Essay On Criminal Minds

As I was watching the interview, I was astonished. I expected Joel Rifkin to be the typical Hollywood serial killer: a deranged man set on revenge, as a result of being abused and neglected, and now was in chains behind glass with armed guards aiming their weapons at his head. Instead, I saw a stoic person who wasn’t behind glass or had a gun to his head. He just sat there and answered questions like a normal person. He wasn’t angry or remorseful. He was completely void of emotion. That was terrifying, because on the outside, he looked and acted like a normal human being, leaving me with the thought that anyone could be a cold-blooded killer and I wouldn’t even know.

In the mystery murder of everyday cab driver, Paul Stine, there was but one culprit, he went by the name “Zodiac Killer”. Behind every murder case is one person filled with a lifetime of emotions and stories that lead up to the kill. The insane destroy the sane, with a strong collision. Throughout research, it has been discovered that the murderer of Paul Stine was a man who went by the name of the “Zodiac Killer”.

It can be difficult to understand why anyone would choose to murder another human being. However, not all serial killers have the same motivation behind their crimes. There are many different categories, and each tend to have different reason for why they choose to take the lives of others. The two main types of serial killers are organized and disorganized. From there, they can be broken down into even more specific categories, however, each category will usually fall under organized or disorganized. Classifying serial killers can be useful for law enforcement because it helps them to determine common traits shared among different types of killers. When trying to apprehend a killer, once you determine what type they are, you can use

The Zodiac Killer has claimed to have taken 37 lives, but police investigative reports concluded that only seven were related to the Zodiac ( Vogit, “Zodiackiller.com”). The zodiac has been taunting investigative forces by sending local newspaper companies his cryptograms and letters. The zodiac was known to kill isolated couples and individuals. He also took in some of his victims and tortured them till they died or used them as hostages for his future plans. The letters contained a message that taunted the police for his next crime and a cryptogram for them to solve. The first cryptogram was solved by a highschool teacher, the cryptogram was interpreted to say, “ I LIKE KILLING PEOPLE BECAUSE IT IS SO MUCH FUN…” ( FBI, “The Zodiac Killer). These absolutely inappropriate messages were sent to inform a killing was about to occur or to claim that a killing was his. The most horrific letter was when he threatened to kill a bus full of school children, which what made him such a feared figure in northern

Psych is yet another unrealistic portrayal of crime shows. This show falls under the category of police because they assist the police in many cases and help them solve the crime. However, this show is highly inaccurate because of the situation. There is a man who wanted to move out of a situation, so he pretended to be a psychic. In reality, of the TV show, he just happened to be supper observant because his cop father raised him after his mom passed away. His father than taught him the skills of a police officer. This show does have some basis in reality because police sometimes do higher psychics to help on a case. Psych unlike many crime shows only falls into one crime category because the show only ever focuses on the detectives. This

The biggest issue within the Criminal Justice system is the large number of wrongful convictions, innocent people sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit. People are put in prison for years, even executed for false convictions. This affects not only those put in prison but friends and family of the accused. Wrongful convictions aren’t solely a tragedy for those directly involved either. It weakens the faith the public has for the justice system as well as poses safety issues; when innocent people are put away, the real criminals are still out there. Luckily, it is known what causes wrongful convictions and how to fix them.

Serial killers are driven by many things. It’s not hard to tell what drove a serial killer crazy. There is nature and nurture in their lives. Estimated, up to 60% of what

Were each of the two men involved in the crime mentally unstable? Could this have been a factor as to why the crime was committed?

