Female Serial Killers Methods and Motives

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Female serial killers have long careers, and it is often hard to interview them because they are rare (Johnston, 2012). There are different types of female serial killers, and different things motivate them. This leads one to ask: What are the different types and causes of female serial killers, and how do they target their victims? Background There have been many different definitions of a serial killer, but the FBI’s official definition of a serial killer as of 2010 is “the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender, in separate events” (“FBI”, 2010). Female serial killers are rare, however famous ones include DESCRIBE Beverly Awitt and Rosemary West (McIvor, 2004). Aileen Wuornos is a famous serial killer from the United States. Wuornos was convicted of killing six men (Arrigo, 2004). 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.). Types of Serial Killers and Causes Different types of serial killers include the black widow, angel of death, sexual predator, and profit or crime killers power/control killers, who kill to demonstrate power over ... ... middle of paper ... ...y Today. Retrieved January 23, 2014 from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-equation/201205/female-serial-killers McIvor, G. (2004) Women who offend. London, GBR: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Petherick, W., Kennedy, D., Homant, R. (2005). Serial crime : Theoretical and practical issues in behavioral profiling. Burlington, MA, USA: Academic Press Schechter, H. (2003). The serial killer files: The who, what, where, how, and why of the world's most terrifying murderers. Random House LLC. Schurman-Kauflin, D. (2000) New predator : Profiles of female serial killers. New York, NY: Algora Publishing Taylor, S., Lambeth, D., Green, G., Bone, R., & Cahillane, M. A. (2012). Cluster analysis examination of serial killer profiling categories: A bottom-up approach. Journal Of Investigative Psychology & Offender Profiling, 9(1), 30-51. Retrieved from Ebsco

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