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Murder

Murder in a Comparative Context

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The very scary, yet fascinating, thing about murder is the perception that it is a random occurrence that could happen to anyone at any time anywhere. These perceptions might seem validated by the FBI Crime Clock telling of a murder every 31.5 minutes (FBI, 2006) and by news stories detailing random killings, such as the recent execution-style killings of four college kids in Newark, NJ by robbers and the murderous gun rampage of a Virginia-tech student. Despite these images of murder, the reality is that murder most often is not “random violence.” That is, there are statistically identifiable, predictable patterns to murder offending. This chapter explores these statistical patterns of criminal homicide, primarily in the United States, and offers qualitative accounts of various types of murder. This chapter aims to answer the following questions: How common is murder? When and where has murder been most frequent? Who is most likely to commit murder? And, most importantly, Why would someone

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Murder as a Sociological Phenomenon

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Historically among most peoples the murderer has been looked upon as perhaps the most dangerous member of society, certainly not rivaled by any other offender unless it be the traitor. As discussed by most criminologists, the murderer is one who kills a fellow member of his society not by accident or negligence but with purpose or to defend himself in connection with an attempt to commit another. crime, such as robbery, or to shield himself from accusation by a person whom he has offended or abused. Therefore the term “murder” is more restricted than the term “homicide.” That is the sense in which the term is used in this paper. Did the limits of this paper permit, it would be worth while to trace in some detail the attempts of the various schools of criminology to explain the murderer. That survey, however, will have to be forgone.’

My own study of murderers was part of a larger project—a study of a sample of 486 ?

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Murder

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MURDER:

  • Most murder are between people who know each other 75-90%
  • Look for closest relatives, acquaintances first concentric circles
  • Means/Motive/Opportunity
  • Means: Does the suspect actually have the ability to have commit the crime…ex. .38
    -------Motive: Does the suspect have a reason to commit murder?
      ---------Opportunity: Did the client have time to commit the crime?
    ---------Alibi
  • Person who finds body as suspect
PROFILING THE SCENE:

  • What sorts of things can the scene tell you?
  • Disorganized vs. organized
  • How messy is the scene
  • How long did the perp remain at the scene
  • How purposeful were the actions of the perp
  • Was a weapon taken to, or used from on-scene
  • Does the scene match witness testimony cutting of phone lines inside the house robbers who go straight for hidden loot lack of valuables taken
  • Blood spray evidence
CONDITION OF THE BODY:

  • Failing to cover body indicates disrespect
  • Insertion of object into vagina or anus indicates desire to humiliate or rage may indicate perceived wrong covering of face indicates guilt
 

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No Body Murder Investigations

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“How can you prosecute a murder without the body?” I cannot count the number of times I have been asked this question over the past ten years. My answer has always been the same: “Yes, it can be done and has been done, more times than you think.” If murder is the ultimate crime, then a “nobody” murder is the ultimate murder. In our nation’s history there have been just under 400 no-body murder trials, that is, trials where the victim’s body has never been found. Now, for the first time ever, this book will provide a practical guide for police and prosecutors facing the challenges in these cases. This book takes an expansive look at both the history of no-body murder cases and the best methods to solve and try them. I will take the reader step by step from the first days of a homicide investigation through the trial

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Love, Hate and Murder: Commitment Devices in Violent Relationships

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Abstract

Many violent relationships are characterized by a high degree of cyclicality: women who are the victims of domestic violence often leave and return multiple times. To explain this we develop a model of time inconsistent preferences in the context of domestic violence. This time inconsistency generates a demand for commitment. We present supporting evidence that women in violent relationships display time inconsistent preferences by examining their demand for commitment devices. We find that no-drop policies – which compel the prosecutor to continue with prosecution even if the victim expresses a desire to drop the charges – result in an increase in reporting. No-drop policies also result in a decrease in the number of men murdered by intimates suggesting that some women in violent relationships move away from an extreme type of commitment device when a less costly one is offered....

