1
" It makes perfect sense that if human beings are raised in warm, loving households; if they are brought up to believe that the world is a secure and decent place, then they will grow up with a healthy relationship toward themselves and other people. - able to give love freely and receive it in return. Conversely, if a person is severely mistreated from his earliest years, subjected to constant psychological and physical abuse, he or she will grow up with a malignant view of life. To such a person, the world is a hateful place where all human relationships are based, not on love and respect, but on power, suffering, and humiliation. "
― Harold Schechter , The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers
10
" There’s little doubt that America is the world’s leading producer of serial killers, though any true measurement has to take into account the sheer size of our population. The FBI estimates that there are between thirty and fifty serial killers at large in our country at any given time. That might seem like a shockingly high number, but in a nation of more than 280,000,000 people, it’s a minuscule percentage. "
― Harold Schechter , The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers
11
" In attempting to create a psychological profile of an unknown serial killer, investigators try to distinguish between the perpetrator’s “signature”—the seemingly gratuitous acts of excessive violence or sadistic cruelty he commits for his own depraved pleasure—and his MO or modus operandi. Technically speaking, the latter term refers to the killer’s preferred method of committing his crimes without getting caught: how he selects, snares, subdues, and dispatches his victims, then makes his getaway. "
― Harold Schechter , The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers
14
" In attempting to get a handle on the complex phenomenon of serial homicide, experts have come up with various ways of classifying these killers. Crime historian Philip Jenkins, for example, proposes two major categories: the predictable type (criminals with a long history of brutal fantasy and behavior whose progression to serial murder seems unsurprising) versus the respectable type (petty felons with no prior history of violent crime whose sudden turn to serial murder is unexpected). Forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz identifies three major kinds of serial murderers: psychopaths who kill for sadistic sexual pleasure, psychotics who act under the influence of hallucinations, and custodial killers like doctors, nurses, and other caretakers who usually poison or smother their victims. "
― Harold Schechter , The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers
19
" Prostitutes (especially when they come from the underclass)—along with street hustlers, teenage runaways, vagrants, junkies, and other social outcasts—are what criminologists call “targets of opportunity”: people who are especially vulnerable to serial homicide because they are easy to snare and overpower and are so marginalized that no one, including members of the police and the press, pays much attention when they go missing. "
― Harold Schechter , The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers