Serial Killers on the Other Side of the Bars : “Bestial Humans—Human Beasts”

Abstract

Serial killers are present all over the globe. Their acts shock and—not surprisingly—anger the public. This study will—for the first time in Hungary—focus on serial killers convicted in Hungary by analyzing their crimes and their behavior during incarceration.This paper has the as-yet unprecedented aim of providing a general picture about serial killers on the “other side” of the prison bars, and within the prisons themselves. Besides dealing with the life and activities of the serial killers before their incarceration on international level, it will also put forward a comprehensive picture about the origin and meaning of the term “serial killer”, all the while discussing the general attributes of those who belong to this category. The study will also provide an overview about the main ideas on making distinctions and conducting classification into different types and examines the issues that are related to female serial killers.We will also analyze the actions of serial killers incarcerated within Hungarian prisons and evaluate their behaviour within the institution in order to predict their likely conduct using a completely novel risk assessment procedure.Our study also has a second part in which we will address the peculiarities pertaining to the punishment of life without parole, especially as 67% of the currently incarcerated Hungarian serial killers have received this sanction for their deeds.