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The Relationship Between Serial Sexual Murder And Autoerotic Asphyxiation

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Abstract

This case series documents and examines the association between autoerotic asphyxiation, sadomasochism, and serial sexual murderers. Autoerotic asphyxiation, along with other paraphilias found in this population, is reviewed. Five cases of serial sexual killers who engaged in autoerotic asphyxiation were identified worldwide: four from the United States and one from Russia. Case reports for each are provided. All (100%) were found to have sexual sadism in addition to autoerotic asphyxiation. Furthermore, two (40%) had bondage fetishism, and two (40%) had transvestic fetishism, consistent with these paraphilias co-occurring in those with autoerotic asphyxiation. Overall the group averaged 4.0 lifetime paraphilias. Some possible relationships were observed between the offenders’ paraphilic orientation and their modus operandi, e.g., all of these serial killers strangled victims suggesting an association between their sadistic and asphyxiative paraphilic interests. The overlap of seemingly polar opposite paraphilias in this sample sexual sadism and autoerotic asphyxiation is explored from a historical and clinical perspective.

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The Organized/Disorganized Typology of Serial Murder: Myth or Model?

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Abstract

Despite weaknesses in the organized/disorganized classification of serial killers, it is drawn on for "offender profiles," theories of offending, and in murder trials. This dichotomy was therefore tested by the multidimensional scaling of the co-occurrence of 39 aspects of serial killings derived 100 murders committed by 100 U.S. serial killers. Results revealed no distinct subsets of offense characteristics reflecting the dichotomy. They showed a subset of organized features typical of most serial killings. Disorganized features are much rarer and do not form a distinct type. These results have implications for testing typologies supporting expert opinion or to help understand variations in criminal acts, as well as the development of a science of investigative psychology that goes beyond offender profiling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012

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FBI | Serial Murder Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators

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I. Introduction

Serial murder is neither a new phenomenon, nor is it uniquely American. Dating back to ancient times, serial murderers have been chronicled around the world. In 19th century Europe, Dr. Richard von Krafft-Ebing conducted some of the first documented research on violent, sexual offenders and the crimes they committed. Best known for his 1886 textbook Psychopathia Sexualis, Dr. Kraft-Ebing described numerous case studies of sexual homicide, serial murder, and other areas of sexual proclivity. Serial murder is a relatively rare event, estimated to comprise less than one percent of all murders committed in any given year. However, there is a macabre interest in the topic that far exceeds its scope and has generated countless articles, books, and movies. This broad-based public fascination began in the late 1880s, after a series of unsolved prostitute murders occurred in the Whitechapel area of London. These murders were committed by an unknown individual who named himself “Jack the Ripper” and sent..

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Depraved-Heart Murder

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Depraved-heart murder is the form of murder that establishes that the willful doing of a dangerous and reckless act with wanton indifference to the consequences and perils involved, is just as blameworthy, and just as worthy of punishment, when the harmful result ensues, as is the express intent to kill itself. This highly blameworthy state of mind is not one of mere negligence. ... It is not merely one even of gross criminal negligence. ... It involves rather the deliberate perpetration of a knowingly dangerous act with reckless and wanton unconcern and indifference as to whether anyone is harmed or not. The common law treats such a state of mind as just as blameworthy, just as anti-social and, therefore, just as truly murderous as the specific intents to kill and to harm...

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A Working Definition of Serial Murder and the Reduction of Linkage Blindness

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify and clarify the issues facing our society resulting from the phenomenon of serial murder. It will be argued that the extent and prevalence of serial murders in our society today is an indirect effect of the almost total lack of sharing or coordination of investigative information relating to unsolved murders and to the lack of adequate networking among law enforcement agencies in this country. This lack of coordination and networking will be referred to as linkage blindness. This inability of law enforcement to link unsolved murders to a serial pattern greatly increases the probability that this serial sequence of murders will continue until the murderer makes a mistake...

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The “Pseudocommando” Mass Murderer: A Blaze of Vainglory

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The term “pseudocommando” was first used to describe the type of mass murderer who plans his actions “after long deliberation,” and who kills indiscriminately in public during the daytime.2 He comes prepared with a powerful arsenal of weapons and has no escape planned. He is sometimes described as having the intent to die in a “blaze of glory.” Since glory has been defined as “a state of great gratification or exaltation,” the clich to go out in a blaze of glory would seem to be a perverse turn of phrase, maonsidering the unfathomable pain and tragedy these individuals cause. This article briefly explores what is known about the mindset of the pseudocommando mass murderer and how he transforms his desire for revenge into a perverse sense of honor, which allows him to justify his actions. On July 22, 2011, Norway experienced the immeasurable fallout from a pseudocommando whose perverted sense of honor and...

