Of Monsters and Men: Exploring Serial Murderers' Discourses of Neutralization. Issue 9 (2nd September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: James, Veronyka; Gossett, Jennifer
• Is Part Of: Deviant behavior. Volume 39:Issue 9(2018)
• Page Start: 1120
• Page End: 1139
• Publication Date: 2018-09-02
• Subjects: Deviant behavior -- Periodicals; 302.54205
• DOI: 10.1080/01639625.2017.1409980
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0163-9625

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Techniques of neutralization are used by petty and serious criminals to verbally account for their behavior, mitigate responsibility, and socially construct identity. Since serial killers often appear "normal" while simultaneously killing, neutralizations may provide the process by which serial killers "drift" between conventional societal attachments and murder. These neutralizations may also function as a form of stigma management, as it does for other offenders, assisting in the maintenance of a positive presentation of self. To explore these propositions, a content analysis of narratives and case histories was used to examine serial murderers' accounts to determine if neutralizations were offered, and if so, the implications of this theory as a general (or universal) theory of crime.