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CCJ 1191 – Human Behavior
Dr. E. Buchholz
SERIAL MURDERERS & THEIR VICTIMS.
CHAPTER 4: Social Construction of Serial Murder
Learning Objectives
■ To evaluate sociological theories as they pertain to violent behavior
■ To understand the role of family and maladaptive childhood behaviors that may portend adult
criminality, especially violence
■ To examine the incidence of school shootings by juveniles compared to adults
■ To examine the Myers and Kirby typologies of juvenile serial killers
■ To explore the etiology of serial murder as it relates to Hickey’s Trauma-Control Model
■ To review the case studies as they relate to the process of becoming a serial murderer
■ To understand the facilitators that influence the construction of serial murderers
Are You a Criminal?
Have you ever committed a crime for which you could have been arrested but did not get caught?
Do you think that Randy “Duke” Cunningham, former U.S. congressman, or former Illinois governor Rod
Blagojevich, both convicted of corruption, consider themselves to be criminals?

California Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham managed to take so much in illicit cash and
merchandise and services that after pleading guilty, he was still required to pay $1,800,000 in
restitution. He got a home in Rancho Santa Fe, cash untold, limousine rides, hotel rooms, and
prostitutes.

Rod Blagojevich, former Governor of Illinois, convicted of corruption ranging from wire fraud,
attempted extortion, and conspiracy to solicit bribes, and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Most
notably, the fraud involved attempting to profit from the appointment of a senator to fill the the
seat vacated by Barack Obama.
Theoretical Frameworks to Explain Serial Murder

Social Structure

Social Class

Social Process
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
Neutralization

Social Control

Labeling
Theoretical Frameworks to Explain Serial Murder

Social Structure

Focus on individuals’ socioeconomic standing

“Strain”
▪
Seek success through deviant methods
Theoretical Frameworks to Explain Serial Murder

Social Structure

While may explain many types of crimes, does not apply to most serial murderers
▪
Most not motivated by social or financial gain
▪
Women, though, have been known to kill for financial gain
Belle Gunness
1859-1908

Killed most of her suitors and boyfriends, and her two daughters, Myrtle and Lucy. She may also
have killed both of her husbands and all of her children, on different occasions. Her apparent
motives involved collecting life insurance, cash and other valuables, and eliminating witnesses.
Theoretical Frameworks to Explain Serial Murder

Social Class

Leyton


Serial killers are often on the margins of the upper-working or lower middle classes who
feel excluded from the class they wish to join.
Caputi

Serial murder is a form of dominant power and terror that maintains male supremacy
Theoretical Frameworks to Explain Serial Murder

Social Process
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
Criminal behavior is a function of a socialization process.
▪
Peer group pressure
▪
Family problems
▪
Poor school performance
▪
Legal problems
Theoretical Frameworks to Explain Serial Murder

Social Process

Bandura
▪

Aggressive behavior of serial murders may be explained by childhood
experiences of victimization or the witnessing of violent behavior.
Wolfe
▪
Exposure to family violence may have an indirect, yet significant, effect on
children resulting in diminished social competence and behavioral problems.
Theoretical Frameworks to Explain Serial Murder

Neutralization

View the process of delinquent youths becoming criminals as a matter of “neutralizing”
their personal values and attitudes as the drift between conventional behavior and
illegitimate behavior.

Techniques:
▪
Denial of injury
▪
Denial of victim
▪
Condemnation of the condemners
▪
Appeal to higher loyalties
Theoretical Frameworks to Explain Serial Murder

Neutralization
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
Serial killers often dehumanize their victims before taking their lives.

