Are there still serial killers today?

[frogswimming]

I'm just watching the Yorkshire ripper documentary. All the famous serial killers seem to be 1960s-1980s, Dennis Nielsen, moors murderers, Ted bundy, zodiac. Are modern ones just not publicised the same?

I watched a documentary which said there is around 50 active serial killers in the US at any given time

This is not true any more. In the US there has been a downward peak but presumably an increase in mass murderers.

Generally it’s grim and depressing yet Netflix keeps churning out true crime documentaries and people love them. I just wish people would ask themselves why?

I do find it uncomfortable particularly when the documentaries focus on the killer rather than the victims & many want infamy. If a member of my family/friend had been killed in such a manner I would hate their death be part of someone's Saturday night entertainment.

Yes @jillypill some documentaries manage it better than others I think. There was one I saw (I usually avoid them) because I had a professional interest in it and they focussed sympathetically on the ordinary lives of the victims.

In America you can murder someone and there’s about a 50% chance you will get away with it. There’s even a good chance your murder won’t be recognised by the police. I was reading some shocking stats of likely murders that the police didn’t open murder investigations for. I dread to think how many are out there

I pick and choose what I watch, usually podcasts by women and select documentaries. Before I watched and listened to true crime I was totally oblivious to what could happen, I Have learnt so much and am much more aware now.

But I understand why it can be fascinating, I thought mind hunter was a really good watch.

Before I watched and listened to true crime I was totally oblivious to what could happen, I Have learnt so much and am much more aware now.

What were you oblivious & unaware of? murder?

I think they get away with it,cause they don't look the "type".

If you seen them on the street they look normal.
Ted Bundy,Gary Ridgeway.They look like normal everyday people.

@DaisyDreaming yes I've read that & it's depressing. The 50% figure is because so many killers are related eg husbands. Many are unsolved or solved but not prosecuted.

There are a lot of interesting theories as to why there seemed to be so many in the 70's, 80's and 90's, some that others here have mentioned, but another is that police databases, fingerprinting and forensic testing, etc improved greatly during those decades, so suddenly people were connecting the dots.

Previously, there were likely just as many serial killers but they were able to slip under the radar by jumping between states, countries, counties, etc, and targeting the homeless, gay men, prostitutes and young children.

There are undoubtedly still active serial killers out there, but they've adapted to the times and improved their tactics. Also, many operate for decades killing only a couple of people a year and spacing it out. It can take years to notice a pattern.

Dna detection technology is very good now so people are caught easier I suppose. Perhaps policing is better too

Yes, just not been caught yet. Plus those lunatics like Fritzel.

I finished watching the ripper documentary now. What I thought was really interesting was the episode where the failings of the police were shown. Focussing on the idea he hated prostitutes because of Jack the Ripper. When really it was just any women he could find. And that he was from the ne because of that tape.

The 'reclaim the night' marches were eye opening. And Julie bindell was in it, talking about women being told to stay in at night. Why should they? They may have had jobs finishing at 4.30 and it'd be dark at this time of year, or even just wanted to be out. Why didn't they say men should stay at home? Then any man out and about would be suspected. That is unthinkable and ridiculous though, it's the women who have to stay in.

There was a culture of misogyny that led to him seeing women as less than men and as victims. The police fully bought into with their talk of 'loose morals' and 'good time girls'. They didn't really care until there was a victim they perceived as 'innocent'.

So maybe there is some sort of improvement today. Police forces are more diverse, and I can't imagine anyone talking about women in the same way today.

Joan Smith did a great analysis of the Peter Sutcliffe murders in her book Misogynies back in the 80s.

This is a bit of a tangent but there are definitely a number of men who have managed to get away with murdering partners/ ex-partners by making it look as though they have killed themselves/ overdosed/ had an accident. I think it's widely assumed that domestic homicides are usually cleared up quickly as the partner is the prime suspect but that's really not the case always. The 'rough sex' defence seems to be the latest version of this.

Professor Monckton-Smith has looked at a lot of these cases.

I do wonder whether these men go on to kill anyone else, having got away with it once.

