Are All Serial Killers Insane?

Serial killers are amongst the most chilling and hard to understand individuals on the planet. They don't kill just once in a fit of passion or rage, but over and over again. Sometimes the victims are tortured. Oftentimes they are raped. Some serial killers even perform sexual acts on the corpses of their victims. Still others engage in cannibalism.

This is clearly abnormal behaviour, the work of a deranged and troubled mind. It is so far removed from what most people seem capable of in even their darkest moments, that most people's initial gut reaction is that the perpetrators of these ghastly crimes must surely be mad. But are serial killers necessarily insane?

First of all, we need to define the concept of insanity. From a legal perspective, a person is only judged to be insane if they cannot distinguish right from wrong. Therefore, if a serial killer knows that what he/she is doing is wrong, then he/she is not legally insane. Even if he is a schizophrenic like Richard Trenton Chase (who believed that he had to kill in order to prevent his blood from being turned to powder) this same rule applies: if he knew that he was doing wrong, then he cannot be found legally insane (Richard Trenton Chase was, for example, found sane, despite having a long history of mental illness).

But even if we adopt a broader definition of insanity - one that includes people suffering from serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia - then some serial killers still do not seem to fit. Take Ted Bundy, for example. America's most notorious serial killer was an intelligent, charming law student who's crimes showed a high level of organization. He would lure his victims to a secluded location by faking injury or impersonating a figure of authority. He disposed of the bodies and took great care so as to not leave any incriminating forensic evidence behind. He even succeeded in escaping from police custody, not once but twice. He appeared to be just an ordinary man (albeit an unusually good-looking and charismatic one). He just didn't seem to fit any standard definition of insanity.

And Ted Bundy wasn't the only apparently rational serial killer. Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, and Dennis Rader (the BTK killer) would also fit the profile of the seemingly sane serial killer.

So, clearly, the answer to the question 'Are all serial killers insane?' would appear to be a resounding 'no'. It might be argued that they are all somewhat unbalanced - or just plain evil -  but they are not necessarily any crazier than the rest of us. And that just makes them all the more chilling.

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Early Warning Signs of a Future Serial Killer

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Definition of a Serial Killer

There is some debate as to what actually constitutes serial murder, but a common definition is as follows: A serial killer is an individual who kills 3 or more people in at least 3 separate incidents, with a cooling off period between the murders. This 'cooling off period' is a span of time during which the killer returns to apparent normality. He/she may go to work, take a spouse out for dinner, or socialize with friends. The important point is that he/she does not kill during this period. There is no real agreement as to how long the killer has to wait between murders for it to count as a cooling off period, but most would probably agree that we are talking about a few days or more (some serial killers can have years between murders, like the infamous BTK Killer who terrorized the residents of Wichita, Kansas, for more than 3 decades).

Approximately 90% of serial killers are male and about 65% of the victims are female. Serial killers tend to only target members of their own ethnic group (though there are notable exceptions, such as the Milwaukee Cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer, a white male who mostly targeted African-American men and boys). Nearly half of all serial killers start in their twenties. The most common method of killing is strangulation, a relatively up close and personal method (compared with, say, shooting someone from a distance). However, female serial killers tend to prefer poisoning.

Whilst it is certainly true that a large number of serial killers have experienced substantial childhood trauma, this is not always the case. Some serial killers simply carry out their horrific crimes because they enjoy it. And plenty of people recover from childhood trauma to become productive members of society.

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The Six Motivations of a Serial Killer

Determining the motive of a serial killer can be an extremely difficult task. All manner of factors may be involved, with many of them stretching back into the killer's childhood. But, broadly speaking, the primary motivation tends to fit into one of 6 categories.

Visionary

The visionary serial killer is the stereotypical (though actually surprisingly rare) mentally ill murderer who kills on the instruction of auditory and/or visual hallucinations. Of course, most people who suffer from severe mental illness are not serial murderers, and even some schizophrenic serial killers are judged to be legally sane.Take the case of Herbert William Mullin, for example. In the 1970s, he killed 13 people after hearing voices that told him he had to kill in order to prevent California from being struck by a massive earthquake. Everyone agreed that he was schizophrenic, but he was still judged to be responsible for his actions, and was declared legally sane by the courts. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mission-oriented

The mission-oriented serial killer kills out of a warped sense of duty. He believes that it is his mission to rid the world of a certain type of person (e.g. prostitutes or homosexual people). He might suffer from delusions, but he differs from the visionary killer in that he is not acting on the instructions of hallucinations.