Charny
▪

“Dehumanization is a process of ridding the other of the benefit of his
humanity.”
Serial killer Henry Lucas claimed he would never ask his victim’s name, and if she gave it
he would forget it immediately because he did not want to know his victims’ names or
anything about them.
Theoretical Frameworks to Explain Serial Murder

Social Control

Argue people do not commit crimes such as murder because of their fear of
punishment—a sense of commitment to society, family, and education serves as a
deterrent.
Theoretical Frameworks to Explain Serial Murder

Social Control

Reckless
▪
Youth can become isolated or insulated from criminal influences through
“containments,” such as a positive self image, ego strength, high frustration
tolerance, goal orientation, sense of belongingness, consistent moral front,
reinforcement of norms, goals, and values, effective supervision, discipline, and
a meaningful social role.
Theoretical Frameworks to Explain Serial Murder

Social Control

Hirschi
▪
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Introduced four elements of the social bond that apply to all social classes:
▪
Attachment
▪
Commitment
▪
Involvement
▪
Belief (common to others)
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▪
Bonds that individuals strengthen or weaken in relationship to the society in
which they live.
▪
Found most serial killers do not appear to have close or meaningful
relationships with their families or peers.
Theoretical Frameworks to Explain Serial Murder

Labeling

Lemert and Schur
▪
View negative labels such as “former mental patient,” “ex-convict,”
“delinquent,” “stupid,” and “slut” as inflicting psychological damage on those to
whom the labels are attached.
▪
The original deviant act (primary deviance), leads to being labeled a deviant,
along with negative social sanctions that engender hostility and resentment,
leading to acting against society.
Clifford Olson

Convicted Canadian serial killer confessed to murdering two children and nine youths in the
early 1980s.

Explained after being incarcerated on-and-off for 30 years, “They never should have let me go;”
the effects of prison made him more dangerous.

Agreed to confess to 11 murders and show the RCMP where the bodies of those not recovered
were buried. In return, authorities agreed that $10,000 for each victim was paid into a trust for
his wife, Joan, and then-infant son, Clifford III. His wife received—the 11th body being a
'freebie’.
Juvenile Mass Murderers and Serial Killers
Juvenile Mass Murderers & Serial Killers

Less than 10% of all homicides in the United States are committed by juveniles.

They frequently come from abusive family backgrounds where they often witnessed acts of
violence or were the recipients of abuse
School Shooters
One theme that often arises with juvenile school shooters is their experiences with rejection, social
marginalization, public humiliation, being designated by peers as an outcast, developing a sense of
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personal victimization such as bullying and being demeaned by fellow students. (See the Columbine
profile.)

Busch, et al.
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
Juveniles who kill have
▪
Criminally violent family members
▪
Histories of gang involvement
▪
Abuse alcohol
▪
Perform poorly in school due to intellectual and perceptual deficits
Juveniles who kill frequently come from abusive family backgrounds where they often
witnessed acts of violence or were the recipients of abuse.
Table 4.1
School Shooters

There are numerous cases of youth making death threats, bringing weapons to school, and
sometimes killing classmates and/or teachers but seldom on the mass scale of deaths played out
at Columbine High School.

Youth who commit school shootings may intend to kill many but due to lack of preparation and
sophistication often fall short of their objectives.
School Shooters

Experience rejection, social marginalization, public humiliation, being designated by peers as an
outcast, develop a sense of personal victimization such as bullying and being demeaned by
fellow students.

At Columbine, bullying and taunting was common in the school and several students carried
weapons for protection (Larkin, 2007).
JUVENILE SERIAL KILLERS

The Myers Typologies
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
Explosive

Predatory

Revenge

Displaced Matricide
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
The Kirby Typologies

Primary Juvenile Offenders

Maturing Juvenile Offenders

Secondary Juvenile Offenders
The Myers Studies

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

Explosive

Repressed feelings of sexual aggression

Desire to dominate and destroy females

Spontaneous, poorly planned attacks in close proximity to juvenile
Predatory

Hunt and stalk prey, usually strangers

Sexually aroused in anticipation of the murders
Revenge

Kill out of anger toward non-strangers who have in some way wronged them

Detailed planning
Displaced Matricide

Live near victims

Attack had evidence of control and range

Kill in response to developmental or environmental influences
The Kirby Typologies

