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Casebook: Jack the Ripper - Message Boards » General Discussion » An unedited, unromanticized look into the mind of a killer...caution graphic. « Previous Next »

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edward esparza
Unregistered guest
Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 3:13 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Anyone who has remotely studied serial or signature killers will devour this;
oddly enough though, this first-hand account of a killer's activities destroy some of the conceptions, or mis-conceptions, we all have gathered.

Most interesting to me, and something I have read pointed out before, is the misconception that a serial killer, once reaching his most prominent stage, that stage in which his crimes are most henious and yet also most lacking in pause in between in each other, his azimuth so to speak, that he will have reached a point of no return - how can he then live a normal life, much less partake in any form of a normal relationship?

Such is not the case as you read this. And especially taken into to the context of studying the Ripper, this will hopefully open up new avenues to the way we approach these assumptions about these individuals.

Highly interesting....

Enjoy, and let me know what you think:


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/links/ridg_summary.pdf
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Dan Norder
Police Constable
Username: Dannorder

Post Number: 4
Registered: 4-2004
Posted on Friday, April 16, 2004 - 2:10 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Very interesting stuff. Thanks for the link.
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Norm
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Posted on Monday, May 17, 2004 - 7:15 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Wow Edward, that link of yours certainly does make the textbook phsycs look rather foolish, does'nt it. It just goes to prove that a serial killer need not necessarily be deemed to be insane.

Avoiding detection for some 20 years, took one clever individual, cold, calculating and unremorseful. Through the textbooks out fellows.
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Brian Rice
Police Constable
Username: Saucy

Post Number: 5
Registered: 4-2004
Posted on Monday, June 14, 2004 - 8:45 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Norm,

I have to respectfully disagree with your assertion regarding the textbooks on serial killers. Many people mistakenly look at profilers and profiling as modern magicians peddling their magic. This is what they (profilers) want you to believe. This, in fact, could not be further from the truth. The profiling of serial killers is very well grounded in science, and utilizes both deductive and inductive reasoning to come to the conclusions. For example, profilers told us at the time of his crimes, Ridgeway is a white male aged 25-40. He is a loner, with poor family relationships. Though married, he has menial blue collar jobs. He cannot keep a job. He likely has a pet poodle. He is caught during his rampage. He matches all the descriptions, except one. The next thing you know, people are exalting the profilers as miracle workers who journeyed into the mind of a killer. The idea of having a poodle is blown off as, "we knew he had some kind of dog," or "we knew there was a dog somewhere in his life." This is crap. I just want to say that you, I, or anyone who wanted to "profile" for a living needs nothing but information from a crime, good deductive and inductive reasoning skills, and a little imagination to be successful. But I digress.

For all their shortcomings, profilers did do something nice for society. The BSU came up with VICAP, a program that enters information from particularly nasty crimes into a national database. This database houses information from both solved and unsolved cases, many of which deal with serial killers. When certain parameters are drawn up, most of the time the assailants are males aged 25-45, white, low income, education, etc. As I assume you have some knowledge and interest in this field (else you wouldn’t be posting on JtR sites), can you site contradictions to the criteria immediately above. Certainly. I could spend hours talking of the multiple people, some famous, some you may have never heard of, that do not fit in this criteria. The same is true for the theory most killers either stop by: migration, incarceration, or death. Does one honestly think a sixty, seventy, or eighty year old man can still commit these heinous acts, if never caught. There is no way. One of these codgers is likely to get a stiletto heel from a prostitute in the eye. I seriously challenge you to cite a textbook talking of this "triad of cessation" that states ALL serial killers quit because they move, die, or become incarcerated.

As to your second point, there is a big difference between being a sociopath and being insane. Bundy, Toole, and others would have never been executed if they were insane, in the legal sense (I believe the word "insane" to be a legal word describing a psychological condition). I do believe, with little exception (see how I provided an "out" for myself), serial killers are all sociopaths.

Edward,
The misconceptions you speak of...do you think they are the product of profilers and psychologists, or a misconception of the general public? Again, I challenge you to site a credible (another out??) source stating ALL serial killers meet one of the three previously mentioned conditions in order to cease activity. If there is one, I will stand corrected.

I do believe an avenue that is no followed up on is the fact the Ripper just up and quit. However, it is conventional thinking that determines where the research goes. Think about it. If this is the case, we just opened up the suspect pool by 250,000 people. As I cannot gauge the level of your knowledge on this matter from one post, I would like to submit the name Roslyn D'Onston Stephenson (sp?) for research. If he was the Ripper, he just up and quit after the last murder, but I won't blow the story by telling you why.

I look forward to your responses on these and other matters.
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Mike Park
Police Constable
Username: Johnnycannuk

Post Number: 2
Registered: 2-2004
Posted on Friday, June 18, 2004 - 9:07 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

All,

There seems to be quite a distrust of Profiling in this thread.

Might I recommend the work of Grover Maurice Godwin of the University of Alaska.

Check him out here http://www.investigativepsych.com/
and here http://www.forensicnetbase.com/ejournals/books/book_summary/toc.asp?id=964

I have both of his books and they present alternative approaches to profiling that are more scientific and a few case studies that back up his points.

After having read the above link, I can certainly see how JtR could have escaped justice...it took 20 years to uncover a killer from the 1980s, no surprise we have nothing yet from the 1880s

Mike
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Brian Rice
Police Constable
Username: Saucy

Post Number: 6
Registered: 4-2004
Posted on Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 11:23 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Mike,

It seems Dr. Goodwin is one of the "Good Guys" when it comes to criminal profiling. I read on his website where he utilizes inductive reasoning and not the deductive "gut feeling" exercises of some of our more "for profit" Mindhunters. I am going to purchase the book your referred us to, as I think this is fresh look at profiling as a science and not a dog and pony show. Additionally, I know one of the essayists under the profiling ethics category. He was my Medicolegal Death Investigation professor. Small world.

Thanks for the information,

Brian
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find me
Unregistered guest
Posted on Saturday, June 19, 2004 - 6:35 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

the world looks different to every one blue stones and black skys find me to know more
TRS
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TheresaCaparco
Unregistered guest
Posted on Thursday, March 17, 2005 - 2:33 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Hello to all,
I am new to this, I have been studying all areas of the 'Ripper' caselogs. I do have a few queries and have noticed a few things that nobody has seemingly investigated or questioned. Has anyone read 'Mark' yet? I did and found several passages with corresponding murder dates. I would very much like to speak with a seasoned 'Ripperologist' as to my queries and findings.
Thank you,
Theresa.

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