Serial Killer Typology

There are many ways to classify or create typologies of serial murderers, and one can be either a "lumper" or "splitter" with this endeavor. There are typologies that are based on the frequency and timing of serial behavior, typologies based on the presumed characteristics of the typical perpetrator, and typologies based on perpetrator motivations. There might as well be a typology based on age, since serial killers don't usually start killing until their late 20s, 30s, or 40s (and this provides an important criminological insight -that it's not just childhood which is the causal influence). Organizing insights like this into manageable or useful categories is a task calling for a good typology; organizing such insights into more refined ideas is a task calling for good theory. However, being less than theories, there are no good ways to test or evaluate typologies. This isn't to say that typologies are inherently "inferior" to theories; just that they are held to different standards. Likewise, it's only "statistically speaking" that identified serial killers usually turn out to be white males of above-average intelligence who begin killing in their twenties or thirties, although some have been as young as ten years old when they first killed (Vronsky 2004).