Serial Killers - The reasons behind their crimes

Essay by winterKHigh School, 12th gradeA, May 2008

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When we think of serial killers the majority of us are often filled with repugnance and fear. I realized this after a poll I had conducted on how people view them today: 68% see them as evil, disturbed and crazy; 14% see them as intelligent, witty, and manipulative; 10% see them as sad, lost and confused; and only 8% hold a different opinion than the three (WOWYW, 2007). After receiving my data from this survey I discovered how quick people are to judge and despise them without allowing a moment to question, "Why are they this way?"Society has developed many misconceptions about what it is that drives a serial killer to kill. They also ignore the fact that through their crimes and the killer's themselves we've gained the opportunity to learn about them. It's easier now to help prevent these kinds of people from developing and to be able to better recognize them because of those who have already killed.

We also forget the key to protect you from these types of people is to educate yourself more about them.

The most vital thing to comprehend before trying to enter the psyche of a serial killer is to understand what serial murder is itself. Dr.Robert D. Keppel realized after interviewing Ted Bundy that the first fact of serial murder is that these crimes exist most clearly in the mind of the serial killer himself (Michaud & Ayneswarth, 2000, p.V). In other words, we can only come to understand the minds of these people to the extent that they'll allow us to, and only they will ever truly know the meaning behind their crimes.

The FBI has created what you could almost call a "requirement list" to what makes you a serial killer. They define serial murder as: a...