Everyone has seen the movies full of dark alleys andblood splatter on the shower curtain. But few have had the experience ofactually talking with the people on the murderous side of the knife.

For students in Dr.Scott Culhane’s criminal justice course, Serial Killers, that’s exactly thecase. By writing letters, they are corresponding with willing convicted serialkillers, serving time in U.S. prisons across the country.

“It’s a criminal justiceclass, so it’s not a profiling class,” Culhane said. “We’re studying the crimeaspect. At first, [the students] look at aspects of what causes crimes and thenwe look at case studies.” The crimes of Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer and JohnWayne Gacy are examined in the course.

The correspondencebetween students and convicts is part of a semester-long project that outlinesthe history and crimes of a single murderer.

The students usepseudonyms when contacting the killers.

“The project itself is acase study of the individual,” Culhane said. “The student is taking a singleserial killer, or suspected serial killer, and writing up a history on them andcategorizing their crimes.”

By “categorizing,” thestudents specify the nature of the wrongdoings, such as torture and post-mortemactivity.

Culhane, who joined the Criminal Justice Department in 2005, stressed the importance of understandingserial killers, especially by talking with them.

“I want people to seehow they are different from each other,” Culhane said. “You can’t just lumpthem into a category. You hear it all the time when they’re being interviewed,‘they seem so normal.’ That’s how people become successful serial killers, bynot sticking out. I want people to see how seemingly normal they are.”

Exemplifying the differencesin the condemned, Culhane explained the varying written responses the class isreceiving.

“What’s coming back isinteresting,” Culhane said. “We’ve got people who are sort of pleading forhelp, some people who proclaim their innocence, some people who want to makeattrition [and] some people who are bragging about what they’ve done.”

Sometimes, Culhaneadded, it’s not just letters coming back. He said people have been sentpictures of the killers. In the early stages of integrating this activity intoclass, Culhane was sent a painting by a local Wyoming killer, Keith Jesperson.The convict, who killed a woman in Cheyenne, created an image of a wavecrashing into the shore in his downtime in prison.

The project of writingletters to killers is a recent one. Culhane started the correspondence in thefall of 2006, and he said this is the second largest group of letters to besent.

“I came across [theidea] as I was researching the class,” Culhane said. “I started seeing some ofthe things regular people were sent by serial killers. I started reading abouthow [the serial killers] had been written letters, I thought we could take ashot at it.”

About 17 letters weresent the first time the class was taught. Recipients included well-known serialkillers.

Two responded: Charles“Tex” Watson, a Manson family member, and one of the D.C. snipers, Lee Malvo.

“Watson said he was toobusy. I don’t know what else he’s got to do,” Culhane said. “Malvo said hisattorneys advised him not to, [but] at first he was willing. That was kind ofdisappointing.”

The disappointment wasshort-lived. Soon after, New York’s most prolific killer, Joel Rifkin, put pento paper.

“He wrote a lot,”Culhane said. “Rifkin was sort of trying to make atonement [in his letter], andhe was sad and wasn’t proud of his crimes.”

Phil Jablonski wasanother who responded.

“He was very proud ofhis crimes,” Culhane said of the California-born killer. “He liked to bragabout them and [said] how he would love to kill again.”

Getting a valid responsefrom these two fueled the fire, and the flames have only gotten bigger sincethen.

“The thing about serialkillers is they get lumped into this [stereotype],” Culhane said. “They’re verydifferent from each other, and I learned that from the first go-around.”

The current batch ofstudents has introduced themselves to the killers and questions of theirchildhoods are the first step. After cooperation has been established, thediscussion moves on to their crimes and their thoughts on their situation.

“I’ve got a few guyswho claim they were railroaded by the justice system,” Culhane said of hispresent group of serial killers. “I’ve got a guy who’s had psychiatricevaluation and claims he’s mentally ill and he should have had a different kindof trial. There are a lot of different questions people get. It’s been prettyinteresting from my perspective to see what they’re saying.”

The killers don’treally get much out of the correspondence, Culhane said. “Prison is all aboutmonotony,” he said. “You do the same think over and over. [Writing letters]gives them something else to do. That’s a big extent of the benefits for them.”

This optionalcorrespondence can be severed at the end of the semester, but Culhane said ifstudent’s wish to continue writing, the letters must still go through him.

Culhane said he hopesthis communication will help shatter the stereotype surrounding serial killers.

“There are hundreds ofincarcerated serial killers in the country right now, and they’re unknown,”Culhane said. Culhane and his students are working to change that.

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Ms. Miranda Anne Gould  - Ms.   |2008-11-17 17:51:49 I was born on January 18, 1974 I'm a female age 34 yrs od my mom is bonnie gould she kill every body elizabeth gould kill people I'm nice I treat every body good I never did use the guns I never did use knives Reply 0   0

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