The mass murderer history: Modern classifications, sociodemographic and psychopathological characteristics, suicidal dimensions, and media contagion of mass murders

Multicide and other mass killings are sufficiently dramatic to excite great interest from clinicians, criminologists and behavioral scientists. This paper revisits the history of the mass murderer, an entity that has progressively distinguished itself from the serial killer. The functional difference between mass and serial homicide is quite obvious, particularly in setting, time, victim status and modus operandi. Classification of these acts requires a number of parameters. The causes of mass murders are multiple and complex: although they rarely seem to be related to psychotic mental pathologies, they are always an expression of suffering that manifests itself in a psychological crisis that is both homicidal and suicidal. Several research teams have studied the sociodemographic and etiopathogenic characteristics of mass murderers and, in particular, the perpetrators of school killings. In addition to prevalent personality traits, these actions often jointly include suicides and homicides, which are brought together in the same psychic crisis. In keeping with the theory of little identity support, previous crimes influenced some mass murderers. Suicides and mass-murders are likely to be imitated. The media appears to play a crucial role in preventing the occurrence of imitation or copycat tragedies. The WHO recommendation regarding how to transcribe suicide and by extension, homicide, in the media is necessary.