Serial killers grip Americans' imagination.

The serial killer has a death grip on the American imagination, way out of proportion to reality, according to Pennsylvania State University criminologist Philip Jenkins, author of Using Murder: The Social Construction of Serial Homicide. "The phenomenon of serial murder can be found throughout history and around the world, the most famous case being Jack the Ripper in England of the 1800s. But the 1980s brought a new and intensified spotlight on serial murder, inspired by the media, popular culture, and the political agenda of law enforcement agencies and certain advocate groups."

White it has been claimed that serial murder accounts for more than 4,000 victims a year, the figure actually is much smaller, probably closer to 300 or 400. "Many factual assertions commonly made about the serial murder problem are incorrect or misleading," Jenkins notes. "During the early 1980s, legitimate concerns over crime were meshed with separate issues of missing and exploited children, organized pedophilia, and ill-defined concerns about the prevalence of homosexuality to create an aura of |moral panic.'

"In addition, a serial murder story fulfilled the criteria for a great news story--fear, outrage, innocence, violence--and was attractive to all media. The topic was highly visible in popular fiction, where true-crime books, novels, and films fueled the...