Female Serial Killers

Personality attributes to the serial killer’s crimes and behaviors. Their home life as well as with whom they have associated contributes to their role in society. Boduszek, Hyland, and Bourke (2012) investigated those characteristics that can effect and impact the reasoning behind a serial murderer’s actions. Participants completed a questionnaire to help reveal if a prisoner had a criminal friend or family member (Boduszek, Hyland, & Bourke, 2012). The overall purpose of this procedure was to alert people of what could be signs and predictions of a murderer. If one could spot the difference between themselves and a serial murderer then they can help reduce homicides. One of the signs of a serial killer is their upbringing in an unsafe and

The Participants, were four females, completed a survey packet that included 567 true-false questions. The purpose of the study was to bring awareness to the fact that women could also be serial killers too and if studied more as frequently as men, one could potentially predict a pattern within that gender. This could lead to finding the difference between female serial killers and the average female in future studies. It was concluded that all four participants were linked with depression, (Hildebrand & Culhane, 2015). It is shown through their analysis that some of the women struggled with social interaction. They desire attention from everyone but do not know how to properly obtain it. One of the females suffered from a rather difficult childhood where her father abandoned her and her mother committed suicide in front of her, she was then sexually assaulted by her uncle (Hildebrand & Culhane, 2015). These traumatic experiences may have been the cause for her desire to commit crime. She did not experience the love and nurturing nature a child should have. There are many mental factors that contribute to why a murderer kills. Two of the females studied displayed some psychopathic tendencies on the MMPI-2 Scale, which was used to determine elevations for certain mental disorders and personality types. The psychopathic elevation was not shared with all the participants therefore it

It had become suspicious that everyone she ever had to care for all died of gastric fever. She was executed for her crimes which included killing 17 people. The purpose of this study was to conclude whether the serial murderer Marry Ann Cotton was a psychopath and as suggested from her behavior, she may very well be one. On the PCL-R, as conducted by Wilson and Yardley, she scored a 25, thus classifying her as a psychopath. However, considering she was executed over a century before they conducted the test; there is no certainty that she truly was one. She predicted her stepson’s death before it occurred which led to her being caught (Wilson & Yardley, 2013). Not much of her early life is known however, the poverty that Cotton spent her life in may have been a factor as to why she committed the homicides. She constantly wanted to have a new start when things did not go her way or tragedy had struck, for example she would often abandon her children with friends or relatives (Wilson & Yardley, 2013). An additional purpose to this article was to prove the lack of knowledge