Female Serial Killer Research Paper

Female Serial Killers and Their Impact on Women in Homicide Serial killers have long captured the attention of society and the media for centuries; yet the only big names we know when it comes to serial killers are predominately names of male offenders ( such as H.H Holmes, Jack the Ripper, Jeffery Dahmer, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacey, The Zodiac killer etc.). This applies even to the media’s portrayal of serial killers shows such as Dexter and movies such as silence of the lambs with the infamous Hannibal Lector prove that women, unless they are the victims of killings, are not part of serial killings. Women are not the first thing that comes to mind when one pictures a serial killer. Generally a white male who ranges from the ages of

Though they may be rare female serial murderers have been around a lot longer than we have thought, it has been estimated that the earliest female killers existed during the early nineteenth century. Little empirical research has been conducted on these lethal ladies, which has resulted in us in having a lack of information on them. This is a bad thing because society and the media have held female offenders to a higher standard than their male counterparts “ There is evidence to suggest that women who murder intimates receive harsher punishments than men who murder their intimates” (Chesney-Lind & Pasko, 2013 p. 138). What has played into this being the way that we treat women in homicide? Has society constructed gender norms that shape the way we think about gender— let alone violent offenders? This paper will examine the studies and on female serial killers and women involved in a homicide, seek to explain the methods, motives, and victims of these offenders, media portrayal, and it will look at the reasons why

Male serial killers have had the limelight in the media for years as a result it has shaped our ideas of what a serial killer is— generally this does not include a woman being part of the picture, unless she is the victim of the said serial killer; “. . .murder by FSKs has been misconstrued, overlooked, and underestimated. At one time, definitions of ‘serial killer’ were limited to criminal acts of a sexual nature, which is not typical of FSKs,” (Harrison, Murphy, Ho, Bowers & Flaherty, 2015). Male serial offenders are known for their Female serial killers are part of a minuscule population in the world of crime. In fact, they account for an estimated six-teen percent of serial murders (Harrison, Murphy, Ho, Bowers & Flaherty, 2015). But despite their small numbers ,there are still huge differences between the genders when they commit these crimes. Some major differences were stated in the article “ Lethal Ladies” the largest difference between the genders that was stated was the relationship the offender had to the victim. While males generally victimized strangers, with the few that are close relatives or lovers, “ Female serial killers, specifically, have