Holmes and Holmes Typology

Running Head: BUSINESS AND CORPORATION LAW 0
Criminal Psychology
7/12/2018
Student’s Name

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Thesis Statement: To understand the differ types of serial killers under Holmes and Holmes
typology and to applicability and issues in real scenarios.
Criminology is one of the important subjects to study as the same helps to identify and
understand criminal behavior. Different types of crimes are there in society and murder is one of
them. The issue becomes more crucial when it is serial murder. As the name implies, serial
murderers are those offenders who commit several murders, mostly following the same pattern
(Flowers, 2012). Based on crime scene behavior and motivation, serial murderers can be divided
into many categories. In the field of criminology, these categories are known as a typology of
serial murders. Several attempts have been made to classify serial murderers, which is a first step
towards understanding the varieties of such criminals. These classifications elucidate different
motives of offenders and the relationship between victim and offender. The objective of this
essay is to develop an understanding of one such typology of serial murderers, which is known
as Holmes and Holmes typology (1998). The intense study developed in the areas of serial
murder has made two classifications, where one is based on motive and another one is on social
and organizational patterns. Holmes typology support to the motive method. In this essay, the
subjective typology will be discussed and evaluated in detail considering related aspects of the
same. The essay will discuss different types of serial killers such as visionary, mission-oriented,
hedonistic, and power/control. Each of these types will be discussed in detail in this essay. The
chosen typology is given by two authors namely Ronald M. and Stephen T. Holmes.
In general, a serial killer does fall in more than one category. Starting the discussion over
Holmes and Holmes's typology of serial murderers, this is to state that according to this

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typology, serial killers can be divided into two categories such as act-focused and process-
focused (Kaminsky, 2019). Here to state that act, focused criminals kill quickly, where a murder
is just an act itself. On the different side, another type of criminal i.e. process focused criminals,
kill slowly. Such criminals enjoy the slow death, pain, and torture gained by their victims. Act-
focused criminals can further be divided into two subtypes that are visionary and missionary.
Similar to act focused criminals, process-focused criminals also have two different types which
are hedonists and power-seeking. These subtypes are further discussed in detail.
Firstly, discussing visionary serial killers this is to state that the same is not a person with
great vision and also such killers do not have an extraordinary talent in relation to planning or
execution of murders (hardcoretruecrime.com, 2019). Visionary killer murder people because the
same have visions or hear voices that direct him/her to do so. Such criminals experience a break
with reality and hear voices from god, devils, angels, or demons who tell such murderers to kill a
particular person or type of person. These types of criminals often found to be suffering from
psychoses or some other type of mental illness. Not similar to another type of criminals, a
visionary criminal selects the victim on a random basis as the agenda of murder performed by
them is truly synchronized with their mental illness. They commit murder due to visual
hallucinations (MacKenzie, O'Neill, Povitsky & Acevedo, 2014a). As mental illness of such
murderers motivates them to commit murders, hence such killer's falls under the category of
"disorganized" serial killers. As mentioned above, a visionary killer calls act based criminals.
The logic behind the same is that the act of murder itself is their ultimate objective (Bonn, 2015).
Another act based on criminals identified under Holmes typology is missionary killers
who murder people because they trust that they need to get rid of a specific group of people.
These groups are those to whom the serial killer finds undesirable or unworthy (Holmes &

