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Berserk Syndrome: A Review of Mass Murder

NCJ Number
173340
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: Spring 1997 Pages: 1-8
Author(s)
G B Palermo
Date Published
1997
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Based on a literature review and case studies of some of the most notorious mass murderers, this study develops a typology of the perpetrators of such crimes.
Abstract
"Mass murder" is defined as "an offense in which multiple victims are intentionally killed in a single incident, usually by one individual and in a given social context." At times, the mass murderer's behavior is viewed as the act of one who went "berserk." Such an expression well depicts the fury of the killer at the scene of the crime and derives from the wild Norse warrior called "Berserk," the grandson of the mythical eight-handed Starkaddes, who fought in his ber sark or bear skin. This study reviewed 49 mass murders in the period from 1949 to 1995. This review revealed crimes that were unconscionable, unpredictable, and irrational. The killers were reported as people who harbored intense destructive hostility that, at a certain moment, they were no longer able to contain. Their ages ranged from 19 to 54 years, and the majority of them were older than 25. The killings are viewed as the outcome of extreme frustration and perceived rejection in a highly narcissistic person, who is wounded in his ego, hostile toward society, and in search of identity and notoriety through a cathartic self-assertion. The "superman" complex may be at the core of the killer's behavior. The author contends that the personal psychopathology of the killer is determinant of the destructive behavior, although social factors are highly contributory. A detailed portrait is presented of the unique case of a mass murderer who left a videotaped soliloquy as a suicide "note." 17 references

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