The psychological characteristics of a person are understood as a relatively stable set of individual qualities that determine typical forms of behavior.

When studying the phenomenon of serial killers (i.e., persons who have committed three or more separate, separated by periods of emotional rest, murders with special cruelty of people falling under the image of the victim that has developed in the mind of the criminal), the researcher objectively needs to rank the factors that determine the specifics of the psychological the status of a representative of this category of criminals. Among them there is also a time period during which the serial killer acted.

What helped Chikatilo, Golovkin, Onuprienko, Holmes, Bundy and others to act for years, shedding rivers of blood? Without a doubt, some elements of the investigation of these crimes caused difficulty for investigators and operatives, but there is no direct fault of law enforcement officials in this. Indeed, how can one be suspected of murdering a person if he is perceived positively by absolutely everyone around him.

This phenomenon is called the "mask of normality". "The mask of normality" [Shechter H., Everit D. Encyclopedia of serial killers. M., 1998. S.153] - name scientific work Hervey Cleckley Dedicated to the Psychopathic Personality (1976). In the work of H. Cleckley, under the "mask of normality" he understands the ability of psychopaths to appear as an absolutely normal, mentally complete person. The semantic analysis of this term defines it as a feigned (artificial) behavior aimed at compliance with the standards accepted in society. The main emphasis of this definition is reduced to the presence of an element of conscious volitional control over behavior on the part of the bearer of the "mask of normality". Without a doubt, most serial killers are characterized by increased intellectual potential, which determines to a certain extent the presence of artistic abilities, but these characteristics do not explain how one can lead a double life for a sufficiently long time. In other words, the "mask of normality" cannot be explained by deliberate tricks to create a positive image of a criminal for himself, since such attempts will sooner or later become clear to people around him.

The manifestation of the true psychological status of a serial killer should have been determined by the mechanisms of mental defense, primarily by the mechanism of repression and sublimation. Repression refers to the process of removing psychotraumatic thoughts and feelings from consciousness. Under sublimation - the transfer of negative characteristics of the individual into a socially approved sphere. The manifestation of these psychic defense mechanisms would alert the people around the serial killer. However, this does not happen.

Given the above, we highlight two aspects of the problem under study:

1. In their non-criminal life, in the opinion of an outside observer, most serial killers are pronounced socially adapted personalities.

2. If such socially adapted behavior of serial killers was the result of pretense, then the people around them would intuitively feel this, or, in any case, would not be able to characterize serial killers, certainly positively.

Based on these two points, it can be argued that the phenomenon of the "mask of normality" is not determined by its semantic meaning. The nature of the "mask of normality" of serial killers is completely different than what has been identified to date.

In order to determine what is the root cause of the formation and existence of the "mask of normality", it seems rational to refer to some provisions of psychoanalysis.

The topographic model of the human psyche includes three levels:

1. The unconscious is the deepest and most significant area of ​​the human psyche. The main content is a combination of instincts and repressed memories.

2. Preconscious - the level of "accessible memory", the totality of experiences of a person restored by volitional effort. The main content is currently unclaimed experience.

3. Conscious - the level of "real memory". The main content is the experiences perceived at the moment, orientation towards the attitudes of society.

Instincts and vital needs that are in the unconscious are blocked at the level of the preconscious because of the prohibitions localized in the conscious. To block the instincts do not reach the critical mass, they are displayed in small portions. These conclusions are called the mechanisms of protection of the psyche. Among them, in particular, are the above-mentioned mechanisms of displacement and sublimation. It is the defense mechanisms that determine socially approved behavior, although they naturally lead to minor conflicts that determine a slightly reduced perception of a person by others.

As practice shows, serial killers in general are not characterized by such minor conflicts, which leads to the formation of surrounding opinions about an ideal spouse, a wonderful father, a wonderful neighbor. Since we cannot observe the consequences of the functioning of the defense mechanism, we are quite right to assume that the discharge of the energy of the unconscious occurs in serial killers in a completely different way than in normal people. The most logical is the provision that such a release of energy occurs directly at the time of the commission of crimes. In other words, the psyche of a serial killer is focused not on the gradual withdrawal of unconscious energy, but on a one-time outburst that bypasses the sphere of the preconscious and conscious. That is why the vast majority of serial killers cannot reconstruct their state at the time of the murders. It seems that such an outburst of unconscious energy is not similar to the replacement mechanism, since the latter reduces the output of primitive instincts to socially acceptable ones, while in the case of an outburst of unconscious energy, there are no socially acceptable limits.

Summarizing the above, we believe that the phenomenon of the “mask of normality” of a serial killer is explained by the fact that the peculiarities of his psyche make it possible to relieve the entire burden of unconscious tension in a one-willed act, which leads to the disappearance of the prerequisites for the functioning of the mechanisms of protection of the psyche. A serial killer does not pretend to be a normal person, after committing a crime, deprived of a load of instincts, he is a model of a mentally healthy, absolutely balanced person. Self-actualization [Under self-actualization it is customary to understand the development by an individual of his own concept of ethical stereotypes. It should be noted that, unlike ethical stereotypes obtained in the process of human socialization, actualized stereotypes are a more optimal form of prohibition. Optimality is explained by the less pronounced conflict between the unconscious and conscious spheres, observed in the case of the analysis of self-actualized ethical stereotypes] in the process of killing, in this case, there is a form of balancing the psyche.

Achieving harmony through the mastery of the objects of the external world is devoted to some provisions of Tantra Yoga. Naturally, it is difficult to establish a direct relationship between these provisions and the material of this article, however, at the conceptual level, there is a clearly expressed parallel between self-actualization1 in the process of committing murders and development along the path of tantra yoga. It should be noted that the actualization of the personality does not have to be ethically positive, since the element of positivity is reflected in the optimization of mental capabilities in general or in a particular area. In the second case, we observe a typical form of self-actualization characteristic of serial killers.

It is possible that at first glance this conclusion will be unacceptable, but think about what its emotional or rational component does not accept. A scientific position cannot be ethical or unethical, it can only be scientific or non-scientific.

Under the "mask of normality" of a serial killer, we will understand the state of mental stability that arises as a result of a one-time release of unconscious energy.

In the methodology for constructing the psychological profile of an unknown criminal, the following types of "mask of normality" can be distinguished, classified according to the degree of adaptation in the society of its carrier:

1. A pronounced "mask of normality" - its carrier, in the opinion of the observer, is harmoniously inscribed in society. Representatives of this group of criminals are A. Chikatilo, H.H. Holmes, T. Bundy, A. Slivko, P. Bernardo, G. Mikhasevich.

2. Moderately pronounced "mask of normality" - its carrier, in the opinion of the observer, is inconspicuous in society. Representatives of this group of criminals are D. Damer, S. Golovkin, A. Azimov, V. Kulik.

3. Little pronounced "mask of normality" - its carrier, in the opinion of the observer, is characterized by antisocial properties. Representatives of this group of criminals are E. Kemper, G. Lucas, O. Kuznetsov, R. Speck, M. Dutroux

It can be seen from this classification that, due to a certain conditionality of the basis for the classification, the classified groups, at first glance, are also quite conditional. However, let's consider the refutation of this provision using the example of the first group of criminals.

The pronounced "mask of normality" of a serial killer is manifested primarily in cases where the offender meets the victim in public places. So, Ted Bundy met his victims in busy areas of college campuses.

Also evidence of the high "mask of normality" of the offender is the establishment of the fact of the victim's voluntary consent to go somewhere with a serial criminal. The vast majority of crimes committed by A. Chikatilo can serve as examples.

Naturally, the above classification is rather conditional, as any classification in which the object is a person is conditional, however, it seems that in this case the classified groups are quite clearly distinguished. So, if we consider the relationship between the degree of manifestation of the "mask of normality" (MN) of a serial killer and the place of acquaintance with his victims, we will see a fairly clear isolation of representatives of all three classification groups.

The definition of the "mask of normality" factor is extremely important for building the psychological profile of an unknown criminal. An analysis of the biographical and psychological characteristics of serial killers makes it possible to state with certainty that there is a relationship between the "mask of normality" parameter and the parameters of family status, an element of dominance in family relationships, educational level, social activity, sociability in communication, the presence of a criminal record. Thus, in particular, a criminal with a high degree of "mask of normality" is characterized as a positive family man, often without dominance in family life, with the exception of a number of areas (Chikatilo, in general, obeyed his wife, but he set priorities in sexual life). A high "mask of normality" often corresponds to a high educational level and the absence of a criminal record, an exception here may be a conviction for embezzlement.

The positive perception of the offender by others is also due to the high degree of contact, understood as openness and high degree social activity, which creates the illusion of awareness of the criminal's personal life among others.

The "mask of normality" of a serial killer is closely related to the criminal's modus operandi. Achievement of the state of mental stability arising from the simultaneous release of unconscious energy is possible only under a unique set of circumstances in which each element of the deformed psyche finds a way out into the environment. It is easy to understand that due to the stable characteristics of these deformed elements, the way they are brought out will also be stable. This explains the stereotypical modus operandi of the serial killer. Modus operandi acts as the optimal form of achieving the state of "mask of normality", a similar approach to modus operandi allows us to explain some elements of the theory of criminal programs developed by E.G. Samovichev [Modestov N.S. Maniacs... Blind death. M., 1977]. There is a certain mystical element in this theory, but this does not determine its unscientific nature, rather, on the contrary, it directs it to the formation of the idea of ​​the incompleteness of modern scientific knowledge.