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Understanding Variations in Murder Clearance Rates

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the political environment on murder clearance rates. The research strategy employed a multimethod research design, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative approach uses Federal Bureau of Investigation reported data from the 59 largest cities from 1970 to 1999 to conduct a pooled time-series cross-sectional analysis of annual murder clearance rates. Regressing murder clearance rates on murder offense rate, total population of the city, state unemployment rate, police expenditures per 1000 city population, officers per 1000 residents, and a dummy variable for mayoral election year yields little discernible impact of political influence on murder clearance rates. However, in contrast to the quantitative modeling, the qualitative case study reveals a significant impact of the media, local political figures, and prosecuting attorneys on police practices and procedures, investigative decision making, and even fluctuations in murder clearance rates....

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Journal of Psychiatry and Law. III, 1975: Dismemberment Murder: In Search of the Object. Jay E. Harris and Anneliese A. Pontius. Pp. 7-23.

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This paper expresses the thesis that acts of dismemberment attempt to disintegrate the most important object representationin order to reconstitute it in a subjectively more meaningful way. The older man described in the paper cut his victim into seven pieces, each one representing a lost member of his own family. Then he merged with his own mother-child image. A younger man attempted to protect his wife from his image of her destruction by dismembering another woman. Dionysian, Toltec, Mayan and Aztec ritual dismemberments are seen as collective repetitive re-enactments of infantile ego states seeking access to the gifts of the gods through primary identification.

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The “Pseudocommando” Mass Murderer: Part I, The Psychology of Revenge and Obliteration

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Abstract

The pseudocommando is a type of mass murderer who kills in public during the daytime, plans his offense well in advance, and comes prepared with a powerful arsenal of weapons. He has no escape planned and expects to be killed during the incident. Research suggests that the pseudocommando is driven by strong feelings of anger and resentment, flowing from beliefs about being persecuted or grossly mistreated. He views himself as carrying out a highly personal agenda of payback. Some mass murderers take special steps to send a final communication to the public or news media; these communications, to date, have received little detailed analysis. An offender's use of language may reveal important data about his state of mind, motivation, and psychopathology. Part I of this article reviews the research on the pseudocommando, as well as the psychology of revenge, with special attention to revenge fantasies. It is argued that revenge...

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Contract Murderer: Patterns, Characteristics, and Dynamics

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Abstract:   Unlike the hit man who is seen as an established member of organized crime, the professional independent contract murderer is rarely described and is least understood of all the types of contract murderers. This article presented an in-depth psychological study of an independent professional contract murderer who killed over 100 people. He eluded law enforcement for 30 years and killed several associates who he believed could implicate him in various crimes. The homicides eventually led to his arrest. This professional contract murderer had a background of poverty and childhood abuse. However, as an adult, he pursued a middle-class lifestyle with his family kept totally separate from his criminal career. Also, he displayed a number of characteristics that helped him carry out his crimes in a well planned, methodical, and organized manner: adept social judgement; personality traits of orderliness, control, and paranoid vigilance; useful defense mechanisms of rationalization and reframing; and an exceptional ability to...

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An Empirical Test of Holmes and Holmes’s Serial Murder Typology

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Abstract

This article presents the results of an empirical test of Holmes and Holmes’s serial murder classification scheme. Crime scene evidence from 100 U.S. serial murders, each the third in a distinct series, was content analyzed. The co-occurrence of content categories derived from the crime scene material was submitted to smallest space analysis. The features characteristic of the category of “power or control” killings were found to be typical of the sample as a whole, occurring in more than 50% of cases, and thus did not form a distinct type. Limited support was found for aspects of the lust, thrill, and mission styles of killing, but this support drew attention to differences in the ways victims were dealt with, through mutilation, restraints, or ransacking their property rather than the motivations implicitly inferred in Holmes and Holmes’s typology. The current results are presented as an empirical basis for the...

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