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Introduction to female serial killing
Introduction to female serial killing
Introduction to female serial killing
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His dead body was found in the woods near Daytona Beach, Florida, shot with a twenty two caliber rifle. “She ended up shooting six .22 caliber bullets into him” (McDuff 202). This is just one of the many catastrophes performed by a woman serial killer. Serial killers are a problem in the United States, murdering on average 2000 people each year (Indiana University np). “In fact, serial murder in the United States alone makes up more than three-quarters of the estimated world total” (Innes 5). Although women serial killers are not very common, they still have a huge impact on the death toll of innocent victims. In order to understand how woman serial killers operate, it is important to understand their motives, the different classifications of woman killers, society’s response, and the consequences they face for their actions. There are many differences between the traits of men and women serial killers. A serial killer is defined as “a person who carries out a series of murders” (Farlex np).When men serial killers are studied, the general motives for their killing are sex, power, manipulation, domination, and control. Serial killers who are women have many other reasons to kill such as revenge, elimination, jealously, personal gain, lust, and thrill. The woman’s desire to kill often leads back to her past. “Women nearly always kill someone with whom they already have some sort of relationship; with women, killing is usually an intensely personal thing” (Castleden 563). Serial killers are usually motivated by a rage against some specific aspect of society or their own life. One of the most common things that female serial killers have in common is that they were not raised in a loving or stable home. In some instances, like Ann... ... middle of paper ... ...ww.lsu.edu/faculty/jpullia/femaleserialkillers.htm>. Greig, Charlotte. Evil Serial Killers: In the Minds of Monsters. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006. Print. Innes, Brian. Serial Killers. London: Quercus, 2006. Print. Kerns, Jeanne Marie. "Women Serial Killers and Their Motives." Associated Content from Yahoo! 24 Apr. 2007. Web. 4 May 2011. . Kerr, Gordon. Professional Killers. London: Futura, 2008. Print. McDuff, Anne. She Devils: True Stories of the World's Most Notorious Female Serial Killers. London: John Blake, 2009. Print. Schurman-Kauflin, Deborah. The New Predator--Women Who Kill: Profiles of Female Serial Killers. New York: Algora Pub., 2000. Print. "Serial Killer." The Free Dictionary. Web. 4 May 2011. .
On the night of August 31st 1986, Angelique Lavallee a battered 21 year-old woman in an unstable common law relationship was charged with murder. She shot her spouse, Kevin Rust in the back of the head while he was leaving the bedroom. Angelique was in fear for her life after being taunted with the gun and was threaten to be killed. Hence, she felt that she had to kill him or be killed by him. The psychiatrist Dr. Shane, did an assessment and concluded that she was being terrorized by her partner. Dr. Shane concluded that Angelique was physically, sexually, emotionally and verbally abused. As a result, in the psychiatrist’s opinion, the killing was a final desperate act by a woman who seriously believed she would be killed that night. This in turn identify her as a
Filetti, Jean S.”From lizzie borden to lorena bobbitt: violent women and gendered justice.” Journal of American Studies 35.3(2001):471-484. .
O'Neill, Laurie A.. Chapter 8: The Massacre. The Millbrook Press, 1993. eLibrary. Web. 23 Dec. 2013.
A serial killer is someone who does three or more killings in a short period of time. However, not all serial killers are the same. There are many differences between a male and female serial killer. For example, a female serial killer tends to commit more premeditated murders because they either know their victims or they know their routines. Many women serial killers have a history of being sexually abused as they were growing up, while the men have been physically abused. Most female serial killers choose poison and strangling, a less messy approach.
Knight, Zelda G. "Sexually Motivated Serial Killers And The Psychology Of Aggression And "Evil" Within A Contemporary Psychoanalytical Perspective." Journal Of Sexual Aggression 13.1 (2007): 21-35. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web. 1 May 2014.
