Crime and Detection: Serial Murders

The systematic killing of a succession of victims, often over a period of many years, is not a modern phenomenon, but it has increased alarmingly over the past 50 years, particularly in the United States. Psychopathic individuals have discovered the pleasure - most frequently sexual - of meaningless murder, and the resultant publicity that their cases often provoke has caused the FBI to be concerned that a growing number of incidents are "copy-cat" crimes.