what makes a serial killer tick research institute

The research showed that the first violent act did not occur until they were in their 20s most were white and grew up in two-parent homes with the mother usually a homemaker and generally they had average to above-average intelligence.īundy is viewed as a classic case of such killers. Researchers at the FBI center recently studied 36 prisoners who had killed at least three women at different times. There are other common denominators among serial killers who are motivated by sex. 'There's no question some people can deny what they are doing.' 'This last speech was his attempt to rationalize his behavior rather than accept the enormity of what he had done,' Coodley said.

hole just disappeared,' Bundy said.īut Coodley, who saw Bundy's televised interview, said the killer may never have felt any guilt and was simply making up an explanation. In his interview with the California psychologist, Bundy said he was able to send his guilt into a psychological 'black hole.' In that manner, Bundy said, he was able to go about his 'normal' life. 'You can act on the spur of the moment and not feel any guilt.' Alfred Coodley, a psychiatric consultant to the criminal division of the Los Angeles County Superior Court and a professor at the University of Southern California. 'Their philosophy is if you can get away with it, get away with it,' said Dr. Whatever causes them to kill, whether pornography or a combination of other factors, serial murderers are able to function because they have no consciences, experts say. As with others like him, it has roots in the early childhood, but we just don't know what it is.' Bundy liked women with long, dark hair we don't know. 'Some target young boys, some kids, some the elderly,' said Ann Burgess, a University of Pennsylvania professor who helped the FBI in its study on serial killers. Similarly, psychiatrists and law enforcement officials do not know what motivates such a person. No one knows how many of the nation's 20,000-plus murders in 1987 - the latest figures available - were committed by serial killers. There is no explanation for why these men move quietly through society like chameleons - transforming from the average guy down the street into a sadistic killing machine and then blending in again. 'You don't read a matrix algebra book unless you are interested.'

'Typically, people use them pornography after they have established their interest,' he said. In many instances, sexual sadists may be drawn to violent pornographic magazines the same way a camper may be attracted to outdoor magazines, said Breiling, of the institute of mental health. No one thing can be pinpointed,' he said.įor that reason, Linz said he does not believe that violent pornography causes serial killers. 'Violent behavior is a combination of many personal, situational and environmental factors. They say it ignored facts or distorted others depending on whether the information would support the commission's moral position against all forms of pornography. Linz and his colleagues disagree with most of the Meese commission report. The trio published their findings in the book The Question of Pornography. The research, using randomly selected men and women, was conducted in 1987 in a laboratory. Whether that will apply to the real world is another matter,' Linz said. 'Sexually violent pornography does result in violence toward women in the laboratory. But they also concluded it is impossible to say to what extent their findings apply - if at all - to society in general. Their research showed that it is possible to negatively influence male behavior toward women by exposing them to prolonged viewing of violent pornography. Linz and colleagues Ed Donnerstein and Steven Penrod conducted extensive research on the effect of violent and non-violent pornography on attitudes and behavior.

What makes a serial killer tick research institute