The definition of serial killers is highly debatable as some find the need to distinguish them from mass murderers. However, there are distinguishable features that allow professionals to profile serial killers to be calculating, detail oriented and precise killers (Waller, 2010) making them more distinct as compared to other killers and murderers. They are not impulsive killers but rather they plan their next move and carefully select their victims. Profiling series killers led the police authorities to categorize them into four types as follows: mission oriented type, hedonistic type, visionary type, and power/control type. In an attempt to understand the social factors that led serial killers to behave the way they do, there are social constructions that were considered to have contributed to their criminal behavior. Social construction involves theories that rely on behavioral modeling and conditioning that will help understand the underlying causes of the bizarre social behavior of a serial killer.
The social structure theory is also called the social process theory which assumes that certain groups of people are prone to be involved in crimes and delinquency because of their social status in the community (Holmes and Holmes, 2010). Moreover, the social structure theory also provides that the socialization of the individual to other people within his community affects his behavior. Witnessing cruelty and violence from within his social group could foster the growth of criminal behavior in a person especially when he was a child although it is emphasized that any abuse or violence to a person is not necessary to develop a criminal behavior. Poor people for instance are more criminally inclined to criminal behavior because their social status prevents them from attaining their social objectives and goals. Poor children are likely to experience violence from their parents and any traumatic experience that the person had from the people to whom he commonly interacts during his youth could encourage their violent personality. Peer pressure, poor school performance, family problems and legal entanglements are among the other causes for the development of criminal behavior of a person under the social process theory.
The social class theory provides that a serial killer is one who may belong to either the upper working or middle lower class who feels excluded from the class to which he belongs that he devotedly wants to join. The feeling of rejection made the person develop the kind of vengeance that eventually lead to a series of killings. In his campaign of vengeance, he chooses his victims as those unknown to him but fit the description of the people within the class that rejected him. Thus, Hickey (2010) noted that the social class of the victims becomes the catalyst for murder. An employee belonging to the upper working class for instance who commonly experience rejection in his efforts in work and often exposed to humiliation from his peers who belong to the same class or lower tend to develop resentment and the feeling of vengeance. Thus, he targets those who fit the same profile of the peers within his class who are responsible for his rejection to give them a lesson. As noted by serial killer researchers, the social class killer commonly targets males belonging to the lower social class and females based on gender.
The neutralization theory on the other hand describes serial killers to have the inclination of neutralizing their personal values and attitudes as they drift from a conventional behavior to a criminal one. As a person has the tendency to deviate from the conventional behavior, they need to find justification in order to neutralize their illegitimate behavior. This technique of neutralization usually involves the denial or responsibility, denial of the injury and harm they cause to their victims and condemning their victims for their demise. For instance, serial killers will target prostitutes and would make their work and immoral activities imputable to them as worthy of being killed. The killer attributes the blame to his victim in order to justify his criminal acts. The neutralization theory points out that the serial killer typically to be gainfully employed, active in civic organizations, married and educated. They tend to sway from conventional behavior to a criminal one and when they deviate from a normal behavior they experience denial of the injury and harm they caused to their victims through the neutralization technique they have learned.
The labeling theory ascribes the abnormal behavior of serial killers as one that attaches stigma to their previous deviant behavior which made them graduate from the primary deviant behavior to develop a secondary one. Thus serial killers are those who were released on a mental or a prison institution for example and are labeled as a former convict or a former mental patient. Being labeled as such causes psychological damage to the person which fosters the development of a secondary deviant behavior resulting to the criminal behavior to kill. It usually takes a certain length of time that the labeling causes a significant implication on the individual’s self concept which eventually result to a low self esteem, self inadequacy, anger and homicidal behavior. The theory explains that the ability of the person to cope with the labeling process, its duration and intensity of the stigma are all contributing factors.
The social control theory suggests that a person’s inadequate socialization has an impact to a person lacking of social bonds that could encourage law abiding conduct. A person lacking the experience of socialization for instance is unable to learn the proper conduct, norms and values to understand why people should not break the law. Without peers and other individuals to influence a good moral conduct to a serial killer, it is easy to deviate from the conventional behavior to an illegitimate one with the person having no controlling factors or motivation that would prevent him from engaging in a criminal behavior. Human nature would generally be controlled or influenced by the societal norms and values and the lack thereof in serial killers allow them to make illegitimate choices without such control over their motives and acts.
The investigation of serial murders usually involves a complex process that could cause the investigators to undertake a very daunting task to accomplish. Serial killers first of all are meticulous in planning their crimes and they often choose victims that they do not know. They are also careful about leaving any trails of evidence that makes the investigation of their crime very difficult. There are two types of investigation processes that are commonly undertaken when investigating serial killers. The first type is the reactive investigative process. This involves the reactive profiling of a crime that already happened. It is perhaps a traditional investigation process undertaken by the police authorities. They react once a crime has been committed and then launch an investigation on the crime. A typical example would be the police authorities receiving a call reporting a crime and they then react to such report by coming to the crime scene and start their investigation. The police authorities may also dispatch patrol cars to monitor and show police visibility in different areas to deter crime from happening. Thus, the process involved in the reactive investigation approach is one where the authorities respond to a citizen’s report or call about a crime that has happened and to openly operate in different areas such as patrolling police cars to deter crimes from happening. In this light, the ability of the police to respond to crimes is quite limited upon the cooperation of the public. The reactive investigative approach is now viewed as too traditional and ineffective as serial killers are more careful in deterring the authorities to detect his criminal plans on when or where to strike his victims. The police authorities usually react only when the serial killer has successfully completed his crime and it is almost too late to deter the harm and injuries he has already done to his victims. In view of serial killings, a reactive investigative approach is deemed insufficient to repel the criminal acts of a serial killer.
