Exam 2 (quizlet)

• serial killing


  Typically defined as either 4 or more murders, OR 3 or more murders, committed over a time period longer than a month (weeks, months, or years)
• Is there a standard definition for serial killing?

  no
• mass killing


  Typically defined as either 4 or more murders, OR 3 or more murders, committed at one time and one place (no "cooling off" period between homicides).
• spree killing


  Typically defined as either 4 or more murders committed in a frenzy of criminal activity over a few days (within a 30-day period)
• How many serial killers are there at a given time?

  10-100
• How many people are victims of serial killers per year?

  100-150
• What % of homicide victims per year can be attributed to serial killers?

  1
• Is serial killing increasing?

  probably not, but it's impossible to know; detection of serial killing may be increasing
• Up to __% of serial killers are non-white

  20
• How does the race distribution of offenders compare to that of typical homicide?

  Serial killing is more consistent with the population distribution than for other homicides
• at least ___ victims are women

  3/4
• Serial killings are more likely than other types of murder to involve

  sexual activity and hands-on killing methods
• Serial killings rarely involve

  guns
• linkage blindness (fox and levin)


  inability of investigators to connect homicides separated over time and space to the activities of a single perpetrator (particularly murder sprees that cross jurisdictional boundaries)
• Types of serial killers (fox and levin)

  thrill, mission, and expedience
• thrill killers


  sexual sadism and dominance
• mission killers


  want to reform the world
• expedience killers


  for profit or to protect themselves from perceived threat
• types of mass killers

  revenge, power, loyalty, terror, profit
• revenge mass killer example

  a deeply disgruntled individual seeks payback for a host of failures in career, school, or personal life
• power mass killer example


  "pseudo-commando" style massacre perpetrated by some marginalized individual attempting to wage a personal war against society
• loyalty mass killer example

  a devoted husband/father kills his entire family and then himself to spare them all from a miserable existence on earth and to reunite them in the hereafter
• terror mass killer example

  a political dissident destroys government property, with several victims killed as "collateral damage," to send a strong message to those in power
• profit mass killer example


  a gunman executes the customers and employees at a retail store to eliminate all witnesses to a robbery
• Why has mass murder not gotten the same amount of attention as serial murder?

  Don't pose as much of a challenge to law enforcement

  Do not generate the same level of public fear and anxiety

  Many mass killers don't survive their crime

  Not as sensational as serial murder
• predisposers of mass murder


  long-term and stable preconditions that become incorporated into the personality of the killer
• example of a predisposer to mass murder

  frustration and externalization of blame (mass killers always see themselves as the victim)
• precipitants of mass murder

  short-term and acute triggers/catalysts
• example of a precipitant to mass murder


  sudden loss or threat of a loss; copycat phenomenon; authority figures
• facilitators to mass murder


  situational conditions that increase the likelihood of a violent outburst but are not necessary to produce that response
• example of a facilitator to mass murder

  isolation from sources of emotional support
• For robbery, ___ are 2x as likely to be victims than ___

  men, women
• For robbery, ____ are 2x more likely to be victims than ____, but ___ are more likely than both groups

  blacks, whites, hispanics
• For robbery, what age group has the highest victimization rates?

  21-24
• For robbery, victimization rates among those of a low SES are ___ higher than for those with a high SES

  8x
• ____ of robbery offenders are male

  85-90%
• __% of robbery offenders are black

  55
• __% of robbery offenders are under 25

  60
• Compared to other types of violence, robberies are more likely to involve

  strangers
• ____% of robberies are committed by strangers whereas __% of robbery victims know their offenders

  60, 40