Demographics play a key role when it comes to crime solving in today’s world. Demographics offer detectives, the FBI, Police, or whatever agency, a means to help eliminate large portions of the population when trying to identify an unknown assailant. It gives the agent or agency a means to chisel away many different types of people that don’t fit a standard profile in order to identify the prime suspect which they are looking for, especially if one particular type of person is usually responsible for committing a certain type of crime. It is not an infallible method, utilizing demographics to thin the herd of the potentially guilty, and it can sometimes be akin to racial profiling, but when it comes to certain cases, such as anonymous violent crime sprees, particularly ones involving serial killers or mass murderers, it is likely the only way that an investigation can begin, because usually the killer is a completely unknown commodity that often has nothing to do with the victim. Most often, in fact, particularly at first, the victims appear to be random. Where else can you start if you have no clues to the assailants’ identity? If you have no idea who you are looking for, who the culprit might be, where they might live, what they might look like, then you have no chance of catching them. First you have to isolate a primary suspect, someone who most likely might have committed the crime, before you can even begin to look for one. This, in the past, is where demographics have come in handy when it comes to solving crimes, particularly in cases involving serial killers, mass murders, or spree killers.

Demographics - a shortened term for 'population characteristics'. Demographics include race, age, income, mobility (in terms of travel time to work or number of vehicles available), educational attainment, home ownership, employment status, and even location. Distributions of values within a demographic variable, and across households, are both of interest, as well as trends over time. (1) Demographics can be used to identify a person’s general personality, his or her most likely traits, by examining everything that exists around them, by associating a person with others that possess a common background, common interests, likes, desires and needs. Essentially demographics are used in marketing, when it comes to following trends, what type of person purchases this product, what type of person purchases that product. It is not an exact science, but it can be used to get respectable results. To put it simply, if a person comes from Brentwood and 92% of Brentwood is made of white males, and 100% of Brentwood owns their home, and 98% of Brentwood likes football, you can make a logical conclusion that if someone is coming from Brentwood to meet you, they are most likely an affluent white male who likes football. 96% of the time you would be correct. It’s not perfect and is a presumptive method but it can be an effective detective tool. These same principles can be used when it comes to catching a criminal, particularly a clever one that leaves little or no clues. If nothing else, demographics offer an excellent starting point for investigating the possible motives and identity of most serial killers. If  90% of crimes against chickens were perpetrated by affluent white males that liked football and a chicken killing spree happened a dozen miles from Brentwood, then Brentwood might be a good place to start looking for the culprit. You get the point. Demographics can effectively be used as a launching pad in certain criminal investigations.

The term "serial killer" is a limited one which does not encompass enough guilty parties, as in many cases there are accomplices. This sometimes hinders or blurs the use of demographics as an isolation point. The definition of serial killer is a killer who kills at least three people on separate occasions, almost never at random. Serial killers often pick victims for certain reasons. A victim might fill a certain role that the killer believes to be a menace or might remind them of someone, like a dominant mother, who was threatening to the killer at an earlier stage of their life when they were most vulnerable. The serial killer historically is most often a white male, middle aged, and has progressed from having a strong childhood and high intellect to an even stronger adult intelligence level, but is usually perceived as a loner. (2) In other words, a serial killer is usually intelligent enough to be careful and thorough when they pull off or plan their crimes, often because they are fairly well educated.

The first real serial killer to join the dark pantheon of murderous infamy was Jack the Ripper. (3) Jack the Ripper killed 11 women in London between 1888 and 1891. While the character of Jack the Ripper was romanticized in the following years as a caped menace scavenging his way through foggy city nights, etc., real women were brutally murdered. At the time the real suspects were all white middle aged men. Unfortunately, the case was pursued in a day and age when political correctness didn’t exist, and all 4 suspects that were questioned were foreigners, however, had the police of the day used their profile and questioned some British white male affluent suspects, they likely would have found their man. Sadly the case was never solved, but it did present a precedent when it comes to divining the identity of a mass murder suspect. The same type of person, middle aged, white, doctor or whacky scholar, were questioned in the case. The police were looking for a certain profile.

The term serial killer itself was not coined until the 1970s with the rise to the American consciousness of David Berkowitz, AKA Son of Sam, and Ted Bundy. Both of these men fit the typical demographic of a serial killer, by the way. Both were almost unrecognizable in society, were caught in desperate webs of deceit which were easily explained away as they seemed affluent, educated, and adjusted, and were filled with rage towards themselves and others, and both were white males. As were Jeffrey Dahmer, Albert Di Salvo (The Boston Strangler), John Haigh (The Acid Bath Murderer), all the way up to Denis Rader (the BTK Killer). All of these men came from suburban or middle class backgrounds, all were considered “normal” and well educated, often quiet, as described by friends and neighbors, none had histories of legal troubles, and the ages ranged from mid 20’s to mid 40’s. There are an awful lot of similarities there that one could begin to build a case with, or at least use to start finding a killer, in particular, a sadistic serial killer, most often one that preys upon women as all of these men excluding Dahmer did.

