introduction to serial killers research paper

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Youth Serial Killers: Psychological and Criminological Profiles

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Serial murder is a specific type of violent crime that falls into the crime category of multicide. According to the nomenclature of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Violent Crime Classification Manual and Academic Researchers for the Classification of Violent Crimes, most serial killers are adults. However, serial murder is also committed by young people, although to a lesser extent. Young serial killers are a topic of relevance in areas such as psychology, criminology, and the justice system. Given that the study of the variables that could be the basis of such multicide criminality is not conclusive, the need for further research is evident. The homicides perpetrated by children and young people point to a social panorama that is alarming due to their young age. This issue is prevalent enough to conduct a review. The performed review concludes the importance of psychosocial factors to better understand the process by which children and young people commit crimes as serious as serial murders. The scope of the problem of serial murders perpetrated by minors is controversial because it often depends on how the number of real cases is counted. Although official statistics indicate the low prevalence of juvenile serial killers, childhood is a period in which antisocial behaviour can have its beginning. Some authors consider that it is not uncommon for the first murder of this type to occur in adolescence. It is important to consider psychopathy as an influential factor in the various forms of serial criminal conduct committed by children and young people. The research works consulted provide evidence of the special relevance of psychopathy in the generation of serious juvenile delinquency.

1. Introduction

The phenomenon of serial murders occupies a unique place in the field of Criminology and the criminal justice system, especially when the perpetrators of this and other kinds of violent crimes are underage. In this sense, we use the terms child, juvenile and youth without distinction, as in the Convention on the Rights of the Child [ 1 ], to refer to those under the age of 18 when which they committed homicide.

In addition to the difficulties that this supposes for criminal investigation by the police and judicial systems, serial murder cases attract excessive attention from the media, mental health experts, the academic world, and the general public. This social, media and professional impact is even worse when the serial murders are perpetrated by either young people or women, since reality is greatly softened in the case of these populations, the more unpleasant aspects of the crime tending to be mitigated [ 2 ].

Furthermore, much of the lack of understanding of the phenomenon of serial murders, especially in the case of underage perpetrators, is surrounded by a halo of media sensationalism that usually arises from a question about the mind of serial killers asked and debated across numerous articles and opinion columns: are serial killers born or made? Added to this is another question of a similar nature, which refers to the popular idea of serial killers as predators, monsters, or devils [ 3 ]. In this sense, if this sensationalist question had to be settled, the conclusion would be obvious: serial killers are predators only in the sense that their methods of attack are very similar to those of predatory animals—they stalk, attack, and kill [ 4 ]. On the other hand, labelling them as monsters or devils, however abominable and indescribable the acts of such individuals may be, is only part of the media circus surrounding such cases at both judicial and social levels [ 5 ], and contributes to the media-influenced collective mentality that spares no detail [ 6 ] and which even, inexplicably, makes celebrities of such people [ 7 ].

Nevertheless, the generally badly characterised film image of the typical murderer who creates a plan of action and chooses their victim is ostensibly false in the case of most juvenile homicides. Only in very few cases (mainly serial killers, mass murderers and itinerants) does it respond to reality [ 8 ].

Putting aside the speculations of the media world, only empirical works of research and academic books that deal rigorously with this delicate and singular subject were considered in this review on serial murders perpetrated by children and youths. In this review, the problem of children and youths who commit homicide or murder, but not serially, was first reviewed to differentiate them from those young people who are serial killers.

Secondly, the concept and characterization of serial murders were defined as a form of multicide and as a specific type of violent crime. According to the conceptualization given by both the FBI’s Violent Crime Classification Manual and various researchers, the great majority of serial killers are white males aged between 25 and 35. Nevertheless, serial murder is also committed by youths, although to a much lesser extent.

Thirdly, the analysis of the psychological and criminological profiles of children and youths who had committed serial murders allowed us to characterize them with a series of psychosocial aspects and criminal motivations. In addition, it is also important to stress the need to consider other types of serial criminal conduct in which some young people become involved, and which can be considered as forerunners to the later perpetration of serial murders. Fourthly, the importance and role played by child–juvenile psychopathy in violent, criminal conduct and the perpetration of serial murders was explored.

The acquisition and development of aggressive and violent behaviour patterns, which may increase the risk of minors committing murder, respond to the joint action of multiple etiological factors (psychological, social, biological, environmental, etc.). Given that the study of the variables which might comprise the basis of such multicide criminality is inconclusive, the need for further investigation is evident. This review aims to provide the necessary knowledge to outline the therapeutic needs of serial killer children, and to deal with them through specific interventions.

To achieve a better knowledge of the phenomenon of murder committed by youths, as well as to understand the extent and severity of this phenomenon, we carried out a scoping review of research articles written in various countries.

Similarly, we reviewed and compared research works related to the concept and characterisation of serial killers. In addition, we analysed the said manifestations in youths to be able to understand their psychological and criminological profiles.

The information was obtained from the following databases: ScienceDirect, Scopus and PsycoINFO. For this review, publications were selected using the following descriptors: (serial killers AND youths) AND (juvenile delinquency AND psychosocial OR psychopathy factors).

Concerning exclusion criteria, all those studies in which the said search descriptors were not present were discarded. Similarly, despite the inclusion of research papers related to other serial criminal behaviour patterns often carried out by young people, such as arson, cruelty to animals, or sexual crimes [ 9 ], those studies that referred to non-serial juvenile violence were excluded.

The year of publication of these research papers was not an exclusion criterion, given their scarcity.

3.1. Youth Homicides and Non-Serial Killers: Extent and Severity of the Problem

The extent and severity of the problem of serial murders committed by minors (children and youths) begins with homicide and murder of a non-serial nature, but equally violent. There are numerous cases of this type throughout the world, and they are widely documented.

Despite the terminology frequently used by the media, young delinquents are not monsters or beasts, and often have not committed previous acts of violence [ 10 ]. The analysis and investigation that this author carried out on 80 attempted or consummated homicides, perpetrated by youths, shows that a great number of these crimes occurred because they found it difficult to refuse to participate in something previously planned by a group of peers, so the criminal motivations were only partially due to the minor’s personality. An explanation can often be found in an accumulation of arbitrary circumstances, and in the way an extremely aggressive individual reacts to such circumstances [ 10 ].

In this sense, Lempp [ 10 ] studied the probable motives for homicides committed by young delinquents and situated them in psychic and environmental contexts for each case to contribute to the scientific study of the phenomenon, evaluating the psychological, legal, psychiatric, and social aspects of each case.

Nevertheless, as mentioned previously, if the reality of these cases seems to be twisted, then what is the real extent of the problem? In this sense, the controversy and debate concerning the extreme violence of minors is widespread, since there are a diverse range of opinions and data about criminality in general among minors and young people. Rechea and Fernández [ 11 ] consider that the percentage of young people who commit this type of act is low.

The analysis of the participation of juveniles in homicides is still a serious problem in the USA, since between the mid-1980s and the start of the 1990s, there was an unprecedented growth in homicides perpetrated by youths [ 12 ]. The available data suggest that juveniles currently participate in more homicides than in previous generations [ 13 ].

Independently of the figures, the cases of juvenile homicide and murder cannot be underestimated, since the psychosocial and criminological reality of these cases is as particular as it is fatal for the victims.

Braga, Kennedy, Waring, and Morrison [ 14 ] stress the significance of homicides carried out by youths who belong to street gangs. It must be said that this criminal phenomenon is very particular, as its situational variables are different and should be studied separately from the rest of juvenile crime [ 15 , 16 ].

Due to all of the above, the psychosocial and criminological profile of youths who commit homicide and murder is not comparable to that of the common delinquent. In this sense, Lempp [ 10 ] warns that greater importance is not given to cases of child–juvenile homicide due to the generalized belief that “no-one would have believed them capable of such acts, precisely because they did not fit in any way the general image we have of a murderer”.

