The Psychology Behind the Serial Killer Essay -- Psychological Essays

The Psychology Behind the Serial Killer Creeping around the shadowy house, the predator found its prey waking to strange sounds. The dupe lay facedown, with a sweating forehead pressed fearfully into the pillow, silently praying the noises would just go away. Suddenly the victim found himself straddled and pinned to the bed. He was unable to utter for help due to the pressure of the handle of a pick-axe against his throat, preventing any breath from escaping, much less any sound. The victim struggled beneath the weight of the assailant. The scant low-cal from the sodium-arc street light outside cast a peculiar silhouette on the walls of the darkened room, projecting an image that looked oddly like that of a cowpoke saddled upon a bucking bull at a rodeo. Struggling to dismount the attacker, the victim felt the piercing blows of the sharp point of the pickaxe, succumbing to death only by and by receiving eleven stab wounds to the chest and throat. The thrill of the kill was st imulating enough that, when interviewed later, the murderer reported popping a nut, that is, becoming so sexually unrestrained by the event, to the point of having an orgasm (Pearson, 1998).Does this sound like the heinous acts of Jeffrey Dahmer, Jack The Ripper, or Ted Bundy? How about the petite, pretty, fawnlike, Texas teen named Karla Faye Tucker? A woman? A killer whale? A sexual predator? Never before had such a thing been heard of, until Miss Tucker.Typically, when one thinks of accompanying killers, such images as tidings of Sam, John Wayne Gacy, or the Boston Strangler, come to mind. Though these men do indeed fit the description, there are many myths and misconceptions surrounding the definition of serial killer, first and foremost that serial ... ...1998). Essential criminology. Boulder, CO Westview Press.Monahan, J. & Steadman, H. (1984). Crime and mental disorder Research in brief. Washington, DC National Institute of Justice.Pearson, P. (1998). Wh en she was bad How and why women get away with murder. New York Penguin Putnam, Inc.Redl, F. & Toch, H. (1979). The psychological approach to crime, in Toch, H. (Ed.). Psychology of Crime and Criminal Justice. New York Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Redl, F. & Wineman, D. (1951). Children who hate. New York Free Press.Ressler, R. K. & Shachtman, T. (1997). I have lived in the monster. New York St. Martins Press.Severence, L., Goodman, J., & Loftus, E. (1992). Inferring the criminal mind Toward a bridge between legal doctrine and psychological understanding. Journal Of Criminal Justice, 20. 107-120.