SUMMER 2007 Serial Murder: Myths Vs

Home , Jerry Brudos, John Wayne Gacy, Moses Sithole, Piquerism, Randy Kraft

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS – SUMMER 2007 Serial Murder: Myths vs. Realities CRJU C420 W51

Instructor: Dr. William E. Thornton Office: Stallings Room 124 Phone: 504-865-2134 Dept. Phone: 504-865-3323 E-mail: [email protected]

Dates and times: The online course will follow an eight week format with the dates noted on the syllabus. The course begins on June 2, 2008 and will end on July 27, 2008.

I. Course Description: The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with the field of serial murder. Serial murder has come to be known as a problem of severe proportion and growing concern. Despite almost a mythical interest in the phenomenon, relatively few scientific studies have been undertaken on the prevalence, etiology, investigation and understanding of the crime of serial murder. Some experts explain how serial murder flows so often from extraordinary psychological processes in which offenders get caught up in a self-perpetuating cycle of violence fantasies, violence facilitators (alcohol, pornography, etc.), and catalytic “routine” traumas of daily living. Other experts attempt to provide homogeneous typologies of serial murderers hoping that a fine tuned classification schema can be a useful tool in both profiling and apprehending serial offenders. Still other experts utilize a case study approach hoping to understand in depth how serial murderers think, how they stalk their victims, and how they derive satisfaction from their grizzly deeds. We review both the scientific and practitioner literature on serial murder to try to understand, control, and prevent the crime from occurring.

II. Course Format: The eight week course of instruction is designed to familiarize you with the field of serial murder within the context of the broader discipline of criminology. You are expected to read and review materials listed on the syllabus during the period of time specified for the designated material. To a large extent, the quality of your written assignments will necessitate that you read and engage in a literature review of several core areas in serial murder research. I think you will find the materials to be extremely interesting.

1 Orientation Lecture: Be sure to view my short Orientation lecture to the course to better understand how the course will be conducted. The course is offered online and as you can see from the Course Syllabus below, there are eight (8) contact sessions with the first session beginning June 2, 2008. We will cover a different topic on serial murder each week. Each session begins with a 30 minute or longer lecture from me on the subject matter. Included on the syllabus for each week are required readings from the books and other sources, links to PowerPoint material, film (s), other links related to specific information, content, as well as questions for group discussions which will take place each Friday at 4:00 PM. (We may change this time depending on our various schedules.) Please feel free to contact me by email if you have any questions at any time during the course.

III. Grading Scale: 93 – 100 = A; 84 – 92 = B; 76 – 83 = C; 63 – 75 = D Weights for the class assignments can be found under Section VI: Class Requirements.

IV. Course Materials: You may elect to order the books yourself online from a private vendor such as Amazon or the Loyola University New Orleans bookstore (order online from Loyola Website). The CD titled Mind of a Killer may be picked up in the Department of Criminal Justice main office, Stallings 122 after 1:30 each day or the disk can be mailed to you if you contact me by email with your mailing address.

Required Books

(1) Eric W. Hickey. Serial Murderers and Their Victims (4th Edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Leaning, 2006 (ISBN 0534630189). This is the most recent edition of this book and is in paperback. (2) Phillip C. Shon and Dragan Milovanovic. Serial Killers: Understanding Lust Murder. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2006. ISBN 159460178X. (3) Stacey L. Shipley and Bruce A. Arrigo. The Female Homicide Offender: Serial Murder and the Case of Aileen Wurornos. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004 (ISBN 0131141619) (4) Robert Keppel. Signature Killers. Interpreting the Calling Cards of the Serial Killer. New York: Pocket Books, 1997 paperback (This is a classic and out of print but you can only obtain a used copy for about $5.00 online.)

