The nineteen-seventies was an incredible decade. It was a decade of change, one of freedom, a time for great music. It was also an incredible decade for shock, fear and serial killers.
Killing combines a variety of meanings. A mere slip of the hand on the steering wheel can turn a normal person into a killer; and it is likely that a second such happening could turn an otherwise normal person into a serial killer. However, murder is the willful and unlawful killing of one human being, by another. This does not include deaths caused by negligence, suicide, attempted murder, and justifiable homicide.
Murder can be divided into two categories. The second category is the for gain type of murder, which is done mainly by serial killers. In the early 19th century, civilization stopped looking at the Devil for the cause of evil in the world. Instead, scientists began to search for the evil within. Darwin s theories on evolution bridged the gap between beast and man.
According to the 19th century criminologist, Cesare Lombroso and Max Nordau, they believed that violent men had primitive faces with heavy jaws and low foreheads. Franz Josef Gall promoted phrenology. By feeling bumps on a persons head, he believed you could predict the intelligence of the person. Physiognomy, developed by Johann Kaspar Lavatar, claimed to read a person s character by their facial features. Before going into the psychological profile of a serial killer, one has to know the difference between a mass murderer, and a serial killer. (Olshaker,1997)
Mass Murderers usually attack schools, universities and restaurants, believing it to be the place of maximum killing effect, usually striking with a gun and wearing camouflage gear. They attempt to kill all they see and their rampage ends with them committing suicide or being.....
