Crime Analysis

Serial Murder – Multi Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators

The discovery of serial killer terminology had give huge contribution in fighting crime despite whoever claimed on the discovery.

Before the terminology occurred, expertises and authorities had difficulties in classifying some of the murder cases. One of them was Colin Wilson while compiling the Encyclopedia of Murder.

He stated in the Serial Killer Investigations that he noticed a variety of murder that he was unable to fit into the old classifications.

The difficulties only solved after the discovery and the term become more important when it helps identified the probable characteristics of a suspect in a process the police called as criminal profiling.

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They are reffered as ‘Serial Killer’

Public, criminalists and authorities might have referred Jack the Ripper as one of the infamous serial killer and among the earliest stated by history.

But the terminology only being discovered mid of 20^th century and yet many people tried to claim it.

Serial Killer Investigations by Colin Wilson mentioned the terminology was discovered in 1977 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent Robert Ressler.

It is learnt that Ressler was the first person used the term after a visit to Bramshill Police Academy, near London, where someone referred to a ‘serial burglar.’

However, Michael Newton in the The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers shows there are possibilities that the terms were discovered earlier by Criminologist James Reinhardt.

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One of the books used as reference by the blogger

Anything can happen in the future and nobody can predict it. Even Nostradamus had failed in some of his calculation and prediction.

But we can look at the ‘window’ and see the future’s tips of the iceberg. The window was referred to Internet which had provided uncensored media coverage on crime.

YouTube had become number 1 medium for the public to share their videos or crime videos which mostly recorded by Closed Circuit Televisions (CCTV) or mobile phones.

Facebook and Twitter had become replacement for traditional hearsay and mouth to mouth medium and the news spread much faster. It can reach thousands or millions users in few hours. Meanwhile blogs seems to replace newspaper in the future. It hotter and public prefers it better than newspaper online.

All those are what happening today and imagine how the crime news will be spread in the future. Could the authority curb the information from spread like what has been done by New York Police Commissioner Stephen P. Kennedy who managed to keep the investigation on Mad Bomber silent for 16 years before the public known about it and become panic?

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Sherlock Holmes’s fistfight with Jack Woodley in the Solitary Cyclist

Beside crime has been used in news and some of it has been placed as the newspapers’ front page to increase their sale, crime also being used as the genre of literature and entertainment.

Sherlock Holmes’ Canon, Alfred Hitchcock and three investigators and Edgar Allan Poe’s work such as Tales of Mystery & Imagination are among the earliest literature on crime that had influenced the public.

The impact can be seen until today such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s masterpiece, Sherlock Holmes Canon or the Complete Sherlock Holmes which was written more than 100 years ago. The books or series still being republish especially after some of the series entered the public domain.

In the series, the main character, Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr Watson had brought the public went through 60 series of their adventures – 4 novels and 56 short stories.

Through this series also the author, Doyle, had introduce several elements or crime detection skills such as serology (scientific study of blood serum and other bodily fluids), fingerprinting, firearm identification, and questioned document-examination long before their value was recognized and accepted by real life criminal investigators which later being known as forensic science.

From the first book, A Study in Scarlet, publish until today, Sherlock Holmes series had put crime interest in public heart and mind until the fans try to bring the situation alive by creating The Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street, London – the same address for Sherlock Holmes’s house. The fans also try to act as detective and imitate the detective character.

However, the Sherlock Holmes series did not perfect, it lack of technology to present the details of crimes and it investigations. It depends on the words and pictures which mostly drawn by Sidney Paget.

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One of the newspapers used Mad Bomber’s news as the front page

Looking at the huge impact of the crime news to the public had brought several other questions such as why the interest could not be sustain or convert it to the crime preventing. There are several possibilities but one of it and the most shock claimed to be news as the reason.

Kevin Marsh at the BBC’s Blog, The Editors, in his article “Providing Context” mentioned that the public did not learn about the world from a rational description, the public too depend on the news.

“We learn about it, for the most part, from “news” and crime is news precisely because it is both shocking and uncommon.”

He said the dependable on the news because of not all people had experience in encounter crime or falls to victims or become witness and very few of them were victims of or witness to crime more than once or twice their life.

One of journalism’s great father figures, American commentator, media critic and diplomatist Walter Lippman also agreed with it. He said:

On the one hand, news is the way we learn about the world; on the other hand, you would be mad to rely on it to learn about the world.

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George Metesky, also known as Mad Bomber

If you look back at the Rod McKenzie’s opinion in the BBC’s Blog, The Editors, he mentioned that crime interest shows by public nowadays is an old phenomenon.

Logically the statement seems right but there are no facts can support crime interest occurred longer before Jack the Ripper’s murder spree. There is no exact date in the history or any timeline.

The only stated was the first murder occurred. Muslim knows the incident occurred between Habil and Qabil, while in the bible mention it between Cain and Abel. Hebrew calls them as Hevel and Qayin.

If their parents, Adam and Hawa (Eve) worried about the incident, we may call it as the beginning of crime interest. However, the crime interest started to rise after human know how to spread the news.

It may begin with hearsays and using mouth as the medium to spread the news but the impact is similar with spreading the words using newspapers. The different is only the area of coverage, number of person affected by the news and the facts delivered might be different from others.

The impact received by each individual is same. But the higher number of people received the news, the bigger impacts created from it. They begin to worry, curios about their safety, questioning the authorities action and wonder when the case will close?

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Crime Scene Investigation

Crime had become one of the most interested and fascinating topic among the public nowadays. The subject not just conquer tabloid newspapers front page like what they did in the past few decades to increase the sales but also influence television audiences.

Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, 24, Criminal Minds, Shields and Rookie Blue are among the TV Series that managed to grab the audiences’ attention.

These TV Series not just present how the crime commit but also presented the technologies and skills to catch criminals.

The attentions show a good sign that public become more aware about crime. They start to know what deoxyribonucleic acid is or known as DNA, they aware about firearm identification, finger-prints and they alert about serology (scientific study of blood serum and other bodily fluids).

This phenomenon agreed by Steven Briggs, writer of “Criminology for Dummies” and his open his introduction with this statement:

“Crime is fascinating. How else can you explain why, as I’m writing this book (Criminology for Dummies), six of the top ten TV shows focus on criminal investigations (and ring in the heart of the American Idol and Dancing with the stars seasons, too!)?”

Yet, how far this phenomenon changes our life style or create safer place? Or does this phenomenon helps in reducing crime rate?

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Crime Scene Investigation

Crime had become one of the most interested and fascinating topic among the public nowadays. The subject not just conquer tabloid newspaper front page like what they did in the past few decades to increase the sales but also influence television audiences.

Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, 24, Criminal Minds, Shields and Rookie Blue are among the TV Series that managed to grab the audiences’ attention. These TV Series not just present how the crime commit but also presented the technologies and skills to catch criminals.

The attentions show a good sign that public become more aware about crime. They start to know what deoxyribonucleic acid is or known as DNA, they aware about firearm identification, finger-prints and they alert about serology (scientific study of blood serum and other bodily fluids).

But yet, the improvement is not enough.

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