Suggested Books but not required

(5) Brian Lane and Wilfred Gregg. The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. New York: Berkeley Books, 1995 or Michael Newton, The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers (also included in the under Library heading). New York: Checkmark Books, 2000. (There are several of these encyclopedias in hardcopy and online which give both biographical details of the serial murderer and his/her offenses as well as victimology information.) (6) Robert K. Ressler. I Have Lived in the Monster: Inside the Minds of the World’s Most Notorious Serial Killers. New York: St. Martins, 1997 – classic FBI profiler

2 (7) John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. Mind Hunter. Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit. New York: Pocket Books, 1995 – classic FBI profiler (8) Thomas Guillen. 2007. Serial Killers: Issues Explored Through the Green River Murders. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall (9) Robert D. Keppel and William J. Birnes. 2003. The Psychology of Serial Killer Investigations: The Grisly Business Unit. Boston, MA: Academic Press (10) Robert K. Ressler, Ann W. Burgess and John E. Douglass. Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives. 1992. New York: The Free Press (11) John E. Douglas, Ann. W. Burgess, Allen G. Burgess, and Robert K. Ressler. 1997. Crime Classification Manual: A Standard System for Investigating and Classifying Violent Crimes. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass (12) Karen J. Terry. Sexual Offenses and Offenders: Theory, Practice and Policy. 2006. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth (13) Ronald M. Holmes and Stephen T. Holmes. Profiling Violent Crimes. 2002. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Materials on line

(14) William E. Thornton. Investigative Psychological Profiling

(15) Mind of a Killer CD. (Copy made available to study. Pick up CD in Department of Criminal Justice Departmental Office, Stallings 122)

(16) Beatrice Crofts Yorker, et al. Serial Murder by Healthcare Professionals. Journal of Forensic Science, November 2006, pp. 1362-1371

Materials on E- reserve at Loyola Monroe Library

(17) Douglas, John. E., Burgess, Ann W., Burgess, Allen G., and Ressler, Robert K, Crime Classification Manual: A Standard System for Investigating and Classifying Violent Crimes, New York: Lexington Books, 1992. The following chapters from the CCM are e-reserve at the Loyola Monroe Library website: (1) Introduction and Homicide (Chapter 1- assorted pages); (18) Rape and Sexual Assault (Chapter 3 – complete chapter); (19) John Douglas and Corinne Munn. Modus Operandi and the Signature Aspects of Violent Crime (Chapter 5 – complete chapter).

(18) Keppel, Robert D. and William J. Birnes. The Psychology of Serial Killer Investigations. Boston: Academic Press, 2003; Chapter 6: Profiling the Serial Killer: The Efficacy of Profiling

3 V. Course Outline: Major topics respond to the material that will be covered in the course including required readings.

Week 1: The Crime of Serial Murder: An Introduction and Orientation (June 2 – June 8)

1. Serial Murder: Definitions Hickey, Introduction and Chp. 1; Shon and Milovanovic, Chp. 1; Mind of a Killer - Criminology section - Defining Serial Murder, etc.); Crime Classification Manual, Chapter 1: Homicide; (Film: Jeffrey Dahmer)

• 1. Serial Murder: Fact and Fiction • 2. Multicide: mass, serial and spree murderers • 3. Typologies of murder • 4. Serial (Lust) Homicide; Other sexual homicides including paraphilias and other sexual misconduct- Mind of a Killer (Psychology) - Sexual Homicide; See also Mind of a Killer excerpts from Robert Ressler, et al, Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives. • 5. Serial murder typologies • 6. Special topic: School shooter (mass or spree murder). See FBI School Shooter threat assessment www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2001/september2001/sept01p13.htm

2. Prevalence/ U.S./ other countries Hickey, Chp. 1, Chp. 10, 11

• 1. Global issues in serial murder (See Mind of a Killer (Maps) - interactive map of serial killers around the world which links up with the Encyclopedia of Serial Killers • 2. Assessing global data on serial murder • 3. The Gorby study • 4. Serial murders in Japan • 5. Serial murder in South Africa • 6. Serial murder in Russia

Power Points: Serial Murder Intro. Class 1. ppt; Serial Murder Prevalence. Class 1. ppt.

Discussion Questions: (Although Jeffrey Dahmer displayed many of the characteristics of classic serial killers and possesses several parahilias including cannibalism and necrophilia, aspects of his childhood suggest he was somewhat different from past serial killers; he was not physically or sexually abused and he came from an affluent family. However, there are other things about his childhood that fit the profile of many serial killers. This being said -

Discuss how Jeffrey became a serial killer. Was he a sick, out of control man, as his defense attorney indicated, or a murdering psychopath in complete control of his actions to hunt, capture, torture, and murder victims?

