An Attempt to Explain the Decline in Instances of Serial Homicide

The following ideas are an attempt to explain the decline in serial homicide, appear in no particular order and may have little to no impact on the overall rate of serial homicide:

The Proliferation of Technology

• surveillance cameras, home security systems and GPS devices allow an offender less opportunity to abduct a victim without being tracked or traced
• Man stalked 7-year-old girl, took inappropriate photo of her in grocery store - ow.ly/nJ3pr
• 24 hour news coverage, social media and online news outlets disseminate information on most murders and cases of missing women allowing the public to make connections and contribute to investigations
• The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — in charge of regulating the trucking industry — is very likely to soon mandate that all truckers install electronic logging devices
• cellular phones ensure that potential victims are less likely to remain lost in unsafe areas
• cellular phones provide the availability of immediate law enforcement action
• stories highlighting offenders who abuse animals receive news coverage, allowing more opportunities for either law enforcement or mental health interventions
• shine.yahoo.com/pets/man-arrested-animal-cruelty-puppy-doe-case-211100031.html 
• better medical care converts some potential homicides into attempted murders/aggravated assaults – precluding offenders from attaining “serial murder” status
• technology is keeping kids indoors, not playing around outside without supervision
• social media allows potential victims to screen strangers before befriending them
• social media has placed an emphasis on our own personal networks, limiting our interactions with strangers
• personal computers offer a comprehensive record of our daily lives, ensuring that law enforcement is made aware of potential foul play much sooner
• potential victims are more interconnected; cataloging our digital relationships allows for outside parties to monitor our behavior, increasing the likelihood of receiving scrutiny for meetings with strangers
• offenders may post their intentions to social media sites before they enact their plan, allowing time for others to intervene
• http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/27/facebook-post-by-chardon-ohio-high-school-shooting-suspect-t-j-lane.html

Better Law Enforcement

·         police consider the possibility of serial offenders more quickly than in the past 

·     cases are linked more rapidly due to increased communication between departments
·     law enforcement databases are more widely used and linked together
·     more would be serial killers are apprehended after one or two murders
               http://www.ocala.com/article/20060112/NEWS/201120394

·         ex-law enforcement agents maintain companies that offer behavioral consulting services, ensuring that police are well informed and trained on offender behavior

·         police are more apt to utilize assistance from the public in identifying these offenders

Education and Vigilance

• due to the overwhelming presence of serial killers in entertainment media, potential victims overestimate their real world presence, leading to an increased level of awareness of the phenomenon
• criminologists have educated potential victims on the traits serial offenders possess, e.g psychopathy
• potential victims know how to better identify warning signs and pay attention to situational cues
• the words “creeper” and “stalker” are commonplace in the lexicon of young women
• due to roadside services, such as AAA, potential victims no longer must rely on strangers for assistance, greatly decreasing their odds of being victimized

Change in Demographics

• http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/05/17/census_whites_account_for_less_than_half_of_u_s_births_for_the_first_time_in_history_.html
• non-caucasian serial killers are less rare than in the past but by increasing those individual's share of the population, the rate of serial homicide may further decrease

Other Outlets

• the era of free internet pornography has ushered in the means for potential offenders to meet their needs in an alternative, non-violent manner
• consensual deviant sexual encounters have become more mainstream and widely accepted
• increased use of sex trafficking victims by serial offenders removes the need for potential offenders to eliminate witnesses
• increase in number of offenders who keep kidnapped victims captive for repeated assaults
• websites connect potential offenders with access to discreet currency for sex exchanges without the threat of law enforcement interference, making the availability for willing partners more common and removing the need for offenders to victimize unwilling participants

Increased Use of Mental Health Services

• the stigma surrounding therapy has been lessened
• mental health issues are taken more seriously by society
• paraphilias are more apt to be understood as signs of future issues
• http://woodbury.patch.com/articles/courts-commit-woodbury-man-who-wanted-to-be-a-serial-killer-to-a-mental-hospital
• pharmacological drugs are frequently prescribed to aid in the coping process
• court ordered therapy is more frequently mandated
• better methods exist to identify and treat sexual offenders

Use of Parole Less Common

• More would be serial offenders remain incarcerated for lesser crimes for longer periods of time
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10134510

Change in Social/Cultural Factors

• widespread knowledge of the dangers/illegality of the practice of hitchhiking
• decrease in use of corporal punishment by parents/zero tolerance for parental abuse
• decrease in the amount of children born to unfit parents

Serial Murder is Less Infamous

• serial homicide is no longer viewed as the short path to celebrity it once was
• serial murderers are a commonplace aspect of society, leading to less sensationalism and a decrease in copycat offenders
• some offenders prefer to utilize other means to accomplish their goals, as we have seen with the increase in “spree type” killings, those that are initially high in intensity but bring a quick burnout and capture

The True Prevalence May Be Unknown

• DNA backlogs mask the true prevalence of serial homicide
  
  • offenders who have committed more than one murder have yet to be linked to their crimes

·         various interpretations of the serial murder definition may lead to erroneous conclusions

·         failure to incorporate those who murder two victims impacts serial murder research

·         most offender data ignores unsolved cases, taking only solved cases into account

·         serial killers may be more aware of forensic procedures meant to capture them and therefore institute methods to maneuver around those procedures, avoiding detection for longer periods of time