In a study conducted by Hickey, he discovered that out of thirty-four female serial killers, almost one in two had a male accomplice committing murders with them (Holmes et al., 1991). He also revealed that 97% were white and the average age the women started committing murders was thirty-three (Holmes et al., 1991). Women serial killers differ from men in that most women kill for material gain, such as money or insurance benefits, and they usually commit murder with pills or poison. Stephen Holmes, Ronald Holmes, and Eric Hickey developed a typology for female serial killers similar to the one developed by Holmes and Holmes, discussed earlier. They begin with visionary serial killers, who are compelled by some force, such as God, or spirits, to commit murders. The second type is the comfort killer, who usually kills acquaintances and does so for a material gain, money or real estate (Holmes et al., 1991). The third category is hedonistic female serial killers, which is similar to the earlier typology in that the offender connects murder with sexual gratification. This is the least represented category for female offenders, but evidence for this type of killer can be seen in the case of Carol Bundy (Holmes et al., 1991). Bundy allegedly helped her husband kidnap, murder, and decapitate the
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
Mary Ann Milner, who killed her own in-laws as well as her niece. All though all of these people were interesting and gave me a reason to research more into a fascinating topic, one stood out more than the rest to me. She’s not as fascinating and she didn’t have as good of reasons to kill as most killers. She didn’t have an awful (horrendous) back ground. I picked her for one reason and one reason alone. To prove a point that not only can money corrupt when used by some, that it can also drive people who wouldn’t normally do something so incredibly horrific or stupid, to doing something that’s, well, stupid and horrific. So let’s move on to the main Protagonist in the story, shall we. Among all of the women that are known for being some of the
The FBI has defined serial killing as “the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s) in separate events” (Farrell, Keppal, & Titterington, 2011, p. 231). While individuals who partake in such activity do receive a large amount of attention, the female parts of this population are vastly under recognized. Female serial killers receive little academic attention, even though they are a complex and dynamic group to study (p. 229). Women make up 15% of American serial killers, with 36 known to be active in the last century (p. 230). It is speculated that at any given time there are 50-70 serial killers in the United States, and approximately 7-8 of them are female (Schurman, 2000, p. 12). Moreover, females acting alone manage
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. In recent years, there has been a considerable amount of research conducted in order to better understand and profile both male and female serial killers. With this new research in the law enforcement system, more information about female serial killers and how they tend to differ from their male counterparts is more accessible. The differences between male and female serial killers vary in many different areas such as victim damage, victim torture, weapon/method, stalking versus luring behavior, crime scene organization, reasons for murder, substance abuse history, psychiatric diagnosis, and household composition (Keeney and Heide, 1994). These differences, along with information describing the social background of the perpetrator, provide researchers and individuals in the law enforcement system with substantial signs that can be used to prevent further serial murders....
Aileen Wuornos Carol born on the 29th of February 1956 was one of the most famous serial killers of all times. Regarded as the first female serial killer in the United States, Aileen depicts the life of thousands of other people around the world whose lives were either changed or altered by their biological, environmental and developmental factors that made them to commit unimaginable crimes. This study analyzes the life of Aileen beginning with the crimes she committed. In addition, the study will examine the biological, developmental and environmental factors that led to the crimes she committed. Theories that could be applied to her actions including factors such as psychopathy will also be analyzed together with how they may have led to her crimes. In conclusion, the court
Aileen Wuornos is well known to be one of the most notorious serial killers ever in America. Without reading or coming across the knowledge about her life and how she became a serial killer, it would be hard to judge why she decided to do all that. Aileen was executed in Florida in 2002 but what fooled after her death is fame about her killings of men. Every time we think of a serial killer, a picture of a violent, egotistical and manipulative male comes to mind but she proved all these ideologies wrong (Shipley, 2004). Born in 1956, Wuornos had a horrifying experience during her childhood life. Her father committed suicide in prison serving a term due to child molestation and her mother abandoned her with her brothers at young age leaving the duty to their
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.
Pearson, Patricia. When She Was Bad: Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence. New York: Viking, 1997
Serial killers are usually young, white males who are quite intelligent and often come from broken homes. They may have been abused either physically or sexually during childhood and they have serious personality defects, such as low self-esteem and a lifelong sense of loneliness. Although no two serial killers are alike, they all fit this description somewhat. In the sixth edition of Crime and Criminality by Sue Titus Reid, a serial killer is defined as a person who commits more than one murder but at different times (Reid, p. 134).