Serial Killer Research Paper

If you turn on the news in any large city in the United States you will probably see the headlines “Man killed” or “Woman killed”, not often will you will see more than just those basic details as it relates to a single murder, but when it comes to crimes committed by a serial murderer the media seems to flock to the scene, they want to be the first to break the story of what has taken place. This paper will review the crimes and motives four different serial killers to review how their story was presented as news by the media. The four men will consist of Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and Ronald Dominique. The story of serial killers are widespread both in the news and film. Depending on the way that media spins the story will

The first is mass murder where the killer goes on what is seen as a spree, taking the lives of numerous people over a short span of time, usually a 24-hour period. This type of murder usually ends with a police confrontation and either the death or apprehension of the suspect. The next type of murder is the killing of a single person. This can happen for numerous different reasons such as a domestic dispute, money of even jealousy. These types of crimes usually focus on the victim more than the offender. The phenomenon when it comes to murder is that of the serial killer. The crimes of a serial killer seem to spark not only the interest of the media but also society as a

Though their motives are usually different and include murder for financial gain and the weapon that they choose to use is poison (Harrison, 2015). One misconception that our society has about females is that they are incapable of committing serial murder. Research has shown that one in six serial killers are. Many of the cases involving women as the serial killer are believed to have lasted longer than expected or even gone unsolved due to the fact that they are not believed to be capable of such a crime.

The statistics on serial killers in the United States show that approximately 50 percent are white, 40 percent African American and six percent Hispanic. It also shows that 90 percent are male leaving the remaining 10 percent female. 72 percent of known serial killers had an issue with substance abuse and 70 percent had received a head injury as a child (S., 2016).

Four serial killers that became the top stories of their times are Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and Ronald Dominique. All four of these men killed numerous people in extraordinarily violent ways. The media could not get enough of them and their stories are still alive in movies and novels