Theory of E.G. Samovicheva is one of the few aimed at explaining the nature of serial murders. One of the functions of this theory is to explain the fact that most serial killers come to the attention of law enforcement by making an unexpected and obvious blunder. So, V. Kuzmin was detained by passers-by while trying to take away with him the future victim - a child; Burov's killer was accidentally identified by the victim's relatives; the maniac Kashintsev was caught red-handed (sleeping next to a strangled woman); N. Dzhumagaliev was detained only because, in a drunken state, he began to show the remains of the victim to his friends. The volume of the article is limited, however, based on the studied materials of the investigation, we can conclude that an average of three serial killers out of five was accidentally caught. Foreign practice also has a large number of such examples, starting with H.Kh. Holmes and D. Dahmer and ending with T. Bundy and G. L. Lucas. Indeed, very often the exposure of a criminal is not the result of the activities of law enforcement agencies, but, at first glance, is provoked by the criminal himself.

E.G. Samovichev explains such a provocation by the regularities of the completion of the criminal program, due to the factors of the rigid determinism of the continuum of human existence.

It seems that using a new explanation of the phenomenon of the "mask of normality" of a serial killer can analyze the completion of a criminal program at a less abstract level. The situation in which a serial killer makes a fatal mistake for himself can be illustrated by a number of provisions:

· the state of mental stability arising as a result of a simultaneous release of unconscious energy causes the emergence of a rigid relationship between the element of mental stability and the need to commit crimes.

Often (in relation to a specific serial killer this number is individual) the crimes committed lead to the fact that the mechanisms of protection of the psyche atrophy. Indeed, why are complex ways of withdrawing part of the unconscious energy needed when a simple instantaneous release is available.

· atrophy of defense mechanisms against the background of more and more frequent use of a one-time release of energy leads to the final degradation of social stereotypes based on the conscious level of the psyche.

· due to the deformation of the conscious sphere, the perception of the world occurs according to the canons of the unconscious, the motto of which is the realization of needs without taking into account the features of the external world.

· the perception of the world at the level of the unconscious leads to the fact that the factors of the external environment (social disapproval, the possibility of criminal consequences) are not given much importance. As a result, the serial killer does not consciously provoke the law enforcement agencies to interrupt his criminal program, he simply becomes unable to take into account the very possibility of the influence of law enforcement agencies on his fate, due to disorientation in the world of social prohibitions.

Obtained over the past two decades, the results of an empirical study of the personality of serial criminals in comparison with law-abiding citizens indicate the presence of some distinctive features in the structure of personality.

Noteworthy is the study of the value-normative system conducted by A.R. Ratinov and his colleagues, which revealed significant differences between serial criminals and law-abiding citizens in the level of development of legal consciousness, in relation to various legal institutions of society.

Thus, the maximum solidarity with the criminal law and the practice of its application is expressed among law-abiding citizens and to a much lesser extent among serial criminals, although their legal awareness is approximately the same, and partly (knowledge of the articles of the Criminal Code) has an inverse relationship.

The degree of assimilation of legal values ​​and norms as “their own” among criminals is much lower than among law-abiding citizens. The main motivation that keeps criminals from further illegal actions is the fear of undesirable consequences, and not agreement with the established norms and rules for their observance, as is typical for law-abiding citizens.

Significant differences were revealed in the estimated attitude towards law enforcement agencies and their activities among the surveyed groups. Criminals assess punitive practices as excessively harsh, especially for those types of crimes for which they themselves were convicted, they treat the justice authorities with caution, distrust, which is not typical for the vast majority of law-abiding citizens.

Studying the specifics of the value-normative system of the personality of a serial criminal is still not enough to reveal his psychological essence and, accordingly, to identify the causes of criminal behavior. That is why a significant contribution to the development of criminal psychology is the attempt made under the direction of Yu. M. Antonyan to study the psychological characteristics (features) of criminals and their individual categories.

Yu.M. Antonyan established that criminals from non-criminals on statistical level differ in very significant psychological characteristics, which determine their unlawful behavior. In other words, the concept of a criminal's personality can be filled with this psychological content. Since these psychological traits are involved in the formation of the moral character of the individual, there is reason to assert that criminals differ from non-criminals in general in moral and legal specifics.

The results of the study allow us to give a psychological portrait of the surveyed serial criminals and highlight their characteristic personality traits.

First of all, criminals are distinguished by poor social adaptation, general dissatisfaction with their position in society. They have such a trait as impulsiveness, which manifests itself in reduced self-control of their behavior, rash actions, emotional immaturity, and infantilism.

Moral and legal norms do not have a significant impact on their behavior. Such people usually either do not understand what society requires of them, or they understand, but do not want to fulfill these requirements. Since such persons have violated or deformed normative control, they evaluate the social situation not from the standpoint of moral and legal requirements, but on the basis of personal experiences, grievances, desires. In a word, they are characterized by a persistent violation of social adaptation.

They are also characterized by violations in the field of communication: the inability to establish contacts with others, the inability to take the point of view of another, to look at oneself from the outside. This, in turn, reduces the possibility of adequate orientation, produces the emergence of affectively saturated ideas associated with the idea of ​​hostility from the surrounding people and society as a whole. All taken together forms such traits as self-absorption, isolation, isolation, on the one hand, and aggressiveness, suspicion, on the other. As a result, the correct assessment of the situation is even more difficult, since the behavior is controlled by affective attitudes, and the actions of others are considered dangerous, threatening the person, which leads to illegal ways out of the current situation.

To a large extent, traits common to all criminals are expressed in serial killers. At the same time, they have pronounced homogeneous personal properties.

Serial killers are most often impulsive people with high anxiety and strong emotional excitability, who primarily concentrate on their own experiences, and in behavior are guided only by their own interests. They have no idea of ​​the value of another person's life, the slightest empathy. They are unstable in their social connections and relationships, prone to conflicts with others. From other criminals, serial killers are distinguished by emotional instability, high reactivity of behavior, exceptional subjectivity (bias) of perception and assessment of what is happening. They are internally disorganized, their high anxiety gives rise to such traits as suspicion, suspiciousness, vindictiveness, which in most cases are combined with anxiety, tension, irritability.

The environment is felt by serial killers as hostile. In this regard, it is difficult for them to correctly assess the situation, and this assessment easily changes under the influence of affect. Increased susceptibility to elements of interpersonal interaction leads to the fact that the individual is easily irritated by any social contacts that are perceived as a threat to him.

Such people have rigid (inert) ideas that are difficult to change. All the difficulties and troubles that they encounter in life are considered by them as the result of someone's hostile actions. They blame others for their failures, which relieves them of the burden of responsibility.

Serial killers are most sensitive to the sphere of personal honor; they have a painful self-esteem combined with an overestimated (inadequate) self-esteem. The constant affective experience that the less deserving have significantly more benefits than they do, causes a desire to protect their rights, and they can play the role of "fighters for justice." Therefore, they can commit a "just" murder not only during robberies, when values ​​are, as it were, redistributed, but also out of revenge or jealousy, when personal honor is allegedly defended, and even when committing hooligan actions.

Serial killers are characterized by emotional disturbances, psychological and social alienation, difficulties in establishing contacts, isolation and lack of communication. These persons also experience difficulties in assimilation of moral and legal norms. Most often, they commit crimes against a particular person or situation in connection with the accumulated affect, while not seeing (or not wanting to see) another way to resolve the conflict.

Serial killers tend to endow other people (by the mechanism of projection) with traits, motives inherent in themselves, namely: aggressiveness, hostility, vindictiveness. This leads to the fact that they begin to perceive others as hostile and aggressive. Because of this, by committing an act of violence, the serial killer believes that he is thus protecting his life, his honor, as well as the interests of other people. Thus, these individuals are distinguished not only by high susceptibility in interpersonal relationships, but also by their distorted assessment. Violent actions on their part usually occur according to the principle of "short circuit", when even an insignificant reason immediately causes destructive acts.

The average psychological portrait of a serial killer is as follows: age 35 - 37 years old, previously convicted once or twice, including for a violent crime, addiction, alcohol abuse, impulsive manifestations of aggressiveness and conflict, convicted of premeditated murder, often with special cruelty. By nature, closed, autistic (immersed in himself), pessimistic, experiencing difficulties in communication and adaptation, feelings of guilt are overestimated, sensitive, irritable, prone to affective reactions, suspicious, anxious, closed on the sensory perception of reality, with a low, often depressed mood background . General aggressiveness is generally reduced, but with an innate tendency to verbal aggression, the level of eroticism is overestimated, the level of intelligence is below average, mental activity is reduced, logical thinking is often blocked by affective experiences. Shyness, self-doubt are revealed, low self-esteem is combined with an overestimation of personal suffering in order to avoid or reduce responsibility for what has been done.

Inclined to neglect moral and legal norms, focused primarily on personal gain. Internally undisciplined, behavior often motivated by random drives, individualist, neglects collective interests. The level of self-control is reduced, tends to adapt to the conditions of particularly severe imprisonment. The need for constant restraint and self-control often causes anxious, neurotic reactions.

