Serial Killers And Their Effect On Society

Do the names Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, or Jack the Ripper sound familiar to you? If you are a citizen of the United States over the age of 18 you have probably heard of all of these individuals. You may not know what they did exactly, but you know that they were bad people who murdered many individuals. The point is that serial killers over the years have impacted our society in many different ways. The media plays on these individuals to make money by writing books and making movies about the tragic events that these people are associated with.

If you were to ask ten people to describe to you what a serial killer looked like you would probably receive most of the same answers. They could include someone in their mid to late 30's, bad hygiene, relatively poor, usually male and not very well educated. However, most of these are not true, except for the fact that 90% of all serial killers are male. According to FBI Special Agent Robert K. Ressler there are 14 characteristics of a serial killer, and here they are:

1. Over 90 percent of serial killers are male.

2. They tend to be intelligent, with IQ's in the "bright normal" range.

3. They do poorly in school, have trouble holding down jobs, and often work as unskilled laborers.

4. They tend to come from markedly unstable families.

5. As children, they are abandoned by their fathers and raised by domineering mothers.

6. Their families often have criminal, psychiatric and alcoholic histories.

7. They hate their fathers and mothers.

8. They are commonly abused as children -- psychologically, physically and sexually. Often the abuse is by a family member.

9. Many serial killers spend time in institutions as children and have records of early psychiatric problems.

10. They have high rates of suicide attempts.

11. From an early age, many are intensely interested in voyeurism, fetishism, and sado-masochistic pornography.

12. More than 60 percent of serial killers wet their beds beyond the age of 12.

13. Many serial killers are fascinated with fire starting.

14. They are involved with sadistic activity or tormenting small creatures.

After reading these characteristics nobody would really be able to look at anyone and determine whether they fit "the mold" of a serial killer or not. You would have to know someone personally to be able to fit them to these categories. This shows that just by looking at someone you have no idea of what they are like.

A perfect example of this is Theodore "Ted" Bundy. Bundy was a law student who was involved in politics and very successful with young women. Nobody would have suspected him of doing anything wrong. In fact his name came up a few times as a suspect of murder and was quickly disregarded.

Bundy is considered a Power/Control serial killer. This is described this way because the killer has the (power) ability to control the behavior of others according to the wishes or demands of the dominant actor (Holmes 130). His victims were between the ages of 8 and 26 and were females who were petite and had brunette hair that was at least to their shoulder in length. He would usually sodomize his victims, and then he would bludgeon them or sometimes strangle them to death. Some people contribute his crimes to the fact that he was an illegitimate child and did not realize that until he was 13 years old (Holmes 130).

The total number of Bundy's victims is still unknown however he had confessed to the murders of over 30 women. Bundy's reign of terror spanned from 1964-1978. In 1979 Bundy was convicted of 2 counts of murder in Florida. He was only convicted of two counts because that is all the authorities could actually pin him to at that time. However, this conviction would bring the death penalty with it. After being in jail for 10 years and not being granted any appeals Ted Bundy was executed in 1989.

The media has gained on the crimes of Mr. Bundy. There have been numerous books written specifically about him or mention his crimes within the text of the book. Also there have been 4 movies made about him. 3 of the movies were made for TV movies they include: The Deliberate Stranger (1986), The Stranger Beside Me (2003), and Riverman (2004). There was also one major feature film about the murderer. Its name was simply Ted Bundy (2002) the movie did not make it that big, but 4 films about one man and his evil doings is quite a bit. This monster may be dead however with the films and books his evil legacy will never be forgotten.

The next man I will highlight is a man by the name of Jeffrey Dahmer. Dahmer was also an ordinary man who was just a simple factory worker in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was also a very shy gentleman who stuck to himself and really did not socialize much.

Dahmer unlike Bundy did not target young women or women at all. Dahmer focused on young men and boys. Dahmer said that as a teen he had fantasies of raping and mutilating young men (Burns). He knew at a young age that he was different than everyone else. His family may have suspected that he was different however there was no way for them to tell that he would become what he did.

He would frequent gay bars in the Milwaukee area to find his victims. His total death toll was 17 men. Not only did he murder these individuals he would dismember them, sodomize them, and sometimes eat them. Dahmer was what is called a necrophiliac he had a fetish with having sex with individuals who were already dead. For someone to do this there defiantly has to be something wrong with them mentally.

Dahmer's killing spree lasted over a span of 13 years. With 16 of the 17 murders he committed being between 1987 and 1991. He was arrested in July of 1991 when police investigated his apartment upon receiving a complaint of him drugging a young man. When police arrived at the apartment they found the unbelievable, several skulls, a human head in the refrigerator, polaroids of mutilated bodies, and several male genitalia kept in formaldehyde. Also in the closet in his bedroom there was a shrine made from human bones and several skulls (Burns). He was then kept till trial on a $1million bond. Dahmer was sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences a minimum of 936 years in prison. In 1994 Dahmer was beaten to death while in prison (Burns).

Just like Ted Bundy, the media has made money off