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Originally Posted by Catwoman
Agh. Please read my post, someone. What makes you think he'll do it again? There have only ever been a handful of serial killers (not counting presidents and prime ministers). Stop. Basing. Arguments. On. The. Doings. Of. An. Extreme. Minority.
: pulling hair out :
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http://www.victimsofviolence.on.ca/research395.html
"Only about 1% of the population are serial killers. Yet the number of identified serial killers has risen dramatically in the last 20 years or so. Whether this is an increase in the actual number of offenders or whether it is due to better police work is unknown. Whatever the reason, the serial homicide rate has risen tenfold.
The FBI estimates that there are currently 500 serial killers at large. Other estimates are much lower, around 35 - 100 serial killers currently committing crimes. In 1983, they estimated that 5000 Americans, or 15 people a day were killed by strangers. Every year, between 3500 - 5000 people in America are the victims of serial killers. In the past 20 years, 160 serial killers have been identified or captured, and 120 of them were in the United States. "
http://www.sociology.org/content/vol003.002/hinch.html
"It has been estimated that between 10 and 500 serial killers are active at any time in the United States (Egger 1990a; Kiger 1990; O'Reilly- Fleming 1996). In Canada, estimates range from 5 to 30 (Ratner 1996). The variation in these estimates can be attributed to a variety of problems with data sources: arbitrary definitions; small samples; samples biased toward only known/apprehended serial killers; and samples relying upon secondary sources such as biographies or newspapers. These alternative data sources have been used primarily because official data are not reliable.
For example, the FBI collects data from law enforcement agencies across the United States and publishes it in the Uniform Crime Reports(UCR). The Supplemental Homicide Report(SHR), part of the UCR, provides additional information about victims, offenders and circumstances. The intention is to reflect all criminal offenses that come to the attention of the police.
The data, however, are incomplete and unreliable. First, because reporting is voluntary, the information is incomplete (Kiger 1990; Williams and Flewelling 1987). Second, there may be organizational pressures within particular police jurisdictions not to alarm the public about the possible existence of a serial killer in that area. This may prevent reporting and/or effect homicide classification procedures (Kiger 1990; Williams and Flewelling 1987). Third, homicide data records only those crimes known to the police. Missing persons and undiscovered bodies are excluded."
Hm. Only a handful. I'd hate to see what you consider a significant number.
Sidhe