SOC 2760 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Homicide, Sigmund Freud, Social Learning Theory
Document Summary
Serial murder is a relatively new term, even though the act has existed forever, until recently it was simply known as mass murder. Distinction between the types of murder, sometimes adds context and understanding to the killers mindset. This is not always the case because it is possible for a murderer to represent all three of these types of murder. There is sometimes argument over how each type of murder (specifically serial murder) should be defined. This text will not study the differences so much as the similarities between types of murder. Some researchers believe that dividing murders into subheadings would help to understand and explain the different motivations and behaviours. Early attempts at typology by ronald m. holmes and james de burger (1988) classified four broad categories of serial murder: visionaries: obeying voices from god, mission oriented: ridding the world of evil, hedonistic: killing for pleasure.
