Serial Killers....?

Question

Why are the majority of serial killers male? only around 14% are female.

Is it a psychological difference? Methods used to kill tend to be different(men guns, knives more likely to torture; women poison, suffocation) and motives differ with s*x.

or is it sexism? as female serial killers tend to get away with it for twice as long....and kill twice as many people before the police catch on.

Answer 1

i honestly think there is a higher percentage of female serial killers than is reported.  it's overlooked for all the reasons you've stated.  

but if you think about it, most male serial killers are able to simply overpower their victims and the crimes are of a more physical nature like strangling, and stabbing.  women can't really risk physical contact, especially with men as their targets.  women will poison, drug, or shoot their victims almost every time.  and another thing more common to women who kill, they will often recruit a man to help them.  very interesting indeed, rose.

Answer 2

It's also white males with HIGH IQ's. Ted Bundy was brilliant and sadistic.

Answer 3

There's examples of the second case - i.e. Washington Sniper case was held up because they believed the suspect would be white (most serial killers are white)

Alternatively, serial killers tend to have a mental disorder, some mental disorders are more common in one gender than the other (i.e. autism most common in males, depression in females).

Or a mix of both.

Answer 4

perhaps a female psychopath's crimes are more subtle, and leave less mess and evidence.

women, when attempting suicide will choose some cleaner method than say shooting their own brain out of their head and often fail because of this.

Answer 5

Most serial killers tend to be motivated by s*x, testoserone is a far more potent sexual hormone than estrogene could ever, EVER hope to be.  As such, logic would dictate that men would have a higher chance of being serial killers.

Answer 6

Probably psychological.  The main reason women get away with it is because police think it must be a man until evidence points otherwise.

Answer 7

this has always bothered me a bit....why are white males more prone to extreme violence and sadism?

i'm not sure, i'm not sure how to even feel about it.

Answer 8

Probably because even when a woman kills a man she is considered a victim.

Answer 9

While most serial killers are male, I believe that female serial killers tend to be underreported. That's because their methods are different. For example, how often have you heard about nurses and hospital workers who have had numerous patients die while under their care? The fact that these people all died while under the care of one person can't be a coincidence. These women are more likely to use mercy killing than the usual methods of torture as employed by males but the results are the same.

Answer 10

They also tend to be overwhelmingly Caucasian, as well.

White males. The group that was formerly the most privileged on the planet but is increasingly losing that natural born advantage.

I'm not a psychologist, but I can see some theories in there.

Answer 11

Women would be able to "get away with it for twice as long" because their methods are more inconspicuous.  I think motives/circumstances would be very different too.  Just who are "all" these women suffocating?  Shame you didn't provide a link, that would have been interesting.

I do know for certain that more men than women are diagnosed as psychopaths/sociopaths, and a high percentage of these guys end up in jail.  Perhaps the behavior escalates over time?  They start off torturing animals and end up torturing humans?  I have never heard of a case where a female serial killer began her career torturing animals but I understand this is fairly common with men.

Robert D. Hare who teaches at the University of British Columbia is the world's foremost authority on the subject.