Criminal Behavior: A Psychological Analysis

to outline how criminal behavior is more likely in certain contexts. The existence of a possible, accessible victim, a motivated offender, and a lack of competent guardianship combine to create an opportunity structure (Haggerty 2009). They argue that crime and violence are sociogenic; poverty, unemployment, societally blocked means to legitimate ends may all contribute to someone’s entrance into crime (Holmes and Holmes 1998). Perhaps the situations that allow for sociopathy (e.g. socialization into violence in interpersonal relations) to arise contribute to an individual’s entrance into crime (Holmes and Holmes 1998). With regard to serial killing, sociologists explore contextual explanations. If there is a biological disposition, individual …show more content…
At the time, the notion of serial killing seemed to be such an American novelty that it was attributed to the excesses of American culture (Haggerty 2009). Prior to the term “serial killer” becoming accepted in the late 70’s, police classified it as “stranger killing” (Haggerty 2009) which is appropriate because until then, homicide had been viewed as such a personal, passionate crime. At first glance, it may seem that until the 70’s people just didn’t kill people they didn’t know. However, serial homicide is definitely not a product of the 70’s, nor is it a product of American culture. Consider Jack the Ripper, a “stranger killer” who was responsible for the brutal murders of five prostitutes in London’s East End in the fall of 1888 (Rubinstein 2000). Consider Countess Erzsebet Bathory, also known as Elizabeth Bathory, who reigned terror on young Polish girls during the years of 1610-1613 (Rodriguez 1998). Instead of the excesses of the American 1970s, the situations that modern serial killers and stranger killers from antiquity have in common are several distinct phenomena: anonymity, rationality, and the mass media. These phenomena provide key institutional frameworks, motivations, and opportunity structures characteristic to serial homicide. While people have probably always killed …show more content…
While the media is invaluable to the advancement of public literacy and understanding of distant cultures, it also feeds public appetites for the sensational, the cynical, and the horrific. It has helped along a culture of celebrity that is not always productive and is even sometimes extremely harmful. In antiquity, individuals who killed sequentially were largely working in the dark in terms of identity formation that revolved around killing others. Serial killing is predominately a media construct. Keep in mind that this is not a “cause and effect” media effect; people do not become serial killers singly due to their exposure to violence in TV or other media. The media’s influence is more indirect; it provides the basic institutional framework and the cultural context for the glorification of modern forms of serial killing. Serial killers and the media have a kind of symbiotic relationship. Serial killing interests audiences, and some, if not all, serial killers want an audience. The media want an audience, too, because audiences make them money. In addition to this, another influence of the mass media concerns how the media fosters a culture of celebrity. Rather than being shamed by having the results of their actions splashed across every news outlet, serial killers tend to revel in their celebrity and actively seek out media attention. Ted Bundy, a