Distinctions between male and female serial killers Assignment

Distinctions between male and female serial killers - Assignment Example To date, there is scanty data on the female serial killers and how the differ from male serial killers (Wolfgang, 2007). By definition, a serial killer is anyone who has killed at least three people over time in separate incidents and in a civilian context. This means, the killing done by terrorists or military personnel in their duty does not constitute serial killer but rather that health care worker or parent who kills their victims. At first, it is hard to draw a line between the male and female serial killer but a closer look shows some difference between these two groups. In contrast to female pattern serial killer, the profiles of the male who kill have been studied extensively. Some of the early researchers such as Guttmacher & Wolfgang (1960) concluded that most serial killers were typically black who mostly killed in response to some argument or physical confrontation. The most male serial killer has tended to kill outside their homes perhaps in a bar or the streets and used knives and guns to overcome their victims. The victim of the women, seem a little different. Unlike male serial killer, most of the women serial killer victims are family members, friends or acquaintances. Male serial killers have tended to inflict damages in addition to causing death to their victims and engage in some form of torture before they kill their victim. They have shown some tendency to use hands-on skills when killing their victims using blunt objects, knives, and hands as part of the processing of killing the victim and power domination as part of the motivation behind killing. This is very unlike female serial killers. The female serial killers never use force or power to overcome their victims. Mostly, the known female serial killers have been known to murder their victim using poisons such paralyze their victims (Keeney & Heide, 2004). Male serial killers have also been identified to use stalking behaviors whereby the trail their victims keenly observing