3.2. Serial Murders: Conceptual Limits and Main Characteristics

There is much controversy about the operational definition of serial murder [ 17 ]. However, in general, it can be considered a kind of multicide that can be defined as the repeated homicide of two or more persons [ 18 ], and with a cooling-down period between one crime and another [ 4 ].

The term serial killer was first coined to identify individuals who methodically murder a number of people within a period of time, although the motives, the victims and the methods vary from one serial killer to another [ 19 ].

Although the minimum number of victims considered necessary to define murders as serial murders is arbitrary, authors such as Egger [ 20 ] place the said minimum number as at least three victims. Similarly, although there is no single, generally accepted definition, Ferguson, White, Cherry, Lorenz, and Bhimani [ 21 ] coincide in pointing out that the essential element for defining a serial killer is the execution of three or more murders during multiple discreet events. Therefore, traditionally, a serial killer is defined as an individual who has murdered three or more victims [ 18 ].

However, it is important to point out that there are other types of homicide (for instance, terrorists, mass murderers, etc.) in which the perpetrators can murder more than three victims in their first killing spree, but who can then still become serial killers with a cooling-down period between one crime and another [ 22 ].

In any case, the aspect of the number of victims would have to be reconsidered, as there are murderers who only kill one person and are quickly arrested and imprisoned. Then, after studying their criminal behaviour patterns, it can be seen that there is a high probability that they would have killed again if they had not been caught and imprisoned [ 4 ].

The need to have a precise, working definition of a serial killer takes on greater importance when considering the process of generating the psychological and criminological profile of this type of individual, since there are many subtypes of serial killer. This gives rise to a variety of behaviour patterns and criminal motivations that reflect heterogeneous characteristics [ 23 ]. It is thus important to establish the psycho-criminological profile of these multicides on a differential level [ 24 , 25 ].

3.3. The Phenomenon of Serial Murders Committed by Minors

3.3.1. the psycho-criminological profiles of child and youth serial killers: psychosocial aspects and criminal motivations.

Serial murder is a type of multicide predominantly perpetrated by male adults [ 22 ]. The cases of child and youth serial killers are, of course, much less frequent than adult cases [ 9 ]. From the academic and professional sphere of forensic psychiatry, Myers [ 26 ] studied six cases of serial killers who were under 18 years of age throughout the entire series of their crimes, identifying only six in the last 150 years, the majority from the USA. According to this author, at least two of the six serial killers began to commit murder in their adolescence, and most of their successive crimes occurred at somewhat older ages.

According to Myers [ 26 ], each of these six young serial delinquents committed sexually motivated homicides as an expression of their aberrant erotic interest, which they later openly displayed at the crime scenes. The signs of sexual sadism and criminal characteristics reflect the behavioural profile of a more predatory type of violence (proactive or instrumental) than affective or reactive violence. In this sense, Myers [ 26 ] points out that these subjects preferred to use their own hands in the diverse methods and ways used to kill their victims, that is, cutting, stabbing, strangling and/or dismembering. Three of these children had problematic upbringings, yet, according to the reports, only one was physically abused by his father. The great majority of these juvenile serial killers showed signs of sexual sadism, a characteristic generally found in adult sexual serial killers [ 26 ].

Furthermore, this author states that “humans are not physiologically ‘wired’ to have sexual pleasure during the experience of significant anger” [ 26 ]. However, children usually explore their sexuality and the spectrum of pleasure/pain at an early age. Thus, according to this author, the physiological trait that traces the line between pleasure and pain is absent in these young serial killers, and it is this fact that could have given rise to the generalized conclusion that a serial killer’s behaviour is caused by psychological, social, and biological problems [ 26 ].

Some of these serial killers come from broken homes where they could not acquire a stable personality. Thus, they continually look to satisfy their desires through fantasies of domination and control [ 27 ]. Similarly, some of them were physically, sexually, and emotionally abused in childhood, and often such abuses were simultaneous [ 28 ].

Research into the impact of child abuse on violent behaviour has demonstrated that abuse and exposure to violence, in any of its multiple forms, is a very important factor for predicting criminal conduct [ 29 ]. The research of Dutton and Hart [ 30 ], carried out on males condemned for various crimes, suggests that those minors who were physically, sexually, and/or emotionally abused were three times more likely to act violently when adults. Nevertheless, Mitchell and Aamodt [ 31 ] state that, in the serial killer population, neglect experienced in childhood does not have a significant prevalence.

Myers [ 26 ] does not mention the important fact that the phenomenon of sexual pleasure/pain can be a learnt characteristic. In this sense, it had already been pointed out that “the blurring of pain/pleasure lines can occur during abuse, exposure to violence, or as psychological training (more often seen in socially accepted sexual masochism and slave/master social circles)” [ 32 ].

In any case, Myers concludes that “the murderers’ impulses to kill did not in the least decrease as they grew up; serial killers also fit into the category of ‘predator’” [ 26 ]. Due to the limited number of child serial killers, Myers [ 26 ] was unable to extrapolate the results of his study, and the idea of biological traits being the principal influence of serial killers requires more research to either prove or disprove it. In a later study on the psychological motivations of 12 sexual serial killers, this author and his team could only conclude that this type of individual expresses their positive feelings of sexual pleasure, and even euphoria (instead of anger or other unpleasant states of mind), through their criminal acts [ 33 ].

Although serial killings would seem to be a rare event, some authors suggest that it is difficult to determine the incidence and prevalence of this phenomenon [ 34 ]. Given that this form of violence has a strong social impact, and that it can appear to be the result of interacting biological, psychological, and sociological factors, research into this phenomenon should start in infancy [ 28 ].

As the cases of child and youth serial killers are much less frequent than those committed by adults, it is necessary to approach the studies of cases in this area differently to be able to advance our knowledge of such youths. Thus, an initiative to be recommended in this sense consists of more detailed research into other criminal serial behaviour patterns used by these youths. Such behaviour patterns as are set out below.

3.3.2. The Role of Five Categories of Criminal Serial Behaviour Patterns Used by Children and Youths: Criminological History of Adult Serial Murders?

According to Myers and Borg [ 9 ], there are generally six categories of criminal serial behaviour patterns which are normally studied in the case of children and youths: (1) ‘generic’ juvenile delinquency (which provides an explicative framework for other violent or non-violent crimes); (2) crimes of firesetting; (3) crimes of cruelty to animals; (4) crimes of a sexual nature; (5) crimes of sadism; and (6) serial murders. According to these authors, “the first five categories do not represent all the possible forms of serial crimes committed by young people, and neither do they cover the more serious types or all the specific profiles” [ 9 ]. In this sense, they also point out that “a wider treatment of this area could include additional, less serious crimes which, are by nature serial, such as kleptomania” [ 9 ].

Based on a thorough review of the literature concerning the five categories of serial criminal behaviour patterns in children and youths, Myers and Borg [ 9 ] believe that many of them could be the precursors of later serial murders, by which they seem to be ‘testing things out’; for instance, how they feel upon setting fire to objects, houses, and forests, mistreating and killing animals, etc. Thus, the maximum expression of criminal behaviour would reside in the murder of one or more people. Some young people begin with other types of serial criminal behaviour patterns which serve as a ‘preparatory’ step. Does this mean that serial murder can be learned? Considering the application of the theory of social learning to acts of firesetting by children and youths, Singer and Hensley [ 35 ] found that the motivational patterns of the subjects suggested just that.

Although the research estimates that serial killers begin their criminal careers at 20 years of age, what is certain is that it is not uncommon for the first murder of this type of multicide to happen in adolescence. For example, Burgess, Hartman, Ressler, Douglas, and McCormack [ 36 ] found that 10 out of the 36 adult serial killers in their study, imprisoned for sexual homicide, had also previously committed murder when they were young. Similarly, it is important to mention that the behavioural indicators of sexual murder predict the presence of sadistic sexual fantasies in both delinquents and the general population [ 37 ].