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Holmes, 2009). Such criminals operate in a planned manner, and therefore they take away
weapons after a murder. The most important thing about mission killers is that the same try to
improve society by removing a few groups of people according to their own judgment and self-
serving standards. Any social group can be a target for such criminals such as homeless,
prostitutes and other people who are likely to differ from the killer him/herself in terms of
religion, race, and sexual orientation and so on. Not similar to visionary killers who kill others
after hearing voices and are usually mentally sick, missionary criminals are rarely mentally
insane. They are highly compulsive and perfectionist. In most cases, a missionary killer was
found to be gainfully employed, stable, and resident of a particular geographical area for long.
These killers remain highly meticulous and do the murder of their victims very efficiently and
quickly. Many of the missionary killers think that by ending the life of a victim, the deceased of
every wrongdoing. In this manner, these murderers start using him/herself as an avenging angel
and think that victims should be thankful to them for selecting them as his/her target (Bonn,
2018).
Moving the discussion towards hedonists type of criminals which is a kind of process-
focused criminals, this is to state that these criminals kill others for lust or comfort as categorized
originally by Holmes and De burger. This kind of killer can be seen in horror or thriller movies.
These people receive pleasure in killing others and do heinous things to their victims. Discussing
the very first type of hedonist killer i.e. lust killer, this is to say that their behavior remains
associated with sexual pleasure. For such killers, sex remains the main focus and even after
getting sexual gratification, murdered kills the victim (Dutton, 2012). A lust killer gets pleasure
from the process of murder and therefore acts such as necrophilia, cannibalism, and
dismemberment are likely to present in this type of murder. A lust serial killer planned murder in

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a way that avoids detection. For instance, a missing weapon or dead bodies in an isolated place
are some of the main practices adopted by these criminals. According to Holmes and Holmes
(1998), overkill, torture during murder or object penetration into the victim's body are some of
the indicators of a lust serial murder. On the different side, comfort-oriented criminals kill others
for their personal benefit or gain. These criminals are also known as Gain killers. These
murderers believe that by killing someone they will be benefited in some way. For the comfort
killers, the main motive remains a material gain or a comfortable lifestyle. For these murders,
mostly family members or a close one remains a victim, death of whom can bring a monetary or
otherwise benefit. In addition to this, most of the time, these killers use poison to kill their
victims so that the murder deemed an accident. The most interesting thing about comfort killers
is that usually, they are likely to be a female. However, it does not mean that only females kill
others for gain but men also kill others for money of other gains. Here one needs to keep
remember that for being classified as a serial killer, a lust killer, as well as comfort killers, need
to murder more than one person (Kessler, 2018).
After the identification of Holmes and De Burger, later on, one more category of
hedonistic killers has been added there which is known as thrill killers. A thrill serial killer kills
multiple people for their excitement and pleasure of killing. In other words, this can be stated
that such murderers get a kick from killing others. Such murderers remain aware of the fact that
they can be detected and therefore careful while performing the murder as well as while
disposing of the dead body of the victim. As soon as a victim is dead, the thrill has vanished and
the killer loses his/her interest.
Apart from hedonists, another type of process-focused killer is power-seeking, who wish
to act like a god or in charge of another person's death and life. These killers are known as

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control killer or power killer. Such criminals are not typically associated with a particular type of
killing and are likely to dominate and control their victims. Control and power form primary gain
for these serial killers. Here this is to state that such killers want to keep ultimate control on life
or death of their victims which gives them pleasure and then they become addicted to killings.
The main thinking works behind the behavior of such killers is their feelings that they have
ultimate control of someone's life and can do whatever they want with the same. In essence, a
power-oriented killer acts like a god where the same is likely to have power like a god to
determine who should die or who should be live.
After the above-mentioned discussion, the types of serial killers are clear according to
Holmes's typology where obsessive-compulsive characteristics have been discussed reflecting
the theory of social-emotional development. This typology helps readers to understand the
different classification of serial killers and identify different reasons for that a serial killer
murders various people. To further understand and evaluate the selected typology i.e. Holmes
typology of serial murderers, this is to state that the same provides a bifurcation of the organized
and disorganized continuum, where the act based murderers reflect features of a disorganized
killer and process-based murders reflect features of an organized type of criminals (Sewall,
Krupp & Lalumière, 2013). Before making the various classifications, Holmes and Holmes have
reviewed nearly 110 serial murder cases and thereafter developed this typology considering
many of the aspects such as background characteristics of an offender, methods of killing,
characteristics of the victim and other crime scene behavior and psychological motivation of
serial murder offenders. Applying knowledge gain from Holmes's typology, the behavior of a
serial killer can be studied and classification of the same. In other words, this can be stated that

