Serial and Mass Murder

Catalog description

This course is an advanced-level special topics elective in the criminal justice major curriculum. Given the cross-disciplinary nature of the topic, non-criminal justice majors are also welcome. This course is a broad-based overview of the phenomena of serial and mass homicide, and will involve learning about the various definitions and theories constructed to explain these types of killings. The course focuses specifically on distinguishing serial homicide from other forms of multiple homicide, on "serial killers" themselves, basic techniques of social-psychological profiling, the demographics of the crime of serial homicide and mass murder, methods of killing, general and serial homicide trends over time, the impact of multiple murder on society as a whole, and the difficulties in apprehension of serial killers and mass murderers from the perspective of law enforcement officials.