Serial Murder

The police of our society must be intrigued by the unusual crimes committed by serial killers, mass murders, and spree murders. Serial killers, mass murders, and spree murders are given fame for their crime even though their murders only account for approximately three or four percent of murders. People are interested in these murderers because their acts are surprising and unexplainable for the average person, but there usually are reasons that a person would lash out as they do in killing other human beings. The purpose of this paper is to discover the reasons for mass murder, spree murder, and serial murder, and compare the three.

The police must attempt to fathom why mass murders, serial killers, and spree murderers kill. In order to peel away the layers of a murderer’s one must look at specific cases in which these murders happen and look closely at why a human being would kill another human being. There are many theories of why an individual becomes a criminal. This paper will express the ideas of Edwin Sutherland and his theory of Differential association, as well as apply his theory in the investigation of why mass murderers, serial killers, and spree murderers kill.

Sutherland’s theory of Differential association involves “a theory based on the social environment and its surrounding individuals and the values those individuals gain from significant others in their social environment” (Diane M. DeMelo). In other words, the environment influences behavior.

Mass murderers consist of the murder of four or more victims in the same time and place. Usually these murderers have to preference as to who they kill victims are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Often the killings end with either the offender committing suicide or the police killing him—this is called suicide by cop; therefore, finding out why a person commits these murders is difficult. Sutherland would assert that “When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very complicated, sometimes simple and the specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes” (DeMelo). He might suggest that a mass murderer learned their behavior because of their environment was one that encourages criminal behavior. For instance, a pseudocommando usually lives in a setting that induces criminal activity. Example would be the Columbine high school shootings of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold that killed 12 students and 2 teachers. In addition, one can’t ask questions or physiologically analyze the murder so methods of physiological autopsy and simply comparing the similarities of different cases are the main means of explanation. Pseudocommandos plan to lash out at the world for being somehow wrong towards them. They will plan out exactly how they are going to murder, but they still randomly pick their victims. These killers usually have a great arsenal of weapons form guns to rifles to hand grenades, but that does not mean that all people will a gun collection should be considered suspects.

Through studies of five different types of mass murder that have been labeled, one of which has already been mentioned; a pseudocommando. Disciple murders take place in cults or gangs where a certain leader or disciple heads up the killings. The victims are following him or her and are usually killed by hand weapons or poisonous substances. Charles Manson is a famous Disciple mass murder. The annihilator is the family mass murderer. Usually this is the oldest son in the family or a parent that lashes out killing the entire family including any type of pets. Sometimes this offender commits suicide right afterward but will also wait for other family members to arrive or will travel to the homes of other family members to kill them. The disgruntled employee has either been fired or is about to lose his or her job. Often a long-term employee lashes out at some unfairness in the workplace. Sometimes these offenders are on medical or mental leave and come back. They usually walk into the workplace almost normally and begin to kill workers at random although they may look like they have a target. The alleged unfairness of the workplace is their reason for killing as many as 30 or 40 victims.

Lastly, the set and run killers are known for entering a building with a bomb attached to them claiming to want to blown up themselves and anyone else that was in the way. However, their true intent is not suicide but to leave the bomb with a timer and leave the building before it goes off. Another type of set and run killer will tamper with products in a grocery store by injecting them with poison. They usually do this in protest of the product for some unknown reason. The unknown reasons of the motives of most mass murders is a intriguing fact for most people, but the fear of being killed in a mass murder comes at any time. Signs are from depression to personality disorders to romantic obsessions. Sutherland might say that their environment would have caused these obsessions or depression to kill. Afterwards it is easy to discover the intent behind the murders but beforehand it is often difficult to discover the impending destruction.

Serial killers are highly mobile people with obsessive e compulsive characteristics. Normally, he or she has little connection to the victims and prey upon drifters, runaway teens, and people who will not be missed enough to provoke investigation. Serial killers intend to kill and do so without the use of guns. There are four main types of serial killers as well as the mixture of these types. Visionaries hear voices. They usually say that either God or the devil or demons tell them to kill. Missionaries think their job is to clean the scum out of society. Sutherland would say that the “scum” of society would be the environment that influences these missionaries to kill. They prey upon homosexuals, drug addicts, prostitutes, and racial minorities. Power seekers desire a control over life and death. They usually hold their victims for ransom or to gain fame. Hedonists are the most complex type of serial murder. They are power oriented and divided into three categories: lust, thrill and gain. Lust killers rape and/or kill their victims in a personal way resulting in overkill, necrophilia, and cannibalism. Thrill killers rape torture and kill to get off resulting in acts of mutilation and cannibalism. Gain killers kill to receive some sort of personal or financial gain as a part of their career. Of course, there is no way to narrow the type of serial killer down so specifically because each killer sometimes creates their own categories as a mixture of each of the latter categories.

The spree killer is a combination of both mass murders and serial killers. Spree killers act in passion and or rage as mass murders do, but do not kill more than four people in one place. There is no method or link between each of spree killers’ victims. The victim may be the driver of a car the murderer needed or just an unfortunate witness to the act. The patters of a spree killer are irregular and erratic. Usually, a spree killer makes murder his or her full time job killing at a fast pace in a few months while a serial killer may go on killing for years without getting caught. Andrew Cunanan is a spree killer who ended his four-month spree by killing Gianni Versace who he had an obsession over. Selfish motives are the blame for most murders. They don’t care about he lives they are taking only the point that they are trying to make. Sutherland might say that the spree killers learned this behavior based on the values that they learned from their environment. Theses killers want to possibly show their values and thus make their point by killing.

