| The aim of this work has been to understand how the phenomenon "serial killer" has been created. The optical has been based on constructivist theories by Ibarra and Kitsuse and of social representations, with mechanisms of anchorage and objectivation as delineated by Moscovici. Serial killers aren't a recent phenomenon: they have always been there, even if they weren't known with this name. In Medieval Age, Gilles de Rais and Erzsebet Bathory were called "heretical". In times more close to ours, Vincenzo Verzeni ('800) and Leonarda Cianciulli (40s) were studied following somatic approach. At the end of the 70s we can find modifications in apprioaching this particular category of criminals. Why? Statistis speak about an increase of 450% for this category of crimes in the last 20 years, but this is a low percentage among the widest category of murders in general, less than 1%. This objective condition is not therefore sufficient to explain the change of interest in serial crimes. This modification is not therefore due to events' modifications, but to changing of interest in observing the same facts. Wanting to inquire the opinion of common people (the opinion of the experts is well known), I prepared a survey research ith 62 items inspired to Vicap, a FBI computer program with the function of storing every information about violent crimes committed in the USA. The questionnaire was proposed to 200 students (males and females) attending to the faculties of Psychology, Law and Literature of the University of Turin, Italy. Some of the hypothesis that guided my research have been the following: (1) there is a great interest in this subject; (2) people know very little of the phenomenon; (3) female murdress ae almost unknown, and (4) people have an image of serial killer that can origin a prototype. |
Updated 05/20/2006