Peter Vronsky, a journalist, wrote Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters. In his book he discusses victims. He thinks that there are not more serial killers roaming the streets now than in previous times, but that there are more potential victims. Some believe that society tacitly condones the killing of a certain type of person who is seen as devalued - prostitutes, cruising homosexuals, homeless vagrants, senior citizens, runaway youths, and the inner city poor. Some serial killers seem proud of themselves for doing ‘society a favour’.
Some see the serial killer as a figure who allows them to fantasize about rebelling against the ills of society, and the serial killer becomes a symbol of ‘effective justice’, clearing the streets of ‘undesirables’. Vronsky believes that society is at fault for colluding with this.
He devotes a chapter to explaining how to ‘escape the monster’s clutches’. He notes that serial killers are everywhere, and you may have passed one in the street. There are some identified risk factors that make someone potentially more likely to become a victim. These are (in the USA):
Being white
Female
Aged 15 – 28
Living in a poor neighbourhood
Prostitutes and sex-workers
Working at night
Hitchhiking
Many victims however are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He warns - Don’t get into cars with strangers!
Vronsky notes ‘trust your instinct’. One woman who escaped Ted Bundy had a bad feeling about him, and made an excuse not to get into his car.
This is a fascinating book, because it considers the victims, and highlights the role that society’s attitude to marginalized groups plays in making them easy targets for serial killers.
The victims of the Ripper were poor women living in a squalid, poverty stricken area, having to survive by prostitution. The movement to shut brothels drove these women onto the streets. Victorian condemnation of their lifestyle may have created the attitude that the first few deaths did not warrant serious investigation because they were ‘only prostitutes’. Society was ‘down on whores’ as well as the Ripper, and it shouldn’t be allowed!
Some see the serial killer as a figure who allows them to fantasize about rebelling against the ills of society, and the serial killer becomes a symbol of ‘effective justice’, clearing the streets of ‘undesirables’. Vronsky believes that society is at fault for colluding with this.
He devotes a chapter to explaining how to ‘escape the monster’s clutches’. He notes that serial killers are everywhere, and you may have passed one in the street. There are some identified risk factors that make someone potentially more likely to become a victim. These are (in the USA):
Being white
Female
Aged 15 – 28
Living in a poor neighbourhood
Prostitutes and sex-workers
Working at night
Hitchhiking
Many victims however are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He warns - Don’t get into cars with strangers!
Vronsky notes ‘trust your instinct’. One woman who escaped Ted Bundy had a bad feeling about him, and made an excuse not to get into his car.
This is a fascinating book, because it considers the victims, and highlights the role that society’s attitude to marginalized groups plays in making them easy targets for serial killers.
The victims of the Ripper were poor women living in a squalid, poverty stricken area, having to survive by prostitution. The movement to shut brothels drove these women onto the streets. Victorian condemnation of their lifestyle may have created the attitude that the first few deaths did not warrant serious investigation because they were ‘only prostitutes’. Society was ‘down on whores’ as well as the Ripper, and it shouldn’t be allowed!
Peter Vronsky, Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters (New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 2004)
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