Aserial killer is teepically defined as an individual who haes killt three or mair fowk[1][2] ower a period o mair nor a month, wi doun time (a "ceulin aff period") atween the murthers, an whase motivation for killin is uisually based onpsychological gratification.[3][4] Some sources disregard the "three or mair" criteria, an define the term as "a series o twa or mair murthers, committit as separate events, uisually, but no aye, bi ane affender actin alane" or, includin the vital characteristics, a minimum o twa murthers.[4][5] Aften, a sexual element is involvit in the killins, but theFBI states that motives for serial murther include "anger, thrill, financial gain, anattention seekin".[5] The murthers mey hae been attemptit or completit in a similar fashion an the victims mey hae haed something in common, for example, occupation,race, appearance,sex, or age group.[6]
Serial killers arena the same asmass murtherers, nor are theyspree killers, wha commit murthers in twa or mair locations wi virtually nae break in atween.
The term an concept o the "serial killer" is commonly attributit tae umwhile FBISpecial agentRobert Ressler in the 1970s.[7][8] AuthorAnn Rule postulates in her 2004 beukKiss Me, Kill Me that the Inglis-leid credit for coinin the term "serial killer" goes taeLAPD detective Pierce Brooks, creator o theViCAP seestem.[9] Creeminal juistice historian Peter Vronsky, in his beukSerial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters, while arguin that umwhile FBI profiler Robert Ressler micht hae coined the offeecial polis uise o the term "serial homicide" whan guest lecturin in 1974 at the British Bramhill Police Academy in Britain, states that the terms "serial murther" an "serial murtherer" appear in 1966 in John Brophy's beukThe Meaning of Murder. Vronsky reports that in Anne Rule's seminal beuk onTed Bundy,The Stranger Beside Me, published in 1980, the term "serial killer" disna appear an isna yet in popular uise.[10]
↑Reavill 2007, p.228 "With only two confirmed kills,Ed Gein did not technically qualify as a serial killer (the traditional minimum requirement was three), but that did not deny him immediate entry intae the pantheon of folk".
↑Holmes 1998b, p.9 "One of the most famous [geographically stable] serial killers is Wayne Williams. He was convicted of only two killings. However, his probable involvement in more than 30 killings of young black males in Atlanta qualifies him for classification as a geographically stable serial killer".
