Compare and contrast mass and serial murderers.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers may vary.Two types of multiple homicides have been identified: mass murders and serial murders. These types share some similarities but are marked by several differences. The mass murderer kills four or more victims in one location during a period of time that lasts anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. It is estimated that about two mass murders were committed every month in the United States in the 1990s, resulting in the deaths of 100 victims annually. A different approach considered the average time period between mass murders that took place in public in which the shooter and victims were generally unrelated and not known to one another. Although most mass murderers are not severely mentally ill, they do tend to harbor strong feelings of resentment and are often motivated by revenge against their victims.But the majority of mass murderers do not attack strangers at random; in almost 80% of studied mass murders, the assailant was related to or well acquainted with the victims, and in many cases, the attack was a carefully planned assault rather than an impulsive rampage. Most mass murders are solved by law enforcement; the typical assailant is killed at the location of the crime, commits suicide, or surrenders to police.Serial murderers kill four or more victims, each on a separate occasion. Unlike mass murderers, serial killers usually select a certain type of victim who fulfills a role in the killer's fantasies. There are cooling-off periods between serial murders, which are usually better planned than mass or spree killings. Some serial killers (such as Angel Maturino Resendiz, called the Railway Killer because the murders he was charged with took place by railroad tracks) travel frequently and murder in several locations.Social scientists have gained some knowledge about these criminals, who may number as many as 100 in the United States. One study compiled a list of characteristics from 157 serial offenders and found that most were White males in their early 30s. More than half of the offenders were employed at the time of the offense, and approximately one-third were married. The average offender had an 11th-grade education. Victims of these offenders were most often White females in their early to mid-30s who were strangers to their killers. More than half of the murders were sexually motivated. These characteristics differ from those of single-homicide offenders, who often know their victims and kill for emotional reasons such as anger or sexual jealousy.Serial killers tend to select vulnerable victims of some specific type who gratify their need to control people. Consistent with the motive of wanting to dominate people, they prefer to kill with "hands-on" methods such as strangulation and stabbing, rather than with guns, which are the preferred weapons of mass murderers. They are often preoccupied with sexualized or sadistic fantasies involving capture and control of their victims. Many serial killers use pornography and violent sexual fantasies intensively as "rehearsals" for and "replays" of their crimes, and they often keep souvenirs (sometimes in the form of body parts from victims) to commemorate their savage attacks. Despite the apparent "craziness" of their behavior, serial killers are not typically psychotic individuals. Most of them, however, have personality disorders and lack the ability to experience empathy and remorse. In fact, serial killers often revel in the publicity that their crimes receive.