Thus, the criminal conduct of serial sexual attacks is also an important factor to be considered when trying to better understand the criminological and psychosocial profile of serial killers [ 38 , 39 ]. This is because many of them perpetrate serial sexual homicides [ 40 ] with diverse patterns and motivations [ 41 , 42 ]. Similarly, crimes of firesetting committed by children and youths are also examples of criminal conduct that should be considered, as they appear in many cases of serial killers [ 43 ]. Juvenile sexual homicides seem, in many cases, to be correlates or criminological antecedents of adult serial killers [ 44 ].

3.4. Psychopathy, Violent Delinquency, and Serial Murder

3.4.1. the role of child–juvenile psychopathy in violence and delinquency.

It is certain that the first five categories of serial criminal conduct in children and youths studied by Myers and Borg [ 9 ] should be considered in research into both serial murders and attempts to understand the motivational psychology and criminal profiling of violent delinquents [ 45 , 46 ]. In addition to these types of serial criminal conduct, variable psychopathy is another relevant factor to be considered in these cases since these youths usually score high in psychopathy [ 47 ].

Psychopathy is a clinical–forensic construct that gives rise to serious problems in the affective, interpersonal, and behavioural domains, so much so that psychopaths can victimize and manipulate others apparently without their conscience being affected [ 48 ]. Psychopathy is characterized by a series of well-defined traits [ 49 ].

Psychopathy may appear in connection with two separate concepts: that which stresses the social factors or childhood experiences are the root of the disorder; and those who defend the view that the biological, psychological, and genetic elements are the biggest contributors to its appearance [ 50 ].

It is necessary to distinguish between subclinical psychopathy (or non-criminal psychopathy) and criminal psychopathy [ 2 ]. While subclinical psychopathy is studied in the general population [ 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 ], criminal psychopathy is studied in clinical–forensic contexts such as courts and prisons [ 8 , 50 ].

The study of psychopathy is useful for understanding seriously antisocial behaviour and violence among children and youths [ 57 ]. In this sense, juveniles who experience a variety of antisocial risk factors, such as mental health issues, upbringing problems, a history of substance abuse, or prolonged criminal participation, are characterised by a profound impulsiveness, emotional instability, and a total absence of guilt with respect to the execution of the crime [ 58 ]. The result is the appearance of psychopathic characteristics, which seem to be risk factors for persistent violence among minors [ 59 ].

Although there are numerous myths and unspecified associations surrounding psychopathy in relation to violence and criminality [ 60 , 61 , 62 ], what is certain is that research has found that criminal psychopathy is a risk factor as far as violence and recidivism are concerned [ 63 , 64 , 65 ]. Taking into account the marked antisocial behaviour of criminal psychopathy [ 66 ] and the characteristic of criminal versatility mentioned in the Psychopathy Checklist—revised (PCL-R) [ 50 ], the main difference between subclinical and criminal psychopathy lies in the concrete perpetration of a crime, of whatever kind, as the basic structure of personality and emotions is practically the same in both types of psychopaths, the criminal and subclinical [ 2 ].

Many traits of psychopathy begin to emerge in infancy [ 50 ] and are clearly identifiable and evaluable in childhood, adolescence, and youth [ 67 ]. However, the inclusion of the concept of psychopathy in the child–juvenile population is not without controversy. While Semel [ 68 ] stresses the limitations of the evaluation of juvenile psychopathy in clinical and forensic contexts, Forth, Bergstrøm, and Clark [ 69 ] clarify the necessity and implications of this evaluation of minors. Although professionals and doctors are still reticent about using the term ‘psychopath’ in the cases of children and youths [ 70 ], the scientific evidence in this respect cannot be denied due to its relation to criminal conduct in this population.

In light of the above, Dåderman [ 71 ] studied the personality traits present in adolescents diagnosed with severe behaviour disorders who showed psychopathy-related traits, e.g., searching for intense sensations, high impulsiveness, and low conformity, socialisation, and social desirability.

Glueck and Glueck [ 72 , 73 , 74 ] were the first to focus the subject of psychopathy on chronic and serious delinquents, some of whom were minors. These authors found that psychopathy was a useful variable for differentiating delinquents from non-delinquents. They described psychopathic delinquents as ostensibly destructive, antisocial, asocial, and less susceptible to therapeutic or educational efforts. Other characteristics include insensitivity towards social demands or towards others, a superficial emotionality, egocentrism, and a total lack of empathy [ 49 ], as well as, in many cases together with impulsive behaviour patterns, an absence of stress or anxiety concerning their lack of social adaptation, serious irresponsibility, and emotional poverty [ 48 ]. Young psychopaths seemed not to respond to any attempted treatment or rehabilitation, and they did not seem to be worried by their persistent criminal behaviour [ 72 , 73 ]. These authors observed that a psychopath was almost 20 times more common among their sample of delinquents than in the control group of non-delinquent subjects.

The relationship between child–juvenile psychopathy and chronic violent delinquency is currently still being studied. Salekin [ 75 ] studied a cohort of 130 children and youths to examine the effect of psychopathic personality on legal problems and life opportunities. This author found that psychopathy remained stable over the period the subjects were followed (four years), and the children with the highest scores of psychopathic traits in their early stages of life tended to maintain these scores later in adolescence. In addition, psychopathy is a significant predictor of both delinquency in general and various forms of violent delinquency.

Current theories concerning crime (such as the situational prevention of crime) are based on the study of the circumstances in which these youths commit their crimes, rather than discovering the reasons why they committed them. Some authors have shown that it is possible to reduce the extent of the violence if the probability of detection increases and there is an effective response from the courts to dissuade young delinquents from enacting their violent behaviour patterns [ 14 ].

The effects of psychopathy on serious juvenile delinquency are more stable and persistent than the effects of the other 14 correlates of delinquency, including demographic characteristics, intelligence, previous delinquency and problems at school, parental factors, drug use, and delinquent companions, among others [ 75 ].

3.4.2. The Role of Child–Juvenile Psychopathy in Serial Murder

The role played by psychopathy in the phenomenon of serial murders can be better understood if we look at its aetiology, which is not exempt from controversy. A great part of this controversy comes from the frequent generalization of the results of much research with common delinquents and non-serial but violent delinquents.

The problem concerning psychopathy lies in the fact that many of the results of research into the typical correlates of delinquency in general have been extrapolated to psychopathic delinquents, thus generating distorted images of psychopathy [ 62 ]. Similarly, the frequent and erroneous comparison of equating psychopathy with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) becomes an additional problem because, while ASPD describes the common delinquent in general [ 8 , 49 ], most delinquents are not psychopaths, while not all psychopaths are delinquents [ 48 , 49 ]. Thus, in this respect, it should be stressed that the terms ASPD and psychopathy are often incorrectly used as synonyms [ 76 ]. ASPD is a kind of mental disorder (a personality disorder) included in psychiatric classifications, while psychopathy requires, according to the diagnostic criteria of Cleckley [ 49 ], a complete absence of any manifestation of a psychopathological nature.

The typical correlates of delinquency in general have been widely studied, and the most frequently studied variables or factors are diverse: gender, age, race, temperament, personality, self-control/self-regulation, school records, and family/parental factors [ 77 ]. Many antisocial delinquent youths present these and many other factors that are usually related to criminality. Although there are numerous clinical–psychiatric diagnoses associated with antisocial young people with behavioural problems [ 78 , 79 ], the great majority of young delinquents do not present evident and complete psycho-pathological syndromes, but simply serious problems of aggressivity and violence that respond to other explanations, such as psychosocial and criminological, rather than psychopathological [ 80 , 81 ]. To avoid pathologizing any type of criminal conduct, psychopathology is an area of study that should not adhere exclusively to the sphere of delinquency, as otherwise we could fall into the temptation of wrongly conceptualizing delinquency as a clinical disorder when it is not. Moreover, some delinquents present mental problems of diverse natures.

