Causes of Mass Murder Crime
Alvenia Gregory
Argosy University
Abstract
This paper examines the act of mass murder. If society can find a valid answer as to what causes a person to commit mass murders, then the possibility of preventing the act would be great because it would be probable to recognize the psychotic behavior that is associated with mass murder. Occurrences of mass murder for instance the shootings at Sandy Hook, Aurora Colorado theatre; Columbine and Virginia Tech over and over again dominate much of society's attention not only for weeks but often for months following the incident. The research question I have selected is: ‘What are the sociological and psychological causes for unforeseen criminal actions of Mass
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The triggering event may be a loss of job, being spurned by a woman, or something similar (usually an economic or academic crisis of some sort). On the other hand, there may be no triggering event other than what is going on inside the mind of the offender. It is difficult to determine motives in these incidents as they seem to be based on psychologically rewards known only to the offender.
Typology of mass murderers
The following typology of mass murderers was presented by Turvey (2008:510). The types were grouped according to the variables of motivation, crime scene types, and victim selection by Fox and Levin (2005), who used the five categories of power, revenge, loyalty, terror, and profit.
1. The mass murderer has a thirst for power and control, often dresses in battle fatigues and has a passion for symbols of power, including assault weapons.
2. The mass killer seeks revenge against either against specific individuals, particular categories or groups of individuals, or society at large. Most commonly, he seeks to get even with people he knows such as family or the boss and other employees.
3. The mass murderer kills due to a warped sense of love and loyalty, a desire to save their loved ones from misery and hardship. Typically it is a husband/father who is despondent over the fate of the family unit. Sometimes, as in the case of the Manson family, the murders are done by a cult group being obedient to their charismatic leader.
Mass murder is defined by the FBI as the killing of three or more people in a single event or in the same day (Petersen & Farrington, 2007). Mass murderers are complex and can be examined by the many factors that regularly appear among them, such as violence precipitating events, weapon of choice, and mental illnesses. The motivations and methods for committing mass murder are easily broken down into specific groups, and through the examination of these definitions and specific cases there is much to learn about the mind of a mass murderer.
They see these people as expandable and as a means to an end. They can be divided in two types of Hedonistic Serial Killers: killing for lust or for the thrill. The lust killer kills purely for sexual fulfillment. Their primary motive is sex, even after their victim is dead. They also get pleasure out of the murder. These murders are usually followed by cannibalism (eating the victim), necrophilia (sexual attraction to the corpse), or dismembering. They have a psychological need to be have absolute control and dominance over their victims, and the torture and ultimate death of their victim is an attempt to fulfill their need. They use weapons that require close contact with the victim (e.g. a knife or their hands) (Holmes & Holmes, 1998). Jeffrey Dahmer was a lust killer, after his victims were dead, he performed cannibalism, necrophilia and dismembering. The thrill killer kills purely for the pleasure he/she gets from killing. They usually take a long time to kill, they torture their victims before killing them. After their victims are dead, they lose interest. They believe that they will never be caught (Holmes & Holmes, 1998). Robert Hansen was a thrill killer, he took his victims to a secluded area where he would let them go and then hunt them
Have you ever wondered why some people love art and music, and some love science and math? These individuals love math or art because they get a sense of relaxation and excitement from these activities. Serial killers are the same way they love to kill people and have lots of different motives for why they kill them. A serial killer is a person who kills repeatedly. The one motive that drove Dennis Rader, to kill his victims was to gain power and control over them.
Serial murder crime though rare, is not a a new phenomenon. This crime has been committed for centuries and will continue to be a crime that is committed throughout the world. It is unfortunate and scary that this is probably one of the most serious of crimes that cannot be prevented. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, serial murderers commit their crimes because they want to. Rehabilitation is not obtainable for serial killers due to their inability for remorse and empathy, or to see people as people and not objects(Knight 2006). This research paper will focus primarily on serial murder within the U.S. First and foremost, a legal definition provided by the U.S. Department of Justice will be presented to set forth the discussion of this research paper. As follows will be a detailed discussion explaining serial killer typologies with the use of examples of known serial killers in the U.S. Types of serial killers are: power oriented, mission oriented, visionary, and hedonistic, each typology will be clearly defined and explained. Some serial killers can have a mixture of each typology’s characteristic. Serial killers that will be discussed and used as examples to represent the content of this research paper will be, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Robert Berdella, Jeffery Dahmer, and lastly the most prolific serial killer in American history, Gary Ridgeway. Problems with studying serial killing, are that because of rarity and access. Most of what we think
Mass murder can be described as a killing of three or more people at one time and one location. There can be many different types of mass murders like organized or unorganized or even family annihilators. Mass murderers have many different traits and features about themselves. Some of the traits that these mass murderers portray can be physical, emotional or even sexual. As for the motives to why mass murders happen, it is very hard to figure that out. There is so many different methods a mass murderer can use to complete his task. A mass murderer can use weapons, explosives, and even vehicles can be used. Mass murderers should get the maximum punishment for the crime they committed.
