In America, what percentage of annual homicides are actually committed by serial killers?
There have been conflicting reports as to the extent of serial murder. The FBI claimed in the 1980s that at any particular time there were roughly 35 active serial killers in the United States, meaning that the serial killers in question have committed their first murders but have not yet been apprehended for their crime or stopped by other means (e.g., suicide, a physical incapability to commit their crimes, imprisonment for a different offense, or a natural death). This figure has often been exaggerated. In his 1990 book Serial Killers: The Growing Menace, Joel Norris claimed that there were 500 serial killers active at any one time in the United States, claiming 5,000 victims a year, a quarter of the country’s homicides. Some have argued that those who study or write about serial killers, be they journalists or employed in the judicial profession, have a vested interest in exaggerating the threat of such offenders.