As for the specific role of child–juvenile psychopathy in serial murder, it is much easier to understand if the psychopathological approach is disregarded and we focus, more adequately, on the personality and motivations of this type of individual. In this sense, it is important to stress that one of the central, defining characteristics of psychopathy is the absence of empathy, reflected in a lack of consideration for and cruelty towards others, as well as a complete absence of remorse and feelings of guilt. Thus, if we pay attention to psychopathic personality and motivations, it is even possible to distinguish between simple homicides and multiple homicides through the presence or absence of psychopathy.

Woodworth and Porter [ 82 ] found that the characteristics of so-called simple homicides carried out in cold blood (instrumental and premeditated aggressors) depend on the psychopathy that characterizes them, emotional insensitivity, and a complete lack of remorse. These authors found that simple psychopathic homicides present a type of aggression that is predominantly instrumental (that is, premeditated, planned, ‘in cold blood’, motivated by an external objective and not preceded by any possible affective reaction), while simple non-psychopathic homicides present a type of aggression that is emotional (that is, not premeditated, reactive, or on the spur of the moment, motivated by an internal objective and preceded by some personal, emotional reaction).

‘Instrumental aggression’ is also present in most serial murders, and psychopathy plays a very important role. Many serial killers, in childhood and adolescence, present the typical traits of psychopathy [ 76 ] included in the serial criminal conduct categories of children and youths studied by Myers and Borg [ 9 ].

According to Morton [ 83 ], there is no generic profile for serial killers, who differ in many aspects, including their motivations for murder and their behaviour at the crime scene. However, certain common traits can be identified for some serial killers, including the desire for thrills, a lack of remorse, impulsiveness, the need for control, and abusive practices. These traits and behaviour patterns are consistent with psychopathy. The relationship between psychopathy and serial murders is particularly interesting. Not all psychopaths become serial killers, though serial killers usually possess some or many of the traits consistent with psychopathy. Psychopaths who commit serial murders put no value on human life and are extremely cruel in their interactions with their victims. This is particularly evident in serial killers with sexual motivations who repeatedly stalk, attack, and kill without remorse [ 83 ].

Nevertheless, it is also important to stress the fact that psychopathy alone does not explain the motivations of all serial killers [ 83 ], and neither does it explain the motivations of simple homicides. So why murder people, with or without psychopathy? This question is answered by Botelho and Gonçalves [ 84 ], who carried out a critical review of the literature on factors associated with homicides. Starting from a constructivist social perspective and ensuring that the factors related to homicides could be organized into four main categories, these authors observed that the acquisition and development of aggressive and violent behaviour patterns, which could provoke such a crime as homicide, had multi-factorial origins and implied multiple interconnections.

However, in the case of serial killers, it is necessary to stress the aspects of criminal motivations since they are specific in this type of multicide. In this sense, the concept of Perpetrator-Motive Research Design (PMRD), proposed by Vecchi, Van Hasselt, and Angleman [ 85 ], is of special relevance, as it deals with an analysis strategy that helps us understand the motivations, values and tactics of such violent delinquents as serial killers, serial rapists, paedophiles, youth murderers, arsonists, and cyber delinquents. This criminal investigation methodology could also help our understanding of the specific roles played by psychopathic traits in the criminal motivations of diverse types of violent delinquent, especially in the case of serial killers.

Although the absence of remorse is a principal characteristic of psychopathy found in adolescent delinquents and which ought to be investigated, along with other variables relevant at a theoretical and forensic level [ 86 ], it is not a characteristic which, of itself, can account for the diverse criminal motivations of the different types of violent delinquent when considering serial killers, who also have many other psychopathic traits. We thus believe that applying the PMRD methodology could help to clarify such questions and evaluate to what extent child–juvenile psychopathy could be an extremely relevant correlate in serial murders.

In short, what we can say so far is that there is no specific profile for serial killers, as they are a heterogeneous group of violent delinquents presenting very varied psychosocial and criminological factors [ 87 ], some of which can be considered risk factors in this type of multicide [ 28 ].

Thus, the aetiology of the psychopathic serial killer is diverse, and its origins are usually evident from numerous serial behaviour patterns in childhood and adolescence [ 9 ]. Although the role of psychopathy in serial murders can help police investigations by create profiles [ 76 ], further research is needed to help clarify the frequency and degree with which psychopathy is present in serial killers. This would help in the creation of more refined criminal profiles aimed at identifying this type of multicide [ 83 ].

4. Conclusions

First of all, this review has tried to distinguish between two particularly controversial phenomena that reflect the current landscape of psychosocial and criminological reality: serial killer children and young people, and non-serial killer children and young people. We have tried to focus on the areas that deserve special attention, and we have focused on the extent and seriousness of the problem. The homicides perpetrated by children and young people point to a social panorama that is alarming due to the young age of these murderers. This problem is important enough to warrant study because it “raises exploratory questions about the social, psychological and biological factors that might explain such a tragic phenomenon” [ 88 ].

Secondly, the conceptualization of serial murders is still controversial in the sense that it depends on the number of victims that each author stipulates as necessary to be considered as such. In any case, the characterization of this phenomenon is clear, as it is reflected in the criminal profiles of this type of serial killer and what distinguishes them from other forms of multicide (such as mass murder or spree killing). An additional controversy is the enormous media attention surrounding serial murder [ 89 ], an effect that is even greater when the perpetrators of the serial murders are minors.

Thirdly, as for the phenomenon of serial murders perpetrated by minors, the extent of the problem is controversial because it often depends on how the number of real cases is counted, while, additionally, the official statistics are difficult to find [ 90 ].

It can be established that, despite the low prevalence of juvenile serial killers, childhood is a period in which antisocial behaviour begins to flourish. Similarly, the low incidence of serial killers who are minors may be due to the early imprisonment of minors and adolescents who commit a single murder, but who were quite likely to have turned into serial killers [ 4 ].

On the other hand, although there would seem to be a greater number of adult serial killers, some authors believe it not infrequent for the first murder of this kind to occur in adolescence [ 36 ].

In any case, the profiles of children and youths who commit murder are clearly established [ 91 ] and, however inconceivable their crimes may seem to us [ 92 ], the criminological reality of these minors as murderers is evident, with serious social and legal repercussions [ 93 ].

Fourthly, it is also important to consider the psychopathy variable as an influential factor in the diverse modalities of serial criminal conduct committed by children and youths which could be the first ‘steps’ in their criminal career as serial killers later on [ 9 ]. In addition to this reason, the importance of the psychopathy variable has also been stressed as a determinant in the process of psychological–criminal profiling of the diverse types of violent serial delinquents, in particular, those who commit sexually aggressive crimes and murder [ 94 ].

This current review article is not exempt from limitations. The low prevalence of juvenile serial killers, as well as the presence of juvenile murderers that are not serial killers, makes the generalization of the study more difficult, so the analysis should extend its scope to other serial criminal activities committed by juveniles. Likewise, with respect to the review carried out, it is necessary to comment that a systematic review would have been more valuable.

Despite these limitations, the present review underlines the importance of psychosocial factors for the better understanding of the process by which under-eighteens end up committing such serious crimes as serial murders. We have seen that, on numerous occasions, such crimes are accompanied by other equally serious criminal behaviour patterns (arson, sexual assault, animal abuse, etc.). The research works consulted provide evidence of the special relevance of psychopathy in the generation of serious juvenile delinquency [ 75 ].

In this sense, the need to design intervention plans focused on the above-described therapeutic needs is evident. This is because different serial criminal manifestations re-quire specific focuses [ 94 ], highlighting the need to deal with these problems with extreme caution in future research.