A psychological examination conducted by the staff psychologist of the colony V.V. Popov showed that almost all convicts are characterized by the presence of severe psychotrauma caused by the crime committed, arrest, the imposition of a death sentence, the expectation that the execution will be carried out or not; long, in some cases even up to five years, being on death row.

The most difficult experiences for serial killers serving life sentences are caused by the following circumstances:

Feelings of guilt towards the victims and their relatives - 32.8%;

Feeling of guilt towards oneself and one's relatives - 37.2%;

Lack of communication with relatives, rupture of relations with them - 56.3%;

Loss of freedom - 46.9%;

Experience of personal failure, inability to change anything in one's position - 42.2%;

Restriction of communication with other convicts - 17.2%;

Lack of prospects for release - 59.4%;

Change in habitual way of life, monotony of life in the colony - 43.8%.

Such a delay in time is undoubtedly due to the fact that the peak of serial murders committed in different countries dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, the 1970s and the present. It seems almost unbelievable that people who often seem completely normal to those around them are capable of committing a cruel outwardly unmotivated murder. Many people wrote about the fact that the reasons for the appearance of serial killers come from their childhood. Harold Schechter David Everit V. Bukhanovsky believes that people who need violence become serial killers ...

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Topic: Psychological features of the personality of a serial killer

Introduction 1. Prerequisites for the formation of the personality of a serial killer 2. Motives for crimes committed by serial killers 5. Prevention of crimes characterized as serial murders Conclusion Literature

Introduction

The topic of serial killers and the nature of their behavior remains invariably of interest to many. various people from scientists to filmmakers over the past few decades. Although the term "serial killer" itself is relatively recent,in 1976 and was first used to describe the personality of Ted Bundy,serial killings have been committed before. One of the earliest, documented, are the crimes committedGilles de Rais in the period from 1439 to 1440. At the same time, the first works on the study of the psychology of serial killers were written only in the 70s of the last century by the most famous profiler and FBI legend, Robert Ressler. Such a delay in time is undoubtedly due to the fact that the peak of serial murders committed in different countries falls on the beginning of the 20th century, the 70s and the present.

The main goal of my work is to find an answer to the question of whether it is possible to prevent such crimes and identify such criminals before they commit murders.

To achieve this goal, I will try to summarize and analyze the material accumulated by the analysis of the psychology of serial killers to date. It is also my task to identify general characteristics similar personalities that can manifest themselves directly in appearance or communication and the development of recommendations that will help people protect themselves and their loved ones.

1. Prerequisites for the formation of the personality of a serial killer

The phenomenon of serial murders is of extreme interest to psychologists, psychiatrists, and forensic scientists. It seems almost unbelievable that people who often seem completely normal to others are capable of committing a brutal, outwardly unmotivated murder. In the last 10 years, there has been a clear upward trend in crimes of this kind.

Before proceeding to the study, I will give the definition of a serial killer given by Robert Ressler: “a serial killer is a person who has committed three or more separate, separated by periods of emotional rest, murders with particular cruelty of people falling under the image of the victim that has developed in the mind of the criminal.”

The first who tried to investigate the emergence of the motives of rapists and murderers, as is usually the case in matters related to psychology, was Z. Freud. In his work, he writes: “childish perversion can become the foundation for a perversion that has the same meaning and remains for life, absorbing the entire sexual life of a person, but it can also be interrupted, remaining in the background of sexual development, in which it then, however, takes a certain amount of energy.

An example of the first of the options described, when childhood perversion became the foundation for subsequent actions in adulthood, is the biography of Albert Fish.

The fact that the reasons for the appearance of serial killers come from their childhood was written by many, Harold Schechter, David Everit, V.V. Guldan, A.O. Bukhanovsky.

Indeed, in most cases, compared with the childhood of most serial killers, Oliver Twist's early years in a poor Victorian house can seem like an extended vacation at Disneyland.

Bukhanovsky believes that serial killers are people who need violence like a drug, they suffer from a disease of addictive behavior, but in order for the mechanism of the generator of pathologically increased excitation to activate, predisposition is necessary. He identified three reasons for the tendency to this behavior. Firstly, a special state of the brain (due to dysfunctional heredity or pathological pregnancy). Secondly, improper upbringing (cruelty of parents, their unwillingness to see a personality in a child, emotional disunity in the family). Thirdly, adverse social circumstances.

I will start with the second factor highlighted by Bukhanovsky, since a number of biographies are available in the public domain.

In the childhood of serials, the following facts are usually observed:

1. unwanted child, usually late (Ramirez, Berkovits, Gacy, Tsyuman, Slivko, Irtyshov);
2. incomplete seven I, and most often both parents are alive, but either divorced or simply do not live together (Chikatilo, Berkovits, Bandy, Onoprienko, Irtyshov, Spesivtsev, Kemper);
3. deprived of parental attention (Ramirez, Dahmer, Gacy, Tsyuman, Lukas, Slivko, Onoprienko, Kemper, Miyazaki.);
4. were sexually abused by adults (Gacy, Irtyshov, De Salva);
5. were bullied by their peers (Chikatilo, Dahmer, Lukas, Kulik, Irtyshov, Kemper);
6. one of the parents was a domestic tyrant (Chikatilo, Gacy, Tsyuman, Lukas, Golovkin, Mikhasevich, Kemper, Gein).

In the literature, the following signs of a serial killer appearing in childhood are distinguished:

1. enuresis (Chikatilo);
2. cruelty to animals (Lucas, Kulik, Kemper);
3. child masturbation (Berkowitz, Kulik, Miyazaki.);
4. pyromania (Berkowitz, Lucas).

According to Hellman and Blackman, urinary incontinence indicates emotional disturbance, love of arson indicates a lack of respect for society and its rules, and cruelty to animals indicates a disregard for life and a propensity for violence necessary components to make a killer. These factors are known as the early signaling triad and are signs that are still often mentioned in the scientific literature.

As for the attitude towards animals, there is also a completely opposite sign - love for animals (Chikatilo, Dahmer), perhaps, depending on this sign, one can judge the type of serial maniac. For example, Dahmer and Chikatilo had a well-defined "mask of normality" in contrast to Lucas, Kulik, Kemper, this phenomenon will be discussed further. Unfortunately, there are not so many biographical data of the childhood of serial killers in the public domain that it would be possible to speak in detail about the revealed pattern.

Regardless of the facts and signs described above, it cannot be said that a person who grew up under these circumstances will necessarily become a serial killer, however, it can be said with certainty that all serial killers showed all or part of these signs in childhood. , as well as some of the above facts were observed in their childhood.

Let me move on to the first factor pointed out by Alexander Olimpievich - the presence of brain pathology. Professor Bukhanovsky said in an interview: "I do not know a single serial killer in Russia, or in the United States, or in Germany, who has not been officially diagnosed with one or another psychiatric diagnosis."

All of them, of course, as already mentioned, suffer from such a property of the psyche as sexual imprinting, which provoked sexual perversion in them.

Imprinting, unlike a conditioned reflex, is responsible for the rapid formation of extremely stable traces in the psyche, sometimes even after a single experience.

If a certain stimulus acts at critical moments in the formation of personality, it is easily imprinted in the psyche, acquiring extraordinary brightness and durability in comparison with other stimuli. This impression further strongly determines the behavior of a person in certain situations.

In fact, imprinting is a transitional form between instinct and conditioned reflex. G. Horn's monograph presents the results of experiments to determine the part of the brain that is responsible for imprinting. An animal was injected with a substance labeled with a radioactive isotope, and this substance was tracked in RNA on radiographs. There is also another method: 2-deoxyglucose is introduced into the body and activity is determined by its accumulation in the body. Both methods proved that the medioventral hyperstriatum is the area that is responsible for the formation of imprinting.

Unfortunately, comprehensive studies of the brain of serial killers could not be found, so we had to accumulate those pieces of information that are publicly available.

LaBelle and other researchers note that those who commit murderswhether they are adults or teenagers often do not have previous mental illness. However, scientists say that in fact, a mental illness may well take place, it just has not been diagnosed and treated. One study found that 89% of adult killers had no previous psychiatric treatment or diagnosis, but 70% of these people subsequently developed a dissociative disorder along with various mental illnesses.

A group led by Alexander Bukhanovsky examined four patients aged 9 to 15 years with a childhood variant of the "Chikatilo phenomenon". And all patients from childhood showed signs of brain damage, minimal brain dysfunction. This circumstance became a prerequisite for the emergence of the "Chikatilo phenomenon" and was one of the main conditions for its development. All children suffered from hyperexcitability syndrome in infancy, which later transformed into hyperkinetic disorders.

Psychiatrists at Harvard University believe that a small percentage of people who commit violent, unexplained murders may experience seizures before committing acts of violence. These seizures can temporarily overwhelm the inhibition against killing. Dr. Ennelise Pontius believes that later, when they come to their senses, these people are frightened of the perfect atrocity: “Suddenly, they find a dead body nearby and do not understand what happened and why.” Pontius, who has worked with hundreds of murderers, suggests that seizures originate in the brain's limbic system, causing a "limbic psychotic response."

The following tables, compiled according to forensic psychiatric examinations, clearly illustrate the nature of mental disorders and psychiatric diseases characteristic of serial killers.

Table 1. Distribution of surveyed by the nature of violations of sexual desire (%).

