Why are the vast majority of serial killers white?

Factual Questions
1

This question may belong over in Great Debates instead of here. If the moderator chooses to move it, I won’t pout.

Why is it that the vast majority of serial killers are white?

Not every SK is white, of course, but the only black one I remember was that child killer down in Atlanta back in the '70s, and the only Hispanic I can remember is the Boxcar Killer from a year or two ago. I can’t think of a single Asian SK. Other than those two, every SK I can remember, from the Boston Strangler to Ted Bundy, is white. What cultural or socio-economic factors would account for this difference? Has there ever been a study of this aspect of the SK phenomenon?

Or is it even true? Is it just that white ones get most of the news coverage while the others get buried in the back pages (except maybe for local coverage)?

2

Maybe since there are only a dozen or so “serial killers” (more than 5 victims, not killed at the same time) it doesn’t surpise me that most but not all are white. Maybe if there were 200-300 serial killers then their racial profile would better match the population in general. Is that what you want?

3

Richard Ramirez (the “Night Stalker”) was Hispanic, as were Columbia’s Pedro Alonzo Lopez and Luis Gavarito. There was Javed Iqbal in Pakistan, Ahmad Suradji in Indonesia, and Moses Sithole in South Africa.

The first answer that springs to mind as to why most American serial killers are white is that most Americans are white.

Robert Ressler’s books contain his speculations about the cultural processes that create serial killers, but his homepage doesn’t appear to carry any information about it and I can’t seem to find any good links online.

4

quote: I can’t think of a single Asian SK.

Charles Ng, convicted SK from Northern California.

Here’s a good site with lots of information:
http://www.mayhem.net/Crime/serial1.html

5

I can offer three suggestions:

First, serial killers are extremely hard to catch. When an American police force suspects they are dealing with a serial killer, they often find some pretense to haul in the FBI (thank God for the regulation of interstate trade, or whatever that pretense is). Most countries do not have the luxury of calling in an investigative team of the level of competence that the FBI displays. I cite the story of the serial killer in Moscow whose exploits were actually concealed by the KGB because they couldn’t catch him. (Of course, that fellow was a caucasian, too.)

Therefore, I contend, Americans catch more serial killers than most countries. As pointed out above, a plurality of Americans are white. That might get you part of your answer.

Second, the classic FBI profile created by Robert Ressler and John Douglass is that a serial killer is a white male, 25-40, who drives a red vehicle. In other words, they’re looking for white guys from the get-go. You won’t find that for which you do not search.

There is a related factor in this assumption. Most apprehended serial killers are those who target white women. A notable exception was Dahmer, who preyed largely on non-white males, and who was caught practically by accident (one of his victims who temporarily escaped was actually returned to him by the police). One has to ponder the question, “do serial killers prey mostly on white women, or does society search harder for those serial killers who do?” I don’t have an answer for that, so I’ll just say…

…There is the possibility that a form of racism plays a factor. In the 1920’s, a number of people who displayed serial-killer-like behavior found their way into organized crime. Their murderous exploits were largely chalked up to gangland-style killings. We may not be fully cognizant of something similar happening within the inner-city non-white communities.

The third possibility seems to be somewhat exclusive of the first two. That of course is that white males somehow have a predisposition to be serial killers. As we have seen countless times on these boards, it is exceedingly difficult to show any identifiable, uncontestable differences between races when it comes to matters of the brain. It seems to me that you must disprove the first two contentions above before you can go forward with examining the third.

6

More wild-ass speculation:

The M.O. of many serial killers requires a large amount of space and privacy. The areas of the United States where your average Joe will typically have the amount of space and privacy necessary to abduct someone are more heavily white than the country as a whole.

It’s interesting to note that two of the most infamous serial killers in New York City - the “zodiac killer” and “Son of Sam,” did not operate by abducting people.

I would argue that if you live in a heavily urban area, it’s logistically more difficult (but nowhere near impossible) to be a serial killer.

Anyway, I have nothing to back this up, and I’m sure there are many counter-examples. Just your average ordinary WAG.

(By the way, I agree with the points made above: That there may be a bias towards investigating crimes against whites; that the U.S. F.B.I. is a great police force compared to many others in the world; that there may be a bias towards looking for white perps; and that in fact many serial killers are non-white.)