Funding Statement

Financed jointly by FEDER & Junta de Extremadura funds (Exp. GR21024).

Author Contributions

All authors conceived the paper and participated actively in the study. Conceptualization, J.M.M.-M., M.E.G.-B., E.G.-B. and M.B.-A.; data curation, J.M.M.-M., M.E.G.-B., M.B.-A. and M.G.-M.; formal analysis, J.M.M.-M., M.B.-A. and M.G.-M.; methodology, J.M.M.-M., M.E.G.-B., E.G.-B. and M.B.-A.; supervision, J.M.M.-M., M.E.G.-B. and E.G.-B.; writing—original draft, J.M.M.-M., M.E.G.-B. and M.B.-A.; writing—review and editing, J.M.M.-M., M.E.G.-B., E.G.-B., M.B.-A. and M.G.-M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

The social study of serial killers

Kevin Haggerty and Ariane Ellerbrok examine the cultural and historical context of serial killing

The study of serial killers has been dominated by an individualised focus on studying the biography of offenders and the causes of their behaviour. Popular representations of Jeffrey Dahmer, Harold Shipman, John Wayne Gacy and other notorious figures emphasise the sociopathic tendencies of the lone serial killer, presented in accounts that accentuate how assorted personality traits and risk factors ostensibly contribute to their otherwise unfathomable behaviour. While this emphasis on personal biography lends itself to much needed psychological analysis, the cumulative effect of such accounts is that serial killing can appear a-historical and a-cultural, as though such predispositions might manifest themselves in identical ways irrespective of context.

In fact, serial killing is intimately tied to its broader social and historical setting, something that is particularly apparent when such killing is considered in relation to a series of broad historical changes that have occurred over approximately the past 400–500 years, commonly associated with the rise of modernity. So, while throughout human history there have probably always been individuals who engaged in serial predation, in previous eras it was not possible for an individual to be a serial killer. Serial killing is a distinctly modern phenomenon, a product of relatively recent social and cultural conditions to which criminologists can provide fresh insight by accentuating the broad institutional frameworks, motivations, and opportunity structures within which serial killing occurs (Haggerty, 2009).

Serial killing is the rarest form of homicide, occurring when an individual has killed three or more people who were previously unknown to him or her, with a ‘cooling off’ period between each murder. This definition is accepted by both police and academic experts and therefore provides a useful frame of reference. Unfortunately, it also narrows the analysis of such crimes, as it fails to incorporate many of the familiar (although not inevitable) characteristics of serial killing. These include such things as the diverse influences of the mass media on serial killers as well as their tendency to select victims from particular walks of life. Attending to these (and other) factors can provide insight into the broader social and historical contexts that constitute the structural preconditions for such acts.

Here we briefly identify three aspects of serial killing that are often taken for granted, but that are intimately tied to the emergence of serial murder in its contemporary guise. These include the rise of a society of strangers, the development of a culture of celebrity, and cultural frameworks of denigration and marginalisation.

Society of strangers

Mass urbanisation is a distinctive characteristic of the modern era, something that has profoundly altered the nature of human relationships by virtue of generating an unprecedented degree of anonymity. In pre-modern societies individuals knew one another by name, often having intimate knowledge of their neighbour's family history, daily routines and personal predilections. Strangers were rarely encountered, and when encountered were the subject of rumour and suspicion. The average medieval citizen might have only met 100 strangers during the course of their entire life (Braudy, 1986), a number markedly low by contemporary standards, where one could confront hundreds of strangers simply on the daily commute to work.

The rise of capitalism and related processes of mass migration to urban centres resulted in individuals being immersed in a sea of strangers (Nock, 1993). This development also proved to be a key precondition for the emergence of serial murder, given that a defining attribute of serial killers is that they prey on strangers (something that distinguishes them from the vast majority of homicides, which typically involve some form of prior relationship between killer and victim). Thus dense modern urban environments represent ideal settings for the routinised impersonal encounters that operate as a hallmark of serial killing.

Mass media and the culture of celebrity

Although serial killing is statistically rare, it is nonetheless a ubiquitous cultural phenomena, one that for the vast majority of people is best understood as a media event (Gibson, 2006). Serial killers have become an inescapable point of reference in movies, television fiction, novels, true crime books and video games. This global system of mass media – again, a characteristic attribute of modernity – has made many citizens intimately familiar with the dynamics of serial killing and the lives of particularly notorious offenders.

The relationship between media and serial killing is, however, not straightforward. By widely circulating the details of specific serial killers, the mass media establishes the ‘serial killer’ as a dominant cultural category. One upshot is that, whereas in antiquity killing sequentially may have been something that someone did, today a serial killer is something someone can be. By placing the category of ‘serial killer’ into wide circulation, the media makes the specifics of such behaviour open to potential imitation, although this is not to suggest that serial killing might be the product of some straightforward ‘media effect’.

The media has also fostered a culture of celebrity. In our predominantly secular modernity the prospect of achieving celebrity has become desirable to the extent that it promises to liberate individuals from a powerless anonymity, making them known beyond the limitations of ascribed statuses such as class and family relations. For some this promise of celebrity is merely appealing, while for others it is an all-consuming passion, to the point that not securing some degree of fame can be experienced as a profound failure. Serial killers are not immune to the appeals of celebrity. As Egger (2002) has demonstrated in his analysis of seven of the most notorious American serial killers, the majority ‘seemed to enjoy their celebrity status and thrive on the attention they received’. Hence the complaint of a serial killer to local police is telling: ‘How many times do I have to kill before I get a name in the paper or some national attention?’ (Braudy, 1986).

Marginalisation

Perhaps the most terrifying aspect of serial murder is that such killings appear random. This, however, is a misleading characterisation, for while serial killers do target strangers, their victims are not haphazard (Wilson, 2007). Rather, the victims of serial killers tend to mimic the wider cultural categories of denigration characteristic of contemporary society. All societies have their own distinctive structures of symbolic denigration, whereby certain classes of people are positioned as outcasts or ‘lesser’ humans. Such individuals, often singled out by modern institutions for reprobation, censure and marginalisation, are also disproportionately the targets of serial killers, who tend to prey upon vagrants, the homeless, prostitutes, migrant workers, homosexuals, children, the elderly and hospital patients (ibid.). Gerald Stano likened the killing of his victims to ‘no different than stepping on a cockroach’ (Holmes and DeBurger, 1998). Such a statement keenly demonstrates the extent to which serial killers embrace and reproduce the wider cultural codings that have devalued, stigmatised and marginalised specific groups. Through a distorted mirror, serial killers reflect back, and act upon, modernity's distinctive valuations.

Recognising the dynamics of victim marginalisation is particularly germane to the study of serial killers, for the denigration of particular social groups is connected to specific opportunity structures for murder. Criminologists have emphasised the importance of ‘opportunity structures’ as a means of ascertaining the increased likelihood of criminal behaviour in certain contexts – noting that crime is more likely to occur when there is a combination of a possible victim accessible to predation, a motivated offender, and a lack of competent guardians. That the victims of serial killers tend to be drawn from modernity's disposable classes can also mean that these victims are outside of effective systems of guardianship, and are targeted not only because they are more accessible, but also because their deaths are less likely to generate timely investigation or legal consequences.

Modern phenomena

While serial killing is routinely presented as the unfathomable behaviour of the lone, decontextualised and sociopathic individual, here we have emphasised the unnervingly familiar modern face of serial killing. Several distinctively modern phenomena, including anonymity, a culture of celebrity enabled through the rise of mass media, and specific cultural frameworks of denigration, each provide key institutional frameworks, motivations and opportunity structures for analysing such acts. To exclusively focus on aetiology and offender biography systematically ignores this larger social context, and elides a more nuanced understanding of the hows and whys of serial killing.

