Spree killer

Definition

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the general definition of spree killer is a person (or more than one person) who commits two or more murders without a cooling-off period; the lack of a cooling-off period marks the difference between a spree killer and a serial killer. The category has, however, been found to be of no real value to law enforcement, because of definitional problems relating to the concept of a "cooling-off period".[2] Serial killers commit clearly separate murders, happening at different times. Mass murderers are defined by one incident, with no distinctive time period between the murders.[2]

How to distinguish a spree killer from a mass murderer, or from a serial killer, is subject to considerable debate, and the terms are not consistently applied, even within the academic literature. For example, The Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment lists five different categories of spree killers and cites Mark O. Barton as an example of the second one.[3] He is also noted with other mass murderers, such as Patrick Sherrill, in the respective entry about mass murder.[4] In The Anatomy Of Motive, John E. Douglas cites Charles Starkweather and Andrew Cunanan as examples of spree killers,[5] while Jack Levin calls Starkweather a mass murderer[6] and Cunanan a serial killer.[7]

In Controversial Issues in Criminology, Fuller and Hickey write that "[t]he element of time involved between murderous acts is primary in the differentiation of serial, mass, and spree murderers", later elaborating that spree killers "will engage in the killing acts for days or weeks" while the "methods of murder and types of victims vary". Andrew Cunanan is given as an example of spree killing, while Charles Whitman is mentioned in connection with mass murder, and Jeffrey Dahmer with serial killing.[8]

In Serial Murder, Ronald M. Holmes and Stephen T. Holmes define spree murder as "the killing of three or more people within a 30-day period" and add that killing sprees are "usually accompanied by the commission of another felony."[9] They cite Charles Starkweather and the Beltway Snipers as examples of spree killers.[10] Under this particular definition of spree murder, Richard Chase, who is usually labelled as a serial killer, would actually be a spree killer because he committed his murders within a 30-day period.

Ronald and Stephen Holmes define serial murder as "the killing of three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a significant cooling-off period between the killings."[11] Under this definition, Andrew Cunanan would be categorized as a serial killer and not a spree killer.

Douglas wrote that the identity of a serial killer is generally unknown until they are caught, and a mass murderer's identity is learned only after they have committed the crime. The identity of the spree killer, on the other hand, usually becomes known by police while the spree is still in progress.[12]

Another term, rampage killer, has sometimes been used to describe spree killers, but it does not differentiate between mass murderers and spree killers.[13]

gollark: 256Kbps, 1Mbps or 2Mbps are options, higher data rates mean worse range or something, this information thing says "Approx. 20m [range] at 0dbm.".
gollark: Er, not specs, Micropython docs.
gollark: Hold on, I'll check the specs.
gollark: I suppose if I "borrow" one from some friends (there are lots around) I could use the radio feature to... send Morse code between two of them at 50m range, or something?
gollark: Hmm, it says here that it also has an accelerometer, magnetometer, and a speech synthesis library for some bizarre reason. Also buttons. I forgot those.

See also

References
  1. Charalambous, Nick; Dillman, Meryl (December 17, 2006). "No evidence of spree killer yet, police say". The Anderson Independent-Mail. Anderson, South Carolina. Archived from the original on December 30, 2008. Retrieved July 8, 2008.
  2. Morton, Robert J., and Mark A. Hilts (eds.) Serial Murder – Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators Archived October 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Accessed July 4, 2009.
  3. Levinson, David (ed.): Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, Vol. 4; Berkshire Publishing Group, 2002. p. 1565
  4. Levinson, p. 1038.
  5. Douglas, John E. & Olshaker, Mark: The Anatomy Of Motive; Simon and Schuster, 1999.
  6. Levin, Jack & Fox, James Alan: Mass Murder: America's Growing Menace, Berkley Books, 1991.
  7. Levin, Jack: Serial Killers and Sadistic Murderers, Prometheus Books, 2008. p. 49.
  8. Fuller, John R. & Hickey, Eric W.: Controversial Issues in Criminology; Allyn and Bacon, 1999. pp. 36.
  9. Holmes, R. M, & Holmes, S. T.: Serial Murder; SAGE Publications, 2010. pp. 35.
  10. Holmes, R. M, & Holmes, S. T.: Serial Murder; SAGE Publications, 2010. pp. 36.
  11. Holmes, R. M, & Holmes, S. T.: Serial Murder; SAGE Publications, 2010. pp. 6.
  12. Douglas, p. 192.
  13. sfgate.com Jul. 18, 1997

Further reading
  • Pantziarka, Pan (2000). Lone Wolf: True Stories of Spree Killers. Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-7535-0437-5.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.