Table of Contents

Part I: Multiple Murder
Chapter 1: America’s Fascination With Multiple Murder
The Gein Legacy
Multiple Murder in Popular Culture
The Selling of Multiple Murder
Craving Attention
Killer Communication
Killer Groupies
The Impact of Celebrating Murderers
Sensitize, Not Sanitize
Chapter 2: Defining Multiple Murder
Mass, Serial, and Spree
A Typology of Multiple Murder
Theories of Multiple Homicide
Social Learning Theory
Routine Activity Theory
Control Theory
Applying the Framework
Part II: Serial Murder
Chapter 3: An Anatomy of Serial Murder
Prevalence of Serial Murder
Extraordinarily Ordinary
A Profile of the Typical Serial Killer
Chapter 4: With Deliberation and Purpose
When Killing is Thrilling
On a Deadly Mission of Terror or Revenge
Killing for Expediency
For Love and Loyalty
Chapter 5: Murder Without Guilt
Self-Control and Social Control
The Sociopathic Personality
The Culture of Sociopathy
Empathy and Serial Killers
Borderline Personality Disorder
Normalcy in Serial Murder
Rehumanizing the Victims
Chapter 6: Partners in Murder
Insanity in the Relationship
Partners for Profit
Partnerships of Men and Women
Chapter 7: Killing for Company
Placing the Blame
Killing for Companionship
The Functions of Cannibalism
Desire for Total Control and Ownership
Chapter 8: Fantasyland
Keeping Souvenirs
Normal and Abnormal Fantasies
The Impact of Pornography
Chapter 9: The Making of a Serial Killer
Childhood Suffering
Testimony under Hypnosis
Child Abuse and Murder
Inordinate Need for Power
Animal Cruelty and Violence against Humans
Challenges of Predicting Serial Murder
Biological Predisposition
Blaming the Family
Chapter 10: Nonsexual Control
Power over Patients
Female Serial Killers
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
Chapter 11: Killing Cults
Killing for a Cause
The Appeal of Dangerous Cults
Suicide or Homicide?
Satanism and Serial Murder
Chapter 12: So Many Victims
Vulnerable Victims Preferred
Catching the Serial Killer
Behavioral Profiling
VICAP
DNA
Lucky Breaks
Part III: Massacres
Chapter 13: For Love, Money, or Revenge
Relative Obscurity
A Profile of Mass Killers
Selective and Methodical
When Love Kills
Sweet Revenge
Profiting From Mass Murder
Explaining Mass Murder
Contributing Factors
Chapter 14: Family Annihilation
A Profile of the Family Annihilator
Impact off Unemployment
Murdering Moms
The Defiant Son
Chapter 15: Firing Back
Profile of the Workplace Avenger
The Impact of Frustration
Mixed Motives
Workplace Murder by Proxy
Romantic Obsession
Externalizing Responsibility
Social Isolation
Screening out Problem Workers
Going Postal
Chapter 16: Schooled in Mass Murder
Disgruntled Students
A Global Perspective
On to College
The Role of Violent Video Games
Shooting for Infamy
Shooting for Infamy
Adult Copycats
Overstating the Copycat Effect?
Chapter 17: Fighting City Hall
Attacking the System
Legal Battles
Filing a Grievance
Increasing Alienation
Chapter 18: Hate Motivated Mass Murder
Choice of Victims
A Life of Frustration
Blaming Women
The Killer as Victim
Settling a Grudge With a Gun
Minority Against Majority
Chapter 19: Going Berserk
Paranoid Thinking
Confused State of Mind
Long-Standing Mental Illness
Civilian Battlefields
Brain Abnormalities
Deadly Weapons
Chapter 20: Weapons of Mass (Murder) Destruction
Mass Shootings and Gun Legislation
School Shootings and Political Will/Won’t
The Assault Weapon Debate
Expanded Background Checks
Concealed Carry
Armed Faculty and School Security
A Final Word
Part IV: Epilogue
Chapter 21: Remembering The Victims

About the Author

James Alan Fox is the Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law, and Public Policy at Northeastern University. He has published 18 books, dozens of journal and magazine articles, as well as hundreds of freelance columns in newspapers around the country, primarily in the areas of multiple murder, youth crime, school and campus violence, workplace violence, and capital punishment. As a member of its Board of Contributors, his opinion column appears frequently in USAToday. Fox led the investigation of Seattle’s Capitol Hill mass shooting and was part of the task force investigating the serial murder of college students in Gainesville, Florida. He also served on President Clinton’s advisory committee on school shootings, and a Department of Education Expert Panel on Safe, Disciplined and Drug-Free Schools. In addition, he has been retained as an expert witness/consultant in several mass shooting cases, including the recent massacres at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Fox is one of the principals in maintaining the Associated Press/USA Today/Northeastern University Mass Killing Database. Finally, he has received several awards and honors for his work, including the Hugo Adam Bedau Award for excellence in capital punishment scholarship.

 

 

Jack Levin is the Brudnick Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at Northeastern University, where he codirects its Center on Violence and Conflict. He has authored or coauthored more than 30 books, most recently The Violence of Hate: Understanding Harmful Forms of Bias and Bigotry and The Allure of Premeditated Murder: Why Some People Plan to Kill. Levin has also published more than 250 articles and columns in professional journals, books, magazines, and newspapers, such as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Science Monitor, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, and USA Today.  Levin was honored by the Massachusetts Council for Advancement and Support of Education as its “Professor of the Year” and by the American Sociological Association for his contributions to the public understanding of sociology. He has also received awards from the Eastern Sociological Society, New England Sociological Association, Association of Clinical and Applied Sociology, and Society for the Study of Social Problems. Moreover, he has spoken to a wide variety of community, academic, and professional groups, including the White House Conference on Hate Crimes, the Department of Justice, OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (a membership of 59 countries), and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.