The Less-Dead

The less-dead is a term coined to refer to the majority of serial murder victims, who belong to marginalized groups of society. They lack prestige or power and generally come from lower socioeconomic groups. They are considered less-dead because before their deaths, they virtually “never were,” according to prevailing social attitudes. In other words, they are essentially ignored and devalued by their own communities or members of their neighborhoods and generally not missed when they are gone. Examples are prostitutes, the homeless, vagrants, migrant farm workers, homosexuals, the poor, elderly women, and runaways. They are often vulnerable in locations they frequent, and easy to lure and dominate.

A great deal less pressure is felt by the police when victims of crime come from the marginal elements of a community. The public is much less incensed, for example, over a serial murderer operating in their area when they feel little or no identification with the victims. The victims seem far from real, little attention is paid to their demise, and as a result, the general public does not feel at risk. The deaths of prostitutes, homosexuals, or the homeless fail to capture the attention of the police or the media until the number of victims becomes too large to ignore. They are considered “throwaways,” perhaps even somewhat deserving of their ends. In contrast, when victims are people perceived as “blameless,” such as college students or young children, public outrage often begins with the first murder and continues to build until pressure is applied to law enforcement and the perpetrator is arrested. Some journalists and writers have taken the public, law enforcement, and politicians to task for this, but their efforts have had little effect.

A good example of what happens to the this type of victim may be seen in the arrest of Joel Rifkin in New York, on June 28, 1993. When police chased and stopped him for not displaying a license plate, they found a decaying female corpse in the back of his pickup truck. After a lengthy interrogation, Rifkin confessed to having killed 17 prostitutes during the past 3 years. On the basis of this confession, the police investigation then concentrated on finding and identifying Rifkin's victims—but this proved difficult because there were few records of the victims being reported missing. In instances in which bodies of these victims had been found, they were yet to be identified when Rifkin was arrested. Until Rifkin stumbled into the hands of a New York State trooper, no one had missed his unfortunate victims.