ABSTRACT

Serial sex killers frequently confess to more crimes than they have committed in order to augment their celebrity, vying to outdo their competitors. The serial killer is a clear instance of the way in which criminology continues to be part of the problem to which it claims to provide solutions, constructing the problematic human kinds from which it claims to protect society. Although the indication that serial killings have been on the rise is disturbing, death by serial killer remains a highly infrequent way to die. A number of feminist scholars have explored the ways that media, fictional and popular culture representations of the serial killer have contributed to this figure's appeal, thus encouraging individuals to imitate it. There seems to be little evidence that criminological profiling has actually resulted in the arrests of any serial killers, and even forensic science is usually only useful for piecing together the facts after a killer has been apprehended.