Kevin Haggerty is Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Ariane Ellerbrok is a PhD student at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Braudy, L. (1986) The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and its History, New York: Oxford University Press.

Egger, S. (2002)  The Killers Among Us: Examination of Serial Murder and Its Investigations , Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 

Gibson, D. (2006) Serial Murder and Media Circuses , Westport, CT: Praeger.

Haggerty, K. (2009) Modern serial killers. Crime Media and Culture , 5 (2), pp 168–187. 

Holmes, R. and DeBurger, J. (1998), “Profiles in terror: the serial murderer”. In Contemporary Perspectives on Serial Murder , Edited by: Holmes, R. and Holes, S. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.  

Nock, S. (1993) The Costs of Privacy: Surveillance and Reputation in America , New York: Aldine de Gruyter.  

Wilson, D. (2007) Serial Killers: Hunting Britons and Their Victims , 1960–2006 , Winchester: Waterside.

108 Serial Killer Essay Topics & Examples

🔝 top-10 serial killer research paper topics, 🏆 best serial killer topics & essay examples, 🎓 good serial killer research topics, ⭐ argumentative essay topics about serial killers, ❓ research questions about serial killers.

• What is the nature of serial killers?
• Criminal profiling of John Wayne Gacy.
• Popular culture: true crime documentaries.
• The mind of H.H. Holmes.
• Psychological research of serial killers.
• Nature vs. nurture: are serial killers born or made?
• Cold cases: The Zodiac Killer.
• The story of Ted Bundy.
• Serial killers and forensic science.
• Psychology and sociology of Jeffrey Dahmer.
• The Psychology of Serial Killers These are just a fraction of questions that require answers in order to have a complete understanding of the psychology of serial killers.
• Frankston Serial Killer: Background, Crimes, and Motives At the time, the police noted that Denyer was with his girlfriend. The letter claimed that Denyer knows his whereabouts, and that he was planning to break out of prison to kill him.
• Richard Angelo: A Serial Killer and His Ethical Dilemma The convicted claimed he made the injections to cause crises to be able to revive patients and become a hero in front of his colleagues.
• Jeffrey Dahmer: Serial Killer At the center of the legal debate was the interpretation of insanity, and how it could be utilized to absolve a criminal. George Palermo, a psychiatrist, made the conclusion that Dahmer was not insane.Dr.
• Arthur Shawcross and His Serial Killer’s Behavior Although most of his victims were killed in the late 1980s, his case still evokes a lot of debate since he is considered to be one of the most demonstrative examples of prisoners who were […]
• Serial Killers and Their Social Construction Social construction of serial killers has become the subject of various studies, and it is recognized today that the social position, social interactions, and perceived social image may play a significant role in the process […]
• Serial Killers: Tommy Lynn Sells It is believed that in October of the same year he killed a 13-year-old girl in Missouri and moved to Texas.
• Ted Bundy, a Serial Killer and Psychopath The same was said about Ted Bundy, one of the most notorious serial killers in the criminal history of the United States.
• Serial Killer Psychology: Eileen Wuornos Eileen was a woman without remorse as she was not bothered by the death of her victims. It is said that her intention was to capture the attention of the man she was dating.
• Criminal Profiling of Serial Killers Ted Bundy was one of the most famous serial killers of the 20th century. These are the types of serial killers that will target gays, minorities, and prostitutes.
• Albert Fish – the Serial Killer Fish’s mother, forced to look for another source of livelihood due to her inability to take care of her son following the death of his father, took him to Saint John’s orphanage in Washington.
• Serial Killers: Law Enforcement Response to Serial Killing The law enforcement agencies such as the FBI maintain that there are several serial killers in the United States and they are expected to increase and hit an epidemic proportion with many people losing their […]
• Aileen Wuornos: The Serial Killer After four years since the birth of Aileen, her mother abandoned the family, leaving the girl and her brother with their maternal grandparents, whom the girl considered her birth parents.
• Edmund Kemper: The Serial Killer Kemper committed most of the murders in one year and confessed to his crimes only after he killed his mother. However, in a short time, Kemper decides to stop and report on his crimes to […]
• Aileen Wuornos: Anatomy of a Female Serial Killer Moreover, feminist scholarship has recently begun to examine serial murder as “sexual terrorism” or as a perpetuation of gynocide, the systematic crippling, raping and/or killing of women by men.
• J. Dahmer as a Sexually-Motivated Serial Killer The paper at hand is devoted to the investigation of the life, personality, and criminal behavior of one of the most notorious American serial killers of 1980s-1990s, Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer.
• Ted Bundy, an American Serial Killer He was part of the team that worked in the campaign of the Republican governor of Washington, who later rewarded him with a recommendation letter.
• Charles Manson: Serial Killer Profile One of the first crimes that he committed was connected to a stolen car that Manson took to have some fun and visit his relatives.
• American Serial Killer Joseph Paul Franklin’s Crimes The reason for changing his name as because he wanted to join the Rhodesian Army and due to his criminal background, he was forced to change the name. The couple were killed and Franklin confessed […]
• The Crimes of Charles Manson, Serial Killer Even though his people did it himself, he was not involved in this, and the organization of a particular group of people is not in itself an immoral act but is prohibited in some places.
• Serial Killer Profiling Dimensions In order to better understand their practices and attempt to put a stop to their actions prematurely, there was a need for proper classification and consequent analysis.
• Serial Killers in Modern American Society Based on the above-stated arguments, this paper forms research for evidence from some of the serial killers in modern American society and various tactics utilized by the investigative departments to determine and differentiate between serial […]
• Principles of Justice: Serial Killers and Rapers On the same note, Ernest van de Haag mentions the use of principals relating to the utilitarian perspective where the law would be lenient and work for the greater good of people as a whole […]
• Serial Killer Imagery: “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates The present paper argues that whereas Arnold Friend is portrayed by Oates as a “superhuman” copy of Carl Schmid, the murderer, and the situation with Connie is partially sketched from the case of Alleen Rowe, […]
• Serial Killers, Their Crimes, and Stereotypes The other serial killers presented in the killers list also conform to the stereotypes presented in Fox’s and Levin’s article. Most of the killers also rape, mutilate, and degrade their victims in order to feel […]
• A Study on Serial Killers: “Encounter and death: The Spatial Behavior of U.S. Serial Killers” From an analysis, of the article, it is evident that the research focuses on the geographical locations that surround the killings; the location of the first meeting between the serial killers and their victims, the […]
• Serial Killers: Women and Men Comparison Most of the time, crimes of men serial killers are heard regularly as they are more horrible than that of women serial killers. The physical counting of the men serial killers victims is very high […]
• Serial Killer “Theodore Robert “Ted” Bundy” As much as the psychiatrists related his problems to mental disturbances, this was not a major issue that determined the outcome of the cases.
• A Serial Killer: Typology and Abnormal Psychological Gratification
• Luis Garavito: The World’s Worst Serial Killer
• Existentialism: Serial Killer and Right Things
• Charles Cullen: Healthcare Serial Killer
• Israel Keyes: The Reluctant Serial Killer
• Countess Elizabeth Bathory: Serial Killer
• Arousal Theory and the Serial Killer Jeffery Dahmer
• The Dangerous Mind of a Serial Killer
• Clifford Olson: Canadian Serial Killer
• The Development of Serial Killers: A Grounded
• Exploring the Life and Possible Motives of Serial Killer
• How Edward Theodore Gain Became a Serial Killer
• Blood Loss, the Decline of the Serial Killer
• Sociological Theories: Rationalization and Motivation of the Serial Killer
• Serial Killer Era: So Many Murders in 1970 – 2000
• Famous Serial Killer: Jack the Ripper
• Defining the Factors That Contribute to Serial Killer’s Identity
• Deadly Motives: The Hedonistic Drive of Serial Murder
• Details of a Typical Female Serial Killer
• Profiling Art and Australian Serial Killer Ivan Milat
• Brilliant Serial Killer Jack the Ripper
• America’s First Serial Killer
• Serial Killer and Racism: African-Americans and Serial Killing in the Media
• Life and Death of a Serial Killer: Are Serial Killer Born or Created?
• Serial Killer: Erikson’s Theory-Based Analysis of the Behavior of Robert William Pickton
• Differential Association Theory and Serial Killer
• Aileen Wuornos America’s First Female Serial Killer
• Mary Bell Was Britain’s Youngest Serial Killer
• Criminal Shadows: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer
• America’s Sweetest Serial Killer – Sugar
• Unique Characteristics of a Serial Killer
• American Serial Killer: Albert Fish
• Serial Killer: The Mechanism From Imagination to the Murder
• Critical Theories: Crime Ted Bundy Serial Killer
• The Uncatchable Serial Killer: No Motive, No Victim Profile
• Serial Killers: Death and Life in America’s Wound Culture
• The Life of a Serial Killer: Edmund Emil Kemper Lii
• Criminal Justice: The Criminology Behind Serial Killers
• Canadian Serial Killer: Robert Pickton
• What Are Serial Killers?
• Are Serial Killers Born Psychopaths or Pushed to That Limit?
• What Causes Serial Killers to Kill?
• How Do Serial Killers Get Attention?
• What Makes Serial Killers Kill?
• Why Are the People Interested in Serial Killers?
• What Is the Nature of Serial Killers?
• How Do Juveniles Become Serial Killers?
• What Is in the Mind of Serial Killer?
• How to Cure a Serial Killer?
• What Steps Are Taken by the Country to Control Serial Killers?
• Where Did the Term “Serial Killer” Come From?
• What Are the Main Objectives of a Serial Killer?
• Is It Possible to Diagnose a Would-Be Serial Killer?
• What Are the Common Types of Serial Killers?
• How Does a Serial Killer Differ From a Maniac?
• What Lies Behind a Serial Killer’s Signature?
• Are There Naturally Born Serial Killers?
• What Makes a Serial Killer Tick?
• Are There Death Penalty Alternatives for Serial Killers?
• What Makes a Serial Killer Do What They Do?
• Are Humans Naturally Good or Evil?
• What Is the Difference Between a Mass Murderer and a Serial Killer in Modern Culture?
• Is There a Tendency to Increase or Decrease in Serial Killings in the Us in the XXI Century?
• Can Modern Therapies Available for Sociopathic and Psychopathic Disorder Set Serial Killers to Rights?
• What Are the Effects of Childhood Abuse on Serial Killing Behavior?
• How Are the Serial Killers Portrayed in Hollywood Compare to Real-Life Serial Killers?
• What Are Some of the Trademarks of Female Serial Killers?
• Do Serial Killer Partners Always Have a Dominant Personality and a Submissive Personality?
• How Has Modern Technology and Criminology Made It More Difficult for Serial Killers to Remain at Large?
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• Death Penalty Questions
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As avian flu outbreaks spread around the world, experts weigh in on the risk of a future pandemic, and how the world can prepare