The given data indicate that in forensic psychiatric practice the most common violations of sexual desire on the object, among them pedophilia and homosexuality predominate.

Table 2. Distribution of forms of sexual pathology in various nosological groups (%).

It is obvious that in the case of those associated with psychosis, schizophrenia and epilepsy dominate; diagnosed correctly, or the study was not accurate enough).

As for the third factor voiced by Professor Bukhanovsky - unfavorable social circumstances, here I would like to draw attention to what should be understood by the term unfavorable social circumstances.

At each age stage of socialization, it is possible to identify the most typical dangers, the collision with which a person is most likely to face.

• In the period of intrauterine development of the fetus: unhealthy parents, their drunkenness and (or) disorderly lifestyle, poor nutrition of the mother; negative emotional and psychological state of parents, medical errors, unfavorable ecological environment.
• AT preschool age(0-6 years): illness and physical injury; emotional dullness and (or) immorality of parents, ignoring by parents of the child and his abandonment; family poverty; inhumanity of employees of children's institutions; peer rejection; antisocial neighbors and/or their children.
• At primary school age (6-10 years): immorality and (or) drunkenness of parents, stepfather or stepmother, family poverty; hypo- or hyper-custody; video viewing; poorly developed speech; unwillingness to learn; negative attitude of the teacher and (or) peers; negative influence of peers and (or) older children (attraction to smoking, drinking, stealing); physical injuries and defects; loss of parents rape, molestation.
• In adolescence (11-14 years old): drunkenness, alcoholism, immorality of parents; family poverty; hypo- or hyper-custody; video viewing; computer games; mistakes of teachers and parents; smoking, substance abuse; rape, molestation; loneliness; physical injuries and defects; bullying from peers; involvement in antisocial and criminal groups; advance or lag in psychosexual development; frequent family moves; divorce of parents.
• In early youth (15-17 years old): anti-social family, family poverty; drunkenness, drug addiction, prostitution; early pregnancy; involvement in criminal and totalitarian groups; rape; physical injuries and defects; obsessive delusions of dysmorphophobia (attributing to oneself a non-existent physical defect or defect); misunderstanding by others, loneliness; bullying from peers; failures in relationships with persons of the opposite sex; suicidal tendencies; discrepancies, contradictions between ideals, attitudes, stereotypes and real life; loss of life perspective.
• In adolescence (18-23 years): drunkenness, drug addiction, prostitution; poverty, unemployment; rape, sexual failure, stress; involvement in illegal activities, in totalitarian groups; loneliness; the gap between the level of claims and social status; Military service; inability to continue education.
• In adulthood (23 and older): sexual failures, stress; a sharp change in social status, changes in physical capabilities.

It seems to me that the professor in this case had in mind some of the shocks experienced in one of the periods. On the other hand, it is possible that he meant some specific event in the life of a person, which served as a direct catalyst for the manifestation of his nature, and which occurred immediately before the commission of crimes, in this case, only the age period from 18 to 45 years should be considered, since it is according to studies, 81.7% of serial murders are committed at this age.

Table 3. Distribution of serial killers by age.

Summing up this chapter, Professor Bukhanovsky should be quoted: “The very desire to kill” is not a disease, it is a symptom of a disease. You can't treat a person with a headache if they have a brain tumor. If you just give a person a pill, this is called the paramedic approach, you are working for the process. And you have to work for the result. And work not with a symptom, but with a personality. Studying the history of his development, the system of education, the structure of the family, the environment because any addiction grows from early childhood.

1. Motives for crimes committed by serial killers

Many murderers explain their actions by “bloodlust” (this is how Albert Fish motivated the crimes committed). In essence, this means that the maniac commits murder simply for the sake of killing. This is not a cause, but rather a consequence, a result, however, it is worth considering that there are cases when the cause is incredibly difficult to detect. And yet there is no crime without a motive. You should start with the fact that almost any murder committed by a maniac has a sexual connotation. Even if it is not immediately noticeable.

In motives, needs are specified, which determine the direction of motives. One person cannot have countless needs, but the richness of the motivational sphere is manifested in their diversity and complementarity. Interacting with each other, they strengthen or weaken each other, enter into mutual contradictions, which can result in immoral and even criminal behavior.

Individual actions, and even more so the behavior of a person as a whole, including criminal ones, are mainly directed not by one, but by several motives that are in complex hierarchical relations with each other. Among them there are leaders who stimulate behavior and give it a personal meaning.

In addition, as established by research, it is the leading motives that are unconscious in nature. For this reason, criminals in many cases cannot intelligibly explain why they committed this crime.

Introducing the term "serial killer" Robert Ressler continued to analyze the behavior of this kind of criminals. And he developed a classification of serial killers based on the crime:

1. Hedonists. They commit crimes for pleasure. Murder is considered a way to satisfy their needs, they see the victim as an object necessary in order to deliver pleasure. Psychiatrists distinguish three types of hedonists.
   1. Sexy. They kill for sexual pleasure. In this case, the victim can be alive or dead, it all depends on the preference of the killer and the fantasies that play a big role in the implementation of the crime. The killer may derive pleasure directly from the rape, or else from torturing, from strangling the victim, from beating, from manipulating weapons that usually have contact with the body (for example, a knife or hands), and so on. It all depends on the fantasy of a particular serial killer. Examples: Jeffrey Dahmer, Kenneth Bianchi, Dennis Nielsen, John Wayne Gacy.
   2. "Destroyers". They can rob their victims, but the main motive for committing a crime is to cause suffering to another person, to abuse the victim. Moreover, the suffering is delivered by such killers without sexual manipulation, this is their fundamental difference from sexual rapists. They may experience sexual pleasure, but at first glance it is impossible to notice. They can masturbate over the body of the victim, but these are quite rare cases. The desire to destroy the victim is determined by the need for sexual domination, but outwardly nothing indicates this, and therefore such murders are often mistaken for robbery, vandalism or hooliganism. It should be noted that a serial murder is a murder with a non-obvious motive, thus, in relation to the “destroyers”, this non-obviousness is expressed most clearly. Examples: Clifford Olson, Vladimir Ionesyan.
   3. Mercantile. Material and personal gain are the main murder motives for this type of serial killer. Mostly they are women, and they kill mainly with the help of poison or potent drugs that cause death in large doses. However, among such criminals, there are quite often men who can use other methods to kill. Examples: Herman Magette (Henry Howard Holmes), the Gonzalez sisters, Mary Ann Cotton.
2. Power-hungry. The main goal for this type of serial killer is to control the victim, subjugate her to himself. Moreover, they also experience sexual pleasure from domination, but their difference from hedonists is that they are driven not by lust, but by the desire to possess the victim. Often these serial killers were abused as children, leaving them feeling helpless and powerless in adulthood. Examples: Theodore Bundy, Paul Bernardo, Sergei Golovkin.
3. Visionaries. They commit murders “at the instigation” of God or the Devil, hear voices, suffer from hallucinations. Examples: David Berkowitz (received instructions from the devil who "contacted" him through the neighbor's dog), Herbert Mullin.
4. Missionaries. They kill for a specific purpose, most often they try to improve the world, change society for the better. The victims of this type of murderers are mostly prostitutes, homosexuals, people of different religions. Moreover, such criminals are most often not mentally ill. They believe that by their actions they can change the world for the better. Examples: Ted Kaczynski, Sergei Ryakhovsky.

Ressler also determined that each maniac has his own individual "handwriting", not like the others. This also applies to the choice of weapons, the scene of the crime, the victim, the method of murder, the time of day, and many other factors. Thus, he identified two main types of serial killers: organized non-social and disorganized anti-social.

Organized non-social type of serial killer.

Key Features:

• Has high intelligence. The intellectual level of some representatives of this type can reach 145 IQ points, which is recognized as the threshold of genius (the intelligence of one of the serial killers, Edmund Kemper, is recognized as equal to 150 IQ points, now he works very successfully in cooperation with the police and helps them in calculating criminals).
• Self-controlled, self-possessed. He takes care of himself, his appearance, housing and car (if any).
• Sociopath. Rejects and despises society. Reduces acquaintance only with a narrow circle of people.
• Can be charming, make a favorable impression on others. Usually, people around such a serial killer are very surprised to learn that this person has committed crimes. Has normal relations with the opposite sex, is often characterized by friends and acquaintances as a good family man and father.
• Personalizes the victim, prefers to act with cunning rather than violence (like Theodore Bundy, who charmed dozens of young girls and they calmly followed him, unaware that they were following a serial killer).
• It has a certain image of the victim, a feature in appearance, in clothes. Some cases of murder of a particular person are known. This allows the police to catch the maniac "on live bait."
• He plans the crime in advance, thinks through all the details, such as the place of the murder, the murder weapon, the actions by which he can hide the evidence, and so on.
• Often binds the victim, with the help of intimidation conquers her. He does not kill immediately, first he brings to life all his sadistic fantasies, and the victim may die during torture (as in Robert Burdella). However, the purpose of the attack may initially be murder (as in David Berkowitz, for example).
• Takes steps to eliminate evidence that may incriminate him in the commission of a crime. Can dismember the corpse and get rid of it in parts, hide the body of the victim in an inaccessible place. He is even able to give the body a certain pose as a kind of sign if he wants to say something with this murder.
• May return to the scene of the murder. (Gary Ridgway, for example, often returned to the scene of the crime for refresher, sometimes even to rape the victim's remains.)
• Can make contacts with the police, cooperate. He focuses on interrogations, thinks over the line of defense. May have sincere respect for a competent and intelligent investigator, often "play" with him. Improves throughout the entire period of the murders, becoming less and less accessible to capture, and is able to control himself so much that he is able to stop killing altogether in order to remain uncaptured (“Zodiac”, for example, stopped killing when he felt that the police were getting close to him, just like "The Shooter from Taxarkana").