In view of this inadequacy in reacting to serial killings and solving crimes, the police authorities have adopted the proactive investigative approach. Theoharis (1999) describes the proactive investigative approach as the modern law enforcement investigation process involving a more aggressive method of discovering violations of the law. This introduced a major shift on how the police authorities now conduct their investigation without being too dependent on public reports of a crime that happened but more on discovering how to prevent future crimes from happening. The police authorities are now more anticipative of any future crime that could happen and to take the necessary steps of preventing them from happening. In the proactive type of investigative approach, the police fosters a culture of identifying priorities, identify potential threats, anticipating crimes and targeting potential criminals who might have the inclination of becoming serial killers. In certain instances, undercover operations are undertaken in order to pursue leads or potential targets. The aim of proactive method of investigating serial killings is to use intelligence in order to obtain potential leads that could help the police authorities from implementing countermeasures against the future attacks of a serial killer. In contrast to the reactive investigative approach where information is mostly received from the public or citizens’ reports, the proactive investigation involves specialized investigating teams who are more competent with specialized skills in analyzing crime patterns and obtaining information from informants. Serial killer profilers are called to actively participate in the investigation especially in understanding the killer’s behavior and personality that would help the authorities understand who might be his potential targets.
Profiling of the serial killer is necessary in order to understand how his crimes can be prevented and to potentially catch the killer. Although the reactive and proactive investigation methods take a different approach in investigating crimes, both have to be undertaken together. The reactive method is most effective in promoting public peace and tranquility that could reassure the public of their safety, which could also prevent a serial killer from taking his prey. On the other hand, the proactive method of investigation is most effective in serious crimes, especially crimes committed by a professional serial killer. The investigation process is more specific, meticulous and uses important sources of information and an in-depth analysis about a serial killer’s crime. In many instances, police investigations are centered towards considering crimes as independent from the other crimes that have occurred within their state or in other states. However, serial killers are intelligent enough to disguise their crimes and are usually not constrained to commit a series of crime within a single district but oftentimes do their crimes without any geographic boundaries. This makes essential the sharing of information and databases from one police district to the other districts in order to compare notes and information during the investigation process to help identify patterns and connections of one crime to another.
There are databases that are available that could help in criminal profiling such as the research and development center on criminal profiling by the Investigative Support Unit of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, the serial killer database of the Radford University, and official reports of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on serial killers. Each state has their own database of information about serial killers within their respective police districts. The sharing of this information is crucial in order to help in the proactive investigative approach as well as in the reactive method of investigating serial killings in a local community. Proper database management should be regularly observed by the police authorities in order to encourage a more efficient way of facilitating sharing of data information about serial killers. A proper case management tool should be observed in order to organize relevant and crucial information that could help in the investigation process of serial killing. Cross referencing of information forms part of the proactive approach of investigating serial killers and professional serial killer profilers use analytical tools to help them spot significant patterns and to accurately identify valuable information in the investigation. The medical examiners are also becoming part of the proactive investigative team where they could obtain a coroner’s database about the past victims of serial killers to help obtain crucial information to expedite the investigation process. In another aspect, the digital forensic analysis can also play a major source of database of information in a serial killer investigation. Casy (2010) pointed out how the computer activities of a serial killer could help point out his crimes by collaborating information that could lead to tracing his patterns of activities that are involved when planning and committing a crime.
Undertaking both the reactive and proactive investigative approaches in the serial killer investigation are essential in the prevention and arrest of serial killers. Police authorities finally realized that serial killers are meticulous, intelligent and organized in their crimes making it essential to undergo a thorough crime investigation process that would give them the ability to understand the killer behavior and identify potential factors that could help them counteract his future crimes. Knowing for a fact that a serial killer will always have his killing sprees at one time or another, police authorities are required to take measures that will make them a step ahead to repel any future harm that the serial killer could cause to the public.
Reference
Casy, E. (2010). Handbook of Digital Forensics and Investigation. Oxford: Elsevier Academic
Press.
Hickey, E.W. (2010). Serial Murderers and their Victims. California: Cengage Learning.
Holmes, R.M. and Holmes, S.T. (2010). Serial Murder. California: Sage Publication.
Theoharis, A.G. (1999). The FBI A Comprehensive Reference Guide. Arizona: Oryx Press.
Waller, S. (2010). Serial Killers. Philosophy for Everyone. UK: Blackwell Publishing.
