Spree killer

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A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders in a short time, often in multiple locations. There are different opinions about what durations of time a killing spree may take place in. The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics has spoken of "almost no time break between murders", but some academics consider that a killing spree may last weeks or months, e.g. the case of Andrew Cunanan, who murdered five people over three months.

Contents

Definition

The general definition of spree murder is two or more murders committed by a person (or people) with no cooling-off period, in contrast to serial murder, where there is a period of time between killings. [1] The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has found the category to be of no real value to law enforcement because quantifying a "cooling-off period" is arbitrary. Serial killers commit murders in separate events, at different times. Mass murderers are defined by one incident, with no distinctive period between the murders. [1]

How to distinguish a spree killer from a mass murderer, or a serial killer, is subject to considerable debate, and the terms are not consistently applied even within the academic literature.

The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics has defined a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations with almost no time break between murders". [2] [3]

The Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment lists five different categories of spree killers and cites Mark O. Barton as an example of the second one. [4] He is also noted alongside mass murderers, such as Patrick Sherrill, in the respective entry about mass murder. [5] In The Anatomy of Motive, John E. Douglas cites Charles Starkweather and Andrew Cunanan (who murdered five people over three months) as examples of spree killers, [6] while Jack Levin calls Starkweather a mass murderer and Cunanan a serial killer. [7] [8]

In Controversial Issues in Criminology, Fuller and Hickey write that "[t]he element of time involved between murderous acts is primary in the differentiation of serial, mass, and spree murderers", later elaborating those spree killers "will engage in the killing acts for days or weeks" while the "methods of murder and types of victims vary". Andrew Cunanan is given as an example of spree killing, while Charles Whitman is mentioned in connection with mass murder and Jeffrey Dahmer with serial killing. [9]

In Serial Murder, Ronald M. Holmes and Stephen T. Holmes defines spree murder as "the killing of three or more people within a 30-day period" and add that killing sprees are "usually accompanied by the commission of another felony." [10] They cite Charles Starkweather and the Beltway Snipers as examples of spree killers. [11] They define serial murder as "the killing of three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a significant cooling-off period between the killings." [12] Under this definition, Andrew Cunanan would be categorized as a serial killer and not a spree killer.

In Sexual Homicide, Ressler, Burgess and Douglas gave more emphasis to killings being at more than one location, and less precision about the time span, saying that a single event can last a short or long time, citing Christopher Wilder's seven-week "murder event" or "killing spree". [13]

Douglas wrote that the identity of serial killers is generally unknown until they are caught, and a mass murderer's identity is learned only after they have committed the crime. The identity of the spree killer, on the other hand, usually becomes known by police while the spree is still in progress. [14] [ why? ]

The term rampage killer has also been used sometimes to describe spree killers, [15] especially when a single individual perpetrator:

A rampage involves the (attempted) killing of multiple persons at least partly in public space by a single physically present perpetrator using (potentially) deadly weapons in a single event without any cooling-off period. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serial killer</span> Murderer of multiple people

A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people, with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separate events. Their psychological gratification is the motivation for the killings, and many serial murders involve sexual contact with the victims at different points during the murder process. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that the motives of serial killers can include anger, thrill-seeking, financial gain, and attention seeking, and killings may be executed as such. The victims tend to have things in common, such as demographic profile, appearance, gender, or race. As a group, serial killers suffer from a variety of personality disorders. Most are often not adjudicated as insane under the law. Although a serial killer is a distinct classification that differs from that of a mass murderer, spree killer, or contract killer, there are overlaps between them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass murder</span> Act of murdering many people in a short span

Mass murder is the violent crime of killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more persons kill several others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Cunanan</span> American serial killer (1969–1997)

Andrew Phillip Cunanan was an American serial killer who murdered five people over three months from April 27 to July 15, 1997. His victims include Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace and Chicago real estate developer Lee Miglin. Cunanan died by suicide on July 23, 1997, eight days after murdering Versace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Starkweather</span> American spree killer

Charles Raymond Starkweather was an American spree killer who murdered eleven people in Nebraska and Wyoming between November 1957 and January 1958, when he was nineteen years old. He killed ten of his victims between January 21 and January 29, 1958, the date of his arrest. During his spree in 1958, Starkweather was accompanied by his fourteen-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caril Ann Fugate</span> American convicted of 1958 murder spree at age 14

Caril Ann Fugate is the youngest female in United States history to have been tried and convicted of first-degree murder. She was the adolescent girlfriend of spree killer Charles Starkweather, being just 14 years old when his murders took place in 1958. She was convicted as his accomplice and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1976, she was paroled after serving 18 years.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">John E. Douglas</span> American criminal profiler

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References

  1. 1 2 Morton, Robert J.; Hilts, Mark A., eds. (2008). "Serial Murder: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators". National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Federal Bureau of Investigation. p. 9. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  2. ↑ Zawitz, Marianne W., ed. (1988). Report to the Nation on Crime and Justice (PDF) (2nd ed.). Bureau of Justice Statistics. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 7, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  3. ↑ Charalambous, Nick; Dillman, Meryl (December 17, 2006). "No evidence of spree killer yet, police say". The Anderson Independent-Mail . Anderson, South Carolina. Archived from the original on December 30, 2008. Retrieved July 8, 2008.
  4. ↑ Levinson, David (ed.): Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, Vol. 4 ; Berkshire Publishing Group, 2002. p. 1565
  5. ↑ Levinson, p. 1038.
  6. ↑ Douglas, John E. & Olshaker, Mark: The Anatomy of Motive ; Simon and Schuster, 1999.
  7. ↑ Levin, Jack & Fox, James Alan: Mass Murder: America's Growing Menace, Berkley Books, 1991.
  8. ↑ Levin, Jack: Serial Killers and Sadistic Murderers, Prometheus Books, 2008. p. 49.
  9. ↑ Fuller, John R. & Hickey, Eric W.: Controversial Issues in Criminology; Allyn and Bacon, 1999. pp. 36.
  10. ↑ Holmes, R. M, & Holmes, S. T.: Serial Murder; SAGE Publications, 2010. pp. 35.
  11. ↑ Holmes, R. M, & Holmes, S. T.: Serial Murder; SAGE Publications, 2010. pp. 36.
  12. ↑ Holmes, R. M, & Holmes, S. T.: Serial Murder; SAGE Publications, 2010. pp. 6.
  13. ↑ Ressler, Robert K.; Burgess, Ann W.; Douglas, John E. (1988). Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives. Free Press.
  14. ↑ Douglas, p. 192.
  15. ↑ Sward, Susan (July 18, 1997). "Motive Mystery / Debate Over What Kind of Killer is at Work". SFGATE.
  16. ↑ Seeger, Thorsten (ed.) School Shootings: International Research, Case Studies, and Concepts for Prevention; Springer, 2012.
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