Serial Killers

blunomore

blunomore

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We had some idiotic thread on this topic a while ago - I forget the name of the poster, but this one is more serious.

I have a (purely academic) interest in serial murderers and was wondering if anyone who share that, could recommend books on the topic. I have read all the books written by Micki Pistorius, an ex-profiler of SAPS, as well as many American works - I have great admiration for Robert Ressler in particular.

Any recommendations ?
 
Poster was Tyson something..

Sounds like you are more into profiling than the serial killers themselves?

I don't really read much about killers, only a few rampage killers. But I don't read books about them. I find their cached web pages, their blogs, copies of old school essays, poems, play writes, diaries, final statements, baby/family pictures, sound recordings/video. I just find it interesting, humbling, and tragic.
 
Pixie22 said:
Poster was Tyson something..

Sounds like you are more into profiling than the serial killers themselves?

I don't really read much about killers, only a few rampage killers. But I don't read books about them. I find their cached web pages, their blogs, copies of old school essays, poems, play writes, diaries, final statements, baby/family pictures, sound recordings/video. I just find it interesting, humbling, and tragic.
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Oh yes, maybe I should re-phrase it as the profiling of serial murderers.
 
Pixie22 said:
Poster was Tyson something..

Sounds like you are more into profiling than the serial killers themselves?

I don't really read much about killers, only a few rampage killers. But I don't read books about them. I find their cached web pages, their blogs, copies of old school essays, poems, play writes, diaries, final statements, baby/family pictures, sound recordings/video. I just find it interesting, humbling, and tragic.
Click to expand...

That actually sounds a little morbid to me... and a bit creepy....
 
LancelotSA said:
That actually sounds a little morbid to me... and a bit creepy....
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Yeah I guess. Tragedy makes me appreciate little things. Its amazing to me to look at a baby picture of someone who ended up completely losing it. The child was innocent, and perfect.. What happened? Its a contradiction thats hard to reconcile, and no matter how you want to judge someone, there was a time when even the worst person was innocent.
 
Pixie22 said:
Yeah I guess. Tragedy makes me appreciate little things. Its amazing to me to look at a baby picture of someone who ended up completely losing it. The child was innocent, and perfect.. What happened? Its a contradiction thats hard to reconcile, and no matter how you want to judge someone, there was a time when even the worst person was innocent.
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Yeah, there is no doubting what you say... even us (well most of us) relatively sane people may snap on a daily basis. Whether it is the zap sign to the taxi driver or the thinly disguised insult aimed at an incompetent colleague? Luckily most of us have the ability to stop ourselves at this point before resorting to murder.

Yes, those serial killers may start off innocent but we all have our breaking points... and once the slide starts what is going to stop you..

Then again you also have the ones that are just mentally unstable and that may have been from birth but not visible in a baby photo!
 
LancelotSA said:
Yeah, there is no doubting what you say... even us (well most of us) relatively sane people may snap on a daily basis. Whether it is the zap sign to the taxi driver or the thinly disguised insult aimed at an incompetent colleague? Luckily most of us have the ability to stop ourselves at this point before resorting to murder.

Yes, those serial killers may start off innocent but we all have our breaking points... and once the slide starts what is going to stop you..

Then again you also have the ones that are just mentally unstable and that may have been from birth but not visible in a baby photo!
Click to expand...

When you consider that 4% of the population are regarded as psychopaths and have no conscience its not surprising we have people like this among us, as scary as it is. If you never feel guilty or have remorse then in your perception what's the difference between insulting and killing your colleague? :eek:
 
I think - for me, at least - the interest in serial murderers is the psychological explanation for such a thing.

Through research etc they have more or less narrowed down what all serial murderers have in common, but the burning question that remains unanswered, is why would e.g. two brothers be raised in the same house, exposed to the same sexual/mental/physical abuse and neglect, but only one of them would go on to became a serial murderer?
 
blunomore said:
I think - for me, at least - the interest in serial murderers is the psychological explanation for such a thing.

Through research etc they have more or less narrowed down what all serial murderers have in common, but the burning question that remains unanswered, is why would e.g. two brothers be raised in the same house, exposed to the same sexual/mental/physical abuse and neglect, but only one of them would go on to became a serial murderer?
Click to expand...

Obviously some people are predisposed to certain things, its the whole nature vs nurture debate.
 
Syndyre said:
Obviously some people are predisposed to certain things, its the whole nature vs nurture debate.
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The issue in law enforcement is to try to predict and prevent, which is my point. If one can predict who is 'predisposed' to act on criminal urges, crime would be reduced substantially.

I am over-simplifying, but I am sure you get what I am saying.
 
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