NCJ Number
208631
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 74 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2005 Pages: 26-32
Editor(s)
John E. Ott
Date Published
January 2005
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Officials in the Netherlands are faced with their first serial murderer and attempt to understand how one person could be motivated to kill so many people.
Abstract
Derived by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), criteria relative to defining serial murder has included the number of victims, time elapsed between crimes, motivation, geographical mobility, and victim selection. The definition has also been modified to include the requirement that at least one of the killings occur within the United States. However, the FBI’s definition of serial killing makes no reference to underlying motivation, behavior, and psychological characteristics. This was done to maintain a broad definition in order to encompass the full array of serial killers. This article describes motivational factors, developmental histories and characteristics of a serial murderer in the United States in an effort to assist the Netherlands in understanding how one person could be motivated to kill many individuals. The goal is to assist and help investigators and prosecutors bring serial murderers to justice.