2. The type of “lust murderer” who is usually of above-average intelligence, methodical and cunning, and socially skilled, and who tricks victims into situations in which he can torture and then murder them, is called a(n),
Serial killers is a person that kill three or more people in a short amount of time. He or she murder one after another in a similar way with an inactive period between each murder. The motivation for murdering an adult or child is based on psychological gratification. The serial killer is normally an adult white male in his late twenties, who has killed four or more individuals in separate incident with an inactive period between. It is impossible to tell just by looking at a person who will become a serial killer, the traits of some criminals or serial killers appear to be similar most of the time. The types of behaviors
Violent and forceful acts causing death and destruction surely would not translate into reality or happiness for the masses. However, a growing few are adapting this reality as way to deal with their frustrations and forcing their victims to live it with them. Mass murderers are posing such a great danger to society. Facts presented throughout this research paper prove capital punishment as the only just punishment fitting for their crimes. To bring these perpetrators to justice, law enforcement, profilers and scientists categorize them. Four of these categories and their sub types, along with punishments for the criminals will be discussed. A type of mass murderer, the first variant, helps to explain what type of killer they are and what can
What makes a murderer? The mind of someone who commits such heinous crimes has never really been diagnosed. The chromosomal patterns have yet to be determined. So what causes someone to kill? Are serial killers and mass murderers more of a product of their own upbringing and environment or of delusional thoughts from a chemical imbalance? Someone who kills is an obsessed individual who lacks a conscience and who has no remorse. All the known characteristics of someone who kills point to something beyond our comprehension. Ted Bundy and Charles Manson are both infamous in the world of criminal history. Not all killers are the same: they may have grown up differently, used certain killing methods, and had a unique pool of victims.
There is an assumption that if you understand the minds of serial killers, or persons who commit mass shootings, that it may help prevent mass shootings. “Mass shootings are not on the rise, but have held steady over three decades, randomly clustering in time to trick our brains into finding a pattern of increase where none actually exists” (Shermer 3). Mass shootings happen at varying times without rhyme or reason. Some think that a psychological disorder or some genetic defect could be the reason people commit these crimes. Although we cannot prevent mass shootings, we can educate on how mental health issues can be a precursor to such a tragedy, and how better laws can create a safer environment.
Although there are many similarities of characteristics amongst serial killers, they can all be divided into 4 main types based on the type of crime they commit. The first type of serial killers are known as thrill seekers and get an adrenaline rush similar to riding a roller coaster when killing a victim. Their victims are often strangers but sometimes they will stalk their victim for a short amount of time before following through with their plan. The second type of killer is mission-oriented and is known for having the attitude that the crime they commit is for the purpose of “ridding the world” of a certain type of person perceived as undesirable such as gays or prostitutes. Mission-oriented killers often believe that they are doing a good deed to society for the crime they commit.
So what really lies behind the story of mastermind killer? In the article Inside The Mind of the Mass Killer says “criminals are made, not born’.” So why is this happening, what are we as humans doing wrong? Studies prove that all murders are subject to bullying, or are isolated as children. somewhere along the line of their childrenhood they have been neglected and exported for being different. Building them up to be resentful, grudgeful, obsessive, and rigid. They are explosive people that wear their emotions on their sleeves the face problems outside of themselves. They “welcome death” to seek power using it as a weapon to cope with the feeling of being unwanted because of society. In a ransom note in Inside The Mind of the Mass Killer Mark Barton writes, “I don't plan [living] very much longer, just enough to kill as many of the that [greatly] sought my destruction”. Social judgment can be a big part of what makes a murders, although they cause sensational damage to the
What is a serial killer? Retired Special Agent Robert Ressler, a twenty-two year veteran of the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit in Quantico, Virginia, is responsible for creating the term “serial killer.” He defines this person as “one who commits a series of murders, usually three or more, the victims most often being strangers, and usually with a cooling-off period in between each kill” (Kelleher & Kelleher, 1998; Pearson, 1998; Ressler and Shactman, 1997). This precise definition is necessary to distinguish this type of predator from the mass murderer (who kills many simultaneously), mercenaries, war criminals, or mafia hit men.
Mass murders are easy to apprehend because they rarely leave the scene of their crime, either because they commit suicide after the killings or because they stay long enough to be detected.
Offending behaviour today is now under control and been able to be understood by many with an important role that is played by psychological theories. A type crime that has gone in decrease with the role played by these theories is of homicide. What can be about homicide? It is explained as the unlawful killing of a human being and it broken down to two types namely murder and manslaughter where in murder is the killing with intention while the latter is without intention thus demonstrating that the actus reus is an important element in homicide cases to render whether or not a person is to be found guilty for the offence that was committed. For the purpose of this essay, the discussion is going to be based upon murder. However it is to be noted that there are many types of murder thus in this discussion in would revolve around mass murder in particular rampage shooting.