Serial Killers
Psychological profiling of serial killers focus attention on men and women who break the laws by killing many innocent people over an extended duration of time. Some do it for pleasure while others do it for revenge. The behavior of serial killers can be determined by a criterion called antisocial personality disorder. Scientists have used the antisocial personality disorder criterion to try and figure out why serial killers kill without the slightest feeling of remorse (Stewart). They are good at lying and fitting in so that the people around them cannot suspect them of being capable of doing sadistic things like murder. They lead normal lives and own their own businesses and some of them have families making it extremely difficult for people to suspect them of being serial killers In the movie American psycho, Patrick Bateman, a serial killer dresses well has an exceptional education and works a businessman.
His colleagues and any other person he comes across cannot suspect him of being a killer but sees a decent man walking by (Kilele). Serial killers in most cases have a single target group which they acquire through past experiences or select randomly. These people might easily be lured and fall prey to the murders intentions, unsuspectingly, such as prostitutesand people who have lost hope in life. These people are mostly vulnerable. Patrick targets women especially prostitutes. He rapes them and tortures them before he finds pleasure in killing them.
In the movie, The Silence of The Lambs, Buffalo Bill finds pleasure in wearing women’s skin and his target group are fat ladies who do not potently have people flirting with them. His sexual desires also drive him to committing these killings.Serial killers can go after people who are not in their group of targeted people if need be. They go after people who are on to them, especially police officers and detectives who could unveil who they really are. This is because they would rather be free to kill than behind bars where they cannot practice what they love best.
They love living a secret life and do not want anyone on their tail. They find pleasure in killing. They can kill anyone at anytime provided they think they are at risk of exposure or just for fun. In American psycho, Patrick repeatedly stubs a homeless man who only wanted help. He did this because the man had nothing in common with him.
In the Saw, Jigsaw, a serial killer, cuts open a detective’s throat because he was a threat to him (King). Serial killers can be organized in what they do. They locate their victims and don’t act immediately. They plan their kill carefully; stalk the victim so that they can know what they do when and where they spend their time. If they encounter their victims, they doon’t kill them immediately but wait for the perfect chance to proceed with the plan. They kidnap the victims and take them to a disoriented place and take time to torture them before killing them.
Buffalo Bill identifies his victims. He pretends to need help then kidnaps them and takes them to a secret location; here he starves his victims to death before skinning them. Organized serial killers can be considered as very learned people (King). Disorganized killers, on the other hand, do not plan anything. They attack innocent people anywhere for no appropriate reason. They do not carry any weapon but use what they can get hold of.
They do not hide the body but leave it at the scene of the crime. These criminals end up getting caught because they leave so much evidence. Some serial killers are mixed. They either kill their victims on the spot or take them victims to a secluded place. They then dispose their bodies when they finish.Some people claim to receive visions from divine beings such as angels or their dead family members.
They do not have a given target group. Their killings have no personal connections. These killers can be referred to as visionary killers because they kill out of visions they receive. Missionary serial killers kill people of a certain group because they have the urge to eliminate the group because of something a person had done. They can eliminate doctors because a doctor was responsible for the death of someone they valued very much.
