[OVERVIEW]

I'm bored and decided to give some facts and insights on killers. Not about a killer in particular, just some things to help understand why they do what they do, how they get away with it for so long and stuff like that.

Now many of these will just talk about serial killers but there are a few points that may talk about one off killers. I won't be covering mass shooters in this chapter.

[LEADING COUNTRY]

When it comes to known and documented serial killers around the world (even ones that haven't been solved yet) one country has the most serial killers.

With nearly 3,000 documented serial killers, making it 67% of all serial killers, United States has had the most. Shocker, I know.

England has the second highest number of documented serial killers with 145.

[RACE]

In America Serial Killers come from just about every background you can possibly think of.

However over 50% of them are white with the average age of 33.

[LEADING STATES]

While all 50 states have had (or currently have) a serial killer, the top three states are New York, California and Florida.

[TYPES]

There are two types of serial killers.

You have the classic serial killers. These are the people who usually stalk their victims and is often sexually motivated.

Then you have the spree serial killer who is often driven to kill for "the thrill of it."

Although some serial murders have been committed for profit, most lack an obvious rational motive, a fact that distinguishes them from political assassinations and terrorism and from professional murders committed by gangsters. Serial murderers are assumed to kill for motives such as sexual compulsion or even recreation. In many cases, the killings are thought to give murderers a feeling of power—which may or may not be sexual in nature—over their victims.

Most victims have been women, children, immigrants, lower class people, and homosexuals.

[FIRST DOCUMENTED]

The first documented serial killer was Locusta, a Roman woman hired by Agrippina the Younger, the mother of Nero, to poison several members of the imperial family; Locusta was executed in 69 CE.

They have also been documented in medieval England, Germany, Hungary, and Italy.

The French baron Gilles de Rais, who is the likely model of the character Bluebeard, was executed in the 15th century for the murder of more than 100 children, though it is open to question whether the charges against him were true.

Although it is likely that serial murder in Asia and other parts of the world has a similarly long history, documentary evidence of early examples is scarce and controversial.

In the 20th century, cases of serial murder received widespread coverage in the news media. Some murderers became known by nicknames, such as the Boston Strangler, the Düsseldorf Vampire (Peter Kürten), the Monster of Florence, and the Killer Clown (John Wayne Gacy). Their crimes, which both horrified and fascinated the public, raised numerous social and legal issues, such as the tendency of police to be less thorough in murder investigations when the victims were poor or of low social status.

[OBSESSION]

Have you ever wondered why the general public seems to care so much about serial killers, both in reality and fiction?

Scott Bonn, PhD, is a professor of criminology, TV news commentator, public speaker and author. He is an expert on the behavior and the motivations of criminals. He offers insights into various types of crime, including white-collar, state crime, bullying, domestic violence, sexual assault and serial homicide. Professor Scott Bonn wrote a book called Why We Love Serial Killers: The Curious Appeal of the World's Most Savage Murderers to explain why we seem to have a fascination with serial killers.

He said "Exaggerated depictions of serial killers in the mass media have blurred fact and fiction. As a result, real-life killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer and fictional ones like Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter have become interchangeable in the minds of many people."

He goes on to say that the first reason that people seem obsessed with serial killers is the rarity of them. While America has had nearly 3,000 serial killers, there are only 25 serial killers at any given time. They and their crimes are exotic and tantalizing to people much like traffic accidents and natural disasters. Serial killers are so extreme in their brutality and so seemingly unnatural in their behavior that people are drawn to them out of curiosity.

He also says that because serial killers choose their victims either by personal attraction or random opportunities it can make anyone a target.

Third, serial killers are prolific and insatiable, meaning that they kill many people over a period of years rather than killing one person in a single impulsive act, which is the typical pattern of murder in the U.S.

Fourth, their behavior is seemingly inexplicable and without a coherent motive such as jealousy or rage. They are driven by inner demons that even they may not comprehend. Many people are morbidly drawn to the violence of serial killers because they cannot understand it and feel compelled to.

One of the last reasons as to why the public seems to be obsessed with killers are most serial killers have what we deem to be "normal lives." Many of them have friends, a spouse, children of their own, and a job and yet they still go out and kill for reasons we may never truly understand.

He ends it by saying, "Like it or not, the serial killer is one of us. From a sociological perspective, he offers a safe and secure outlet for our darkest thoughts, feelings, and urges. He excites and tantalizes us. He also reminds us that despite all of our faults, the rest of us are just fine. Why are we fascinated with serial killers? Because, oddly enough, we need them."

[MYTHS V REALITY]

1. Not all serial killers are dysfunctional. Many have families if their own. Many have jobs. Many have friends. None of which ever expected for them to be a killer.

2. There seems to be the myth that all serial killers are white but that's not actually true. At said before, over 50% are white (at least in the US). But not every single serial killer is white, especially when you look at international serial killers.

3. Jack the Ripper was not the world's first serial killer, H. H. Holmes was not America's first, and Aileen Wuornos was not the first female.

4. Serial killers don't always use the same type of killing method or the same type of weapon. Some experiment. Some evolve. Some pick up a new type of weapon later, or change their approach for any number of reasons.

5. They're not always ready to insert themselves into an investigation or taunt police. This provides suspense in fiction, but a relatively small percentage have tried to openly contact investigators with taunting letters.

6. There is a myth that no serial killers are ever remorseful for what they had done, but that simply isn't the case. Many killers have professed remorse and even turned themselves in. Some have even committed suicide because of how bad they felt.

[CHILDHOOD TRAUMA]

Something you might find out that some killers share is part of their backstory. When you search a killer it seems that they all were abused. This lead to the notion that all serial killers came from an abusive background. But that's not true.

Not all abuse victims become serial killers and not all serial killers have been abused.

Only about 42% of all convicted serial killers experienced physical abuse as a child. 74% experience psychology abuse. 35% of serial killers witnessed sexual abuse while 45% of them were sexually abused themselves.

[UNSOLVED CASES]

If you got murdered today you would only have a 1 out of 3 chance that your killer will be brought to justice, which is a scary thought. Since the 60's there have been over 200,000 unsolved cases.

So why are there so many unsolved cases?

Homicide detectives have said that the public doesn't realize just how hard it is solve a murder. With advanced technology most killers are careful with what they do at a crime scene. It's not like the victim writes out the killers name or the killer write a note describing themselves.

Vernon Geberth, a retired NYPD detective, says standards for charging someone are higher now — too high, in his opinion. He thinks prosecutors nowadays demand that police deliver "open-and-shut cases" that will lead to quick plea bargains.

He says new tools such as DNA analysis have helped, but that's been offset by worsening relationships between police and the public.

"If there is a distrust of the police themselves and the system, all of these scientific advances are not going to help us," he says.

Since at least the 1980s, police have complained about a growing "no snitch" culture, especially in minority communities. They say the reluctance of potential witnesses makes it hard to identify suspects.

Some experts say that explanation may be too pat. University of Maryland criminologist Charles Wellford points out that police are still very effective at clearing certain kinds of murders.

"Take, for example, homicides of police officers in the course of their duty," he says. On paper, they're the kind of homicide that's hardest to solve — "they're frequently done in communities that generally have low clearance rates. ... They're stranger-to-stranger homicides; they [have] high potential of retaliation [for] witnesses." And yet, Wellford says, they're almost always cleared.

What this tells Wellford is that they solve cases that are a matter of priority.

This means the murder of a cop will most likely be solved over the death of a minority who was walking down the street. Or that the death of a high class child will have the most effort put into it while the poor child will be put on the back burner and ultimately forgotten.