Book contents
- Just as Deadly
- Advance Praise
- Just as Deadly
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Epigraph
- Chapter 1 Introduction: What Is a Serial Killer?
- Chapter 2 Why Are We Interested in Serial Killers?
- Chapter 3 The Lives of Female Serial Killers
- Chapter 4 Mental Health and Substance Use Among FSKs
- Chapter 5 FSK Crimes and Outcomes
- Chapter 6 FSK Motives and Profile
- Chapter 7 Comparing FSKs and MSKs: Backgrounds and Mental Illness
- Chapter 8 Comparing FSKs and MSKs: Crimes and Victims
- Chapter 9 The Behavioral Neuroscience of Serial Murder
- Chapter 10 Psychosocial Factors that Make a Serial Murderer
- Chapter 11 Evolutionary and Converging Perspectives of Serial Murder
- Chapter 12 Our Understanding of Serial Killers Evolves
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- References
- Index
Chapter 12 - Our Understanding of Serial Killers Evolves
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2023
- Just as Deadly
- Advance Praise
- Just as Deadly
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Epigraph
- Chapter 1 Introduction: What Is a Serial Killer?
- Chapter 2 Why Are We Interested in Serial Killers?
- Chapter 3 The Lives of Female Serial Killers
- Chapter 4 Mental Health and Substance Use Among FSKs
- Chapter 5 FSK Crimes and Outcomes
- Chapter 6 FSK Motives and Profile
- Chapter 7 Comparing FSKs and MSKs: Backgrounds and Mental Illness
- Chapter 8 Comparing FSKs and MSKs: Crimes and Victims
- Chapter 9 The Behavioral Neuroscience of Serial Murder
- Chapter 10 Psychosocial Factors that Make a Serial Murderer
- Chapter 11 Evolutionary and Converging Perspectives of Serial Murder
- Chapter 12 Our Understanding of Serial Killers Evolves
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
The author concludes the book by discussing how we must detect female serial killers (FSKs), due to the typical covert nature of their crimes, but we catch male serial killers (MSKs), attending to the overt evidence they leave behind. She presents the case study of FSK Reta Mays, a nurse’s aide who murdered disabled veterans. At Mays’ sentencing, Judge Thomas Kleeh told Mays, “You’re the monster no one sees coming,” perfectly capturing the notion that FSKs may go undetected because they are typically individuals, such as nurses, nurse’s aides, or caregivers, whom no one would suspect of committing heinous crimes against vulnerable individuals. The author ends by challenging contemporary legal notions of sanity and stressing the need for greater mental health understanding, intervention, and treatment to promote wellness and, perhaps, prevent murder.
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- Information
- Just as DeadlyThe Psychology of Female Serial Killers, pp. 206 - 214Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023