When Victorian health officials confirmed Australia's first human case of avian influenza last week, there were a few key details that struck some of those listening as odd.

The announcement came on the same day that the state's agriculture department reported an outbreak of bird flu at a poultry farm near Meredith. But the Department of Health made clear that the two incidents were totally unrelated.

In fact, the human case, a two-year-old who had recently returned from India, had been detected in early March. One of Australia's leading epidemiologists, Professor Raina MacIntyre, noted the almost three-month delay in reporting the case was "not ideal" .

The source of the human infection was also somewhat mysterious. Health officials confirmed the child had picked up the highly pathogenic virus while travelling in India , but did not note any close contact with sick animals or other infected humans.

Two further outbreaks on Australian poultry farms followed, prompting hundreds of thousands of chickens to be culled, while deadly strains of bird flu continued to wreak havoc on the US dairy industry and wild animal populations around the world.

There is an unsettling, familiar tone to all of this news, and a quiet hum of concern runs beneath it — could avian influenza erupt into the next pandemic?

Some of the world's foremost experts in infectious disease and public health governance say while it is not time to panic, there is a reasonable risk that we must be prepared for. 

"What we worry about is those avian viruses mutating to pick up an adaptation to the human respiratory tract. That's how a human pandemic would emerge," Professor MacIntyre said.

These experts share a concern that the fatigue and divisiveness wrought out by the COVID-19 pandemic present significant challenges in tackling new outbreaks head on — already they are hampering efforts to test, report and contain the outbreak in the US. 

They also believe w e're closer to another pandemic than many people realise — b ut we have "a golden opportunity" to prepare now and get it right.

What's going on with bird flu in Australia?

First, it's helpful to understand how different outbreaks of bird flu are categorised. 

Avian influenza is an infectious disease that spreads predominantly among wild birds and poultry. Just like human influenza, there are several types of avian influenza viruses — these are classed broadly as either high pathogenic or low pathogenic, indicating how sick they make infected birds.

As with other infectious diseases like COVID-19, avian influenza viruses are divided into subtypes or "strains" and then further into clades. These subtle differences occur as the virus evolves and mutates to work around host cells' defences. Some adaptations can lead to "spillover" events, where the virus passes from one species to another to infect other animals and, in rarer cases, humans.

Australia has dealt with a handful of highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in recent years, but until now, none of those involved human cases.

Last week, Agriculture Victoria disclosed an outbreak of H7N3, a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza, at a poultry farm near Meredith. 

Later that day, Victorian health officials confirmed Australia's first human case of avian influenza, the child who picked up an infection in India — a different strain known as H5N1.

On May 24, a second avian outbreak was confirmed at another Victorian poultry farm in Terang, which had commercial links with the farm in Meredith. Testing confirmed this outbreak was another H7 strain, known as H7N9.

A third outbreak was confirmed last week at a mixed poultry farm in Western Australia – a low pathogenic H9N2 strain not connected to the Victorian outbreaks.

State and federal authorities are working with affected industries to control the poultry outbreaks, with the infected farms under quarantine and orders for free-range and backyard flocks within restricted areas to be temporarily housed.

It's important to note that the human case is not connected to the outbreaks at the poultry farms, and contact tracing has identified no further human cases in Australia at this stage.

GISAID, a global database tracking infectious diseases as they evolve, identifies the human case in Victoria as H5N1 clade 2.3.2.1a . Genomic sequencing shows this is connected to the virus that is currently circulating in India and Bangladesh.

Another H5N1 clade, 2.3.4.4b, has been wreaking havoc across North America, Europe, and parts of Africa and South America. 

In the US, it's at the centre of the longest and largest bird flu outbreak in history , causing the deaths of more than 90 million birds . It has also been detected in dairy herds across nine US states , prompting a swathe of restrictions and control orders to stem the spread. Three human cases have been linked to the US dairy outbreak.

H5N1 and other strains are also circulating in China. A woman from Fujian province died in April after falling ill with the highly pathogenic H5N6. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), she had been in contact with backyard poultry before she became ill.

What's the risk of human transmission?

The risk of human transmission of avian flu viruses is relatively low – it's generally picked up where there has been close contact with infected animals. Health authorities around the world are urging caution among people working in affected industries such as poultry and dairy, or other jobs handling wild animals, but overall, the risk to the general public is considered low.

Professor MacIntyre, who leads the global biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute at University of New South Wales, says this is due to the way this virus operates.

"Avian flu viruses are adaptive to birds, and birds have specific receptors in their upper respiratory tract that we do not have. Those viruses only spread easily between birds and between some mammals — not humans," she said. 

But that could change if the virus has opportunities to pick up adaptations that allow it to enter the human respiratory tract. 