7

[nitpick]Zodiac operated in and around the SF Bay Area, not NYC. Due to the fact that he was never apprehended, his exploits always scared me more than any other serial killer.[/nitpick]

8

IIRC, that most killers are white males, 24-40, drive red cars, and prey on white females is not so much the profile of most serial killers, but that most SK’s fit this profile.
In other words, if you decide that a SK is at work, you don’t start rounding up young white males in red cars, but after the profile of the SK is generated (and not validated until the SK is caught), you’ll find that they have a reasonable chance of fitting this description. The apparent indication that all SK’s are white is the result of a small pool of information: I could say that a high percentage of Americans drive Porsche’s, if I only sample data from Marin County.

There is definitely a racist component, but it is not that the PROFILE is an inherently racist construct. Rather, the data that goes IN to the process is filtered by non-related racist factors. I.E. - a bunch of deaths in a poor black ghetto are less likely to attract the attention of the FBI or, alternately, have the attention of the FBI solicited by the local police force.

Douglas* refers to this failure repeatedly in his books, and actually, IIRC, addresses (far better than I) the misconception presented in the OP.

As for “Whites are more predisposed to being SKs” - I believe it’s Douglas’ contention that SKs are “made, not born” - so if the particular social conditions (more like “asocial” conditions) are more prevalent in a given ethnic/racial community, then that would validate this statement to some extent.

*My references are “Mind Hunter” by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker and “Journey into Darkness” by John Douglas

9

Speaking of Asians.

There was a spate of serial murders in two Indian cities in the late 1980’s at somewhat different times. The cities were over a thousand miles apart making it even more weird. The killer(s) were never identified and it still is a mystery who he/she was.
Only homeless people sleeping alone at night on the streets were targeted with their heads smashed in with 60-70 lb stone slabs with the slabs being left at the scene.He (she?) was nicknamed the Stone Man. At its peak,hundreds of cops were recruited to patrol the streets at night and nobody was ever caught.Even the best sniffer dogs lost his scent after some yards.

10

I believe that there were some “zodiac” killings in New York City too - perhaps a copycat.

11
12

Okay, so if I understand you correctly, you’re saying that the apparent predominance of whites among serial killers is due to a sampling error which is caused by racial prejudice and/or stereotyping in both local and federal law enforcement agencies. Is that it?

13

What about Idi Amin? Or any of the Hutu/Tutsi warlords who organized reigns of terror? There’s also Toto Constant from Haiti. Or do these not qualify as the textbook definition?
Another question is why aren’t there more female serial killers, like Aileen Wuornos or Dorothea Puente?

14

Are we tossing out Wayne Williams in Atlanta? I know there is still some discussion there. But if you are talking convicted well, he’s black.

In regard to the question about the Asian serial killers in the U.S. there was a Vietnamese-born man who was convicted of being half of a serial killing duo in Calavaras County, California. As I remember his partner was white. They kidnapped young women, tortured and then killed them.

15

TV Wayne Williams was mentioned in the OP (“the only black one I remember was that child killer down in Atlanta back in the '70s,”) and Charles Ng (the other one you mention), mentioned by The O man who also gave a site with more details.

16

Obviously a long day for me…sorry about the redundency!

17

I fit the profile of your basic serial killer;

I’m a 35 year old white male who drives a red car. My neighbours woould probably decribe as that nice guy with the nice wife and kids. I’m the guy you would never suspect of being a serial killer.

Of course, since I live in a predominantly white community there are a ton of guys who would also match this description, right down to the red car, wife, and kids.

The vast number of serial killers in North America will be white because the majority of the population is white.

Travel to another country where caucasians are the minority and I would guess that most of the serial killers in that country would be non-white.

I was reading the news the other day and saw a report of a serial killer in a predominantly Muslim and non-white country (Iran?) who has killed more than a dozen women. His MO is strangulation with a scarf followed by draping the women in a black shroud worn by devout women. His victims are women who have been convicted of criminal activity and prostitution. He (?) has not yet been caught and there hasn’t yet been a lot of effort put in by the police as the killer is removing the “undesirable” elements of a very religious society.

I can’t remember where I read this so would appreciate anyone who knows of this case and could post a link.

My thought on this is that it may not be the work of one person but rather by a group of religious zealots who feel they are doing Allah’s work for him by executing these sinners. It’s just a wild ass guess but who knows? I bet the killer or killers aren’t white in this case.

18

Feynn, I read about the prostitute killings in Iran also, but the article I read didn’t say that the murders were all committed by the same person. As a matter of fact the story mentioned the possibility of a group of people being involved.

But when searching for the article I did find the following information on Aileen Wuornos, a 45-year-old woman who confessed to murdering seven men whom she picked up along Florida (USA) highways.

19

And of course immediately after I post I see that Aileen Wuornos was already mentioned by False_God. Sorry.

20

white rage?