I get fed up with people being snobbish and condescending about people with an interest in true crime. It's a very broad subject, it's about the psychology of people who want to kill and what motivates them to do so. Some unsolved crimes are like a puzzle with clues and suspects and missing pieces - some cases truly are stranger than fiction. A lot of families are very grateful when podcasts and documentaries focus on forgotten cold cases with no leads after the police have effectively given up.

A lot of podcasts have been instrumental in setting up websites and tip lines that lead to more information. Families have been given the chance to talk about their relative as a person not an anonymous victim. Witnesses have been given a platform to tell their story when they had previously been ignored by police. There are some cases such as Andrew Gosden, Jennifer Kesse and the Delphi Murders that are being kept under the spotlight solely by the families and the true crime community and not the police. The Golden State Killer was forgotten about for years until Michelle McNamara began writing about him.

If you publicise the details of cases such as kidnap, coercion etc, then people become far more aware of their personal safety - I know I have.

People have always been fascinated by the dark side of human nature, people read Agatha Christie for pleasure don't they?

You're talking about 'famous' serial killers = those glorified by the press. Maybe the thing that has changed is press glorification?

Maybe doctors and nurses killing very old and very young patients and other people killing old couples, just aren't 'glamorous' enough to generate endless press speculation and popular fascination.

Maybe fascination and glorification of the 'genius' of serial killers has gone out of fashion? Perhaps that sort of ghoulishness just isn't cool any more, or perhaps people are impressed and terrified by different things now; terrorists, cybercrime etc.

Perhaps the 'analogue' serial killer is a thing of the past and with them, the type of psychological and practical puzzle that people like to imagine they could understand. Or people's interests have changed.

Why were tennis and wrestling so popular in the 70s but aren't now?

I think there's something in that Lottie. People who might once have been serial killers might now shoot up a school or mosque instead.

There was a culture of misogyny that led to him seeing women as less than men and as victims. The police fully bought into with their talk of 'loose morals' and 'good time girls'. They didn't really care until there was a victim they perceived as 'innocent'.

Nah, that's still the case. Police officers are by and large misogynistic, homophobic wankers. If the killer is killing prostitutes, homeless people or gay men they will ignore or minimize it till they can't anymore.

Why do you think some of the most prolific like the Green Mile Killer and Robert Pickton, and some of the most sloppy like Jeffrey Dhamer were able to kill as many as they did?

Tying press glorification and the police misogyny that stymied the YR investigation together (as was the case); perhaps the press no longer sees playing a part in the blatant glorification of misogyny as a big selling point, in the way that it used to.

A big part of the 'enjoyment' of reading about serial killers, as daily news and speculation while cases are 'live', is on the part of unpleasant male fantasists, who would love to do the same if they could get away with it. As well as the common or garden type who just loved using these stories as bogeymen with which to control the women in their lives; 'you can't go out alone, or ... will get you'.

Lots of 'baby farmers' in the 1800s. Probably because that was a common type of childcare then?

I may only have part of the picture but I though Victorian 'baby farming' was a euphemism for post-birth abortion i.e. mass infanticide. You paid someone else to do it for you.

@jillypill

Just about personal safety and attacks on women, I lived rurally for years and now in a city. I guess I have been sheltered from anything happening to me personally despite over the years doing some stuff that now I look back and think I was lucky.

Like hitchhiking, being alone at festivals, travelling alone without any phone or much money. Walking around in the night on my own. Regularly walking back from the pub on my own late at night (precovid)

I obviously knew about Murder but I thought it wouldn’t happen to me

Bible John anyone? Never identified I believe.
As for Levi Bellfield, there is a real chance he could be responsible for other atracks/rapes that went unreported. And other partners who he probably terrorised.
I would also say there may e a decline in serial killers because of better child social care. Earlier interventions into chaotic/abusive families.
There is a man I US who claimed to have murdered dozens of women ut turned out he was making false confessions....I xant rember his name..Henry?...please fill in the blank for me.
Anyway, his childhood was a living nightmare and if at the time he could have been removed I expect the outcomes for him and his victims to have been different.
Same with Aileen Wournos.

As for Peter Sutcliffe, a case of nature over nurture there. His claims or schizophrenia were calculated.
And
Better support for vulnerable women and men has meant they are not such easy targets for predatory men. It still is t perfect but I believe it makes a difference when there are (or supposed to be) agencies like drug clinics or street outreach workers that are visible.