A classic example of organized killers are: Theodore Bundy, Anatoly Slivko, Andrey Chikatilo.

Disorganized asocial type of serial killer.

Key Features:

• Possesses low or below average intelligence. Often mentally retarded. Mentally ill, inadequate.
• Despised or not accepted by society due to apparent oddities in behavior. Lives at the expense of relatives or the state, may be registered in a psychiatric clinic.
• This type of killer cannot make contact with people, especially with the opposite sex.
• Survived a difficult childhood with abuse.
• Socially maladjusted. Rejected by society.
• Untidy, doesn't take good care of himself. He also doesn't take care of his home. The crime is committed spontaneously. Does not think over the details of the murder, does not try to destroy the evidence.
• Kills near the place of residence or work.
• The victim is depersonalized.
• The murder weapon is often not prepared by him in advance, so improvised means are used in the attack.
• Tries to preserve the memories of the victims. Can keep a diary in which he describes the murders committed. It can also store video, photo or audio recordings of murders. May write a sympathetic or mocking letter to victims' families. Quite capable of writing to the police.
• He does not comprehend himself and the crimes that he commits.

The classic example of a disorganized asocial killer is Richard Chase, a schizophrenic nicknamed "The Sacramento Vampire". His psychological profile was compiled by the aforementioned Robert Ressler, who, based on the results of an inspection of the murder scenes, was able to accurately describe Chase. Among compatriots and citizens former USSR these include Spesivtsev, Mikhasevich.

3. Personality traits of a serial killer

In this chapter, it is certainly worth paying tribute to our Russian scientists, of course, Professor A.O. Bukhanovsky, O.A. Bukhanovskaya and R.L. Ahmedshin.

It was Professor Bukhanovsky and a group of his colleagues who found out the following: changes are taking place in the brain of serial killers. By examining the so-called Chikatilo phenomenon, psychiatrists have come to the conclusion that a tendency to violence and social aggression can be detected even in early childhood. In principle, scientists have previously assumed that serial killers are united by a certain set of psychopathologies, but it was only recently possible to identify and systematize these psychological changes.

First of all, it is a specific state of the brain. There are two hierarchical lesions here: one affects the surface of the brain, which is associated with the conscious activity of a person. This is the cerebral cortex, where the frontal, most latest education and temporal formations. That is, a lesion of the forehead and temple is detected. These are areas of the cerebral cortex that are responsible for the highest forms of mental activity, where the formation of a strategy of behavior, stability of behavior takes place. The temporal region is responsible for personality, worldview, morality, and ethics. And the second defeat is at the level of deep structures. These parts are called "ventricles of the brain". In potential maniacs, they are dramatically enlarged, which means that the brain matter around them has decreased. Both the first and second changes can be detected using nuclear magnetic tomography. “In addition, we found in the examined maniacs,” Bukhanovsky says, “that zones are localized in the third ventricle of the brain, including those responsible for instinctive desires. Here, areas responsible for prognostic functions and conscious activity are affected. We prove that this also occurs before the birth of a person, we find signs of impaired development after birth. Not only the brain suffers the skeleton of the skull suffers, the so-called sinuses. On these sinuses lies the frontal lobe, the so-called ethmoid phase, the ethmoid bone. It is sharply enlarged. The frontal bone, which forms the superciliary arches , is also increased. Why? Because the substance of the brain is smaller. " Naturally, the professor's research makes us recall the works of Cesare Lombroso, who first drew attention to the typicality of some external signs of criminals. According to Bukhanovsky, the brilliant Lombroso simply did not have modern research capabilities, so he could not draw the right conclusions. But it was he who laid the foundations in this area. Of course, today it is clear that a person with a set of pathologies does not necessarily become a criminal. But these pathologies speak volumes: for example, in many serial criminals, Bukhanovsky's group discovered a congenital cyst a tumor located in the areas of the brain that are responsible for hobbies. This is a sign of abnormal brain development. The brain is developing, but at the same time it does not function quite correctly. That is, in order for a serial killer to arise, he must have the "wrong" brains.

What distinguishes, at first glance, two normal people who grew up in approximately the same conditions, but one of them became a murderer, and the other did not? The difference in this case will be the psychological characteristics of the personalities of these people.

The psychological characteristics of a person are understood as a relatively stable set of individual qualities that determine typical forms of behavior.

Obviously, serial killers have a certain ability that allows them to live fully in society without arousing suspicion. This feature was first identified by H. Cleckley in 1976, he called it the "mask of normality." In his work, he understands the “mask of normality” as the ability of psychopaths to appear as an absolutely normal, mentally complete person. This feature allows the individual to use feigned behavior aimed at meeting the standards accepted in society to hide their true qualities.

R.L. Ahmedshin does not agree with H. Cleckley, who will define the nature of this phenomenon as feigned behavior. Akhmedshin believes that in this state of affairs, serial killers could not be characterized unequivocally positively by those around them, since people would feel a lie, and therefore the person would be unpleasant to them. He believes that the nature of the “mask of normality” lies in the fact that the peculiarities of the psyche of a serial killer make it possible to relieve the entire load of unconscious tension in one volitional act, which leads to the disappearance of the prerequisites for the functioning of the psyche's defense mechanisms. A serial killer does not pretend to be a normal person, after committing a crime, deprived of a load of instincts, he is a model of a mentally healthy, absolutely balanced person.

Under the "mask of normality" serial killer R.L. Akhmedshin understands the state of mental stability that arises as a result of a momentary release of unconscious energy.

As a rule, the following types of "mask of normality" are distinguished, classified according to the degree of adaptation in the society of its carrier:

1. A pronounced "mask of normality" - its carrier, in the opinion of the observer, is harmoniously inscribed in society. Representatives of this group of criminals are A. Chikatilo, H.H. Holmes, T. Bundy, A. Slivko, P. Bernardo, G. Mikhasevich, D. Damer, A. De Salvo ..

2. Moderately pronounced "mask of normality" - its carrier, in the opinion of the observer, is inconspicuous in society. Representatives of this group of criminals are S. Golovkin, A. Azimov, V. Kulik, Ts. Miyazaki, E. Gein.

3. Little pronounced "mask of normality" - its carrier, in the opinion of the observer, is characterized by antisocial properties. Representatives of this group of criminals are E. Kemper, G. Lucas, O. Kuznetsov, R. Speck, M. Dutroux

It can be seen from this classification that, due to a certain conditionality of the basis for the classification, the classified groups, at first glance, are also quite conditional. The pronounced "mask of normality" of a serial killer is manifested primarily in cases where the offender meets the victim in public places. So, Ted Bundy met his victims in busy areas of college campuses. Also evidence of the high "mask of normality" of the offender is the establishment of the fact of the victim's voluntary consent to go somewhere with a serial criminal. The vast majority of crimes committed by A. Chikatilo can serve as examples.

4. Similar personality traits of serial killers

While serial killers may differ in many significant ways, they all share certain similarities. So, most serial killers are white men in their 20s and 30s, and they commit their crimes near their home or place of work. 88% of serial killers are male, 85% of them are white, average age fluctuates between 28-29 years. 62% of serial killers kill only people they don't know, another 22% kill at least one stranger. 71% of maniacs commit their crimes in a certain area, while a much smaller number of them travel long distances to kill.

Table 4. Distribution of serial killers depending on gender, race, age

Hervey Cleckley identifies 16 basic behavioral characteristics of a psychopath - a serial killer (which, rather, belong to the type of organized non-social killers):

1. Charm and intelligence.
2. Absence of hallucinations and other signs of irrational thinking.
3. Absence of neuroses and psychoneurotic experiences.
4. Unreliability.
5. Deceit and insincerity.
6. Lack of remorse and shame.
7. Unmotivated antisocial behavior.
8. Biased judgment and inability to learn from your mistakes.
9. Pathological self-centeredness and inability to love.
10. Weak affective reactions.
11. Distracted attention.
12. Indifference in building interpersonal relationships.
13. Indecent behavior with or without alcohol.
14. Threats to commit suicide are rarely carried out.
15. Sex life is messy.
16. Lack of goals in life and inability to follow a certain order.

Serial killers are also distinguished by low social fitness, dissatisfaction with their place in society, impulsiveness, infantilism, narcissism, isolation, aggressiveness, suspicion, and vindictiveness.

Nevertheless, it is very difficult, almost impossible, for a simple layman to recognize a serial killer, especially one who has a well-defined mask of normality. As Ted Bundy said, "Serial killers are us, your fathers, your sons, we are everywhere." Therefore, each of us should be careful and know at least the basics of the behavior of a serial killer.