These are all members of the more notable party of serial killers, those whose intention it is to take the lives of many others, with no clear motive other than a sick need to kill and maim. However, according to the definition, anyone who murders at least three times, for any given reason is a serial killer. The definition of murder is the taking of an innocent life. Therefore health care professionals who euthanize their patients with or without the consent of those patients are also serial killers, and, for obvious reasons, the most victorious serial killer may have been a worker for the Red Cross during World War One. When it comes to demographics, though, you have to be more specific with the type of crime, as well as with another important component. The demographic, for it to be useful, may often need to be studied when it comes to the VICTIM of the serial killer, and not just the culprit of the crime.

As with all long term crime, the truth is that most guilty parties are already good enough at their specialty to still be at large, and they like to taunt the authorities at every opportunity. They will often go on fooling the authorities, and still playing their twisted fantasies, until caught. In th case of Ted Bundy, he taunted the authorities and tortured his victims’ families for a whole decade after he was caught, playing the system for time like it was a part of his twisted game. Approximately 90% of convicted serial killers are educated white males, according to rough figures. Exact figures are not readily available. The assumption is that this is due to a lack of development. Though this kind of thing has been going on for perhaps a couple centuries, there still are no hard conclusions to be made, though I contend a conclusion can be made when it comes to the process of profiling. I think the victim must be profiled at least as much as the criminal, sometimes, when there are oddities to the victims, perhaps even more so. Still, even at 90%, that means that one in ten serial killers are not white males. Utilizing demographics to find a serial killer is not a perfect method, but it does help an investigation get started.

Two notable examples where the demographics didn’t help to find the killer would be the cases of Ailene Wuornos, a white female serial killer frustrated by her circumstances as depicted in the 2003 motion picture Monster, and the DC Sniper(s), John Lee Malvo and John Mohammed, two African American males of varied ages who shot at least ten people in a distorted plan to ultimately kill Mohammed’s ex-wife. While it would make sense to begin an investigation, any investigation, in most serial killings while working under the assumption that the killer was a white male, most likely in between the ages of 25 and 50, that obviously is not always the case. Where is the best place to look to see if the white male demographic fits the crime? Oddly enough, as referred to before, I believe it would be by identifying the victims and their backgrounds. Most of the noted serial killers that were referenced above, from Jack the Ripper to the Boston Strangler to the BTK Killer made women their predominant victims and committed the crimes up close and personal, excluding Jeffery Dahmer, who was a noted homosexual, which changes his demographic as well, while the other killers were noted heterosexual’s. In the cases of Wuernos and Malvo/Mohammed, the victims were not predominantly female. Wuernos’ victims were all men, as she was a woman, and Malvo/Mohammed’s victims were random, a few women, a few men, and a pre-ten boy waiting outside of his school first thing in the morning. Oddly enough, the white male heterosexual serial killer tends to take out all or most of his repressions on female victims, and he likes to do it with his hands.

A Serial Killer File needs to be developed for the whole of law enforcement to be able to access and use. This would be a mandatory and complete compilation of all data available on convicted serial killers: familial situations, race, more importantly, education, neighborhood, abuse, childhood development. Demographics could play a very large part in this system, and while it wouldn’t be perfect, as no system is, it would prove to be more accurate. There should be several profiles of typical serial killers based on the victim, and the method, not just the method. In the cases of Wuernos and Malvo, the investigations were actually slowed down or hampered by the fact that the killers were presumed to be white males, middle aged. In fact, for two weeks in the Malvo/Mohammed case, the police and the FBI were looking for a white male in a white step van, as step vans were seen leaving the scene of a few crimes, while the whole time they actually had a description of Mohammed and his burgundy car at the scene of the first crime. A few weeks earlier Mohammed had been questioned while sleeping in a parking lot and they had his info on file but they didn’t follow up on any of it as they were dead set on looking for a particular demographic. In Wuernos’ case, the idea of a female serial killer did not occur to the authorities for some time. 9 out of 10 times the authorities would have been correct in assuming a white male was the perpetrator, these cases were the 1 in 10.  According to a couple centuries of statistics, though, there will always be that 1 in 10 that is not an educated white male.

In the future it doesn’t mean that demographics shouldn’t be used when it comes to solving crimes, particularly serial killings and mass murders, but the use of demographics could be refined.  My suggestion would be to start a profile based on your general demographics. 9 out of 10 is a pretty good percentage, unless you happen to be the one unnecessary victim of the 1 killer that the authorities weren’t looking for because they excluded a certain demographic. What the authorities should do is start with the typical demographic and refine that demographic from there.

Start by isolating the typical victim of the killer, and the method. In most cases involving the white male, the killing was done up close and with brutality. In the cases of Wuernos and Malvo/Mohammed, the killings involved guns, and in the Malvo/Mohammed case, were performed from very far away with a high powered sniper’s rifle.

Demographics are a very useful tool when it comes to starting a profile, it should be remembered, however, that it is not the be all or end all of crime solving, even when it comes to finding a serial killer. There will always be a need for detailed sleuthing, forensics, research, and so forth, but to be honest, when little or no clues exist, Utilizing demographics to make a profile can be very helpful when it comes to solving a crime, particularly a patterned crime.

Bibliography

1.      Wikipedia – 2007

2.      Google – 2007 –term- serial killer demographics

3.      Metropolitan Police.com – 2007

4.      World Wide Serial Killers – 2007

5.      Monster- The Aileen Wuornos Story – documentary – 2002

6.      Newsweek -  9/25/03