Abby Simms
Dixon
Criminal Justice III
23 October 2017
Richard Kuklinski - Iceman
Richard Kuklinski is unique in many ways, one of which being his devotion to his job. However, it was nothing worthy of praise. Kuklinski’s death count reached nearly 200 people, with his first kill as just a teenager. To most, this sounds like a very extreme example of a serial killer; however, Kuklinski was not a serial killer. Every serial killer, or mostly every serial killer, is going to exhibit the same characteristics that all align to explain the crimes they commit. Serial killers commit horrific crimes that are unimaginable to the average person; however, Richard Kuklinski was not a serial killer, even though he exhibited most of the characteristics that a serial killer does. Richard Kuklinski’s upbringing, for example, is evidence and explanation for why he was the way he was. First off, Kuklinski is not like your average serial killer for many reasons. The first reason being that he didn’t kill because he felt like he needed to, he killed because it was his “job” and nature. For example, “Serial killers experience an emotional cooling off period between their murders during which time they blend back into their seemingly normal lives. In contrast, professional hit men do not experience/require a cooling off period between their murders because of the unemotional and pragmatic nature of their killings”. This hits home with Richard Kuklinski because with his death count reaching
Serial killers, we have all heard of them and most of us are petrified of them. They commit horrendous crimes that many people cannot even begin to wrap their head around. Unfortunately, for those of us who are afraid of them it is likely we have encountered at least one if not multiple in our lifetime. That last sentence really puts the “be nice to everyone” quote into perspective, doesn’t it? It is not known how many serial killers are actually walking around among us however most studies conducted reviled we may not want the answer. Chances are the number is higher than we would have thought and definitely higher than we had hoped. Although I highly doubt we will ever get an actual number. It is not likely that a survey will be given to see how many serial killers are actually walking free. Even if this hypothetical survey was given I do not think an actual serial killer is going to put a checkmark in the are you a serial killer box. Although if they did mark the box they would save a lot of lives. Answering yes to such a question would land them in a psych ward. We may not know how to identify a serial killer simply by looking them up and down but we do have theories that help predict why they choose to commit unspeakable crimes. One of these theories that will be discussed is the biosocial theory. Throughout the report, the biosocial theory of crime will be thoroughly explained and applied to this topic to better understand serial killers. Anyone who has some time to
This essay aims to examine weather serial killers are born a certain way and their genetics define their psychotic tendencies or whether they're a product of a bad environment that they grew up. This essay looks at recent killings in the late 20th century as there is more information on the killers from this period and it's easier to gain details about their childhoods. Whilst I will look at various different killers to reach more rounded conclusions (see appendix for comparison table), this essay will focus on four in detail to examine the debate; Ted Bundy (1946-89), Jeffery Dahmer (1960-1994), John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994) and Gary Ridgway (1949-present).
In the essay “What Makes a Serial Killer?” author LaDonna Beaty discusses the causes of serial killers. Beaty states, serial killers are the most hated and feared out of all the criminals. Over 5000 people will be victimized each year by serial killers alone, says Beaty. Her research estimates there are 350 serial killers within a large society. Beaty stated that investigations on serial killers had been dated back to 1911. However, she also asks, what does a serial killer look like? Beaty gives the readers great details on her ideal serial killer. For example, he will typically have bloodshot eyes, curly black hair, strong jaws, abnormal ears, straight thin lips, and menacing grins. Although, today, we can’t expect serial killers to have
Every serial killer has their own twisted ways to doing their crimes. Richard Kuklinski is no different from other killers in this way. He started young, killing cats and other animals for the fun of it and to feel “empowered”. Different from other killers, he committed his first murder in middle school. Kuklinski beat a bully death and then disposed of it. A lot of their character traits relate back to their young family life. A common pattern in several serial killers is that their parents abused them in some way or the other. Richard Kuklinski, or the “Iceman”, is like these serial killers in the way that he was abused as a young boy. Although there are an uncertain amount of things that led Kuklinski to his brutal, senseless killings, some of the factors stand as: The abuse from his parents, his emotionless personality, and the money he earned from these killings.
There is no real general profile of serial killers; each serial killer has a unique set of characteristics. In attempt to profile these types of criminals, there has been some common characteristic that serial killers have exhibited during child that has been mention in early in this paper. Research into serial killers is important partly because even though there is literature out there on serial killers, there is still not much known about these types of criminals. The purpose of this paper's focus on Mr. Kuklinski is to hopefully debunk stereotypes and myths in regards to serial killers. Popular or common belief of serial killers to deranged psychopathic people who are unhinged. However, Kuklinski is the opposite he is cold hearted and possesses a full mental capacity to where he understand everything he doing and full ramification of his action. He completely understands that he is indeed committing first-degree murder and if he were to get caught he would punish with life in
Serial murder crime though rare, is not a a new phenomenon. This crime has been committed for centuries and will continue to be a crime that is committed throughout the world. It is unfortunate and scary that this is probably one of the most serious of crimes that cannot be prevented. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, serial murderers commit their crimes because they want to. Rehabilitation is not obtainable for serial killers due to their inability for remorse and empathy, or to see people as people and not objects(Knight 2006). This research paper will focus primarily on serial murder within the U.S. First and foremost, a legal definition provided by the U.S. Department of Justice will be presented to set forth the discussion of this research paper. As follows will be a detailed discussion explaining serial killer typologies with the use of examples of known serial killers in the U.S. Types of serial killers are: power oriented, mission oriented, visionary, and hedonistic, each typology will be clearly defined and explained. Some serial killers can have a mixture of each typology’s characteristic. Serial killers that will be discussed and used as examples to represent the content of this research paper will be, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Robert Berdella, Jeffery Dahmer, and lastly the most prolific serial killer in American history, Gary Ridgeway. Problems with studying serial killing, are that because of rarity and access. Most of what we think
A serial killer is traditional defined as the separate killings of three or more people by an individual over a certain period of time, usually with breaks between the murders. (Angela Pilson, p. 2, 2011) This definition has been accepted by both the police and academics and therefore provides a useful frame of reference (Kevin Haggerty, p.1, 2009). The paper will seek to provide the readers with an explanation of how serial killers came to be and how they are portrayed in the media.
