Killer Psychology Annotated Bibliography

Introduction

Killers are typically individuals who murder people usually in service of abnormal psychological gratification with a significant period between them. The paper focuses on killer psychology in the Cold Blood by Truman Capote as well as that in the Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston, Mario Spezi.

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Clarke, Thomas. "In Cold Blood by Truman Capote-reflection." The British Journal of Psychiatry, 209.3 (2016): 191-191.

In cold blood is a novel that is non-fiction and was written by Truman Capote, who was an American writer. The book was first published in 1966, and its principal contents are the details of the murders of thee Herbert Clutter family members that happened in 1959 (Clarke, 12). The members of the Herbert Clutter family belonged to the small farming communities of Holcomb in Kansas. The novel was written based on a true story of the murder that was conducted to the members of the Clutter family. The killing of the victims was made in a ruthless and unfeeling manner. The cruel killing was made to four family members, and it is then that Capote decided to travel to Kansas to write about the crime in his novel. Capote wrote the book by interviewing locals in Kansas who witnessed the killings together with police officers who were tasked with the responsibility of investigating the case. Among the murderers were Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, who was arrested and later executed by the state of Kansas. The book was written after six years of gathering evidence. The book describes and analyzes the lives of the victim, the murderers, as well as local members in the village where the killings happened in Kansas. By describing the experiences of murders, it is possible to discuss the killer psychology from their way olives (Clarke 121).

In Cold Blood, the psychology of killers is depicted through the possibilities that occur to them and are usually considered to take actions that most people would reject. Besides, killers nurture and act on the ideas and impulses that most people are trained from infancy to deny. From the novel, the psychology of killers can be described through the various motives for their actions that can be categorized into mission, hedonistic, visionary, as well as power and control. For instance, the two murderers Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, are seen to be well organized and plan ahead. The killers are reported to have arrived in Kansas at different times and then purchase supplies that they intended to use for the planned crime and later arrived at the farmhouse late at night.

Montes, Nicholas N. "Truman Capote and the Tarnished Tale of In Cold Blood." (2016)

Herb Clutter was a popular and prosperous wheat farmer and lived in a small town in Kansas that was called Holcomb. The wheat farmer lived there together with his wife and his teenage children. November 14, 1959, was the last day of their lives, and they had planned to go about their day (Montes 13). The killers had become acquainted with the Kansas State Penitentiary. It was during the following day that friend to the family visited only to find them shot down. Police and the members of the public were later informed as the killers went back to Olathe. The two killers pass through several bad checks within Kansas and then drive on to Mexico City. Later on, the two killers ran out of money and sold the car to board a bus to the United States.

The lives of the two murderers Perry and dick, show that killer psychology can be categorized into hedonistic, power and control, mission, and visionary. For instance, the two murderer's psychology can be described to be hedonistic because they seem to have a well-organized plan before committing the crime. Hedonistic killers are those that usually make secure connections between sexual gratification and personal violence. Hedonistic serial killers are generally referred to as lust killers since they typically receive pleasure from their acts of murder, and they eroticize the experiences (Montes, 21). Hedonistic serial killers are usually portrayed in movies and fictional books.

One feature about hedonistic killers is the fact that they generally take their time to mutilate or torture their victims. Therefore, both Dick and Perry cam be said to have hedonistic killer psychology because, as evidenced in the book, they have been fictional in movies as well as they took their time before committing murder. Besides, the two killers can be described to have hedonistic killer psychology because of their psychopathic temperament that is usually exhibited with specific traits such as lack of remorse, and predatory behavior. Also, serial killers show a particular type of mental illness that leads to their homicidal behavior. The acts of stealing the vehicles that they used to commit murder as well as brutally killing the famous farmer together with his wife and children show that killer psychology is that which lacks remorse and mercy primarily due to the killing of innocent children.

Killer psychology can also be described as missionary due to the fact the two killers executed their plan after planning it for a long time. For the mission psychology category of killers, the killers feel the duty or need to kill specific types of individuals such as, religious people, or racial groups. Important to note is the fact that the mission category of serial killers is usually not considered to be psychotic. Such kind of serial killers is a true sociopath and believes in their own perverted set of regulations, regulations, and rules. As evidenced in the book, the psychology of killers is that of missionary serial killers where they set their own standards or kill a group of people for various reasons that can be religious or racial based. Therefore, killer psychology in the killers Dick and Perry can be described to be a mission one because the victims were staunch Christians (Montes 34). For instance, the woman that found them dead was passing by their home so that they could go to church together.

