Seral Killers in the Media Essay - 929 Words

Serial Killers in the Media Serial killers are a relatively rare, yet commonly publicized, part of our society. The media portrayal of serial killers skews the opinions and creates a stereotype of murderers for the public. James Knoll, MD states in his article, â€Å"Serial Murder: A Forensic Psychiatric Perspective†, that no evidence supports the idea that serial murder is a â€Å"growing epidemic† as people believe it is (qtd. in Johnson-Sheehan amp; Paine, â€Å"Writing Today†, pg 332). This misperception of serial killing was exhibited in the way the media portrayed the â€Å"Hillside Strangler†, a murderer who was killing women in the Los Angeles area by strangling them and leaving them nude in the hilly areas in 1977. The articles reporting the†¦show more content†¦Another article covering the case from The New York Times used similar language to make the killer seem worse. In the article, â€Å"Woman Found in Los Angeles Lot, 11th Apparent Victim of Strangling† , the killer is proclaimed to â€Å"prey on girls and young women† (Associated Press, â€Å"Woman Found in Los Angeles Lot, 11th Apparent Victim of Strangling†). ‘Preying’ has a certain association that comes with it, such as that the killer is an animal. Murderers obviously are not nice people but such wording makes them incredibly more fearful. The article also suggested a category of people who were most likely to be victimized: those from the â€Å"street scene† (Associated Press, â€Å"Woman Found in Los Angeles Lot, 11th Apparent Victim of Strangling†). Many articles announce the victim profile that is provided by the police to the public. This serves a purpose to warn people, but it is not the smoothest tactic. It may make people overly afraid. The â€Å"Woman Found in Los Angeles Lot, 11th Apparent Victim of Strangling† article is not the only example of this. Another article from the Associated Press published in The New York Times also stressed the targeted victim to the public. Declaring that a woman that was young was found murdered and disposed of nude must be a victim of the â€Å"Hillside Strangler† because of the profile (Associated Press, â€Å"Two Women Slain in Los Angeles, One a Possible ‘Strangler’