4 Week 2: The Mass Media and Serial Murder (June 9 –June 15)

3. Serial Murder in the Media Shon and Milovanovi, Chp. 8; (Film: Silence of the Lambs)

• High profile serial killers and capital punishment, Shon and Milovanovi, Chp. 9 o Newspaper coverage of Ted Bundy o Newspaper coverage of John Wayne Gacy o Newspaper coverage of Richard Ramirez o Newspaper coverage of Aileen Wuornos • Serial murder and the movies

Power Points: Serial Murder. Class 2. ppt.

Discussion Questions: We discussed disparities between real serial killers and movie/media generated serial killers. Discuss the differences that you see between Dr. Hannibal Lectre and Buffalo Bill in terms of any characteristics that they may or may not have had in relation to what we know about apprehended serial killers.

Are there any stereotypes generated in the film? Did Clarice Starling utilize any profiling skills in solving the crime based on profiling experience or simply astute reasoning skills or are these things one and the same?

Week 3: The Link Between Sexual Crimes and Serial Murder (June 16- June 22

4. Sexual Offenses Shon and Milovanovi, Chp. 2; (Film: John Wayne Gacy)

• The underlying framework of serial murder? o Hickey notes that about half of all serial killers in his study engaged in sexual activity with their victims not counting for the number of offenders who sexualized their criminal behavior without leaving evidence of some form of sexual assault o Sexualizing always involves fantasy development o Paraphilia often begins with milder forms or preparatory paraphilia that facilitate more violent forms or attack paraphilia • What is a sexual offense o Sexual acts with contact o Noncontact sexual behavior o Viewing, possessing or producing child pornography (snuff films and serial murder)

• Classification of sexual offenses o Mental illnesses o Character Disorders

5 o Paraphillias

Power Points: Serial Murder Sexual Offenses.Class 3. ppt; Serial Murder Paraphilia.Class 3.ppt

Discussion: (Paraphilia often begins with milder forms of deviant sexual behavior and then develops into predatory or attack forms of paraphilia. A glimpse into the background of John Wayne Gacy, for example, shows that earlier in his life, at age 26, he was charged with coercing a young employee into homosexual acts while the manager of a fried chicken restaurant. Gacy pled guilty to sodomy. Two years later he was charged with attempted rape of a young gay boy and three months later his first murder occurred, another young male picked up at a bus terminal.) There is no doubt that Gacy exhibited erotophonophilia, the most extreme type of paraphilia, involving acting out sadistic behaviors in the course of brutally torturing and murdering a victim.)

Why do you think his behavior evolved to the level that it did? What was the role of fantasy in Gacy’s life and horrible actions? Would there have been any way to predict that Gacy would evolve into a serial killer?

Assignment Due: Assignment 1. Internet Research Paper. JUNE 22

Week 4: The Causes or Etiology of Serial Murder: Cultural, Biological and Psychological (June 23 – June 29)

6. Cultural Development of Serial Murder Hickey, Chp. 2; 1. Serial murder, cults and the occult

• 2. The notion of evil • 3. Serial murder: Health Care Professionals (Beatrice Crofts Yorker, et al. Serial Murder by Healthcare Professionals. Journal of Forensic Science, November 2006, pp. 1362-1371)

7. Biological and Psychological Etiological Theories of Serial Murder Hickey, Chp. 3; Mind of the Killer (psychology), (Film: The Hillside Stranglers)

1. Psychobiology and biochemical theories of violent behavior

• 2. Insanity - legal interpretation (See Mind of a Killer (Psychology) - Insanity Defense • 3. Mental disorders and personality disorders • 4. The psychopath (See also, "Psychopath" handout in the syllabus) • 5. Mind of the Killer - Psychology - Growing up to murder • 6. Sexual Murder and Sexual Serial Killers: Toward a Mind Body Development Theory, Shon and Milovanovi, Chp. 3

6 Power Points: Serial Murder, Culture and Satanism.Class4. ppt; Serial Murder Biology and Crime. Class 4. ppt; Psychiatric and Psychological Theories. Class 4. ppt; Psychopath. Class 4. ppt.

Discussion Questions: (Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono were team serial killers who were both described as “pure psychopaths.” One forensic expert noted that their chemistry propelled them into killing and that “together, they created a special kind of evil.”)

Do you believe that these two serial killers were the personification of evil or were they simply psychopathic?

