ABSTRACT
Perhaps no other area of psychological study has the power to both attract and abhor as predatory murder. Large audiences at movies such as Manhunter and Silence of the Lambs (based on novels by Harris, 1981, 1988), and a plethora of paperbacks (Bugliosi & Gentry, 1974; Graysmith, 1976; Larsen, 1980; O’Brien, 1985) speak to the American public’s fascination with the subject. With the exception of forensic experts who study these killers, the law enforcement community, or the unfortunate families of their victims, Americans remain psychologically detached from murders whose motives elude rational explanation (Brown, 1991). Even mental health professionals have great difficulty accepting the possibility that certain individuals “enjoy killing people” (Dietz, 1986, p. 487).
