SERIAL AND MULTIPLE HOMICIDE: IS THERE AN EPIDEMIC?

This paper examines the contemporary problem of serial and multiple homicide. To test whether rates for serial homicide and multiple homicide have increased significantly in the 1980's as compared to the 1950's, a newspaper index search was conducted for these two decades. The data indicate that the numbers of both types of homicide were considerably higher for the 1980's, even when adjusted for population size. However, the serial and multiple homicide rates have increased only as much as have overall homicide rates. There is no indication in the data of a specific swing toward serial and multiple murder, which appear today as a part of general increasing lawlessness. The observed general pattern of case material suggests that serial and multiple homicide show generally opposite characteristics.