What is the difference between a serial killer and a mass murderer?

Answer 1

Dr. Q: "serial killers go killing victims having break periods sometimes extending to long years. a spree killer goes in a killing spree once and most of the time comite suicide."

They dont always commit suicide, and usually it is just for fun...Serial killers have a compelling urge. They are sick. Alot of it is motivated by sexual gratification-even if there aren't any actual sexual assaults. they get off on the thrill.

A spree killer, also known as a rampage killer, is someone who embarks on a murderous assault on his or her victims (two or more) in a short time in multiple locations. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations with almost no time break between murders." According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) the general definition of spree murder is two or more murders committed by an offender or offenders, without a cooling-off period; the lack of a cooling-off period marking the difference between a spree murder and a serial murder. The category has however been found to be of no real value to law enforcement, because of definitional problems relating to the concept of a "cooling-off period". Serial killers are different in that the murders are clearly separate events, happening at different times, while the attacks of mass murderers are defined by one incident, with no distinctive time period between the murders

Answer 2

A serial killer is an individual who almost always targets people of a particular gender, race, religion, et cetera. The crimes of serial killers usually take place over a series of weeks, months, sometimes even years, and are almost always sexually motivated. Unlike most mass murderers, who kill their prey through the use of guns and explosives, serial killers prefer the more "hands-on" method of using a knife. The only noteworthy exceptions to this rule that I can think of are the Zodiac Killer, David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz, and Christian Peterson.

Examples of serial killers include Ted Bundy, Richard Chase, Jeffery Dahmer, Albert Fish, John Wayne Gacy, Richard Ramirez.

Mass murderers on the other hand don't target people based on any particular criteria, and usually murder people at random. The attacks of mass murderers are distinguished from that of a serial killer in the sense that they normally take place over a short amount of time. Aside from a few cases, most notably the murder of eight students nurses by Richard Speck in 1966, mass murderers murder their victims through the use of guns or even some cases explosives. Unlike serial killers, mass murderers are everyday beings who just "snap" and take it upon themselves to kill anything that moves, although some rampages, such as those of Richard Speck and Woo Bum-kon, are triggered by the intoxication of alcohol or drugs. Their crimes usually have no sexual motive, save Thomas Watt Hamilton, who murdered 16 school children after it was discovered that he was a pedophile.

Examples of mass murderers include Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, George Hennard, James Oliver Huberty, Andrew Kehoe, Timothy McVeigh, Patrick Sherrill, Jiverly Wong.

Spree killers are essentially the same thing, except their attacks happen over a longer period of time at more than one location. While most of them, like Howard Unruh or Michael Robert Ryan, just roam the streets until they are captured or killed, some of them, like Paul John Knowles or Andrew Cunanan, kill over a period of weeks or even months while trying to evade capture. While their crimes can be spread out over a long period of time, like that of serial killers, spree killers have a modus operandi similar to that of mass murderers in the sense that they simply just "snap" and begin targeting random people. Some spree killers, like George Banks, Ronald Gene Simmons and Eric Borel targeted family or killed family in the events prior to their rampage. Both Charles Whitman(Texas tower sniper) and Jeff Weise(Red Lake High School gunman) killed members of their family while they slept in the events prior to their rampages. Mass bombings or genocides don't count as spree killings, so Andrew Kehoe and Adolf Hitler aren't spree killers. Some spree killers are teenage thrill-seekers like Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate, or the two "Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs" Viktor Sayenko and Igor Suprunyuck. The most severe spree killing perpetrated by a female is the 2006 rampage by Jennifer San Marco, who killed her neighbor before killing five more at her former place of employment, a U.S. Post Office in Golita, California before taking her own life. Like the 1973 rampage of Mark Essex, Marco's crimes may have been racially motivated.

Examples of spree killers include the Briley Brothers, Martin Bryant, Seung-Hui Cho, Kip Kinkel, Woo Bum-kon, Michael McLendon, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, James Edward Pough, Mutsuo Toi, Luke Woodham.

Answer 3

A mass killer will kill large numbers of people over days, months, or even years. An example of a mass killer would be Hitler. Many are politically motivated.

A spree killer will kill multiple victims, usually in a blitz-type attack such as we see at places of businesses or attacks on schools. Many times spree killers commit suicide before they can be apprehended. One of the earliest American spree killers was Charles Whitman, who on August 1, 1966 took multiple weapons and ammo to the clock tower on the campus of Texas A & M, killing three and injuring eleven. One of the casualties was an eight month old fetus. Whitman was killed by police before he could be arrested.

A serial killer is the rarest of all killers. The FBI's criteria is as follows: A killer that kills three or more people over time with a 'cooling off' time between kills. This cooling off period can be just hours, such as Jack The Ripper's killing of Elizabeth Stride and less than an hour later, Catherine Eddows, or it can be years such as the BTK killer who had several years between some of his victims. Some of the most imfamous serial killers are Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer.