Penn alum looks at serial killer myths

As Oliver Stone's 1994 film Natural Born Killers demonstrated, Americans have a fascination with serial killers. People even exchange serial killer trading cards, psychologist and self-proclaimed "violence expert" James Fox said at a lecture on Thursday in Logan Hall. He began the talk by showing pictures of these collector's items, modeled after major league baseball cards, as an example of many people's preoccupation with criminals. "Jeffrey Dahmer was on the cover of People magazine three times and he was voted the Most Intriguing Man of Year in 1991 and for the century," Fox continued, citing other examples of this curiosity. While describing the characteristics of a serial killer, Fox, a Penn alumnus, stressed that his purpose was not to scare students about the existence of a Ted Bundy or a Dahmer. In his speech, "The Psychology of Violence in America," Fox, the dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University, pointed out that "people are more likely to die hitting a deer while driving than to be murdered by a serial killer." Instead, he said his point was to inform students about the psychology of people who are violent, using the most extreme example possible. He described the technique as "informing students while talking about something that interests them -- blood and gore." He went on to talk about the misconceptions people have of murderers. "They are not all glassy-eyed lunatics," Fox stated, as a slide of a masked monster resembling a cross between horror film mainstays Jason and Freddy Krueger appeared on the screen. "They are actually extraordinarily ordinary." To prove his point, Fox cited the example of John Wayne Gacy, who was a successful contractor and a man known and loved in his community when he killed 33 people and buried them in the crawl space beneath his home. The profile of the average serial killer, according to Fox, is a white, middle-aged man who kills "for the fun of it." "He is bad, not mad, and crafty, not crazy," Fox said. He also added that the typical murderer is obsessed with power and possibly seeks the control that he lacks in the rest of his life. Another myth people have of killers is that they don't have a conscience. In fact, Fox said, they compartmentalize, or justify their crimes by convincing themselves that their victims are worthless. Whether prostitutes -- the most common targets of killers -- or minorities, the murderers classify the victims as expendable and don't feel guilty about killing them. Fox believes that the characteristics of the killer can be applied to other criminals. "Kids who join gangs may seek the same kind of power that murderers crave. And people who commit hate crimes to marginalized groups in society justify their actions in the same way that murderers do," he said. By studying the most extreme examples, Fox claims people can learn about all forms of violence. Maria Arlotto, a College senior and Psychology major, was impressed by Fox's unorthodox approach. "He was humorous and dynamic," she said.