In the latest freely downloadable edition of my favourite radio programme, Start The Week, you can listen to David Wilson, Professor of Criminology, talking about his new book, "Serial Killers: Hunting Britons and their Victims, 1960-2006". He's a man who's met virtually every British serial-killer since the 1960's and has strong opinions on how to deal with the current and future affairs as related to serial-killing in Britain. Here's the synopsis, courtesy of STW:
There have been 326 victims of British serial killers since 1960. In a new book, PROFESSOR DAVID WILSON examines why certain groups including the poor, elderly, gay, children and sex workers are particularly vulnerable and he argues that society and the state are responsible for their victimisation by failing to protect marginalised people in the community. Serial Killers: Hunting Britons and their Victims, 1960-2006 is published by Waterside Press.
You can download the podcast by right-clicking this link picking "save as", et.c., and listen to the panel discussing this. The bit about Wilson starts at 24:23.
For those of you not inclined to download it, here are a few key bits from the radio episode:
Wilson argues that society as its most fragmented and unhappy produces most serial-killers; in 1986 there were more serial-killings committed and more serial-killers active than during any other year in the history of Britain this far. 1986 was a year when Margaret Thatcher ruled Britain, where her government laid off many a coal-miner, stationed nuclear cruise-missiles abroad, supported Ronald Reagan, et.c. which directly affected the lives of the poor in many a bad way.
During his interviews with British serial-killers, Wilson soon found out that the social factors that seem to have triggered them to kill were issues that affect most human beings, e.g. the death of a close relative or receiving little or no appreciation in life. Of course these are merely the triggers, not the reasons, for the would-be killers to act.
Police incompetence was touched briefly. Wilson states that Peter Sutcliffe, known as the Yorkshire Ripper, was interviewed by police 13 times and should have been arrested much earlier. Wilson also points to the case of Dennis Nilsen as one riddled with faults made by the police.
Most serial-murders in Britain committed in 1960-2006 were committed by notorious Doctor Harold Shipman, who has been found guilty of killing 215 people (although the number 250 is more probable). Even so, Wilson states that he shares special characteristics with most other British serial-killers, implying the number of killings isn't really interesting, but the social factors are.
The vulnerable people in British communities, and indeed in any community where serial-killers are active, are the ones most often chosen as victims by serial-killers. In Britain, elderly women is the most common pick for serial-killers. In contrast, the most common victim of murder in Britain is male children. Serial-killers mostly pick out certain groups to kill, and Wilson firmly believes that society's fault at protecting these groups is to blame before one blames the killer, so to speak; of course, he believes in individual responsibility, but the interesting question is: what would happen if society and the state helped these people instead of neglecting them? As discussed by Michael Newton in his book "Century of Slaughter", society often cares less when vulnerable victims are killed; in the case of the Green River Killer, people who lived in the area where the victims (in this case solely prostitutes) were killed at times stated they liked the "job" the serial-killer did, in "ridding" the area of "hookers". Au contraire, the people of Los Angeles freaked totally when Richard Ramirez killed all kinds of people, not caring about sex, race, age or wealth.