Investigations of serial killers are always under a tremendous amount of public and media pressure. People become driven by fear and anxiety, which is a normal reaction of their psyche to such a stressful event. It is easy to understand such a society’s reactions because many people die, and everyone can become the next victim of a predator. Investigating serial killers is a complicated process that is influenced by multiple factors, such as funding, accessibility of the data from archives, and social pressure. Furthermore, it is hard for society to understand law enforcement, which solves the cases of murderers and makes a great effort to find a criminal as soon as it is possible.
In general, cases of serial killers are reasonably rare. However, these offenders draw great attention due to their random choice of victims, motives, and cruelty (Meadows, 2018). It is hard to find the offender, no matter what gender they are. In cases when males are killers, in general, “there is no relationship between the suspect and the victims” (Coletta, 2019). On the other hand, women are more likely to kill someone they know for revenge, relief, benefit, or convenience. It is much harder to find a female offender: it may take decades because of the women’s motive and elaborate plan in the murder. Males are driven mainly by sexual impulses and are less likely to have a well-organized plan. Finding a pattern in all the casualties is crucial: this factor will move law enforcement much closer to catching the predator.
The first step in investigating any murder is to analyze the crime scene. It is essential to understand how the offender approached the victim, the nature of the physical interactions, and whether there were any sexual interactions. After that, investigators discover what type of weapon the killer used. It is also fundamental for a coroner to understand what type of death it was: natural, accidental, suicide, homicide, or undetermined (Coletta, 2019). The last thing to discover is the method of body disposal: what did the offender do to the victim postmortem? After that, the victim’s information is collected to create a profile and identify people who may be in the risk group.
All the information from above spreads through all types of media, and here the problem may occur. The first one is obvious: it creates panic in society. People are overwhelmed with different emotions, from aggression to fear. The purpose of spreading such information is to provide people with safety, make them aware of the danger and be more careful. However, not everyone can manage their emotions, which can end in panic, stress, bursts of anger, and decreasing productivity, and the worst one is putting pressure on law enforcement. Society can express their outrage towards investigators, blaming them for searching for the killer for too long.
This factor will decrease workers’ motivation; it is psychologically proven that society can severely affect a person’s productivity and discourage them from success. Being criticized and sometimes hated, law enforcement can subconsciously start putting less effort into the investigation. Such societal behavior is the way to deal with one’s emotions because this is scary when innocent people die. Any person cannot express their anger to the offender because they are yet unknown. Thus, they find another victim for their emotions to release from unbearable fears.
Furthermore, sometimes such types of investigations can last for years and become more of a recreation for people than a serious case. Some of such investigations became the reason for creating series and television shows, which seemed to people to be gripping stories to listen to rather than the issues that have to be solved. Their attitude can change, and it can affect society’s and law enforcement’s attitude toward it. FBI agents, coroners, and detectives are the same people as others and can be influenced by public opinion and expressions. When a case lasts for too long, every average person may lose interest and motivation for it, especially when everyone starts treating this problem as something unserious.
Another factor that can influence the success of an investigation of the serial murderer is funding. Lack of funding is the fundamental issue when it comes to the investigation; it limits police and law enforcement, making the chance of finding the offender lower. Furthermore, it does not allow forensic laboratories to conduct proper tests and analyses to gain a piece of essential information about the case. The whole process of investigation can be changed due to the lack of money, and every phase may become unproductive because of this reason. “In America, a lot of these functions are civilianized, but in Canada, there are more police officers that are doing this work.” (Martin, 2021). Thus, in different countries, the outcome and productiveness of solving this issue may vary due to the funding. This severely influences the process and the result of investigations.
Furthermore, the accessibility of the needed information to solve the case also affects the outcome’s success. Some of the documents can be unavailable or hard to find, especially congressional documents with serial killers’ DNA. Two possible reasons could cause such consequences. The first is that “serial killer frequency decreased in 2000, and legislation and regulations from the 1980s and 1990s have been working, so nothing new has been needed” (Osowski, 2018). The second is that it is tough to find some statistics and charts in an eligible form, which also complicates the problem. The FBI statistics are always done in a way where there is information from various cases about different killers, and documents, in general, do not concentrate on one specific case. Thus, the data is highly valuable in solving such problems, and sometimes investigations lack it.
In addition, such factors as people, who represent law enforcement, and have to be considered. For instance, if there is no diversity in them, the effectiveness of the work will decrease. To achieve the most successful result, the group of people, who have one aim and are focused on solving a specific problem, has to consist of people of different backgrounds and points of view. Furthermore, they have to be well-educated and have a strong set of skills, knowledge, critical thinking, different points of view, and experience for the investigation to be the most productive. There will be no result if there is no variety in the group and a lack of competence. Thus, this factor has to be considered, and the absence of the skills listed above will affect the investigation and make it challenging.
In conclusion, the investigation of serial murders is a complicated process that consists of different phases and aspects. Many factors can affect it and decrease the chance of a successful outcome. The process is influenced by funding, accessibility of the data from archives, and social pressure. Media and society affect the effectiveness of the investigation. People become anxious, afraid, and angry under such circumstances. It is hard for them to understand law enforcement, which solves the cases of murderers, and makes a great effort to find a criminal as soon as it is possible.
References
Coletta, S. (2019). How to investigate serial murder.
Martin, K. (2021). Social media helps and hinders homicide investigations, Alta. researchers find. Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
Meadows, R. J. (2018). Understanding violence and victimization (7th Edition). Pearson Education (US).
Osowski, K. (2018). Investigating a serial killer: the development of the FBI’s role told through public documents. Documents to the People.