Why do People Become Serial Killers?

"You cannot have [the] power for good without having [the] power for evil too. [And], even mother's milk nourishes murderers as well as heros, [besides what man was ever content with just one crime]." (Mitchell). In the past decade, an elusive creature has capture the attention of the American society as well as a few Eurpoean nations. In the twisted psychotic minds of the these individualistic creatures who murder constantly to appease their hunger, life, sex, pain and death are fashioned into a passion to kill.

And, in this world other men and women of society were pawns or toys to be played with, terrorized, raped, violated, and murdered. Then when the creature has had its fun, their victims bodies will be casually tossed to the side, since it is no longer a means for pleasure or domination. But a souviner will keep a of the exploit, to remember always, wether it be a body part or a trinket. Some of them have been known to mock the authorities with deliberately placed clues and taunting letters.

But why would some one do these horrible things? Tis a question that has plagued many, who have attempted to understand, the mind of a serial killers. A serial killer by definition is "someone who attacks, slays/murder more than three victims one by one, during a relativly short period of time in temporally unrelated incidents (having no relations and or in a different location each time), which does have some exceptions, as in the case of E. Kemper who killed his mother and her friend in the same incident (thus not meeting the criteria of geographical seperation and and eliminating only strangers, but he is still included). The word "Serial Killer" is a relatively new term but the crime it was coined for is not.

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There are few acts portrayed in modern literature on serial murder that are not reflected in the lives of historical figures such as Tiberius, Caligula, Vlad Tepes(Dracula) and Gilles de Rais (who supposedly tortured, raped and killed hundreds of children). Facinatingly, there are four main types of serial killers; Visionary- who murder in response to an inner-voice that commands them to kill, Mission Oriented- murder in order to rid the world of a particular type of person, Hedonistic Thrill Seekers-murder for sexual gratification, and Power-Control Oriented- employ a sufficient amount of torture in the killing process as they revel in having complete control over the vivtim.

Thogh no two killers are exactly alike and each possess various motives, they share most of the same characteristics. The profile of a serial murder usually includes violence as a child, bed wetting, rejection of mother, absence or physical abuse by the father. As in the case study of H. Lucas, his father was an abusive alcholic who had beaten him, and his mother, a prostitute. He was left unconscious for three days in the hospital due to by a blow to the head from his father. He had a variety of neurological symptoms such as dizziness and blackouts. He was never allowed to cry and he was deprived of food untill starvation. Then he was force to watch his mother have sex with her clients. His earliest memory of his mother was shooting a client in the head after sex, showering Lucas with blood.

As a teenager, Lucas commited bestiality and dissection of small animals, he also had intercourse with is half brother. His mother's lover decapitated a calf and had sex with the dead body in frint of him. At age fifteen he murdered and raped his first victim. And after an altercation with his mother, he killed her and ended up with a prison sentence for forty years. He was diagnosed as a psychopath, a sadist, and a sexual deviant, lacking in self confidence.

Though he constantly stated that he would kill again, he was paroled in 1970. He murdered within walking didtance of the prison, and this time his victims were young girls, which he raped, killed, and dismembered. He practiced necrophilia, sodomy, pre-mortem beatings, and mutilations of his vivtims. He confessed to 360 murders. he was arrested and is seving six life sentences. Lucas' crimes are typically of the power/control motive. Many of his crimes are instrumental, rather than focused, because he allows sexual relations. "And like many offenders, [in some cases.] he was unable to have sex with the living humans." (Mitchell) Holmes ands Holmes have identified five "windows" in serial murder.

The first step is to fantasize about the killings, then to stalk your prey, abduct and kill them, then dispose of the body. This is the process used by all, even the cannabalistic killers, like Dahmer, who enjoyed eating his victims, as a means of disposal. "When once a certain class of people has been placed by the temporal and spiritual authorities outside the ranks of those whose life has value, then nothing comes.

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