

For example, he would wear a sling on his arm and ask for help. He would approach a woman in a public place and ask for help, pretending he was injured or disabled. He confessed to thirty homicides in his trial, but the true number of victims is unknown. It is thought that he may have murdered up to one hundred women. Ted Bundy is considered a perfect example of an organised killer. The killer will also follow the investigation in the media. This makes it harder for the police to collect evidence as it is spread across different scenes. Usually they take their victim to another location to commit the murder, then dispose of the body in another location. They might carry weapons with them, but rarely kill at the place where they encounter the victim. They would choose their victim, stalk them carefully. The planning became a time consuming fantasy. Organised killers were those that planned their attack. They stated that serial killers could be put into three groups – They interviewed thirty six serial killers to try and understand their motivation and psychology. The FBI formed the Behavioural Science Unit in 1974. Some researchers argue that the power/control category is not necessary as all killers in the other categories have the need for power and control over their victim and do decide when and how the person dies. This will include when and how the person dies. These killers want to control and have master over their victim in a complete way. Thrill Killers – Killers who find their excitement fades when the victim is dead.Lust Killers – Those who get sexual pleasure before and after the victim is dead.Holmes and Holmes thought that there were two types of hedonistic killers – Hedonistic killers are thought to gain intense sexual gratification from their acts of violence. You could argue that Hitler was a missionary killer for killing the Jews, Gypsies and other groups in World War II. Missionary killers will tend to murder a particular class, race or group of people to eliminate them. Their victims are often not related or connected to them. The visionary killer will kill others because they believe they have visions from God, Satan, angels or demons. They suggested that there four types of killer. Holmes suggest typology for serial killers. But even within the idea of “serial killer”, it is not that simple, there are thought to be more than one type of serial killer.

A person who commits one murder in their whole life and feels remorse for it, is going to be a very different person to the serial killer who enjoys killing and kills many people. We are not "just" looking at murderers here, but an example we often hear when looking at forensic profiling is the search for serial killers.īefore looking further at psychological profiling in crime, we have to consider WHY do people commit murder? There is obviously no right answer here. Recognition for Prior Learning application.