In the biography “The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer” By Philip Carlo, Richard Kuklinski can be considered a man-made psychopath, as there are thoughts that he was made to be who he was through nurture; such as his family, rather than being born this way. It was often thought Richard could be two different people, the “good Richard” and “bad Richard”. The book explains how Richard lived his life as a contract killer that could be hired for many different Mafia families, as he was not Italian.
Richard Kuklinski was an incredibly cold-blooded man. He had at least 100 confirmed kills, and claims to have around 200 total. Richard has a very horrible childhood. Richard liked to torture and kill animals as a little boy. His father abused him and his brothers, one of which was killed from the abuse received from Stanley. Stanley’s brother, Joseph, was pretty messed up, too. He probably would’ve turned out to be a serial killer himself. Kuklinski himself wasn’t like Ramirez or Dahmer, or any other serial killer for that matter. Kuklinski was an evil man, with a ton of interesting information about him out there.
Richard Kuklinski was a convicted murderer and contract killer who was born on April 11 in 1935. Kuklinski claims to have killed over 200 people over the course of his “career” during 1949 to 1986. At first, he would simply kill people who annoyed him, got on his nerves, or who he ‘needed’ to kill. When the mob caught wind of a man who killed as frivolously as Kuklinski, they began to hire him out as a contract killer. He lived in New Jersey and New York and committed most of his crimes in that area. In 1988, he was caught and sentenced to life in prison -- he later died in prison in March of 2006
Richard Kuklinski was born in 1935 in New Jersey. His father was very abusive towards him and his brother until they were teens. Richard and some Psychiatrist believe this contributed to his antisocial personality disorder. Richard developed a cold hatred for anyone who humiliated him or angered him. He first murdered someone when he was 18 by burning them alive in their own car. This started Richards long deadly habit of destroying those who got in his way. In his 20’s he joined up with Gambino mafia family. He proved his worth by un-empathetically killing a random person in the streets of new york. From there he started his career as one of the deadliest and most successful contract killer. He ascended beyond many serial killers ruthlessness and violence against his victims with his many tactics including letting rats eat them. His career as a contract killer lasted over 30 years. Through all this he had a loving wife and 3 kids including 2 girls and a boy. His family was completely unaware of his job. He was very different from many other serial killers in the way he was killing for personal gain such as money. He has repeatedly said in interviews that he felt no thrill or enjoyment from killing people. Many psychiatrist credit this to his fearlessness. Which is fueled by his antisocial personality disorders and the beats he received as a kid. This fearlessness makes a lethally efficient
Richard Kuklinski was born on April 11, 1935 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was raised in an abusive environment. His father would beat him for no reason at all and all he ever knew was hate because that is all he’s ever known. His father Stanley would beat him with an iron rod and lock him in the basement for hours or days without food. Stanley went so far one night that he killed Richard’s younger brother due to hitting him in the head. His father then abandoned the family when Richard was 16. I believe his upbringing is a large contributing factor of him becoming a serial killer.
Richard Kuklinski in my opinion was a serial killer. Due to the abuse he received not just from his parents but also his neighbors and classmates this would be used as an excuse for why Richard did what he did. Richard upbringing was not like so many ordinary families where both parents lived in the house and both was involved in the child’s life, and there main focus was the best interest of the child. Richards’s parents were involved in his upbringing but in a way that caused him to lose a part of humanism which will cause harm to so many people. Because of the abuse his
What is a serial killer? Retired Special Agent Robert Ressler, a twenty-two year veteran of the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit in Quantico, Virginia, is responsible for creating the term “serial killer.” He defines this person as “one who commits a series of murders, usually three or more, the victims most often being strangers, and usually with a cooling-off period in between each kill” (Kelleher & Kelleher, 1998; Pearson, 1998; Ressler and Shactman, 1997). This precise definition is necessary to distinguish this type of predator from the mass murderer (who kills many simultaneously), mercenaries, war criminals, or mafia hit men.
On December 6th, 1941 the world welcomed Richard Benjamin Speck, who would become a well-known mass murderer. Speck, having a rather rough childhood, had an extensive criminal background before committing the unspeakable murders that made him famous. After being found guilty, Speck spent his remaining days in Chicago’s Stateville Penitentiary. One can look at Richard’s personal history, crime and criminal history to try and pin him to one criminological theory, when in reality, none will really fit him to a “T”. He was a psychopath who was in great need of psychological help, among other things.