1. Prevention of crimes characterized as serial murders

Thanks to a huge research work Alexander Bukhanovsky managed to establish how mental disorders are formed that can turn a person into a maniac. At first, the child repeatedly scrolls through the scene he has seen in his head, experiencing only curiosity combined with horror. Over time, this becomes a habit, then he begins to invent scenes of violence on his own, feeling like a director. This is expressed in sadistic drawings. For example: a stump, an ax, blood, a decapitated chicken. Then, in fantasies, a person (girl, woman) became the object of violence. At the same time, there was an impoverishment of interests: patients lost interest in studies, left home, or completely closed in on themselves, only formally submitting to circumstances. It was at this stage that they developed aggressive behavior. Bukhanovsky is confident that early diagnosis and therapy of the childhood variant of the "Chikatilo phenomenon" is not only possible, but also a real form of preventing criminal behavior in patients in the future. Despite such a hopeless picture, it is possible to get rid of the tendency to sadism. According to Professor Bukhanovsky, given the complexity of the origin of serial sexual sadists, the main principle of therapy is the complexity of therapeutic measures. The patient must be treated with medical, psychotherapeutic and physiotherapeutic methods. True, one cannot count on a quick result here, it may take several years.

Among the factors contributing to the increase in the number of serial murders, Alexander Olimpievich singles out excessive coverage in the media of the details of already committed crimes, which undoubtedly provokes people prone to violence to commit criminal acts. Here is what he said in a recent interview: “The demonstration of naturalistic scenes, cruelty and sadism can lead individuals with a specific predisposition to the emergence of imprinting with the subsequent formation of negative actions. Television violence has recently literally overwhelmed the viewer, and not only German. Daily monitoring of depreciation human life negatively affects the subconscious of children and adolescents. A hero who evokes a feeling of sympathy in the viewer often breaks the law and commits violence. This is present even in cartoons for the smallest and irrationally enters the worldview, forms life values.

Analyzing the above, we can draw the following conclusions:

1. The work of child psychologists in schools and kindergartens will definitely, with the proper qualifications of a specialist, and the attention of parents and teachers, help in identifying potential serial killers. And their proper treatment can prevent many crimes. Therefore, it is necessary to centrally, at the state level, approach the problem of providing children's institutions with psychologists, and naturally, with the same attention to their training, use the methods developed by our own scientists to improve their skills in identifying a tendency to violence.
2. The introduction of certain limits for the media, temporary for television and radio broadcasting, or even possibly censorship for print publications, would undoubtedly bear fruit. It is no coincidence that a sharp increase in crimes of a pronounced sexual nature, associated with sadism and murder, has occurred in the past 2 decades, this is due precisely to the fact that today a person sees violence with all the needs from a TV screen, computer display or reads about a crime in print in excessive amount. According to the German magazine Hörzu, a person only watches 25 hours a week of continuous violence from the TV screen. Naturally, protecting the broad masses from violence will lead to a decrease in the number of violent crimes. A recent attempt by the legislator to do so in the form of an introduction age restrictions, is not as effective as we would like, on the other hand, any restrictions that may be imposed on the media run counter to the Constitution, with its principles of information availability. This is a complex problem, and its solution is still far away, but at least the fact that work has begun on it is encouraging.
3. The law enforcement agencies of our country should be obliged to use the already developed methods and experience of our scientists in their work. I consider it extremely unfair that in the West the works of Bukhanovsky and his colleagues are widely recognized and widely used, while at home, as it often happens, unfortunately, his work is not used as widely as we would like, after all, his ubiquitous developments would save many lives.

Conclusion

In this work, I tried to get closer to understanding what drives serial killers, what are their personal characteristics, the combination of which factors can form a maniac. The phenomenon of serial murders is not fully understood, but criminology is developing at a rapid pace, especially in the United States. It is understandable because the US population is 5% of the world's population, while 74% of all serial killings take place in the US. There are specialists in the United States who can identify a serial killer by the scene of the crime, the murder weapon, the victim, and many other factors. Among them are Robert Ressler, John Douglas, Robert Keppel, Kim Rossmo and many others. We should also be proud of our specialists. In particular, Rostovskiy, who achieved 100% detection of seriality, and of course Professor Bukhanovsky and his daughter Olga, who proved that a tendency to violence can be detected by studying the psychology of a person. Unfortunately, domestic law enforcement agencies do not pay due attention to these works, but Western experts highly appreciate such studies.

In conclusion, I would like to note the fact that, despite the revealed predisposition, maniacs are not born, they become. Society itself gives birth to them, we are all guilty of this phenomenon. Everyone who turns a blind eye to the bullying of neighbors' children or wives, to cruelty towards someone else's child at school, and even those who walk past homeless animals, are all guilty. I will give a rather hackneyed, but clearly illustrating state of affairs in modern society Edmund Burke's phrase: "For evil to flourish, it is enough that good people do nothing"

Literature

1. May A., Bauchner H. Fever phobia: The pediatricians contribution // Pediatrics, 1992. Vol. 90. P. 851-854.
2. Robert K. Ressler, Ann Wolbert Burgess, John E. Douglas, Sexual Homicide: patterns and motives, 1995 G .
3. Sexual Homicide: patterns and motives - Robert K. Ressler, Ann Wolbert Burgess, John E. Douglas, 1995..
4. Akhmedshin R.L., "On the nature of the "mask of normality" of serial killers",Izvestia magazine 2(20), 2001, ed.: "Izvestiya AltGU".
5. Baidakov G.P. Legal and psychological and pedagogical aspects of individual educational work with convicts // Personality of the offender and individual impact on them: Sat. scientific tr. M.: VNII MVD USSR, 1989. S. 100 113.
6. Guldan V.V., Pozdnyakova S.P., “Personality of criminals and individual impact on them” M., 1989, pp. 17-28.
7. Malygina Vita, Belopolskaya Victoria, Kozhevnikova Maria, “Specialists of the mysterious “profile”, Psychologies No. 13, 2007-02-00.
8. Steven Juan, Oddities of Our Brain, ed.:Ripol Classic, 2008
9. Stroiteleva Elena, "The Teaching about Chikatils", interview with A.O. Bukhanovsky, electronic edition of "Izvestia" article dated June 12, 2001.
10. Freud Sigmund, "The Beaten Child: On the Origin of Sexual Perversions," Venus in Furs, ed. RIC "Culture", 1992

Electronic resources

1. http://www.serial-killers.ru.
2. http://ru.wikipedia.org .

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1.2 Prerequisites for the formation of the personality of a serial killer

You can consider the alienation of the individual as a psychological prerequisite for criminal behavior.

Psychological and criminological studies indicate that a significant part of criminals is at a certain socio-psychological distance from society and its moral and legal values. They are alienated both from society as a whole and from small groups (family, work collective, friends, etc.) or have significantly weakened ties with them. In psychological terms, alienation is, as it were, a person's departure from interpersonal interaction, which has significant psychological and social consequences, including those of a criminogenic nature.

Researchers identify the following aspects of personality alienation that are significant for understanding the socio-psychological „causes of criminal behavior.

1) Alienation makes it difficult for a person to assimilate social norms that regulate behavior. Since these norms have not been assimilated by the personality, they have not become an integral part of its inner world, they are "foreign" for it, not obligatory for execution. It is no coincidence that many criminals do not understand why, in fact, they were punished, although they know what law they violated. Hence their disagreement with punishment, which sharply reduces its educational impact.

2) Alienation of the personality in early childhood due to the failure of the family to fulfill its main function - the inclusion of the child in the structure of society through the internalization of moral and legal norms by the mechanism of imitation of parents - can lay the foundations of an asocial personality isolated from a socially positive microenvironment - family, educational and labor collectives and other small groups. In the absence of a compensatory upbringing, this can lead to maladaptive illegal behavior, largely provoking a relapse of crimes.

3) The alienation of a person can lead to the formation of a stable antisocial attitude in her, manifested in a negative or even hostile attitude towards the environment, which, by the mechanism of projection, can provoke aggressive behavior in such persons.

4) Alienation of a person, isolation from a socially positive microenvironment encourages him to search for a microenvironment where he could find recognition and support. Such a microenvironment are groups of antisocial orientation, consisting of the same alienated and maladjusted personalities. Prolonged stay in such groups leads to the criminalization of the individual with its subsequent degradation.

5) Breaking the ties of a person with a normal microenvironment leads to a violation of social control, non-compliance with established norms of behavior. Being stuck in an antisocial group, which is a reference for a person, forms his excessive attachment to this group, identification with it, readiness to commit any group crime.

6) Isolation, isolation from others, withdrawal into oneself turns into moral impoverishment, lack of empathy, that is, the ability to feel, experience the emotional states of another person, empathize with him, which contributes to the commission of especially serious violent crimes.

Studies show that the most alienated are vagrants, and among them - alcoholics. Another category of the alienated are those sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. Many of them used to be quite well adapted to society, but during their stay in places of deprivation of liberty, the ability to adapt is significantly lost. Practitioners of correctional teams have long paid attention to such a paradoxical, at first glance, phenomenon: individual repeatedly convicted recidivists who do not have stable family and other emotional ties, after their release, again strive to return to the “zone”.

According to scientists, in general, the psychological alienation of the individual can be defined as most often developed as a result of emotional rejection by parents (mental deprivation), out of indifference, socio-psychological distance between the individual and the environment, isolation from the values ​​of society, exclusion from emotional contacts. Mental deprivation and the alienation it generates can be seen as a cause of criminal behavior. By themselves, these factors do not fatally lead to the commission of crimes. However, they form a general undesirable orientation of the personality, its unconscious attitudes that predetermine criminally punishable forms of response to specific conflicts.