In this same vein, did the serial murder healthcare professionals (Murder by Healthcare Professionals) exhibit a “kinder and gentler” type of psychopathy in the killings that took place in hospitals and other health care facilities? Or were they simply psychopaths who happened to be in the healthcare industry?

Week 5: Sociological Theories (July 7 – July 13)

8. Social Theories and Explanations of Serial Murder: Social Construction of Serial Murder Hickey, Chp. 4; Shon and Milovanovi, Chp. 4; (Film: The Nightstalker)

1. Social structure theory, social class theory, social process theory, neutralization theory, social control theory, labeling theory, motivational theory, trauma control model, integrated model

2. The MacDonald Triad: animal cruelty, enuresis, and fire setting

3. Etiology of serial killing

4. Trauma control model of serial killing

5. Facilitators

6. Fantasy

7. Stalking

8. Signatures (Robert D. Keppel. Signature Killers)

9. Piquerism, Shon and Milovanovi, Chp. 6

10. necrophilia in the context of lust murders, Shon and Milovanovi, Chp. 7

7 Power Points: Social Construction of Serial Murder. Class 5. ppt.

Discussion Questions: (Perhaps more than any other serial killer, the family life and earlier interactions of Richard Ramirez influenced him in his career as an eventual serial killer. Discuss aspects of Richard’s family life and childhood that may have propelled him into serial murder. )

When and how do you think he began to link sex and violence together? Do you really think that he may have been influenced in some manner from Satanic beliefs which “drove” him to commit his horrible crimes? Explain

Assignment Due: Assignment 2. Signature Killer Paper. JULY 13

Week 6: Serial Murder Offenders (July 14 – July 20)

9. Characteristics of Serial Killers (several of the links deal with "serial killers") http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/cjlinks/killers.html#violence (See Mind of a Killer (Case Studies) - Berkowitz, Bianchi/Buono, Bundy, Chikatilo, Dahmer, Gacy, Gein, Lucas/Otoole, Ramirez, Rolling, Wuronos, Starkweather/Fugate, etc.

a. The Male Serial Murderer Hickey, Chp. 5

• Emergence of male serial murderers • Myths of serial murder • African American serial killers o Wayne B. Williams o Henry Louis Wallace o Carlton Gary o Calvin Johnson • Mobility and victimization o Three traveling serial killers o Robert Joe Long • Victims o Donald Harvey o Edmund Emil Kemper III o Albert Henry DeSalvo • Offenders’ backgrounds and occupations o Robert Hansen o Paul John Knowles • Disposition of serial killers • Men who kill women: the solo killer • Lust killers o Theodore Robert Bundy o Paraphilia classifications • John Edward Robinson • Jerry Brudos

8 • Men who kill men: homosexual serial killers o Randy Kraft

• Men who kill children o John Wayne Gacy o Herb Baumeister • Men who kill the elderly • Men who kill families • Men who kill men and women o James P. Watson o David Richard Berkowitz

• middle class serial killers (Film: Andrew Cunanan) b. The Female Serial Murderer Hickey, Chp. 7; (Film: Monster)

• Identifying female serial killers - Kristen Gilbert, 2000 • Emergence of female serial murderers/victim selections - Aileen Carol Wuornos - Nannie Doss – the giggling grandma • Methods and motives - Terri Rachals - Genene Jones (Read Yorker, et al. Serial Murder by Healthcare Professionals) - Christine Falling - Myra Hindle • Psychopathy of female offenders

c. Team Serial Murderers Hickey, Chp. 6

• Identifying team killers • Females as masterminds in serial murder relationships o Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono o Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez o Tene Bimbo Gypsy Clan • Males as masterminds in serial murder relationships o Alton Coleman and Debra D. Brown o Douglas D. Clark and Carol A. Bundy • Occupations of team serial killers • Team killing and mobility o Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Elwood

9 • Ritualism, cults and child victims o Robert Gecht, Edward Spreitzer, and Andrew and Thomas Kokoraleis • Methods and motives • Offender history o Dean A Corll, David O. Brooks, and Elmer Wayne Henley o Leonard Lake and Charles Ng • Disposition of offenders o Gerald A. Gallego, Jr. and Charlene Gallego

Power Points: Male Serial Murderers. Class 6. ppt; Men Who Kill Women. Class 6. ppt; The Female Serial Murderer. Class 6. ppt

Discussion Questions: (We have studied a number of serial murderers throughout the course.)

