Female Serial Killer Essay

In society today, serial killers are rarely spoken about compared to how much of an impact they made in the media a decade ago. Today, communities are stricken by fear through school shootings or police brutality, however to this day serial killers continue to commit crimes despite media attention. A serial killer is classified as a person who murders three or more people in a period of more than a month and during a significant time. In many cases, it is hard to discover the true motives of why these individuals kill, however many studies have concluded that phycological gratification is the motive for their crimes committed. Questions on why American serial killers choose to kill or what causes them to commit their acts are still being reached.

“Female serial killers comprise less than 20% of all serial killers… and they are very different than their male counterparts” (Tron). This comes shows that female serial killers are not rare and are beginning to hold names for themselves in America. Women are seen to be the nurturing type of species in human society however, certain events can change a person to break that sense of ideology. One of the most infamous female serial killers, Aileen Wurnos was a killer that prompted the public to notice women do indeed kill in horrendous ways that men do. She murdered seven men during her time alive and blamed her actions on self-dense over trying to be raped by her clients. This attention allowed law enforcement agencies such as the FBI to view cases from a wide perspective rather than pinpointing them on one single subject. The motives for why females commit these types of crimes can be due to the gratification of gain or comfort. The victims of those that have fallen into the hands of female serial killers are typically their kin or people they have known for a good time. Among classifications like gender, the types of victims chosen for killing are also a way to segregate the types of serial killers in our nation. Many serial killers caught have been known to already have in mind who they choose or prefer to

According to Psychology Degree Guide (2021) “between 1974 and 1986, the Golden State Killer identified as Joseph James DeAngelo, committed his crimes of 13 murders, 51 rapes and 120 burglaries across the state of California”. He managed to evade identification and capture for so long due to his occupation of being a law enforcement officer. In this fact, a conclusion can be made that as a first responder, Joseph didn’t care about being caught as no one would suspect him, which allows for his actions to be clear. The land of free allows for any serial killer to strike at any time, any place leaving no area free from possible dangers. Jeffry Dahmer labeled as the Milwaukee cannibal murdered 17 boys in the span from 1978 to 1991. His killings took mostly in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at local gay bars where he would meet his victims and lure them back to his apartment. Nonetheless, not all of Dahmer’s victims were killed in this area as his first murder took place in Bath Township, Ohio in 1987. Depending on where serial killer lives in America, an inference can be made that they choose areas they know to make their crimes easier on