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In the 1970s and 1990s, the world was periodically shaken by news of another serial killer. Some of them, like Ted Bundy and the Zodiac, have even become pop culture heroes. But over the past 30 years, the number of such stories has declined.
Sharp decline in the number of serial killers
According to Radford University, there were about 1980 serial killers operating in the United States in the 770s, and just under 1990 in the 670s. A sharp decline occurred at the beginning of the new century, when the figure fell below 400, and by the mid-2010s – below 100 .According to rough estimates, the global indicator for the same period has changed in much the same way. Accordingly, the number of victims also fell: in 1987, 189 people died at the hands of serial killers in the United States, and 2015 in 30.
Although the stories about maniacs are still very popular in popular culture, almost all of them refer to the events of the past. For example, the 2019 film Beautiful, Bad, Ugly is dedicated to Ted Bundy, an American maniac who brutally murdered over 30 girls in the mid-1970s. The hit Netflix series Mindhunter is also set in the 1970s and 1980s. FBI agents investigate serial murders and revolutionize forensic science by studying the psychology of maniacs for the first time in history. They are trying to deduce patterns in behavior that would help to calculate and catch them.
James Alan Fox, professor of criminology at Northeastern University in Boston, points to this anachronism: “They’re all focused on past cases. Culturally, we’re still talking about killers from decades ago.” Experts identify several reasons why the number of serial murders in the modern world has dropped so sharply.
New methods of investigation
One of the popular theories to explain the sharp decline in crime is that in 1986 forensic scientists first used DNA testing. Soon, other genetic methods were also being adapted for crime investigations. In 2018, for example, police discovered the Golden State Killer through DNA testing, decades after he killed 12 women between 1976 and 1986. They compared his DNA with a sample found on a genealogy site of a distant relative. Thomas Hargrove, founder of the criminological data project Responsibility for Murder, notes: “Serial killings have become more dangerous. Thanks to DNA and advanced forensics, serial killers are more likely to be found.”
Public spaces have become safer
Over the past decades, the number of social factors that allowed serial killers to commit crimes and go unpunished has sharply decreased. For example, Ted Bundy abducted most of his victims on the street, often in the middle of the day. Now this would be very problematic due to the ubiquitous surveillance cameras.
Another risk factor in the past has been hitchhiking. Now people use this method of transportation much less often, and the idea is firmly entrenched in the public mind that getting into a car with a stranger is dangerous. The development of online taxi services has also contributed to the growth of the security level. Cases of violence by taxi drivers are still encountered, but in modern conditions, the attacker has practically no chance to escape responsibility, and he understands this very well.
The dissemination of means of communication also played an important role. Smartphones, smartwatches and other gadgets that allow you to track the location of the owner or send a distress signal have dramatically changed the situation.
Development of psychological assistance
Society has become better at identifying and working with potential serial killers in the early stages of their personality development. Hargrove argues that early catalysts for crime (family distress, sexual abuse, and others) can be eliminated by “quality communication with a child psychologist.” He also adds that pornography can quench the impulses that often precede sexual murders. According to the expert, “perhaps the sewer, which is a large part of the Internet, gives these guys a non-violent outlet.”