Serial killers refer to individuals that have killed three or more people over a period of one month at separate instances. These individuals are always motivated to indulge in the series of killings by the need to satisfy their psychological desires. Serial killing is an undesirable event in any society and is always perceived by most societies as a demonic exercise. Most of the serial killers have been associated with evil powers that motivate them to kill and consume some parts of other individuals. The key characteristics identifiable among serial killers are they are often abused at a young age. They have normal intelligence quotients, and they have trouble with staying employed. They are always motivated by lust, material gain, and thrill. In fact, most of these serial killers have been reported as very sociable as they relate well with other societal members. Society does not consider some serial killers as being suspicious.
This essay explicates the key characteristics identifiable among serial killers and factors that motivate such individuals to engage in demonic acts.
Most of these killers are victims of childhood abuse. Serial killers are mostly victims of childhood abuse. These abuses could be psychological, emotional or physical. Individuals who engage in serial killings have been associated with different abuses such as rape or abuses emanating from unstable families. According to Newton & French (2008), the psychological, emotional, and physical abuses have adverse effects on such individuals making them engage in serial killing with the aim of retaliating. Abuses could have had temporal or permanent effects on these individuals but what remains to count is their extent. Some of these abuses cannot be forgotten to haunt the criminals making them develop retaliatory feelings. This leads to silent retaliation especially among serial killers targeting children. The abuses committed to them during their childhood days are mostly retaliated to child victims. Permanent injuries emanating from the abuses play an instrumental role in the retaliation attitudes adopted by serial killers. Thus, most serial killers are victims of childhood abuse and carry out their activities with the objective of retaliating.
The intelligence quotients of serial killers are normal. There is always an assumption in society that serial killers are individuals of unsound minds. This is a wrong assumption as most of the serial killers have normal intelligence quotients and are normal individuals in the community. Most of these individuals lead normal lives in society and get along with most people. There are only a few cases of serial killers with unsound minds emanating especially from drug abuse. Thus, these individuals closely associated with their victims before eventually killing them. They tend to relate normally with their ultimate victims eliminating any suspicion by the community. Most serial killers have normal minds, and in most instances, they are always aware of their actions. They have high intelligence levels, which help them in getting their ultimate victims. They employ a wide range of skills to bring victims to the point of killings hence proving their high intelligence.
Another key characteristic of serial killers is the problem of working in any particular organization. Individuals caught in serial killing activities have a history of having worked in particular organizations. At first, most of them are always committed to the delivery of the best services to the organization. They seem to be working in line with the values of the organization until they get to a point where they are not able to work again. Most serial killers are individuals who once worked in different organizations in different capacities but ended up resigning. They have a problem with working in an organization because of the rising urge to stay in private areas for a longer time and strategize on the course of their activities. Such individuals have struggled to keep up with but get to the point where they find them unmanageable. Thus, they would exhibit high levels of workplace indiscipline and high late rates. They are not able to cope up with the working conditions in organizations as they feel highly pressured working for institutions.
What motivates serial killers? This question lingers in the minds of individuals across the globe. People find it difficult to determine the factors that could drive one into engaging in such a demonic and undesirable act. The motivators could be lust, thrill, and the need for material gain.
Lust is the extra urge to engage in sexual activities. It is one of the principal motivators for serial killers. It must be noted that serial killers would always capture their victims with the objective of satisfying their sexual desires and ultimately end up killing them. In fact, some of them still engage the dead bodies without care. Newton & French (2008) assert that serial killers that are motivated by the desire for lust always have a string of relations and kill their victims one by one. They use any weapon within their reach to kill their victims after defiling them. They could also rape their victims after killing them, they do not care whether they dealing with dead bodies or not. All that they need is sexual satisfaction and the death of the victim. The motivation for such is identifiable among most serial killers arrested in society. Others are motivated by the mere desire to punish their victims sexually through torture and ultimate murder.
Thrill refers to the excitement that arises from successfully executing a particular act. Some of the serial killers find it exciting to kill others. Thus, they would always be motivated to lure individuals into their murder traps at different instances with the objective of exciting their feelings. They perceive the death of other individual interesting affairs that fulfill their joy. Such individual also finds it exciting to hunt and kill weak victims who are automatically defenseless. Thrill killers give a longer period between successive killings of victims because of the need to research the most exciting murder methods and weapons.
The desire for the material wealth of the victims is a key motivation for most serial killers. The urgent need to acquire a lot of wealth motivates serial killers. Thus, most of them would target individuals perceived to be wealthy. They would target individuals with valuables and ultimately murder them in order to acquire their possessions. They are driven by the urge to acquire valuables from their victims. They end up targeting and killing different individuals whom they perceive would enrich them. Such criminals are always close friends to their victims, and they deeply understand their position in society.
In conclusion, serial killers are individuals who have killed two or more individuals in a period of one month at different instances. They are perceived by society as individuals working under the guidance of demonic forces. Most societies have never understood the characteristics of such individuals and the factors that motivate them into such acts. There is always a quick reaction from individuals in the community as they assert that serial killers are evil individuals who should be urgently eliminated or excommunicated from society. Serial murderers are individuals with normal intelligence quotients and always understand what they do. They pretend to live and relate well with other members of society in order to eliminate any suspicion against them.