NCJ Number
176031
Date Published
1997
Length
252 pages
Annotation
This book describes the ways in which some of the most notorious serial killers affected the communities they terrorized.
Abstract
The book draws on 20th-century media coverage and on 19th-century tabloid accounts of Jack the Ripper to examine the effects that serial killers have on their communities. The book investigates: (1) how the public attempts to make sense of brutal, senseless, and random murders; (2) how people cope with the fear and anxiety generated by the news that a serial killer is at large; (3) the psychological impact of a serial killer on a community; (4) why citizens and the media respond as they do to serial killers, when the level of fear is far greater than the actual risk; and (5) the media's role in creating a panic-stricken public. The book describes the activities of Richard Raymond Valenti, Folly Beach, SC (1973-74); Albert Henry DeSalvo, Boston, MA (1962-64); John Norman Collins, Ypsilanti, MI (1967-69); David Richard Berkowitz. New York, NY (1976-77); Wayne Bertram Williams, Atlanta, GA (1979-81); Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, Milwaukee, WI (1987-91); and Jack the Ripper, London, England (1888). Notes, tables, figures, bibliography, index