Types of Serial Killers PDF

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Beatriz Chuquimarca March 16, 2021 Professor Singer

Types of Serial Killers One of the reasons I took this class was because the topic of serial killers really intrigued me. Thinking about what to write about for this assignment I wanted to research how many types of serial killers there are. As I did research, I found that there are four types of serial killers, with many subcategories listed under each. There is a full list of the different kinds of killers and characteristics linked to their crimes. Depending on their nature of their crime, the crimes are categorized as organized or a disorganized. Serial killers that are organized, tend to be intelligent, usually having IQ scores ranging from 105 to 120”. With organized serial killers, every detail of their crime is planned out in advance, and they take every precaution to make sure they leave no evidence behind. There are also types of serial killers that watch potential victims for days to find someone they consider a good target. On the other hand, we have the disorganized killers. These type of killers, tend to have lower IQ scores ranging from 80 to 95. With these types of serial killers, they barely plan out their crimes and they appear to kill at random. Their victims tend to be people that happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Disorganized serial killers usually do not cover up their crimes and tend to leave evidence behind. As I mentioned before there are four types of serial killers: thrill seekers, mission-oriented, visionary killers, and power/control seekers. Thrill seekers are serial killers that see outsmarting

the law as amusement. These thrill seekers enjoy the attention from the media and they also enjoy being pursued by the police. Thrill seekers tend to differ from other serial killers because they tend to send messages to others, and they keep detailed records of their killings. Due to this thrill seekers can be seen as organized killers, but they do not always plan everything out in advanced and can be seen as disorganized killers. Next, we have mission-oriented serial killers. They feel that they are doing society a favor by getting rid it of certain people. It can include young women, prostitutes, drug dealers, or homosexuals, it tends to be people they feel that society doesn’t need. Mission oriented serial killers see themselves as trying to change society. They also tend to be organized killers because they always have a controlled crime scene. One thing that helps law enforcement track down these killers is that they tend to go after specific victims. Third in our list are visionary serial killers, they are “people that occasionally suffer from psychotic breaks from society”. They tend to believe sometimes that they are another person, or that they are compelled to murder by higher entities an example would be from God or the Devil. An example of a visionary killer would be David Berkowitz that killed here in New York. In high school I did a research paper on him and he mentions that the reason he killed people was because his dog’s neighbor ordered him to do so. Visionary killers tend to be disorganized, which makes them easier to be tracked down. Lastly there are power and control serial killers. These “serial killers enjoy their victim’s terror, suffering and screaming”. Power and control serial killers tend to have a history of child abuse, in which they feel powerless as they go into adulthood. They tend to be organized killers and tend to sexually abuse their victims as “another form of dominating their victim”.

There are more subcategories that make each serial killer different from one another. Everything has to do with the nature of their crimes and with their modus operandi (their mode of operating). Examples of this would be a spree killer, which are serial killers that kill right after killing someone else. We also have lust killers which are serial killers that harm their victims for sexual arousal. One that really caught my attention is “group killers” in which they form clubs that kill for sacrifice and to be accepted into the group. However, these “group killers” are more commonly known as cults. When I think of this my mind goes immediately to Jim Jones, however circumstances are different than the definition of “group killers”. The people in this cult had given up everything and moved to a different country to support their ‘religion’. However, in some way Jim Jones was able to convince most of his followers to commit mass murder suicide including children. There are also ‘mass murderers” in which they tend to kill large groups of people at a time. They have no specific person in mind, but they rather kill for their own enjoyment. Serial killers also tend to keep souvenirs or trophies of their victims. This can be jewelry, body parts, or other things that belonged to their victim. I really enjoyed doing this assignment, I was able to learn a bit more of something that had always interested me. It’s impossible to fully categorize and understand every single serial killer, but we can review their actions to help us define what type of serial killer they are. In this paper I only reviewed two categories, which was an organized and a disorganized serial killer. Organized serial killers are the most difficult to identify and capture, they tend to have higher IQ’s and tend to plan out in advance their crime. On the other hand, a disorganized serial killer does not plan out the death of their victims. Most people they tend to kill happen to

be people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. They tend to have lower IQ’s and take no steps to cover up any of their crimes.

References: https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/types-of-serial-killers/ https://sites.google.com/site/psychologyofpsychopaths4a/what-is-the-profile-of-a-serial-killer1/what-are-the-different-types-of-serial-killers https://thisinterestsme.com/types-serial-killers/...