animals, sometimes killing them, without thinking about the consequences and without a sense of empathy. As adults, the behaviors remain the same, except that people are harmed instead of animals, and those types of people pose a threat to society.

Using the sociological definition of deviance with the occasional look back into a few of the 5 behaviors stated, as well as referring to the Low Self-Control Theory, I will attempt to explain the development and later behavior of serial killer Richard Kuklinski “The Iceman” and explain why serial killers are both a personal issue and a public

issue.
Who is Richard Kuklinski?
Richard Kuklinski was born on the 11th of April of 1935. He grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was the son of Stanley and Anna Kuklinski, who were Irish and Polish immigrants respectively. Stanley was a raging alcoholic that regularly beat Richard and his brothers. As a result of the abuse, Richard began harming animals, especially focusing on torturing cats as a teenager. A famous example is his claim to have placed a cat into a furnace in a nearby building and watching the cat burn to its death.
Richard Kuklinski committed his initial murder when he was 14. He grew up to become a Mafia hit man, known as "The Iceman" for often freezing his victims to obscure their time of death. Kuklinski was contracted by Newark's DeCavalcante crime family and New York's Five Families of the American Mafia. After being arrested in 1986, he became enamored with the spotlight, giving interviews to writers and psychiatrists, spilling about the myriad ways he'd killed his victims and bragging about how many lives he'd taken—up to 200. He died in prison in 2006.

Richard "The Iceman" Leonard Kuklinski was born on April 11, 1935, in the Polish section of Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Irish and Polish immigrants. His mother, Anna McNally, was a devout Catholic, and his father, Stanley, who worked on the railroad, was a violent alcoholic who beat him regularly. He was the second of four children, and his elder brother died from their parents' abuse.
Kuklinski said that he began killing cats as a child and graduated to his first murder at the age of 14—a teen in a neighborhood gang—disposing of the body by removing any identifying markers; the body was never found. He told a prison interviewer later that his first kill made him feel "empowered." By the eighth grade, Kuklinski had dropped out of school

The Development of a Serial Killer:
The words “Serial Killer” strikes fear into the public. Images pop up in people’s mind of the notorious BTK Killer, as well as a certain Mr. Richard Kuklinski. Serial Killers are seen as frightening people that carry no sense of regret for their actions.
Psychological Insight into the mind of a Serial Killer:
Serial Killers fall into 4 categories.

Disorganized vs. Organized:
Disorganized killers are those usually with a lower IQ than the average person, and they are socially incapable of getting along with people. They live a life of frustration since they are the outsiders of society. They are filled with hatred for people and are the children that developed small levels of self-control. These killers are most likely to act on impulsive, spontaneous crime. The Disorganized Killer rarely plan out their crimes and are easily sought after and captured by police officials since the scenes of their crimes are careless, they are most likely to leave behind large amounts of evidence due to their unpreparedness. Richard Kuklinski claims that he used to kill for fun. In fact he claims to have committed most of his crimes before he even began his career as a hit man. If true, Richard then successfully made the transition from unorganized to organized killer.
Organized killers are those individuals with a higher than average IQ.

They seek conformity, yet they are distressed because they are stuck in dead end occupations that do not really show their potential, and they recognize it. They are very socially skilled and sometimes have families, they show remarkable insight and get along fine with others, often being described as charming. Their charming nature is what they typically rely on when seeking their victims. They use their knowledge of language instead of violence to lure them in. In the case of Richard Kuklinski, he was a recognized hit man in the criminal community. His ability to get the job done made him famous amongst criminals. Those who wanted someone to disappear would seek Richard and his services. For example, in order to confuse the time of death, he would take his victims and put them in a freezer for long periods of time. He would then take them out, and dump the body out somewhere. When the body was found, it would confuse the coroner and they would claim the time of death incorrectly, thus leaving Richard as a free man. That is a very organized killer; he had a thought out plan and executed it to perfection. Although later as age caught up to him, he left one such body in the freezer for too long and dumped it, later the coroner discovered ice cubes in the body resulting in a deeper investigation that would lead to the capture of

Richard.
Conclusion:
So what is the correct answer? Is it a personal issue or a public issue? The answer is both. Usually, the public blames the parents of serial killers, they are criticized for not having been to detect the signs and handle their children at a young age as well teaching them right from wrong. They can take part of the blame, but it is unfair to assign them all of it. The brain is still an organ that contains many mysteries. There are countless personality disorders that stem from faults in the brain.
In the final minutes of the Ice Man interview with Richard Kuklinski, Psychologist… diagnosed Mr. Kuklinski with Anti-Social Personality disorder