Is Serial Homicide Really Increasing? (2001) L. B. Schlesinger

Is Serial Homicide Really Increasing?.

L. B. Schlesinger,
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 29(3): 294-297, 2001.

Close examination of the available crime data reveals little scientific support for the widely held belief that serial homicide is frequent and increasing. The author argues that the dramatic changes in homicide clearance rates, incidence of murders with unknown motives, and victim gender data point to a likely increase, not in serial murder, but in contract murder. This type of killing appears to be having a significant impact on society; yet there has been a complete absence of forensic psychiatric study of this crime, a circumstance that needs to change.