Serial Killers

The Forensic Psychiatrist•Test a subject for mental illness•Assesses a perpetrator’s sanity•Makes sure they are not faking mental illness•Profiles criminals and victims

Digging into the psyche• Personality Inventories•Check to see what type of personality the criminal has

Digging into the psyche•Projective Testing• Evaluate a person’s personality and thought processes without a formal test

Digging into the psyche•Intellectual/Cognitive Tests•See how intelligent the person is and how they think

Recognizing Liars•Look for nervousness•Read Body Language•Neuro-Linguistic Programming (eye movements)

Determining Competence•Things that affect competence:•Mental Retardation•Drug or alcohol addiction•Strokes, tumors, or infections•Mental disorders

Determining Sanity•You can be found not guilty by reason of insanity if you didn’t know at the time of the crime that your actions were illegal or you couldn’t change your behavior

Types of Serial Murderers•Mass Murderers:•Kill more than four people in one place at one time

Types of Serial Murderers•Spree Killer:•Kill more than one person at two or more locations that are linked by motive with no cooling-off period

Serial Killers

Regular Murders• Kill out of anger or passion

Serial Killers• Kill many people, almost all of whom are usually strangers, over a period of time, and usually with some sort of cooling-off period between killings

3 is the magic number•A serial killer is someone who has killed a minimum of three people.•This includes people who were stopped from murdering before they reached 3 victims

How do Serial Killers come to be?

•There are three theories based on childhood

Theory 1:•The compulsion (need) to kill may be the result of trauma to the brain

Theory Two• The compulsion to kill is genetic. A mutation in the DNA happens that puts people on the homicidal path.

Theory Three•The compulsion is a result of something dreadful that happened to the child in childhood

The theories’ commonality:• All theories believe that serial killers begin to show signs in childhood

The signs:•Cruelty to animals that increases over time•Pyromaniacy- setting fires•Wetting the bed

Why do they kill?• Killing is something they can control• It gives them a way to deal with the terrifying events and feelings from childhood•Allows the adult to feel all powerful and often fills a sexual need

Trophies• Some serial killers need something to remind them of the feeling of power•Trophies include:•Body Parts•Cannibalism•Trinkets from the victim

Empathy-•Empathy- The ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and relate to their feelings

Serial Killers are…•SOCIOPATHS•Missing the ability to empathize with the pain and suffering of others