Serial Killers

There are many different types of serial killers. Process-focused serial killers get enjoyment from torture and the slow death of their victims. These include three different types of hedonists’ lust, thrill and gain and power-seeking killers. Lust killers derive sexual pleasure from killing. Thrill killers get a "kick" from it. Gain killers murder because they believe they will profit in some way. Power killers wish to "play God" or be in charge of life and death. Some serial killers have been diagnosed by psychologists as psychopaths. The official term in the Diagnostic and Standard Manual of Mental Disorders, is antisocial personality disorder. A person with antisocial personality disorder follows a pattern of "disregard and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years." This pattern includes seven factors such as "failure to conform to social norms," "irritability and aggressiveness" and "lack of remorse" says Vronsky, a psychologist. Psychopaths are not insane they do know right from wrong; however, this diagnosis may explain their behavior during their killing cycles. Many researchers theorize that brain damage can contribute to their actions. They believe that damage to the frontal lobe can contribute to extreme aggression, loss of control, loss of judgment and violence. Henry Lee Lucas, for example, who was convicted of 11 murders, was shown to have extreme brain damage in these areas, probably the result of childhood abuse, malnutrition and alcoholism. There are many typologies that serial killers can be categorized in. Serial killers can be act-focused who kill quickly, or process-focused, who kill slowly. For act-focused killers, killing is simply about the act itself. There are two different types: the visionary and the missionary. The visionary murders because he hears voices or has visions that direct him to do so. The missionary murders because he believes that he is meant to get rid of a particular group of people. [Curtis,