Anxiety acts as the psychological basis of criminal behavior.

Along with the alienation of the individual, anxiety, which is an objectless fear, fear in general, has no less, and perhaps even greater criminogenicity. Most often, anxiety is based on some sources of threat that are not recognized by the individual, associated with the deprivation of the need for security. As a personal property, it manifests itself in a constant feeling of self-doubt, powerlessness in front of external factors, in an exaggeration of their power and threatening nature. Such a permanent state can lead to disorganization of behavior, a change in its direction. In some cases, anxiety can actively stimulate criminal behavior when a person begins to feel the need to protect himself from people or phenomena that he subjectively perceives as threatening or destructive.

An extreme form of expression of anxiety is the fear of death, which, like anxiety, develops if the child is not accepted by the parents. Rejection as an extreme form of rejection leads to a lack of a sense of security, to the development of a neurotic personality, which is characterized by the fear of death.

There are the following phases in the development of psychologically alienated individuals:

the occurrence of an anxiety reaction;

the accumulation of negative unconscious experiences, which may also be hidden;

a state of exhaustion, manifested in violent actions against the social environment, subjectively perceived as hostile.

Criminogenicity of anxiety consists not only in the fact that it includes anxiety, a feeling of insecurity, vulnerability, but also in the fact that it determines a specific perception environment as alien and hostile. According to the mechanism of emotional transfer, such a person considers the norms and prohibitions of this environment as alien, as a result of which he gets out of the influence of social control. Maladaptive behavior and an appropriate attitude towards the world develop. Unconsciously projecting his hostile, aggressive aspirations, motives on the outside world, the person perceives the environment as such.

Thus, the presence of anxiety, the unconscious feeling of the illusiveness and fragility of one's being, the fear of death qualitatively distinguish the criminal from the non-criminal and are the main psychological causes of some forms of criminal behavior. "In other words, a person commits a crime in order not to destroy his ideas about himself, his place in the world, his sense of self, self-worth, his biological and social being would not disappear."

In the quiet town of Pomichna in the Kirovohrad region, a distant relative of a legendary intelligence officer raped women, dismembered their bodies and took them to a landfill in bags. It was a locksmith of the local elevator. Never noticed anything out of the ordinary.

What turns seemingly normal people into merciless maniacs? Is it possible to "calculate" them until the number of victims goes to dozens?

There are people who are excited by fantasies - the desire to destroy, to rape. For most, a certain psychological barrier is triggered. However, not all. Imagine that a person who is biologically inclined to violence or murder watches films about maniacs and murderers on TV every day. He gets a push, it becomes easier for him to cross the line of what is permitted.

A 15-year-old from Kiev cut off his mother's head, tried to distort her features on a gas stove. I couldn't. Then for three days he literally planed his mother's body and flushed it down the toilet. During the investigation, he said that he was extremely interested in watching horror films.

Recently detained in Kyiv young man who raped and killed women, mocking them enough. He said: "I saw enough of the militants and twisted her neck, like there." But in addition to a fracture of the cervical vertebrae, more than a hundred stab wounds were counted on the girl's body.

The subjects of the cultural and social environment (and we include the mass media) have enormous potential for socio-psychological impact - both in a positive and negative direction. According to official figures, rape has decreased. In fact, there are fewer reports of rape because the victims are afraid of disclosure, they are bribed. Violence has become commonplace.

The sexual behavior of the 50s-60s is incomparable to the behavior of the 80s-90s-2000s. But the vast majority of serial murders were committed and are committed, as a rule, precisely on sexual grounds.

The constantly observed scenes of violence on TV screens lead to the fact that the psychological barriers that held back biological motivation are gradually removed. Every day a person sees or reads how to hunt for their victims.

Factors affecting crime

Drugs and alcohol. Alcohol facilitates the onset of affect and intensifies it, releases sexual aggression. Climate influences. Residents of hot countries are subject to constant nervous excitement, outbursts of aggression and incontinence, they are also characterized by excessively early sexual maturation. In a cold climate, people direct a significant part of their forces to extracting what nature itself gives to the southerners. In Europe, as we move from north to south, the number of violent crimes increases dramatically. In the southern states of the United States, murders are 15 times higher than in the northern ones. The climatic factor is not decisive, but it is very significant.

Heredity

Hereditary predisposition to crime may never be realized without a certain set of external factors. And yet... In the 18th century in America lived a certain person of "light morals" - Max and his wife Ada - a drunkard and a thief. Max left behind many children. Researchers traced several generations of his descendants. Only three daughters before marriage were women of "easy virtue", there were very few criminals in the second generation, but in the fourth it reached 24 people, in the fifth - 60. Then the number of women of "easy virtue" increased from 14 to 90, vagrants - from 11 to 74. In the third generation, syphilitic and "walking" women accounted for 69 per cent of the total number of family members. In the sixth and seventh generations, the number of criminals decreased, which allowed researchers to put forward a hypothesis about the possible natural degeneration of the anomalous branch and its premature extinction. In this family, infertility rose from nine cases in the third generation to 22 in the fifth, and infant mortality in last years research has reached 300. Family members spent a total of about 120 years in prison, and in the fifth generation, all the women were "easy virtue", and the men were criminals.

Many cases can be cited when children, while not yet having any life experience, show excessive aggressiveness and a tendency to sadism. Sometimes mothers come to psychologists or psychiatrists and ask to cure the child, otherwise they threaten to strangle him with their own hands. The sooner work begins with such children, the more chances they have to become normal. As a rule, either their parents (or one of them), or someone from their family, suffered from mental illness or was drunk.

Serial murders are more often committed on sexual grounds, but sometimes on the grounds of missionary work, persuasion and profit.

For example, Onoprienko and Chikatilo are united only by the multi-episode nature of crimes and a large number of victims. Everything else is disconnected. Chikatilo killed on sexual grounds. And Onoprienko went "on business" in the hope of profiting. Yes, from time to time sexual motives “erupted” from him. But from the very first woman he contracted gonorrhea, and sexual violence was not his goal. Dreaming of killing 360 people, he cultivated cruelty in himself. Unfortunately, we do not know everything about his adventures. Onoprienko's wife said that once he brought her a handful of gold jewelry. He did not say what he did abroad. Perhaps later, when he wants to renew his interest in himself, he will tell about it. He has nothing to loose.

Between 40 and 60 per cent of offenders suffer from some form of mental disorder. Abroad, they are classified as limitedly sane. With regard to the crime committed, these people are sane. But in connection with the existing disorders, in addition to serving the sentence, they must also be treated. In Italy, England, Canada and other countries there are special penitentiaries for this. We, due to poverty, do not. But people with mental disabilities should be treated and receive full treatment even behind bars.

Serial crimes are relatively stable. In Russia, for example, one serial killer accounts for one million and a half normal people.

Statistics

A study of sexual crimes committed over three years showed that their maximum occurred on Friday and Saturday, the minimum - on Thursday. In January, the number of crimes was twice as high as in December, and in the following months there was a clear alternation of a decline in even months and an increase in odd months, stabilizing at a relatively low level in November and December. The maximum rise occurred in spring, the minimum - in autumn, and in spring and summer these figures occupy a middle position. This probably reflects the connection of sexual crimes with the biorhythms of people's sexual activity.

Alcohol is the main factor that provokes the commission of rape. At the same time, about 10 per cent. victims were themselves in a state of intoxication.

Almost everyone has a predisposition to violence of varying degrees of severity. A group of normal men were shown slides depicting scenes of rape accompanied by a tape recording. Many of the subjects immediately reacted with the development of sexual arousal both to the process of rape and to the reaction of resistance and fear shown by the victim. None of the group of subjects not only never participated in rape and other crimes, but also did not think about it, and in sexual life did not show sexual aggressiveness.

Foreign experts divide the ruthless killers into three "specializations" that are well distinguished from each other: the mass murderer, the connecting rod killer and the serial killer.

A mass murderer kills several people in a row in one place.

Shatun commits numerous murders in various places also in a relatively short period of time.

A serial killer kills for months and even years before being arrested. In contrast to the first two types, which are mostly mentally ill, the serial is a "sane" psychopath. He is well organized, which makes it difficult to identify and apprehend him.

Portrait of a serial killer

Russian scientists have identified the following forensic features of serial murders.

1. Multi-episode crimes. Serial crimes are multiple, identical and homogeneous.

2. Plurality of crimes. Individual episodes of the series include several types of crimes at once: violence, premeditated murder, bodily harm or the threat of causing them. Often in combination with crimes against property - robbery, robbery, theft.

3. High recurrence rate. Two-thirds of serial killers have previous convictions, many more than once. Most often for rape, crimes against property, murder and grievous bodily harm.

4. Actual non-remission of serial criminal violence. On average, after release from places of deprivation of liberty, the next crime related to the previous series was committed after 7.4 months.

5. Extreme danger and severity of recidivism of serial crimes. Recidivism tends to be characterized by an increasing severity and brutality of the crimes.

6. Early age of series onset (mean 23.8 years). As a rule, a criminal biography begins immediately with a series, less often with a different corpus delicti at an earlier age.

7. Aggravation of violence from conviction to conviction. Researchers note the following dynamics of convictions: property crimes - sexually motivated crimes - premeditated murders with torture of victims.

