Comments on: Serial killing was something of a social contagion https://www.isegoria.net/2022/05/serial-killing-was-something-of-a-social-contagion/ From the ancient Greek for equality in freedom of speech; an eclectic mix of thoughts, large and small Sun, 31 May 2026 02:04:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 By: Steven C. https://www.isegoria.net/2022/05/serial-killing-was-something-of-a-social-contagion/comment-page-1/#comment-3549420 Steven C. Mon, 30 May 2022 20:50:12 +0000 https://www.isegoria.net/?p=48989#comment-3549420 Focusing on someone close to the victim is still the norm, mostly because it’s easier. You have the suspect right there and can examine motive and opportunity, but how do you do that with some random stranger? It’s happened that completely innocent family members have been incarcerated because the police and prosecutors would not let go of the false assumption that most murders are committed by someone close to the victim. Actually, it’s that most SOLVED murders are committed by someone close to the victim. It’s notable that many serial killers end up communicating with the news media and the police, because they feel they are not getting credit for their crimes. The same is true of missing children; it’s falsely assumed that most cases are abduction by family members, but that’s most SOLVED cases. It’s usually obvious when that happens; because that family member will also make a pre-arranged disappearance.

]]> By: Will https://www.isegoria.net/2022/05/serial-killing-was-something-of-a-social-contagion/comment-page-1/#comment-3548997 Will Fri, 27 May 2022 12:36:25 +0000 https://www.isegoria.net/?p=48989#comment-3548997 It has a lot to do with demographics. If serial killers/mass murderers are typically in their 20s and 30s, and a very small percentage of the population, then having the largest birth cohort, the Baby Boom, being born in 1946+, means it should not be surprising to see an increase in these types of killings in the 60s and 70s. By the 80s, we start to see them aging out, the so-called desistance phenomenon, hence the decline.

Coupled with the 60s/70s having been a time period of social upheaval when people were becoming unmoored and government was losing legitimacy, we saw a belief take hold that people no longer had to abide by the rules. So, the killers felt emboldened.

Today, while we may not have a population boom, we are seeing the latter occurring at every turn as it fills our daily news. Police no longer have legitimacy, laws can be ignored, and people come to believe they can do whatever they want and get away with it.

It seems we have come to a point in time when the center cannot hold and we have nothing but a generation of hollow men.

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