Week 4: Profiling and Victims One of the most horrific nightmares that can haunt a person is the visualization of being a victim of a serial murderer. Most serial murderers kill numerous people before they are tracked down and apprehended. Although this trail of murderous rampage produces a considerable amount of fear in the public, it also provides criminal profilers with the opportunity to retrieve evidence from multiple crime scenes. Some of the most useful information to criminal profilers comes from the victim. Until relatively recently, however, the role of the victim in criminal profiling was overlooked, but now the victim is often at the center of criminal profiling. This week, you examine the vulnerability of victims of serial murderers. You also explore how characteristics of victims and information from crime scenes are used to create profiles. Learning Objectives Students will: Evaluate the vulnerability of victim populations of serial and mass murderers Analyze the characteristics of victim populations and crime scene evidence as they relate to profiling serial and mass murderers Identify and apply the characteristics of victim populations as they relate to profiling serial and mass murderers Profiling Violent Crimes: An Investigative Tool Chapter 13, "Jack the Ripper: A Case for Psychological Profiling" Chapter 15, "The Victim in Criminal Profiling" Discussion: Victim Vulnerability Contrary to a popular belief that serial murderers secretly want to be apprehended, most go to great lengths to avoid detection. One way they try to evade identification and arrest is by choosing victims who are unlikely to ward off attacks and thus report incriminating information about them to law enforcement. In addition, serial murderers often victimize populations who are on the fringes of mainstream society. Victims from these populations are unlikely to generate as much police effort as victims from conventional society and are likely to be missing for a lengthy period before someone reports their disappearance. In contrast, the victims of mass murderers are chosen in a much more random fashion and can be considered as having been "in the wrong place at the wrong time." Using victims to profile murderers therefore is usually limited to serial, not mass, murderers. To prepare for this Discussion: Review Chapter 15 of your course text, Profiling Violent Crimes: An Investigative Tool. Reflect on victim characteristics, such as physical traits and marital status, frequently used in the profiling process. Consider how these characteristics would be useful in identifying populations vulnerable to serial or mass murder. Review the article "Serial Killers: Offender's Relationship to the Victim and Selected Demographics." Pay attention to the relationships between serial murderers and victims. Review the article "Serial Sexual Murderers and Prostitutes as Their Victims: Difficulty Profiling Perpetrators and Victim Vulnerability as Illus.

1. Week 4: Profiling and Victims
One of the most horrific nightmares that can haunt a person is
the visualization of being a victim of a serial murderer. Most
serial murderers kill numerous people before they are tracked
down and apprehended. Although this trail of murderous
rampage produces a considerable amount of fear in the public, it
also provides criminal profilers with the opportunity to retrieve
evidence from multiple crime scenes. Some of the most useful
information to criminal profilers comes from the victim. Until
relatively recently, however, the role of the victim in criminal
profiling was overlooked, but now the victim is often at the
center of criminal profiling. This week, you examine the
vulnerability of victims of serial murderers. You also explore
how characteristics of victims and information from crime
scenes are used to create profiles.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Evaluate the vulnerability of victim populations of serial and
mass murderers
Analyze the characteristics of victim populations and crime
scene evidence as they relate to profiling serial and mass
murderers
Identify and apply the characteristics of victim populations as
they relate to profiling serial and mass murderers
Profiling Violent Crimes: An Investigative Tool
Chapter 13, "Jack the Ripper: A Case for Psychological
Profiling"
Chapter 15, "The Victim in Criminal Profiling"

2. Discussion: Victim Vulnerability
Contrary to a popular belief that serial murderers secretly want
to be apprehended, most go to great lengths to avoid detection.
One way they try to evade identification and arrest is by
choosing victims who are unlikely to ward off attacks and thus
report incriminating information about them to law
enforcement. In addition, serial murderers often victimize
populations who are on the fringes of mainstream society.
Victims from these populations are unlikely to generate as much
police effort as victims from conventional society and are likely
to be missing for a lengthy period before someone reports their
disappearance. In contrast, the victims of mass murderers are
chosen in a much more random fashion and can be considered as
having been "in the wrong place at the wrong time." Using
victims to profile murderers therefore is usually limited to
serial, not mass, murderers.
To prepare for this Discussion:
Review Chapter 15 of your course text, Profiling Violent
Crimes: An Investigative Tool. Reflect on victim
characteristics, such as physical traits and marital status,
frequently used in the profiling process. Consider how these
characteristics would be useful in identifying populations
vulnerable to serial or mass murder.
Review the article "Serial Killers: Offender's Relationship to
the Victim and Selected Demographics." Pay attention to the

3. relationships between serial murderers and victims.
Review the article "Serial Sexual Murderers and Prostitutes as
Their Victims: Difficulty Profiling Perpetrators and Victim
Vulnerability as Illustrated by the Green River Case." Reflect
on why prostitutes are frequent targets of serial murderers.
With these thoughts in mind:
Post a brief description of a population you think would be
vulnerable to serial or mass murder and explain why. Be sure to
include brief descriptions of the characteristics that make the
population vulnerable. Be specific and use examples to support
your explanation.
Note: Choose a population other than prostitutes. Include the
name of the population you selected in the first line of your
post. You will be asked to respond to a colleague who discussed
a different population than the one that you did.
Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific
references to the Learning Resources.
Throughout our country’s history, serial killers have murdered
the people who were the
least powerful. Their demise becomes a ritual of social
cleansing by those who dare to wash
away these undesirable elements (Victims of Serial Killers.pdf).
For a serial killer, a vulnerable
group is a prostitute or homeless person, someone the killers
can attack without attracting much

4. public attention. Between 1970 and 2009, 22 percent of
confirmed serial murder victims in the
United States were known, prostitutes. And the numbers are
rising: sex workers made up 43% of
victims in the last decade (Janos, 2020).
Many prostitutes are vulnerable because they are more inclined
to go to a secluded
location with their johns beyond police detection. Prostitutes
also fall victim to serial killers due
to drug dependency, exploitation by others, and poverty. When
prostitutes go missing or are
victimized, they are less likely to report the crime. Often a
missing person report is not filed by
friends and family of the victim because of their illegal
profession. In the case of Anthony
Sowell, dubbed "The Cleveland Strangler," the victims who
survived his attacks either did not
report the crime; or did so but were disregarded by law
enforcement because of their lifestyle.
Just as the psychopathic serial killer depersonalizes his victims,
society dissociates these victims
from the human race because of the irritant symbols they
represent (Victims of serial Killers.
pdf).

5. Female serial killers tend to target murder friends, family,
acquaintances, and those
around them, usually for financial gain. Women are more likely
to use poison because it requires
less physical strength and is, in some cases, more challenging to
detect. Men, victims are usually
women to satisfy their sexual desires and have no connection to
the victim.
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References
Egger, K., and Egger, S., (n.d). Victims of Serial Killers The
“Less-Dead” Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu. pdf.
Janos, A. (2020). Why are sex workers often serial killer's
victims of choice? A&E.
https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/why-do-serial-killers-target-
sex-workers.
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