8. Of the psychosocial characteristics of the personality of serial killers, one can distinguish a predominantly low level of education, an idle lifestyle (they did not work and did not study), family maladaptation (mainly bachelors and divorced).

The method of deprivation of life in all series is stereotyped, distinguished by stereotypes. In most episodes, criminal episodes are preceded by a state of intoxication. Approximately one third of murderers commit crimes while sober.

Criminal episodes are characterized by unjustified cruelty, painful and multiple injuries, mockery, including over the corpse. In almost every series of murders, specific individual traits are noted that make it possible to single out the sadistic handwriting of a particular criminal.

Here, perhaps, are the main reasons for the commission of murders by serials. As can be seen from the above examples, often different reasons overlap, prompting the maniac to kill. Ruslan Khamarov This serial killer is an interesting representative of the category of "home-based maniacs" of the former USSR. He was born in 1973 in Berdyansk. This city of the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine with a population of 120 thousand people ...

... . No. 1. 22. Petin I.A. The main condition for the formation of the criminal orientation of human behavior // Legal Psychology. 2007. No. 3. 23. Pisarevskaya E.A. Criminological characteristics of the personality of a violent criminal: on the example of the city of Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo region // Actual problems state and law. Novokuznetsk, 2005. 24. Polyanskaya V.A. Directional distortion...

The main characteristic features of persons who commit violent crimes are defective social identification, emotional dullness, and impulsive aggressiveness. Persons guilty of murder, bodily harm, torture, rape, hooligan actions are distinguished by extreme desocialization, stereotyping antisocial behavioral skills, in many cases suffer from alcoholism. Their behavior is characterized by extreme egocentrism , the desire for immediate satisfaction of spontaneously arisen desires, primitivism and cynicism. They see violence as the only way to resolve conflicts. These individuals are characterized by the widespread use of means of psychological self-defense - self-justification by them of their antisocial behavior, shifting the blame onto the victim and external circumstances.

The negative qualities of this category of criminals are formed in extremely negative conditions. microenvironments , in conditions of reduced social control. Significant factors in the formation of this behavior are emotional deprivation in childhood (lack of love, affection, contacts), alienation from the family and socially positive groups.

Aggressive behavior is correlated with such negative personality traits as elevated level anxiety, high self-esteem, malice, egocentrism, low tolerance (inability to endure difficulties), autism (social alienation), inability to emotional sympathy (asintonity).

Aggressiveness can be object-undifferentiated (malice, conflict nature) and selective-objective (constantly directed at certain social objects - subordinates, individual family members, people with certain personal qualities).

AT violent Violent aggressiveness is often manifested in crimes - severe physical and mental injuries are inflicted. This type of aggressive behavior indicates a deep personal deformation, the formation of a stable attitude towards aggressive behavior in the individual, the constant readiness of the individual to harm people, and the extremely low social self-control of the individual. These personality defects in some cases are exacerbated by alcoholism, traumatic brain injury, and mental illness. The behavior of these persons in conflict situations for them, containing personality-critical features, is characterized by the following features: the inability of the individual to restrain the first aggressive impulse, to predict the development of the conflict and the consequences of aggressive actions, lack of knowledge of the system of behavioral techniques.

AT mercenary-violent In crimes, aggressiveness is often used only as a means to achieve a selfish goal. In these cases, the so-called instrumental aggression takes place. In violent crimes, the so-called hostile aggressiveness comes to the fore - aggression, causing damage acts as an end in itself. The duration and cruelty of violence here depend on the criminal goal - to humiliate the victim, cause her severe suffering out of motives of jealousy, revenge, self-affirmation, etc. In group violent crimes, aggression is often committed under the influence of group pressure, group traditions.

In terms of the interaction of the offender with the victim, violent crimes can be divided into two varieties: 1) the victim is not involved in the aggressiveness of the offender; 2) the victim provoked conflict interaction with the offender; the aggressiveness of the offender arose in the course of the development of an interpersonal conflict, a sharp confrontation between the actualized interests, attitudes and goals of the victim and the perpetrator, as a result of interactive antagonism.

The conflict interaction of the parties begins with the emergence of any threat for them (well-being, personal dignity, physical integrity, etc.). At the same time, the intellectual, emotional-volitional and physical resources of the opposing sides are mobilized. The parties carry out threatening, infringing and goal-blocking actions, i.e. actions are destructive, disrupting the functioning of the partner. There is a confrontation between the mental structures of conflicting personalities. Each side seeks to take a strategically advantageous position, reflects on the possible behavior of the other side, and takes preventive actions.

Spontaneous conflicts with an aggressive end are most often caused by the desire for situational dominance, the possession of material values, a situation of asymmetry of rights (when one of the opposing parties has a pre-emptive right to some good), the incompatibility of equal actions. Direct provocations are also possible in order to defuse emotional tension and create a pretext for an aggressive attack. Any conflict that arises tends to escalate.

The criminal actions of random criminals are the result of their inadequate response to sudden acute conflict situations. Their criminal behavior is associated with their unformed ways of an adequate way out of a conflict situation. In many cases, violent crimes are committed by them due to the so-called accumulation of feelings, as a discharge of gradually accumulating conflicts in the family, in a group environment. These crimes are associated with an affective outburst on the basis of revenge, jealousy, resentment, and even for a minor reason.

Resistant type of violent offender is distinguished by a constant aggressive orientation, the formation of a stereotype of the use of brute force, and for this there is always a reason in the external environment.

Malicious type Violent offender is characterized by stereotyped aggressive behavior, a stable focus of this individual on the commission of violent acts. For malicious types of violent criminals, aggressiveness is the dominant way of their self-affirmation, and the cruelty of the act is an end in itself. This type of behavior finds steady acceptance in the criminalized microenvironment. Losing the remnants of social responsibility, malicious violent criminals do not stop even before the murder.

Research shows that the types of killers are the hardest to identify. The motives of the killers are varied: murders out of hooligan motives, self-interest and revenge, jealousy and envy, fear and anger. The most dangerous are the killers who show particular cruelty and cynicism, usually committing murders during robbery, acts of revenge, in order to get rid of hated persons (“malicious” killers).

Evil killer - a special psychological type of criminal. This type of criminal is distinguished by a stable antisocial attitude, a deep antisocial deformity of the personality. His extremely primitive life orientation, immorality, the predominance of base needs also determine extremely primitive methods of action. These are usually people with previous convictions, who have not been resocialized in places of deprivation of liberty, and who do not have a significant social status. Their everyday behavior is criminal, asocial, carried out in the conditions of a criminal subculture. Any influence from outside they meet as personal attacks, they treat with hatred the “right”, prosperous people. Experiencing chronic emotional and mental tension, anxiety, they are ready for impulsive discharge on the most insignificant occasions. Deep anti-social deformation of the entire personality structure is the main feature of a malicious killer.

There are many psychopaths among violent criminals (according to various estimates, from 30 to 60%) and people with borderline mental disorders. Among the most criminogenic anomalies of the psyche are primarily alcoholism, and then various personality disorders: dissocial, impulsive, emotionally unstable, paranoid, hysterical, schizoid.

Psychiatrist O. G. Vilensky distinguishes among other disorders schizoid, for which he considers pathological homicide mania to be typical - the desire to kill, which "does not follow from delusional ideas or hallucinations in these people, but exists by itself, prompting them to look for more and more new victims." He writes that quite often it is this disorder that explains the commission of many cruel and unmotivated murders, including serial and sexual ones.

Many modern psychologists study the behavior and motivation of killers. It was revealed that people go to crime if they do not receive satisfaction of physical and psychological needs. But, you see, you can meet few people who would be happy with everything, while they do not go to commit murder. What separates criminals from ordinary people?

Motivation of the killer and the common man

It should be noted that the majority of criminals who decide to take the life of another person. were previously convicted. According to foreign studies, almost 75 percent of all convicts are sociopaths. This type includes individuals who always enter into various conflicts and do not learn from punishment. They are deprived of loyalty to society, parents. This is what makes them different from ordinary people.

In addition, more and more often you can meet people for whom murder acts as a motive. At the same time, the offender can be pushed to commit an act and benefit, revenge, envy or jealousy. Of course, every person can experience such emotions and experiences from time to time. But the killer not only tries to solve the problem that has arisen in this way, but also receives satisfaction from violence, as well as a kind of psychological relaxation.

Features of the value-normative system

It was found that there are significant differences between murderers and law-abiding people at the level of awareness of rights, duties and norms. For example, agreement with the criminal law and the practice of its use is more pronounced among ordinary people, although the awareness in the legal field in these two categories is approximately on the same level. The level of assimilation of values ​​and norms among killers is lower. Therefore, the urge that keeps the perpetrator from other negative acts is the fear of an undesirable result.

Psychological traits that distinguish a killer from an ordinary person

Killers tend to have poor social adaptability and a sense of dissatisfaction with their position. Most often, they are dominated by such a personality trait as impulsiveness. It is expressed in a decrease in self-control, rash acts and emotional infantilism. Unlike ordinary people, they do not understand the value of another person's life. What distinguishes them from other criminals is their emotional lability, an exceptional perception bias.

In this way, ordinary person from the killer are distinguished by psychological traits of character, attitude to norms and rules, motives of behavior.