Primary Juvenile Offenders


Maturing Juvenile Offenders


Kill most of the victims prior to age 18
Kill first victim prior to age 18, remaining prior to age 21
Secondary Juvenile Offenders
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
Kill first victim prior to age 18, remaining victims after age 21
See the Craig Price profile.
Which typology does he best fit into?
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Craig Price
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Middle-class African American
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13 YOA, broke into neighbor’s home, took knife from kitchen, stabbed 27-year old 58 times
•
2 years later, HS football player, broke into another neighbor’s home and butchered 3 more
victims, ages 39, 10, & 8
•
Confessed and convicted, released at 21 YOA
•
Said he would “make a name for himself”
•
Ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation, refused, found in contempt, threatened
correctional officer, given 10-25 years
•
Eligible forparole2020
See the Edmund Kemper profile.
Which typology does he best fit into?
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Edmund Kemper
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Domineering mother
•
Had no close friends or male role models
•
Fantasized about killing his family
•
Killed the family cat by burying it alive, then decapitated it
•
15 YOA, “I just wondered how it would feel to shoot grandma.”
•
Shot both grandparents to death
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Model patient at psychiatric hospital, released after 6 years
•
23 YOA began killing again, shot, stabbed, strangled, decapitated, & cannibalized victims—
all strangers (prostitutes, hitchhikers)
•
Engaged in necrophilia, trophies
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The MacDONALD TRIAD

Stress Is the generic predisposer to many maladaptive behaviors in childhood

Children possess different coping skills
The MacDONALD TRIAD
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FIRE SETTING

ANIMAL CRUELTY

ENEURISIS (chronic bed wetting)

Serial killers have been linked to childhood maladaptive behaviors such as torturing animals;
enuresis, or chronic bed-wetting; and fire-setting.

The presence of the MacDonald Triad indicates a pattern of creating hurt because of hurt: the
victim becomes the victimizer.
Triad (contd.)

The Triad is not a good predictor of later adult violent behavior nor is it a valid instrument to
measure future violence.

However, there does exist a correlation between youth with such behaviors, and they do appear
more often among the serial-killer population than among non-offenders. (Edmund Kemper
case.)
Family Dynamics

Psychological profiles reveal:

Frustration and intrapersonal conflict stemming from childhood

Hellman & Blackman: Pathognomonic signs that child is seriously troubled
▪
If violent, destructive tendencies are not alleviated, may lead to adult aggressive
antisocial behavior
▪
Relationship exists between parental loss or rejection and the development of
mental illness or personality disorders
▪
Aggressive outbursts of those who murder are associated with a history of
maternal or paternal deprivation
Family Dynamics

Heide: Emotional neglect is damaging to a child’s healthy development
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Clear messages that they are loved
▪
Words
▪
Appropriate displays of affection
Cummings& Davies: Child neglect when begun early interrupts all areas of emotional
development
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Bonding

Cognition

Play

Social skills
Family Dynamics

Punishment vs. discipline

Many parents punish a child out of frustration
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Most Americans believe that spanking is an appropriate way to punish children despite
compelling evidence to the contrary

If parents did not spank when angry, they would seldom spank at all
Reasons for Animal Abuse
Many violent offenders report incidents of childhood cruelty toward animals.
Animal cruelty occurs more often among aggressive criminals.
1. To control the animal
2. To retaliate against the animal
3. To satisfy a prejudice against a specific species or breed
4. To express aggression through an animal
5. To enhance one’s own aggressiveness
6. To shock people for amusement
7. To retaliate against another person
8. Displacement of hostility from a person to an animal
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9. Nonspecific sadism
(Kellert & Felthous)

Meade


Torturing or killing animals by children could be a harbinger of increasingly violent acts
into adulthood.
Patterson, DeBaryshe, & Ramsey


Coercive family interaction patterns
▪
Children emulate the parents’ behaviors
▪
Ineffective parenting styles, relying heavily on punitive or aversive control,
aversive techniques to terminate behavior
Children’s attributional biases
▪
Boys who show atypical aggression have deficits in intention-cue detection
▪
Interpret ambiguous or neutral peer actions as being hostile and aggressive
▪
For example, accidently being bumped leading to aggressive acts
Enuresis
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Evokes emotional and social distress for the child sufferer home

In 80% of children, the cause is biological and heredity is a contributing factor
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
Hormonal imbalance
20% is a sign of something more serious

Some cases an overt manifestation of internal turmoil usually caused by disturbance in
the home
Juvenile fire-setters
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Exhibit abnormal fascination with or interest in fire

