#Serial killer definition serial#
#Serial killer definition update#

#Serial killer definition serial#

The lack of a cooling-off period (a significant break between the murders) marks the difference between a spree killer and a serial killer. Independent of the number of murders, they need to have been committed at different times, and are usually committed in different places. When defining serial killers, researchers generally use 'three or more murders' as the baseline, considering it sufficient to provide a pattern without being overly restrictive. By the end of the 1990s, the use of the term had increased to 2,514 instances in the paper. Subsequently, throughout the 1980s, the term was used again in the pages of The New York Times, one of the major national news publications of the United States, on 233 occasions. Vronsky states that the term serial killing first entered into broader American popular usage when published in The New York Times in the spring of 1981, to describe Atlanta serial killer Wayne Williams. There is the mass murderer, or what he calls the 'serial' killer, who may be actuated by greed, such as insurance, or retention or growth of power, like the Medicis of Renaissance Italy, or Landru, the ' bluebeard' of the World War I period, who murdered numerous wives after taking their money. The Washington, D.C., newspaper Evening Star, in a 1967 review of the book: In his book, Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters (2004), criminal justice historian Peter Vronsky notes that while Ressler might have coined the English term 'serial homicide' within the law in 1974, the terms serial murder and serial murderer appear in John Brophy's book The Meaning of Murder (1966). The German term and concept were coined by criminologist Ernst Gennat, who described Peter Kürten as a Serienmörder ('serial-murderer') in his article ' Die Düsseldorfer Sexualverbrechen' (1930). Author Ann Rule postulates in her 2004 book Kiss Me, Kill Me, that the English-language credit for coining the term goes to LAPD detective Pierce Brooks, who created the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) system in 1985. The English term and concept of serial killer are commonly attributed to former FBI Special agent Robert Ressler, who used the term serial homicide in 1974 in a lecture at Police Staff Academy in Bramshill, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom. Some debate exists on the specific criteria for each category, especially with regard to the distinction between spree killers and serial killers. Īlthough a serial killer is a distinct classification that differs from that of a mass murderer, spree killer, or contract killer, there exist conceptual overlaps between them. Based on this pattern, this will give key clues into finding the killer along with their motives. Often the FBI will focus on a particular pattern serial killers follow. The victims may have something in common for example, demographic profile, appearance, gender or race. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that the motives of serial killers can include anger, thrill-seeking, financial gain, and attention seeking, and killings may be executed as such. Psychological gratification is the usual motive for serial killing, and many serial murders involve sexual contact with the victim.

While most authorities set a threshold of three murders, others extend it to four or lessen it to two. ( June 2023)Īn 1829 illustration of Irish serial killer William Burke murdering Margery CampbellĪ serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them.

#Serial killer definition update#

Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. The reason given is: Definitions have since changed, and it is now widely accepted by most law enforcement that the threshold for serial murder is two separate killings.

This section's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information.