Why does the USA have only 4% of the world's population, but produces 80% of the world's serial killers?

Question

These statistics are accurate, and were in a documentary on serial killers. It also said the social scientists could not agree on an explanation. It also noted that in 1980, the USA only produced 70% of the serial killers. So it's getting worse.

Answer 1

If in fact that is accurate..? It is most depressing. I would say from our beginnings as a nation we have been involved in Genocide, We are phobic of anything that will stand in the way of progress ( profit ) and with God behind us we can do no wrong.. so you have a total disconnect of the spirit from the body. Also People for the last forty years or so have come to be more and more raised by the television and we all know the stats on how many violent crimes a child sees depicted in film and TV by the time he or she is 18.. there is violence in other cultures to be sure.. But i can't think of any of those cultures that have hero worship for people like General George Custer or Wild Bill Hickok.. How about our infatuation with serial killers themselves ? ( serial killer bubblegum cards ? ) Andy Warhol said we'd all attain 15 minutes of fame.. being a serial killer is one sure way of getting more than that..

Answer 2

Certainly there is something in the US culture that is allowing serial killers to exist, but let us also consider that the US has some of the best databases and tracking ability. There are many countries where it would be very difficult to determine if a string of crimes were related because communications and information sharing across different areas is hindered by lack of technology and standardized practices.

With that being said, I do suspect the US leads the world in serial killers, but I'm just not certain we're quite that far out in front. Just like I don't think we have more incidents of domestic violence now than we did 30 years ago, I just think people are much more likely to report.

Answer 3

Your statistics (or rather those of the documentary) are flawed.

Consider Wikipedia's international list of serial killers country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_serial_killers_by_country#USA

I certainly don't think that the list is complete and I wouldn't expect that the serial killers listed country-by-country would be statistically representative of the all of the world's serial killers, but let just start with it.

Based on what we know about Wikipedia and the Internet generally--its users are disproportionately English-speaking and American compared to the world in general--we would expect the list to include a disproportionately large number of serial killers from the US. Yet, of the 200 or so serial killers listed, only about 40% are from the US. That's only half of the 80% that your documentary cites!.

Further, an examination of the list suggest that some non-US countries are under probably under-reported. The Soviet Union, for example, lists one serial killer. Yet there are seven listed for Poland. Today For example, although there are more than 1.0 billion Chinese, there is only one Chinese serial killer. Do you think this accurate? Given the Chinese government's control of the media and the absence of an open criminal justice system, it likely that there are many more Chinese serial killers that we don't know about. A similar argument could be made for the Soviet Union (which, again, has only one name killer on the list).

Why so many US serial killers? First, serial killers are generally found (or reported) in more developed, first world countries. There could be serial killers in Sudan, but would anyone figure that out? Would it ever be reported? Would a repeat-murderer in Sudan even be labeled "serial killer?" Doubtful.

Second, serial killers are only likely to be reported in open countries with open legal systems. Today it is well-known that there were numerous serial killers in the former Soviet Union. The Soviet government, which controlled the media, didn't permit it to be reported, however, because that would be bad for the former workers' utopia.

So you'd expect that open, first world societies with efficient law enforcement and open legal systems would have the most reported serial killers. Countries like the United States, Germany and UK. And indeed they do.

There you go, I've finished your homework.

Answer 4

Hey I saw a documentary that showed how Bush masterminded the whole 9/11 attack, so I guess it must be true.

Though I would probably agree with you, that we have more then our share of serial killers. Probably because most of the world doesn't care about why or what, if you are a criminal you are punished. We simply are far to warm and fuzzy with our criminals. England had a big problems with serial killers, they just shipped them all to a penal colony (Australia) How many honest internal statistics do you think we get out of places like China?

Not to mention that the most famous serial killer of all time was Jack the Ripper and he wasn't American.

Answer 5

really there is a few thing contained interior the U. S. way of existence it truly is permitting serial killers to exist, yet enable us also evaluate that the U. S. has numerous the perfect databases and monitoring ability. there are extremely numerous international locations the placement it truly is going to be very complicated to verify if a string of crimes were perfect because communications and information sharing for the length of diverse factors is hindered by using utilising lack of technologies and standardized practices. With that being stated, I do suspect the U. S. leads the global in serial killers, yet i'm only no longer particular we are extremely that some distance out interior the front. a twin of i don't think of we've more effective incidents of relations violence now than we did 30 years interior the previous, I only imagine each and every and surely each and every person is plenty more effective possibly to record.

Answer 6

I haven't seen those statistics before. America is a unique country with countless opportunities and virtually unlimited freedoms. Maslow, a social psychologist, theorized a hierarchy of human needs. As a culture achieves certain basic needs, it can evolve or pass into the next level. We start out with basic physical needs like food and shelter and evolve through security and relationships all the way to esteem and transcendence energy to bring change. Individuals in most countries might be on the lower levels because most of their days are spent just trying to survive. In America, most of our citizens are in the higher levels of this hierarchy and are bothered with the basic needs. This environment coupled with the disparity between our economic classes can create a perfect hot bed for killers. Add to that the rampant use of illicit drugs and you've just invented a whole class of serial killers. You raise an very interesting question. Thanks..I'll look for more from you.

Answer 7

Because our people believe they are free. Most of the worlds serial killers are political leaders.

Hitler, Stalin, Nero, etc etc...

Besides, America has done an excellent job of removing a citizens ability to fight back. They have effectively removed the Idea of vigilante (ism?), saying it is wrong and criminal, and no one but the law should take it into their hands.

While in china for example, they have some serious gang warring going on, and they kill lots of people.

You mean, crazy, sociopath guys though right? Because in other countries they would of just been killed. Pretty much it. Oh and in America we actually care about 10 people dieing, while in other countries it's less televised or known if someone kills 10 people.

Answer 8

I would first question the research and see if it really is accurate...the Shere Hite report was lauded as accurate till it was shown to be a skewed sample... how are murders investigated in other countries... Is it easier to sweep it under the rug... I think most murders are of the domestic violence type and the killers usually jilted abusive spouses... It is a problem... look at communities and the lack of community and the ability of the misfits who would do such things to fit in and mold their own world like the BTK guy did...
this is a good question better than most but it has no simple answer... look at it from a sociology view and study the killers who were caught and maybe we can learn from them why they ended up a bit off in this way.

Answer 9

Maybe because we have an effective police force and consider life important. So the statistic will show that we are aware of the serial killers and hunt them down. Do you really think that in Russia, India, Turkey, (name any country) the capability and desire to do what we do is the same?

Answer 10

Where do you get your facts from. We produce way more than that. Serial killers are everywhere, do not just pin this on Americans. If we have a lot of serial killers it is because we have greedy and needy people, but who does not have greedy and needy people?