Engage in excessive fire watching, fire play, or compulsive collecting of fire
paraphernalia

Best understood as part of a process, not merely an act

Children report deep feelings of maternal of paternal rejection or neglect
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Cry for help


Consciously or subconsciously bring attention to themselves
Transitory method of pathological self-expression
Common psycho-behavioral problems observed in juvenile fire-setters
■ Learning problems
■ Poor school behavior
■ Poor concentration
■ Lying
■ Excessive anger
■ Fighting with siblings
■ Disobedience
■ Being influenced by peers
■ Attention seeking
■ Impulsiveness
■ Preoccupation with fire
■ Impatience
■ Unhappiness in dysfunctioning family
■ Pronounced need for security and affection
Etiology of Serial Killing

We know that alcohol and drugs are often cited as contributing factors to serial murder

Some cite pornography and/or alcohol cause people to kill
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Others believe insanity is the cause

There is no simple answer

We do know that a predisposition for violent behavior exists and we may be influenced by what
we see
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Cyclical Nature of Serial Killing
The trauma-control model of violent behavior describes, in effect, the cyclical experience of serial
offenders. Fantasies, possibly fueled by pornography or alcohol, reinforced by “routine” traumatizations
of day-to-day living, keep the serial killer caught up in a self-perpetuating cycle of fantasies, stalking, and
violence. (See the Edmund Kemper profile.)
Rejection

For serial murderers the most common effect of childhood traumatization manifested is
rejection, including rejection by relatives and parent(s).

It must be emphasized that an unstable, abusive home has been reported as one of the major
forms of rejection. (See Jeffrey Dahmer profile.)
Rejection cont’d

Each person deals with rejection differently depending on its perceived degree, frequency, and
intensity

Children cope with various childhood traumatizations in numerous ways

Many serial killers had common characteristics of abuse and dysfunctional families

Many serial killers had feelings of inadequacy, self-doubt, and worthlessness
Rejection cont’d

Do not cope constructively with early trauma(s) and perceive themselves and their surroundings
in a distorted manner.

For psychopaths, is a process of maintaining control of oneself, of others, and one’s
surroundings

It becomes both his best defense and best offense against conflicts he cannot resolve
Dr. Victor Cline’s four-factor pornography syndrome
1. Addiction

Similar to physiological/psychological addiction to drugs

Generates stress in the offender’s everyday life
Dr. Victor Cline’s four-factor pornography syndrome
2. Escalation

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The appetite for more deviant, bizarre, and explicit sexual material is fostered
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3. Desensitization

Deviant behavior is no longer revolting and taboo
4. Acting Out

What has been seen
Pornography & the Occult

It has not been firmly established that pornography is a causal factor

FBI study reports 36% of rapists collected pornography

It has been shown that a tendency to use pornography, alcohol, and texts on the occult is
apparent with serial offenders

Pornography may affect those who harbor a predisposition for such stimulation more than
others
Impact of Media Violence

Contrary to popular belief, video games are not cathartic in releasing pent-up emotions but
rather increase aggression. Indeed, such false beliefs influence angry people to play violent
games.

Participants exposed to media violence and who identified with violent characters were more
prone to participate in aggressive behavior prior to exposure to violence.
RELATED MOVIES TO WATCH

The Unsaid (Story of a teenager with a deeply troubled past).

Point of Origin (True story of a prolific serial arsonist who writes his own novel).

Cape Fear (Story of a convicted rapist, released from prison, who stalks the District Attorney
who prosecuted him).

To Catch a Killer (True story of prolific serial killer John Wayne Gacy).
Media Violence

Carnagey and Anderson
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
Found video games increase aggressive thinking and behavior
Sheese and Graziano
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Appear to increase antisocial and self-serving motives
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RELATED WEBSITES:
 Psychology Today: When is Bad Behavior Really BAD?,
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/child-myths/200909/when-is-bad-behavior-really-bad.
 Biography: Belle Gunness, www.biography.com/people/belle-gunness-235416.
 TruTV: Clifford Olson,
www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/olson/1.html.
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