Multiple Murder

1. Introduction

Criminology abounds with typologies that seek to describe relatively homogeneous groupings of criminals. Admittedly, these classification systems face a difficult task because offenders tend to commit versatile forms of antisocial behavior that do not fit exclusively into discrete groups [1,2]. This issue is particularly pronounced in homicide studies, which often contain variably defined groups including serial killers, mass murderers, spree killers, lust murderers, murderesses, organized killers, disorganized killers, and the like. To illustrate, Hickey [3, p. 225] observed that, ‘‘depending on the authority one chooses to read, one will find between two and eleven different types of murderers. Some typologies of murder are descriptions of causation, whereas others are diagnostic in nature.’’ There are other potential limitations to typologies of homicide offenders. First, the typology is dependent on the researcher’s purpose in creating it—whether for academic publishing or applied...