Based on your readings and viewing the biographies of various serial killers, discuss what you think are the main differences between serial killers who kill children, and other very young people, and those who murder adults?

What do you think are the main differences between female serial murderers and male serial murderers? When all is said and done, do female killers seem to be less sadistic and psychotic than males? Explain.

Assignment Due. Assignment 2. Aileen Wuornos Paper. JULY 20

Week 7: Serial Murder Victims (July 21 – July 27)

10. Victims of Serial Killers Hickey, Chp. 8; (Films: Green River Killer and South African Strangler).

a. Demographics of victimization in serial murder b. Victim selections c. Prostitutes b. Missing and murdered children c. Children as Victims d. Protection and prevention e. Agencies for missing, murdered and exploited children

Power Points: Serial Murder Victims. Class 7. ppt

Discussion Questions: (It is interesting to note that cross cultural studies on serial murder generally show that females, especially young females, are the preferred choice of victims for many serial killers.)

10 Why do you think that this is literally a “cultural universal” for serial killers?

After viewing the film on the South African Strangler, do you see any similarities between Moses Sithole, and his selection of victims, young women, and some of the American serial killers? Explain your answer.

Assignment Due: Assignment 3: Victims of Serial Killer Paper. JULY 27

Week 8: Solving the Crime of Serial Murder (July 28– August 3)

14. Profiling (See Mind of a Killer (Library) - FBI Articles, Psychological Assessment of Crime Profiling; See also "Profiling Points" handout in the syllabus; Thornton, Investigative Psychological; Hickey, Chp. 12 a. Investigative techniques b. Profiling c. Problems d. Understanding signatures – Robert Keppel - Signature Killers e. Forensic consulting f. Computerized analysis systems - VICAP g. Sentencing h. Treatment i. Prevention

15. Experts in the area and their styles

a. Robert Ressler - FBI Behavioral Science Unit Ressler, I Have Lived in the Monster b. Robert Keppel - the signature hypothesis Kepple, Signature Killers

Power Points: Profiling Serial Murder.Class 8. ppt.

Discussion Questions:

Is criminal profiling a science or an art?

Assignment Due. Assignment 4. Paper on Andrei Chikatilio. AUGUST 3

VI. Course Requirements:

Assignment due June 22

1. (15%) There is a tremendous amount of material on serial murder on the Internet. Some of the information is very good, other material is

11 questionable. Use one of the many Internet search engines and research one of the following points:

a. Case history of an “infamous” serial killer b. Research on forensic psychology as it relates to serial murderers c. The investigation of serial murder d. The popularization of serial murder and/or serial murderers - You will find many bizarre websites that both popularize and glorify serial murder. Try to find a common theme or topic from some of these sites to write about. Some of these sites are into grizzly photographs of crime victims and crime scenes. Also, there is an occult/Satanism twist to many of these sites. e. Serial murderers in other countries f. The families of serial murderers

Write a five-page paper detailing what you learned about the topic and give URLs of your sources. Remember, you are to exclusively use the internet for this material.

Assignment due July 13

2. (15%) Select four serial murderers not discussed in Robert Keppel’s work, Signature Killers. Write a five-page paper first describing what the “signature” of a killer actually is. Next, briefly describe the signature of the four serial murderers that you choose for this assignment. Note their signatures pointing to such things as persistence of the signature from crime scene to crime scene, the display of the signature (on the body of the victim, on the physical geography of the site, etc.), variations on the signature, etc. Assess how the signature of the killer correlates to the profile of the killer; are they one in the same? Explain this to me.

Assignment due July 27

3. (15%) The study of victims of serial killers remains an under-researched area. Typologies of victims normally have one or two fundamental bases or variables, specifically relative responsibility of the victim for the crime (to what degree is the victim culpable for the actions of the offender?) and the relative vulnerability of the victim to the crime (what social conditions or environments lead to more or less risk of crime for the person?). Using these two variables (responsibility and risk), victimologists aim to explain the dynamic and varied relationship between the crime and the victim. In addition, victims may not be randomly distributed across the members of society. Some groups have a higher probability of engaging in certain criminal activity, and some

12 groups have a greater probability of being victimized. This variation in the likelihood of victimization is called differential vulnerability, or the relative risk of being victim of a crime.

