5 Reasons Why There Were So Many Serial Killers in the 70s

5 Reasons Why There Were So Many Serial Killers in the 70s

Serial killers started operating way back in the 1970s and this period was referred to as the “golden age of serial murder,” by crime historian Harold Schechter. According to statistics 600 people were killed during this period and it is estimated that there were nearly 300 known active serial killers in the 70s. According to Peter Vronsky in his book American Serial Killers; It is analyzed that more than 80 per cent of known American serial killers operated between 1970 and 1999. The photos of Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Zodiac Killer and many other serial killers, topped the news because of their heinous act of crime which continues to shock the nation until today.

Peter Vronsky said, “The reason behind this is manyfold encompassing everything from sociological changes to biology, to technology, to linguistics.” Therefore, in this article today we are going to look at the reasons why serial killers spiked in the 1970s.

1. Post-traumatic disorder after the war

Soldiers in the war. BCC News World, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

After the end of World War 2, many American soldiers were returning back to their families. They had been exposed to severe trauma during war, and this resulted in them having major post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to Vronsky, children born to these PTSD fathers could have led to an increase of volatility, brutality, and uncertainty within the childhood home thus triggering potential violent tendencies in the children who later may start acting in this manner. The likes of Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and John Wayne Gacy supported this theory because they were all born during this war period. The Torso killer and Dennis Radar were also raised by fathers who were war veterans with PTSD. All these killers were raised in a potentially violent broken home.

James Fallon also said it could be a combination of environment and something that might have been pre-disposed to the genes of serial killers because not all children who grew up with dads who were from war became serial killers.

2. Death penalty was banned in the UK in 1965

The last people to be executed in August 1964 were Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans. The following year, 1965, the death penalty for murder in the UK was suspended for the next five years and in 1969 it became permanent. After this Human Right Act was passed some serial killers were given life sentences in prison with no death penalty while some escaped upon their arrest and some committed suicide before they were arrested. The risk of being caught during that time did not come with severe punishment, which couldn’t be handled by the serial killers so serial killing spiked rapidly during that period.

3. Existence of new technology

Forensic scientists working in the crime laboratory. West Midlands Police from West Midlands, United Kingdom, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1970, there were new technologies that improved data collection techniques and enabled the police, investigators and researchers to identify the pattern in crime. The results of serial killers from the data collection were constantly shown in the mass media and television, therefore increasing their visibility during this decade. Improved data collection also enabled the researchers and investigators to follow up on the crime trends, recognize the possible connected incidents and set up patterns that may show proof of a serial killer. The police also started opening up investigations in a more advanced way and following up on them for longer periods and this might have been a factor in the recognized intensity of the decades-long spike.

4. The completion of most of the interstate highway system

A picture of a highway. Photographs by JarrahTree…commons.wikimedia.org, CC BY 2.5 AU, via Wikimedia Commons

The existence of an interstate highway system enabled the serial killers in the 70s to travel across the country way more easily than before and it also helped them to escape being stopped by the police. Therefore, the serial killers were able to kill several victims and they escaped through these interstate highways. The interstate highway system also created job opportunities in haulage and for that reason people with mental illness disorder found themselves doing this kind of job. The likes of Robert Black who worked in this job were able to familiarize themselves with each part of the country and therefore when they kill their victims they knew where to go unnoticed or where to dispose of the bodies of their victims.

5. Chances of getting caught were much lower

crime scene tape. Kat Wilcox, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Back then in the 70s, technology was so outdated as compared to now. There were no CCTV, no mobile phones, no forensic technology and computer systems were non-existent. Therefore, catching a serial killer could either be by chance. It took a lot of paperwork to catch the serial killers back then. Also, in the 1970s police officers were poorly trained and lacked discipline. This in turn led to an increase in the number of serial killers who were not arrested and punished by the law. Many cases of missing persons were left unsolved until the invention of new technologies which led to the opening of these unsolved cases.   

Check out this article on the 10 serial killers that were never caught here