Gain

Gain motivated serial killers are simply people who kill for profit. They believe that the act of murder will bring them some sort of material gain, whether in the form of money, property, or something else (people who kill for the attention that they think it will bring them would also fall into this category). A good example of this type of serial killer is mafia hitman Richard 'The Iceman' Kuklinski, who is thought to have killed over 100 people on the orders of mob bosses. He charged thousands of dollars for each 'hit', and money appears to have been his primary motivation.

Lust

A very common motivation for a serial killer is lust/sex. Some serial killers of this type are essentially rapists who kill in order to cover their tracks (after all, a dead victim can't talk to the police). But there are also serial killers for whom the actual act of murder is sexually arousing. And a surprising number of serial killers have a sexual attraction to corpses. Ted Bundy, for example, would often return to his dead victims to perform sexual acts on their corpses, only stopping when decomposition made further sexual intercourse unfeasible.

Thrill

Many serial killers find that the act of taking another life gives them a kind of adrenaline rush or 'high'. For some, it is this 'high' that serves as the primary motivation for their ghastly crimes. It is, it seems, literally possible to become addicted to murder.

Power/Control

Lots of people feel a need to be in control, and there is nothing wrong with that in moderation. But some people take it to extremes. There is a certain type of serial killer who feels the need to completely and utterly control and dominate another individual to such an extent that they are willing to kill for this experience. Such killers may have experienced severe abuse/neglect as a child. This makes them feel powerless and angry. They start to fantasize about taking revenge on the people who wronged them (or people who remind them of their abusers), of having complete control back, and mending their own damaged egos in the process. For most people, this never goes beyond fantasy. But for some, the fantasy gets stronger and stronger until the desire to act upon it can no longer be resisted. Then a serial killer is born.

Serial killers are complex individuals, and as such it should not come as too much of a surprise that a large number of them fail to fit neatly into any single category. For example, Ted Bundy would attack and sexually assault attractive young females in a manner characteristic of a lust killer. But he also exhibited a need for a level of control and dominance characteristic of a power/control motivated murderer.

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Organized vs Disorganized Serial Killers

Serial killers as a whole can generally be split into two categories according to the level of organization evident in their methods.

Organized killers tend to be intelligent individuals who often lure their victims to secluded locations with a combination of trickery and charm. Ted Bundy, for example, would sometimes wrap his arm in a fake plaster cast and ask young females for assistance. Because he was considered charming and did not look like a deranged killer, plenty of women voluntarily went off with him. Once they were alone, he would hit them over the back of the head, take them somewhere more secluded, kill them, and rape their corpses.

Organized serial killers also tend to dispose of their victims' bodies in a way that hinders detection (e.g. burial) and have an above average understanding of forensic science and other investigative techniques. They usually appear fairly normal on the surface, and friends and family are often shocked when their true nature is revealed. They generally have no real difficulty as far as romantic relationships are concerned, and may even be married with kids (as was the case with the notorious BTK killer, Dennis Raider).

Disorganized serial killers, on the other hand, tend to be more impulsive. They are often found to be suffering from some form of mental illness (though this is not necessarily what causes them to kill - there may be other factors involved) and may be of below average intelligence. They rarely take any real care to hide the bodies and rarely use trickery or charm to put their victims at ease, preferring to attack in more of a 'blitz' fashion. They are less likely to be in a stable romantic relationship and are also less likely to talk to their victims. Jack the Ripper is generally considered to be a good example of a disorganized serial killer.

It should be noted that a large proportion of known serial killers exhibit characteristics of both the organized and disorganized types. Furthermore, it is possible for serial killers to become more disorganized as their compulsion to kill grows stronger, or in times of high stress.

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