Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT:
Difficulties that have limited research on serial murder (i.e., definition, data, and conceptual framework) are addressed by the current study. Hickey's Trauma-Control Model is utilized as a conceptual framework that is particularly helpful when sexual activity is involved. This study provides a rich description of male perpetrator characteristics (criminal history, age, and ethnicity), killing career characteristics (number of victims, length of career, solo or team killer, venue, weapons, and murder rate), and victim characteristics (relationship to killer and victim sex). Relationships among these characteristics are also examined.
INTRODUCTION
Despite widespread interest in serial murder, research on the topic remains in its infancy (Jenkins, 1994; Keeney & Heide, 1995; Mott, 1999). Several factors hinder our knowledge of this topic. First, there is a lack of agreement on the term's definition, complicating the criteria for inclusion and/or exclusion of murderers. The second impediment is the paucity of reliable descriptions of the perpetrator, the crime itself, and the victim. The last problem stems from the virtual absence of a conceptual framework that organizes what information exists and points the way to further research efforts.
These issues are addressed in the current study. Thus the purpose is twofold. The first is to provide rich, descriptive information from an extensive source pertaining to the characteristics of the murderers, the crimes, the victims, and pertinent relations among these variables. The second purpose is to utilize Mickey's (2002) Trauma-Control Model to further our understanding of serial murder with specific emphasis on murders that involve sexual activity.
LITERATURE REVIEW
There is little agreement in the literature on the definition of serial murder (Godwin, 2000; Harbort & Mokros, 2001; Hickey, 2002). Many researchers give no definition and those that do fail to adequately describe the phenomenon (Keeney & Heide, 1995; Skrapec, 2001). These varying definitions make comparisons across such studies difficult (Hickey, 2002). Definitions of serial murder contain two elements. One is the time period between killings. This ranges from more than 72 hours (Jenkins, 1993) to more than 30 days (Holmes & Holmes, 1998), usually including a stipulation of a cooling-off or refractory period to distinguish serial from spree and mass murder (Holmes & Holmes, 1998; Jenkins, 1994). The other element is the minimum number of required victims which varies from...