The Psychology Behind the Serial Killer Essay -- Psychological Essays

The Psychology Behind the Serial Killer Creeping near the shadowy house, the predator found its prey waking to strange sounds. The dupe lay facedown, with a sweating forehead pressed fearfully into the pillow, mutely praying the noises would just go away. Suddenly the victim found himself straddled and pinned to the bed. He was unavailing to scream for help due to the pressure of the handle of a pick-axe against his throat, preventing each breath from escaping, much less any sound. The victim struggled beneath the weightiness of the assailant. The scant light from the sodium-arc street light outside cast a peculiar silhouette on the walls of the darkened room, projecting an image that looked peculiarly like that of a cowboy saddled upon a bucking bull at a rodeo. Struggling to dismount the attacker, the victim felt the piercing blows of the kinky stoppage of the pickaxe, succumbing to death only after receiving eleven stab wounds to the bureau and throat. The thrill of t he kill was stimulating enough that, when interviewed later, the murderer reported soda a nut, that is, becoming so sexually aroused by the event, to the point of having an orgasm (Pearson, 1998).Does this sound like the heinous acts of Jeffrey Dahmer, Jack The Ripper, or Ted Bundy? How somewhat the petite, pretty, fawnlike, Texas teen named Karla Faye Tucker? A woman? A killer? A sexual predator? Never before had such a liaison been heard of, until Miss Tucker.Typically, when one thinks of serial killers, such images as parole of Sam, John Wayne Gacy, or the Boston Strangler, come to creative thinker. Though these men do indeed fit the description, there are many myths and misconceptions surrounding the translation of serial killer, first and foremost that serial ... ...1998). Essential criminology. Boulder, CO Westview Press.Monahan, J. & Steadman, H. (1984). wickedness and mental disorder Research in brief. Washington, DC National appoint of Justice.Pearso n, P. (1998). When she was bad How and why women get away with murder. New York Penguin Putnam, Inc.Redl, F. & Toch, H. (1979). The psychological accession to crime, in Toch, H. (Ed.). Psychology of Crime and Criminal Justice. New York Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Redl, F. & Wineman, D. (1951). Children who hate. New York let off Press.Ressler, R. K. & Shachtman, T. (1997). I have lived in the monster. New York St. Martins Press.Severence, L., Goodman, J., & Loftus, E. (1992). Inferring the criminal mind Toward a bridge between legal doctrine and psychological understanding. ledger Of Criminal Justice, 20. 107-120.