MULTIPLE MURDERS

Multiple Murders

Multiple Murders

Identification of Author & Work

Haggerty, Kevin D. (2009). “Modern Serial Killers,” Crime, Media and Culture 5(2):168-187, Retrieved from EBSCOhost on 03rd October, 2011

Summary

Criminologists have studied serial killing in a variety of aspects. In particular, earlier literature on on serial killing focused the biological, biographical and aetiological basis of multiple murders and serial killing. In the article titled Modern Serial Killers, Kevin Haggerty explores serial killing in the forms as they exist today. The central argument of Haggerty's article is that modern forms of serial killings stem from a varied phenomena comprised of mass media, rationality, and anonymity of murderers. In other words, modern killing has a close relation with the modernity's self-image. The modernity that the author refers to relates to developments in urbanism, science and commerce of the present era. Though Haggerty does not disregard the roles of personal pathologies and biological dispositions common to serial killers, he strongly believes that the behaviors of serial killers have close connections with the modern structural factors or 'forces of modernity' existing in cultural, social and institutional forms.

Haggerty first throws light on the reversal in perceptions about the history and span of serial killing. Using reference from earlier literature, Haggerty asserts that 'serial killing' has its place in the world's history since times immemorial. The author also discovers that there is a lack of consensus regarding the underlying themes of serial killing. For the most part, serial killers have known to hold unpredictable behaviours in different situations (Haggerty, 2009). Secondly, there exists a lack of consensus regarding the scope of definition of 'serial killing'. The popular definition of serial killing, as it exists in scholarly literature and academics, is the one that says that 'a serial killer is someone who has killed 3 or more strange people in a row, with some identifiable time gap. However, the definition does not cover the mass murder ordered by some country dictators or the sea pirates. Haggerty explores serial killing under modernizing developments in pre-industrial, industrial, and mature industrial eras. Differentiating his work with Leyton, Haggerty places his emphasis on the 'preconditions that channel the act of serial killing in the modern times'.

Analysis/Evaluation

The purpose of Haggerty's research is to explore the pre-conditions that shape the modern serial killers. These pre-conditions are presented in what the author calls 'the forces of modernity'. Modernity, according to the author, refers to the developments made ...