As societal crime rate continues to escalate, the epidemic of homicides and mass murders remains a prevalent social problem. Thus, the emergence of serial killers has caused alarm among many criminologists and psychologists. Serial killers usually have an impulsive desire to kill for no particular reason, which makes it difficult for law enforcement and criminal professionals to understand their motives. Thus, the motives of serial killers have led to heated debates and challenged the nature vs. nurture theory. Many scientists believe that serial killers are genetically incline to commit murders, while criminologists associate violent crimes to childhood and surroundings. Essentially, exploring how and why serial killers commit crimes is an important area because it will help

Serial killers have different characteristics describing their way of murder. A power junkie, manipulator, egotistical bragger, superficial charmer, and an average joe are characteristics of a serial killer. A power junkie wants to take control over their victims (Woollaston 1). The victims are easily hypnotized by their killer and can not understand what they might be doing. Another serial killer is the manipulator who makes their victims do what they want them to do (Wollaston 2). The people taken by these serial killers can not find a way out of the killers demands. As important as the others, the egotistical bragger likes to brag about the actions they have done (Woollaston 2). The bragger can get arrested easily due to their constant bragging. The bragger is the type of serial killer that wants to be caught, which is why they constantly brag about their crimes. Another type of serial killer is the superficial charmer who love to use their looks and soft words to obtain the victim’s empathy and make them fall in love (Woollaston 3). The last characteristic of a serial killer is the hardest one to spot. The average joe is a normal, everyday citizen (Woollaston 4). Many people do not realize that a serial killer could be living right next to them. A serial killer does not have to stand out in the crowd. These

What defines a serial killer? A serial killer is a person who murders two or more people alone, over a period of one month. They usually have a cooling period between each murder, in order to perfect the next one. Serial Killers are people who “are… driven by instinct and a desire to kill” (Nature Vs. Nurture- The un-answered question), which usually lead serial killers to murder strangers. Grover Goodwin conducted a study that shows 90 % of the victims of serial killers are complete strangers to the killer and the majority of the serial killers are male. He also added that their crimes are based on psychological satisfaction (Nature Vs. Nurture- The un-answered question). In this paper, I will cover the characteristics

Everyone has put life on hold and become totally consumed with something at one time, and may have felt guilty or irrational for doing so. Numerous people probably have found a way to control that obsession; if not it could manifest to a much bigger problem of doing heinous things. Guilt and obsession can consume a person, if not addressed. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart” is about a person who is obsessed with his housemate’s eye and kills him. The police come to investigate, and the narrator shows them around the house. After speaking with the police for a while, the killer confesses what he did and shows where the body is. Similarly, David Fincher’s Zodiac is about a serial killer near San Francisco in the 1960’s and 70’s. He reports his own murders to the police and sends coded letters to local newspapers. One cartoonist becomes obsessed with finding the Zodiac killer. Both stories illustrate the idea that guilt and obsession can cause a person to do crazy actions, through the ideas of irrational acts, fear of getting caught, and the risk of obsession

The Notorious Zodiac Killer is quite the mystery. Northern California was where he felt comfortable to murder. He has never revealed to whom he was exactly. However, he was quite big on committing crimes and pleading guilty to them. His killings began in the sixties. He had claimed to have killed at least 37 people, but to this day we can only account for seven canonical victims. Even though there is seven victims tied to the Zodiac, only five of them were killed, the other two managed to survive.

Before getting to far into the evidence, you should know some background information about the Zodiac Killer. The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer that terrorized the San Francisco area from December 1968, till October 1969. The Zodiac is known to have killed six people but had claimed to have killed at least thirty more. The victims of the killer were, David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen, Darlene Ferrin, Cheri Jo Bates, Cecelia Shepard, and Paul Stine. The killer had also sent many encoded letters and messages to the local newspapers and the local police station. Of

According to Andrews and Bonta (2010) the psychology of criminal conduct ( PCC) can be defined as an approach to scientifically understand the criminal behavior of individuals through a systematic approach. Additionally, the psychology of criminal conduct is considered to be interdisciplinary, and considers all aspects of science that will assist in the further comprehension of an individuals criminal behavior, and the causes of criminal behavior (Andrews and Bonta , 2010). Andrews and Bonta ( 2010) stated that the psychology of criminal conduct can be considered a subfield of criminology and psychology due to common beliefs and common interests with both disciplines. Furthermore, the psychology of criminal conduct can be described as using