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the study of this typology helps to understand the motivation for a serial killer behind the
commitment of serial murders by looking after the manner of performance of a murder.
To check the efficiency and limitations of this typology, David Canter and Natalia
Wentik (Psychologist) have conducted an empirical test of the same. In this test, a sample of 100
serial killing cases of the United States has been taken as a sample where it was found that a
higher frequency feature of the scene of the crimes is not able to support the proposed type of
murderer (Canter, 2014). As mentioned above, this model provides that a serial killer may fall
into more than one category but the same fails to provide the criteria based on which one can
determine the related type of offender. For instance, the control feature found as existed in more
than 50% and therefore critics have argued that the same should not be seen as a different type of
serial murderers. The lead concern about Holmes's typology is related to the validity and
reliability of the data collected. As per the claim made by De Burger and Holmes, the typology
developed by them was based on interviews conducted with offenders, nevertheless, the manner
of these interviews have conducted was not clarified. In addition to the same interview, the
methodology was also not presented. Hence, there is always a critique that the standard set of
questions has not been used. Furthermore, information related to the selection of offenders for
the purpose of the interview was also not given. Holmes and Holmes provided a piece of brief
information about different types of serial murders but fails to define the terms used by them
such as "act-focused" and "process-focused."
Another issue that one may find with the respect typology is that there is an overlap of
criteria between types as characteristics proposed for one type of serial killer also reflect in
another type of killer (MacKenzie, O'Neill, Povitsky & Acevedo, 2014b). For instance, features
such as torture, aberrant sexual activity can be seen in lust serial killer as well as control type. In

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such a situation, identification of the type of criminal is difficult in cases where a crime scene
reflects characteristics of more than one criminal. As mentioned above, an empirical test has
been conducted where 100 samples of murders have been reviewed this is to state that in results
nearly 30% of cases found to carry visionary variables. Further, very few features of crimes
scene have been found that could reflect a mission killing. The use of more than one weapon
could be seen there and it has been realized that such mix use of weapon feature was difficult to
define the type of murder. Further many variables have found among 100 murder scenes that
were reflecting a lust killing. The victim is alive and missing weapon are some characteristics
that have been provided for more than one category and hence it could not be said that the cases
where these features have found purely reflected thrill killers. The same goes for power-seeking
killers, as control and power over the life of victims seem to be a general feature of every serial
killer and therefore cannot relate to one specific type of them. To discuss the result of empirical
test, this is to state that many high-frequency variables have occurred. For instance, out of 100
cases, in 91 cases the victim was found alive. Further, the factor of torture was there in 53 cases,
missing weapon factor existed in 67 cases. In 54 cases body was found to be placed in an
isolated place (Kanter & Wentink, 2019). It is hereby clear that a particular variable or character
is not able to identify the type of serial killer. It is one of ye major loophole of this typology.
To conclude the essay, this is to state that in general Holmes and Holmes typology
provide different types of serial killers and also helps one to understand how serial killers can
murder others. Nevertheless as reflected in the results of only empirical research done, the same
does not seem helpful to identify the specific type of killer as variables fall in more than one
category and in this way a crime scene reflect different types of killers and this can be treated as
one of the major limitations of the subjective typology.

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References
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psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/201501/visionary-serial-killers-are-driven-
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Bonn, S., A. (2018) Understanding Mission Killers. Retrieved From:
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Dutton, K. (2012) The Wisdom of Psychopaths. London : Random House.
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hardcoretruecrime.com. (2019) What Is A Visionary Serial Killer?. Retrieved From:
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Holmes, R., M. & Holmes, S., T. (2009) Serial Murder. UK: Sage.
Kaminsky, M. (2019). Serial Killer Trivia: Fascinating Facts and Disturbing Details That Will
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Kanter, D., & Wentink, N. (2019) An Empirical Test of Holmes and Holmes’s Serial Murder
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Kessler, K. (2018) Deadly Motives: The Hedonistic Drive Of Serial Murder. Retrieved From:
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Sewall, L. A., Krupp, D. B., & Lalumière, M. L. (2013). A test of two typologies of sexual
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