In order to understand Sutherland’s theory it is important to note the nine basic postulates of his differential association theory according to the 1939 edition of Principles of Criminology:

1. Criminal behavior is learned.
2. Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication.
3. The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups.
4. When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes (a) techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very simple; (b) the specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes.
5. The specific direction of the motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favorable or unfavorable.
6. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of law.
7. Differential association may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.
8. The process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all of the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning.
9. While criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those general needs and values since non-criminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and value

In trying to determine the similarities between Mass Murderers, Serial Killers, and Spree Killers, I will do extensive research into cases of each type of murder in history learning about killers such as Marin Bryant, David Burke, Christopher Churchill, Gustavo Aldolfo, Richard Arinaitwe, Joe Ball, Daniel Barbosa, Ted Bundy, Mary Ann Cotton, Jeffrey Dahmer, Bela Kiss, Heinrich Pommerencke, Frank G. Spisak Jr., and Jack Unterweger. Through this extensive research I created the following chart comparing the three types of mass killers:

	Serial Killers	Mass Murderers	Spree Killers
Victim Selection	Specific	Random	Random
Reach out for Psychological help	Sometimes	Yes	No
Act in Rage	Sometimes	Sometimes	Yes
Plan out murders	Yes	Sometimes	No

I’d like to interview some murderers to help discover their reasons and explanations for their acts. Questions will include:

Through my research I have listed some quotes from various Murderers that are interesting.

"Nobody ever wants to listen to me, or go with me. I'm getting fed up with this. I'll think of something, and everybody will remember me." (Allegedly said to a neighbor a year before the massacre)

"I've got something important to do tomorrow" (Allegedly said the night before the massacre.)

“Lonely widower seeking female companionship” ad in newspaper to lure victims

"I saw women dancing around the golden calf and I thought they were a fickle lot. I knew I would have to kill." Pommerencke on the film The Ten Commandments

"Even though this court may pronounce me guilty a thousand times, the higher court of our great Aryan warrior God pronounces me innocent. Heil Hitler!"

"I was a greedy, ravenous individual, hungry for life, determined to rise from the bottom .... it wasn't me!" The final words to his jury.

Murder is one of the most intriguing crimes in the world. Mass murder is one of the most horrifying types of murder. Serial killing is also gruesome but because it spans over a long period of time, it is only considered gruesome by its methods of murder. Jeffrey Dahmer is very intriguing because of his methods, types of victims, and his cannibalism. Spree murderers are mostly pissed off people with weapons. Most movies contain spree murders that kill many during the duration of the film. But these people all have one main thing in common—they kill other humans. Research has shown that these three types of multiple murderers have a few things in common as well as differences. First, the victim selection of mass murderers and spree killers are both relatively random. The spree killer’s victims are even more random than mass murderers because mass murders usually target a group of people but not specific people within the group although sometimes only certain members of a group are killed. Serial killers on the other hand are specific about who they kill sometimes even getting to know their victim before they kill them. Ted Bundy targeted dark-haired, young girls while Dahmer liked gay boys with a dream of modeling (little did they know that some of the photographs would be published).

As for psychological help, both serial killers and mass murderers reach out but rarely before it are too late. Usually a mass murderer will reach out for help days or hours before his or her crime without getting any serious help. Serial killers usually need the help but they do not get it. They cope with their problems by killing. Sutherland would assert that this criminal behavior was most likely learned. Spree killers usually murder so out of the blue that they do not have time nor think they have the need for psychological help. All of the three types of multiple murders act in some degree of rage in their killings. The spree murderers’ reason for killing is usually in rage while sometimes serial killers and mass murderers do not act out in rage but insanity or a self imposed necessity. The degree of planning is slightly different between serial killers and mass murderers. Spree killers do not plan their murders they are the most random of multiple murderers. Mass murders sometimes plan and sometimes do not plan. Mass murder like the Columbine High School shootings were planned out with maps and time tables while other mass murders are completely randomized—the assailant just got pissed off. Serial killers plan out completely what they are planning to do to another human being. While these three types are killers can be different in their methods, selection, psychological needs, and planning, they can also be very similar. In addition, Sutherland would believe that these three types of killers all have one thing in common, that their criminal behavior was learned.

Brown, Stephen E. et al. Criminology: Explaining Crime and its Context. 4^th Ed. Cincinnati: Anderson, 2001.

Brown, Stephen E. et al. Criminology: Explaining Crime and its Context. Study Guide. 4^th Ed. Cincinnati: Anderson, 2001.

McCormick, John and Peter Annin. “Alienated, Marginal, and Deadly.” Newsweek. 19 Sept. 1994: 52-53.

[Comments: You may use this topic from your old paper, as long as you are substantially revising it, and tie it in successfully with topics appropriate to a police course.]
[Comments: I added your part 2 section. You've got a criminology paper going in this police class, I hope you know.]
[Comments: I added part 3]
[Comments: Part 4 added. Students have one more chance to edit or revise the final product before the class ends. The front (Intro) and back end (Summary) of your paper could easily have more material added to it that would make it more relevant to the police course you're in.]