What's the difference between a serial killer and a mass murderer?

Question

What's the difference between a serial killer and a mass murderer?

Answer 1

mass murder would be the twin towers a lot in one go.

A serial killer does it in stages like Harold shipman.

Answer 2

mass murderers kill lots of people at one time, serial killers kill 1 person  or a few people at a time, over a period of time

Answer 3

A mass murderer kills in one go but a serial killer kills again and again. A serial killer is called a serial killer only after he/she kills three times or more. Before that they are called double killer.

Answer 4

Ammo said it for me (shucks).

'Serial' as in ~ 'a series' ~ like TV, when an episode of a story is broadcast over a set of sequential days.

'Mass' as in 'Massive' (seemingly a favoured ''hit'' word of the young today) ~ or a 'large-ish number' and generally in one fell swoop.

Sash.

Answer 5

People have said that mass murderers can kill over a long time period, I think technically under these circumstances they would become a 'spree killer' (but it's all an issue of wonky semantics, really). I think it's wrong to say mass murderers cannot assume a pattern though. They can; I'd say the only defining characteristic is that the murders all occuring during a single incident. The only pattern a serial killer has to assume is that the murders occur incrementally.

Answer 6

mass murder is where one kills a big amount of people at the one time and s serial killer tends to kill one victim at atime. In America a killer must kill 5 times before they are classed a serial killer.

Answer 7

I'm guessing here.......... Could it be a mass murderer kills large amounts of people and is indifferent to whether he kills men, women or children. Where as a serial killer kills people of the same gender and age.

Answer 8

Mass murderer kills all in one go, while a serial killer kills at different times(although he/she can also kill one than person at a time)

Answer 9

Serial killers like to take time to pick out their prey..they have set criterias......mass murderers just go out randomly and kill large amounts of people..

Answer 10

Mass murderer kills a large number of people in one hit or over a short period of time whereas a serial killer can kill over years :-)

Answer 11

that's what I was gonna say...

mass murderer- kills a lot of people at once

serial killer- kills a lot of people over time

Answer 12

Yeah, most people have hit it, but there is slightly more to it. Carlos the Jackal, for example, is reputed to have killed hundreds of people over the years, but he is considered a mass murderer. The reason for this is as follows:

Serial killers follow very distinct patterns in their killing. They will repeatedly target people from a similar demographic (prostitutes, g*y men, young women etc.) and will often perform the murders following a common theme (certain sexual activity, imprissonment, cannibalism etc.).  Statistically, most serial killers choose victims of the same ethnic group. It's in the name, really.... "Serial" killers..... see?