What makes a serial killer different physcially

WHAT MAKES A SERIAL KILLER DIFFERENT PHYSCIALLY SERIES

The rise of capitalism and related processes of mass migration to urban centres resulted in individuals being immersed in a sea of strangers (Nock, 1993). The average medieval citizen might have only met 100 strangers during the course of their entire life (Braudy, 1986), a number markedly low by contemporary standards, where one could confront hundreds of strangers simply on the daily commute to work. Strangers were rarely encountered, and when encountered were the subject of rumour and suspicion. In pre-modern societies individuals knew one another by name, often having intimate knowledge of their neighbour's family history, daily routines and personal predilections. Mass urbanisation is a distinctive characteristic of the modern era, something that has profoundly altered the nature of human relationships by virtue of generating an unprecedented degree of anonymity. These include the rise of a society of strangers, the development of a culture of celebrity, and cultural frameworks of denigration and marginalisation. Here we briefly identify three aspects of serial killing that are often taken for granted, but that are intimately tied to the emergence of serial murder in its contemporary guise.

Attending to these (and other) factors can provide insight into the broader social and historical contexts that constitute the structural preconditions for such acts. These include such things as the diverse influences of the mass media on serial killers as well as their tendency to select victims from particular walks of life. Unfortunately, it also narrows the analysis of such crimes, as it fails to incorporate many of the familiar (although not inevitable) characteristics of serial killing. This definition is accepted by both police and academic experts and therefore provides a useful frame of reference. Serial killing is the rarest form of homicide, occurring when an individual has killed three or more people who were previously unknown to him or her, with a вЂcooling offвЂ™ period between each murder. Serial killing is a distinctly modern phenomenon, a product of relatively recent social and cultural conditions to which criminologists can provide fresh insight by accentuating the broad institutional frameworks, motivations, and opportunity structures within which serial killing occurs (Haggerty, 2009). So, while throughout human history there have probably always been individuals who engaged in serial predation, in previous eras it was not possible for an individual to be a serial killer.

WHAT MAKES A SERIAL KILLER DIFFERENT PHYSCIALLY SERIES

In fact, serial killing is intimately tied to its broader social and historical setting, something that is particularly apparent when such killing is considered in relation to a series of broad historical changes that have occurred over approximately the past 400вЂ“500 years, commonly associated with the rise of modernity. While this emphasis on personal biography lends itself to much needed psychological analysis, the cumulative effect of such accounts is that serial killing can appear a-historical and a-cultural, as though such predispositions might manifest themselves in identical ways irrespective of context. Popular representations of Jeffrey Dahmer, Harold Shipman, John Wayne Gacy and other notorious figures emphasise the sociopathic tendencies of the lone serial killer, presented in accounts that accentuate how assorted personality traits and risk factors ostensibly contribute to their otherwise unfathomable behaviour. The study of serial killers has been dominated by an individualised focus on studying the biography of offenders and the causes of their behaviour. Kevin Haggerty and Ariane Ellerbrok examine the cultural and historical context of serial killing

What makes a serial killer different physcially