Power and control also play a vital role in the psychology of killers, and it is attributed to the most significant reason that serial killers commit their terrifying actions. Killers are known to commit horrifying acts of violence, such as rape and murder. They always look for a victim after killing a person, and the trend continues killing again and again, and they never become satisfied with their bloody actions. Also, killers in the book show a particular type of mental illness that leads to their murderous behavior. Important to note is the fact that infamous serial killers, in most cases, have been physically, emotionally, or sexually abused by other people, especially family members, therefore, leading to such kind of psychology that shows them it is okay to kill.

The novel In Cold Blood depicts and describes a killer's psychology in various ways, for instance, lack of emotional aspect to go ahead and kill innocent individuals. In his book, Capote focuses on the lives of the murderers Dick and Perry, especially on to their emotional lives and what might have led them to such brutal killings. During their cases after they were arrested, a psychiatrist is denied access to check if they are insane. It was reported that Dick had a personality disorder while Perry had schizophrenia. However, both were convicted and sentenced to death. Perry began to confess and admit to committing the crimes, which later made Dick follow suit (Montes 231). From the descriptions in the novel, the psychology of killers is depicted to one that shows that killers could be having severe mental challenges such as mental illnesses or suffering from other social-psychological conditions.

The Monster of Florence

The Monster of Florence is a non-fiction thrilling real crime book relating to a series of horrific murders that occurred in the decent and safe town of Florence. Most of these murder cases implicated couples who had been slain to death while making love in their cars in the desolate areas near the city. The first part of the book describes seven dreadful killings featuring all their gruesome details.

Polidoro, Massimo. "The monster of Florence: Case closed? The terrifying story of the most infamous ritual murders in Italian history, part 1." Quality 41.4 (2017): 16-18.

The murderer would trail affectionate youthful couples, narrow down to those who camped or parked in deserted areas in the lovely countryside of Tuscan, and kill them (Polidoro 14). Strikingly, the murder perpetrator would leave conspicuous signature mutilations, particularly on female victims, wherein several occasions, the unknown monster cut off the female erogenous part and one breast. As investigations take the course, the book authors- Preston and Spezi are caught up in the middle as their unending questions raised suspicion. Towards the last part of the book, Preston and Spezi manage to put forward who they supposed to be authentic Monster of Florence amid the paranoia of themselves being under investigation. Despite the uncertainty of the legitimacy of their proposal, the mere suggestion of the real monster makes a satisfying end to the attention-grabbing read (Polidoro 17).

The psychology of a killer is highly dependent on the motive to commit murder as well as the general character of an individual. More often and for most people, killing is a result of the transitory loss of power to right judgment heightened by love, jealousy, anger, or any such extreme sensations while in other cases, murder is pre-determined, planned for and later executed. In this book, the unknown monster seems to be particularly driven by love emotions as all his victims were practically young dating couples. He is very bitter with the females involved, and he goes to the extent of cutting off their private parts after shooting them.

Empathy is an extinct aspect in the life of most killers. The monster in the town of Florence took delight when more victims die in his hands. After attacking a couple in the year 1974 and callously stabbing the girl 97 times, the monster returned and attacked every year from 1981 to 1985 (Polidoro 145). In fact, the monster murdered seven couples over a period of ten years and managed to walk free of guilt. The repeated attacks on young couples indicate a lack of neither compassion nor remorsefulness. The monster took pleasure in shooting couples and, more so, in mutilating the bodies of his female victims. What is more, for the killer monster to have the guts to chop off a dead woman's private parts and one breast, he must have missed something critical in valuing life while growing up. This may be what turned him into a soulless, angry, and empty person, deficient of basic empathy for others, thus the ability to kill and mutilate dead bodies discriminately based on age and love life.

Interestingly, most killers have a tendency to be wise and cautious in their missions, particularly those involving murder. The monster in this novel is depicted a wise and cowardly. Wise in that he left no clue that would make the investigators trace back the murder cases to him despite using identical techniques and leaving similar conspicuous marks. He ensured that he was never identified nor caught even if several men were detained and or charged. The only information that the FBI had was that he was a weak man who could not lift his female victims off the ground. Moreover, the monster also demonstrated cowardice by not owning up to the crimes he committed like other terrorists do (Polidoro 13). He watched from afar as men got arrested, accused, imprisoned, and released from prison as other similar murder cases would still occur with suspects in jail. He would wait for a time when panic was at its best and police overwhelmed with false leads, and tip-offs then attack again...