Your assignment is to conduct a short study of the victims of serial murder with respect to relative responsibility, relative vulnerability and differential vulnerability. Using various websites and other sources of information on the victims of serial killers (such as the reading material for the course), examine 15 victims of serial murder and examine them according to the following format:*

a. Name (if available), sex, race, age b. Place of victimization- primary and secondary crime scene c. Nature of the capture of the victim - offender stalked victim d. Circumstances of the victimization - e.g., young girl snatched from front yard e. Nature of the death (e.g., stabbing, strangulation, torture involved) Sexual overtones (e.g., rape before/after death) g. Signature of the killer on the victim or crime scene - e.g., body laid in open field with arms crossed h. Victim relative responsibility i. Victim relative vulnerability j. Differential Vulnerability

I suspect one or two pages on each victim would be sufficient to accomplish this assignment. Note that some information may simply not be available for certain victims. If this is the case, just indicate “no information available.”

Assignment due August 3

4. (20%) View the film entitled “The Red Ripper” This film details the life and times and apprehension of Andrei Chikatilo, a notorious Russian serial killer. Based on the reading material and our discussion of serial murder profiling, write a five page paper indicating the clues and other characteristics of Chikatilo gleaned from the film that would have alerted you to the fact, assuming that you were an investigator, that he was a serial killer. Likewise, discuss those aspects of his routine, the nature of the crimes, the nature of the victims, the crime dumping sites, etc. that might possibly have lead to his apprehension. Also point to problems that the Russian police agencies encountered in the apprehension of Chikatilo. Did you notice any differences in the profile of this serial killer compared to American serial killers? Look at the following website for some views on the subject but utilize your own ideas and thoughts for the assignment. http://www.serialkillers.net/cases/chikatilo.html

13 Assignment due July 20

5. (20%) Aileen Wuornos Paper. View the film titled “Monster.” Male serial murder has predominated both the research and entertainment media. The reason for this is that historically in the United States and other countries, females have committed relatively few violent crimes, especially murder. When they do commit such crimes, it is often against an abusing spouse or significant other or against family members including children. Domestic violence studies often indicate that women retaliate against an aggressor such as an abusing spouse after a long history of degradation and violence. In those rather rare instances when females kill others, much like their male counterparts, for greed, lust or any other number of self-serving motives, we are often surprised and somehow see this as an aberration or psychological flaw in the woman who kills. This thinking no doubt comes from our gender role socialization about females being the “kinder and gentler” of the sexes. All this said, in the annals of criminology we do find females who commit multicide, including serial murder, though their numbers pale when compared to males. Eric Hickey presents both historical and contemporary examples of female serial killers in the U.S. and other countries and points our similarities and differences between female and male killers in terms of such things as target selection, method of murder, motives for murder, etc. One of the more unique female serial killers to come to the public’s attention in the 1990s was Aileen Carol Wuornos who killed seven males over a relatively short period of time in conjunction with her hustling activities. She claimed to have killed the men after they attacked her while she plied her trade as a prostitute. In addition, she claimed flashbacks to earlier episodes of sexual violence perpetrated against her as a child. Aileen was executed in 2002. The book by Stacey Shipley and Bruce Arrigo, The Female Homicide Offender, discusses the broader field of female homicide offenders and basing their views on psychology and criminology they “argue that unresolved trauma following poor or severed childhood attachments to parents can result in disorderly conduct in adolescents who act delinquently and psychopathic adults who behave criminally.” They test their theory on the unique case of Aileen Wuornos.

Your assignment in this paper is to critique the authors’ use of the life history narrative to arrive at various conclusions regarding why Aileen Wuornos became a violent serial killer. As the authors note, both “individual and societal factors were interactively at work, transforming her into a predator serial killer” (155). Discuss how well you think they used information about Aileen’s childhood, early life and later life to diagnose such things as her psychopathy, rationalizations for the murder of some of her victims, and her perception of herself. Contrast this with the authors’ views about how early intervention into Aileen’s life cold have possibly saved her from following the lifestyle that she did. If you have differing interpretations then the authors from their “data,” discuss these and give me some insight into how you arrived at your opinions.

6. (15%) Class Discussions. You will be logging in once a week to address the discussion questions for each topical areas in the course. I will keep track of interactions but would also like you to turn in (after the discussion) very brief responses summarizing your views and opinions on the discussion questions.