Serial Killers, Mass Murderers, and Spree Killers: Three Factors Decide the Murder Type on the Same Continuum

Multiple murder is a popular topic for many movies, TV series, novels, and other art forms due to its seemingly mysterious nature. However, against the depictions of the perpetrators as being rather charismatic and charming personas, the reality is that they are individuals with serious personality disorders of different types. To correct these misleading public images, this paper introduces a simple classification chart of serial, spree, and mass killers to promote easy understandings of who they are and where they come from. It proposes that three factors decide which symptom the subject falls into on the same continuum.