Tyger! Tyger!: serial murder and the politics of fear control

Serial murder is one of the most confronting, confounding and problematic enigmas of modern criminology. As a new phenomena it is dark and glamorous, creating a growth industry in print and film sensationalising the exploits of people who are, when the squalid truth is really known, rather sad, abused and damaged individuals. While dealing with this as a new phenomenon, we must acknowledge that the crime of murder, even senseless brutal murder, is by no means new. Previous incidences of a similar nature did not attract the label 'serial killer' and the label is the thing. The scare of mugging did not exist until the label was created by the media and government in the 1970s, although the crime of petty robbery has existed for a very long time indeed (Hall et al, 1979).