Preface

This book is a study of global serial murder. Much if not most research and publication about serial killers has originated in the United States, and it is commonly asserted that the vast majority of serial killers are Americans. This virtually common knowledge may well be wrong.

I argue that despite agreement that Americans dominate serial murder, a careful reanalysis reveals that a relatively new country like the U.S. might not have a monopoly on this crime after all. Therefore this Introduction presents three main topics;

1) Consensus that the U.S. dominates serial killing, 2) Why most serial killers seem to be American and 3) Serial killers are a global phenomenon.

1. CONSENSUS THAT U.S. DOMINATES SERIAL KILLING

There is a prevalent perception that serial killers are predominately American. It has been contended that “The distinctiveness of American conditions has been a frequent theme in writings on serial murder over the last decade,” and it has been claimed that seventy-four percent of all twentieth-century serial killers were Americans (Jenkins, 1995). We are told that the United States is the primary source of serial killers, and “76 percent of all recent reported serial killings” occurred in the United States (Vronsky, 2004).

It is easy to document the misconception that America dominates serial killing. Serial murder has traditionally been considered mainly an American crime (Vronsky, 2004). Serial murder typically is regarded as an American concern (Lester, 1995). It is commonly contended that most modern serial murder is committed by Americans (Lester, 1995). It is believed that the U.S. easily leads the field and boasts 74% of the world total of serial killers (Newton, 1990). My study of 1,000 serial killers conservatively confirms the consensus—62.8% were American, followed by 7.2% from the U.K. French (4%) and German (3.9%) figures were about the same, as were the South African (2.5%) and Australian (2.2%) number of serial killers. My study identified nineteen Mexican serial killers, eighteen from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, fifteen Canadians and eleven Italian serial murderers. On the other hand, seventeen nations had a solitary serial killer in my study, while ten countries reported two and another seven lands observed a trio of them.

2. WHY MOST SERIAL KILLERS SEEM TO BE AMERICAN

There seems to be a consensus that serial killing is an American offense, with the great majority of these offenders being Americans. I’m not sure that’s true. But there are a few reasons for this perception.

A. Most Serial Murder Books Written by Americans

We tend to write on topics we already know about and Americans have produced the majority of books about serial killers. It stands to reason that much of the extant serial murder literature is based on American serial slayers. The American book publishing industry might therefore be credited with the perception that most serial killers are Americans.

American books on serial murder naturally give the impression that the U.S. has the greatest frequency of serial killers of any country. It is likely that if serial murders from around the world were as familiar to us we might discover that other lands have a higher incidence of this crime (Lester, 1995). It is reasonable to assume that writers in various nations could document the serial murders taking place in their country more effectively than outsiders and most likely produce more comprehensive and accordingly higher outcomes (Lester, 1995).

B. Better U.S. Serial Killer Record-Keeping

One idiosyncratic element of the American government is the obsession with record-keeping. Statistics on virtually any salient subject are accumulated in the U.S., and as a result we know much more about this country than others in some respects. The incidence of serial killers is one of those subjects.

The greater frequency of recorded serial murder activity in the U.S. probably reflects more awareness of this crime than in other nations, and greater willingness by the police to investigate the links between killing (Jenkins, 1994). A comprehensive treatment of the American recordkeeping variable in determining serial killer rates might be considered:

It is a somewhat peculiarly American trait to publish unflattering information about criminal activity in our society and to be genuinely surprised when we learn that other countries do not do likewise. In some democratic European nations as well as a variety of communist countries and right-wing totalitarian regimes, political censorship impedes the gathering and/or dissemination of such information. In other cases the lack of information can be attributed to inadequate or incompetent recordkeeping. Many countries which regularly publish mortality figures categorized by cause of death combine “homicide and acts of war” as a single category, making it difficult to determine the true murder rate (Lunde, 1975).

3. SERIAL KILLERS ARE A GLOBAL PHENOMEMON

Serial killing is an American crime, many experts agree, and therefore a relatively recent phenomenon. Both of those ideas are probably wrong, if I am correct that serial killers are actually ancient in origin and certainly a global problem. Both of those notions can be documented.

A. Serial Killers Not a Recent Phenomenon

“More than one book has claimed that serial murder is a new type of crime, although such cases appear in folk literature and have been documented since the fifteenth century,” it was recently suggested (Scott, 1998). Although it is often asserted that serial killing is a relatively recent phenomenon the historical record contradicts this belief (Lester, 1995). There is a “general impression” that serial killing recently emerged but that perception is invalid (Egger, 2003). Serial murder is frequently depicted as “a recent phenomenon,” yet in reality “it is not anything new” (Everitt, 1993).

B. Serial Killers Did Not Originate in the U.S.

Perhaps it goes without saying but serial murder was not an American invention. This terrible repetitive homicidal crime originated more than two thousand years before the U.S. was created. It was noted that the psychological impulses that motivate serial killers are probably as old as the human race (Seize the Night, 2003). The German experience with serial killers demonstrates that from a historical perspective, nothing is truly novel about the serial murder phenomenon in the contemporary United States (Jenkins, 1994).

The crime of serial killing is not a recent phenomenon, although it has dramatically increased in America since the 1950s (Norris, 1998). Throughout recorded history countries have documented crimes which appear to be similar to serial murders (Norris, 1998). The lengthy history of serial murder began long before the medieval era (Schechter, 2003). Feminist scholarship claimed that historians incorrectly believe that the Ripper crimes were unprecedented. However, long before Jack the Ripper there were instances of serial killing (Caputi, 1987). The reality of premodern serial murder was documented in a dozen case studies by Gibson (Gibson, 2012).

C. Serial Killers are an International Phenomenon

It is my contention that serial murder is an international phenomenon. Serial killing is not solely an American crime but rather a worldwide offense. It is believed that in geographic terms, serial killers are present on every continent with the exception of Antarctica (Caputi, 1987).

Serial killer locations seem to be increasing in number and are in a dynamic state. Even the Third World has not escaped the ravages of serial murder. Whereas the Third World once amounted to only three percent of global serial murder it is now thought that figure must have increased (Egger, 2003). During the past several decades serial killers have spread into more countries (Morrison and Goldberg, 2004). A study of 3,532 serial killers worldwide was reported by the FBI in 1996. They quantified the American total at 2,617 of the 3,532 (Newton, 1990). Serial killers “have been reported in” an increasing number of countries, including the U.K., Australia, South Africa, Germany, China, Japan, Austria, France, Russia, Nigeria, Bonsai, Italy and Hungary. Numerous others such as Brazil, Korea, India, Yemen, Switzerland, Denmark, the Bahamas, Vietnam, Belgium, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Costa Rica, Poland, Holland, Mexico, Belize, Venezuela, Greece and Pakistan have also been victimized by serial killers, along with Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Canada, Ireland, Scotland and Argentina. Serial killers were common in all of the industrialized nations (Vronsky, 2004).

My study of 1,000 serial killers only reveals the tip of the iceburg, I suspect, when it comes to the international prevalence of serial murder. Table One reveals the global reality of this crime.