Professor MacIntyre notes that avian influenza has already crossed over from animals that have traditionally carried the virus — waterfowl including ducks, geese and swans — into other wild birds and even mammals.

"We've seen mass die-off of sea lions and seals, red foxes, coyotes, squirrels … and we're now seeing it in 130 other wild birds that were never hosts for spreading this virus before," she said.

In South America, hundreds of thousands of sea birds have died including more than 40 per cent of Peruvian pelicans . Scores of Adelie penguins and skuas have died in "mass mortality events" across Antarctica , with H5N1 the suspected cause.

"Antarctica is a worry for us," Professor MacIntyre says, "because if the virus is in Antarctica, then there could be flyaways of other birds that could bring it into Australia".

Professor MacIntyre says the statistical probability of the virus adapting to infect humans more efficiently is highest with the H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b. If this kind of mutation were to occur, she suspects it would be in Europe or the Americas.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found fragments of the H5N1 virus in samples of milk and other dairy products for sale in grocery stores. However, none of these samples returned evidence of live virus. This is likely down to the pasteurisation process, which Professor MacIntyre explains "kills the virus".

In Australia, food standards require most milk or milk products being sold commercially to meet pasteurisation requirements. Unpasteurised or raw milk — apart from goats' milk — is restricted from being sold as a food product, though there are exceptions in some states that allow local producers to sell raw milk cheese under strict circumstances.

The raw milk market appears to be growing in the US , and while the FDA has warned consumers to avoid these products given the current H5N1 outbreaks, Professor MacIntyre says this is where she has concerns.

"[If] people are drinking raw milk, that's where you're going to possibly have the avian virus mixing with humans and creating more chances for that mutation," she said.

While there have been no human cases related to food consumption, the CDC reported that cats at a Texas dairy farm became sick after being fed raw milk from infected cows . According to the report, more than half of the cats died. 

For the moment, the World Health Organization, as well as centres for disease prevention and control in Europe , the US and Australia , doesn't appear to be alarmed about the risk of a wider outbreak or pandemic affecting humans. In its latest weekly update, the WHO wrote:

"Whenever avian influenza viruses are circulating in poultry, there is a risk for sporadic infection and small clusters of human cases due to exposure to infected poultry or contaminated environments … The zoonotic threat remains elevated due to the spread of the viruses among birds. However, the overall pandemic risk associated with A(H5) is considered not significantly changed in comparison to previous years."

Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease doctor and scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security says it's important to keep an eye on how the H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b evolves.

"[We would be looking out for] mutations, as well as reassortment with human or swine viruses. The fact that it's infecting mammalian species — that's one of the major hurdles a flu virus has to clear for efficient human transmission. There's been some mild mammalian adaptation here and there, but not enough to change the public health threat," he said.

However, as several public health and infectious disease experts have warned in the past few years, the question of another pandemic is not so much a matter of if, but when.

Are we prepared for the next pandemic?

Professor Kelley Lee has been studying the governance of global pandemics for years, and most recently her work with the Pandemics & Borders international research group has been reflecting on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen strategies for future outbreaks. 

Broadly, her work aims to answer the question: is the world prepared for another pandemic?

"I would say the short answer is no, we're not anywhere near prepared. And indeed, in some ways, I think we're worse prepared than we were prior to COVID-19," she said.

Professor Lee says the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic has been how global collaboration was instrumental in managing the spread and science the virus — from identifying SARS-CoV-2 as a novel pathogen, to developing vaccines and potential drug treatments.

And conversely, where coordination was lacking, it slowed down the world's ability to bring the virus under control. One example was the varied approaches to imposing travel restrictions and border controls, which her research has shown came at huge economic and societal cost .

"When you have an uncoordinated introduction of policies, where every country did things differently and would change them over time … it's nothing short of chaotic," she said. "It's costly, but it's also not a good way of managing risk."

Professor Lee says jockeying between countries and their citizens over access to resources, "vaccine nationalism" and other behaviours such as people hoarding ventilators and masks, did significant damage. "Populations that really needed those essential supplies didn't get them in time or didn't get them at all," she says.

Over time she believes this contributed to a pervasive corrosion in trust and social cohesion.

"We're more divided than we were before COVID. You would think that a generational event such as this would have brought us closer together … but in general, societies are more fragmented, less cohesive, and less trusting. That kind of social environment makes us far less likely to cooperate or coordinate our efforts, from the local level all the way up to the global level."

Professor Lee says she's seeing this play out in the ongoing Global Pandemic Accord Negotiations, which this week failed to finalise a draft agreement after more than two years of discussion . 

Dr Adalja, who has been advising public health bodies in the US during the recent H5N1 outbreaks, says a similar dynamic is frustrating efforts to manage the virus there.

He says there has been a lack of transparency around testing, and in many cases a lack of access for public health authorities. The setting of this outbreak – in dairy farms across a dozen or so states – adds a layer of bureaucracy that has further complicated the process. At times, public health officials from the CDC haven't been in sync with the Department of Agriculture, or with the state governments which must grant access for federal health officials to carry out testing on farms .

"We saw with swine flu in 2009, there was reticence to really address the risk on farms, and to sample farms — this has gotten better, but we always run into this because there is a very big commercial aspect in terms of export, and domestic consumption of meat and milk," he said.

"So these types of things are constraining the ability to do more widespread testing, to get more important public health information out, at least to the farm workers where we think this risk is really high."

On top of that, Dr Adalja notes that the stigma associated with testing for a highly pathogenic avian influenza carries a huge economic risk — Colombia has already restricted imports of beef from US states where dairy cows have tested positive , and Japan and the US have made similar moves to suspend Victorian poultry imports . But this matters on a micro level, too.

"Many of the people that work on these farms are migrant workers. They may not be willing to be tested because if they're sick, or if they're found to be positive, they won't be able to work, which means they won't get paid," he said.

Dr Adalja is concerned that if we don't get the response right this time, it doesn't bode well for any future pandemic scenario.

"The problems we're seeing now are not a good indicator of how well we would handle a more serious bird flu. It's important to get this ironed out, because it's likely going to involve agriculture of some sort, whether that's poultry, cattle, or swine, so we need to have really robust surveillance of what's going on there."

So what can be done?

Professor MacIntyre says for Australian authorities working to contain the current poultry outbreaks, the most urgent priority should be considering financial measures to make robust testing and reporting as straightforward as possible.

"The biggest thing that can be done is financial compensation for farmers. Without that, there's not going to as much testing and reporting as there should be, and outbreaks won't be disclosed," she said.

Dr Adalja is similarly focused on managing the outbreaks in livestock industries well. He says a lack of trust in public health officials is a fundamental issue to solve for efficient and thorough testing and surveillance. Involving veterinarians with established relationships in the industry is among some of the suggestions to work around this. 

Outside of encouraging stringent testing in these industries, Professor MacIntyre says the other sign to watch out for will be mass die-offs of birds or other wild animals.

And while the current local outbreaks don't pose an immediate risk of human transmission, it's a possibility she says we need to be prepared for.

"In terms of the human pandemic, it's a problem for everybody. If a pandemic arises in the US or Europe, it's going to end up here. So it's in our interest to be closely monitoring for that."

Professor MacIntyre views global data sharing and surveillance as paramount in those efforts. Professor Lee says this extends to all facets of infectious disease management.

"We did learn that we can develop a new vaccine very quickly if we all work together … and there are a lot of scientific advances on the horizon that I think would make us more prepared," she said.

"But this is a really a population health challenge. It needs society to work together. If you have everybody hoarding toilet paper or masks or just looking out for themselves, that doesn't actually help them, because the virus continues to circulate."

Cross-border communication is also critical, Dr Adalja says, "because we know that these types of viruses don't stay in one country, especially when they're hitchhiking on birds that migrate all over the world".

And while highlighting all of these challenges may tap into a well of fear, he believes "this is a golden opportunity to get it right".

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