Editing Serial killer (section)

===Female===
[[File:Las Pochianquis.jpg|thumb|Four Mexican sisters, known as ''[[Delfina and María de Jesús González|Las Poquianchis]]'', killed more than 150 people. [[Guinness World Records]] called them the "most prolific murder partnership".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-prolific-murder-partnership|title=Most prolific murder partnership|publisher=[[Guinness World Records]]|access-date=9 April 2018}}</ref>]]
Female serial killers are rare compared to their male counterparts.<ref name="Kelleher 1998 12">{{harvnb|Kelleher|Kelleher|1998|p=12}}, {{harvnb|Wilson|Hilton|1998|pp=495–498}}, {{harvnb|Frei|Völlm|Graf|Dittmann|2006|pp=167–176}}</ref> Sources suggest that female serial killers represented less than one in every six known serial murderers in the United States between 1800 and 2004 (64 females from a total of 416 known offenders), or that around 15% of U.S. serial killers have been women, with a collective number of victims between 427 and 612.<ref>{{harvnb|Hickey|2010|pp=187, 257, 266}}, {{harvnb|Vronsky|2007|p=9}}, {{harvnb|Farrell|Keppel|Titterington|2011|pp=228–252}}</ref> The authors of ''Lethal Ladies'', Amanda L. Farrell, Robert D. Keppel, and Victoria B. Titterington, state that "the Justice Department indicated 36 female serial killers have been active over the course of the last century."<ref name="Farrell">{{harvnb|Farrell|Keppel|Titterington|2011|pp=228–252}}</ref> According to ''The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology'', there is evidence that 16% of all serial killers are women.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{harvnb|Newton|2006}}</ref>

Michael D. Kelleher and C. L. Kelleher created several categories to describe female serial killers. They used the classifications of ''[[wikt:black widow|black widow]]'', ''[[Angel of mercy (criminology)|angel of death]]'', ''sexual predator'', ''revenge'', ''profit or crime'', ''team killer'', ''question of sanity'', ''unexplained'', and ''unsolved''. In using these categories, they observed that most women fell into the categories of the black widow or team killer.<ref name="Frei"/> Although motivations for female serial killers can include attention seeking, addiction, or the result of psychopathological behavioral factors,<ref name="concordia1"/> female serial killers are commonly categorized as murdering men for material gain, usually being emotionally close to their victims,<ref name="Kelleher 1998 12"/> and generally needing to have a relationship with the victim,<ref name="Frei">{{harvnb|Frei|Völlm|Graf|Dittmann|2006|pp=167–176}}</ref> hence the traditional cultural image of the "black widow".

[[Image:Wuornos.jpg|thumb|150px|Highway sex worker [[Aileen Wuornos]] killed seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990.]]
The methods that female serial killers use for murder are frequently covert or low-profile, such as murder by poison (the preferred choice for killing).<ref>{{harvnb|Wilson|Hilton|1998|pp=495–498}}, {{harvnb|Frei|Völlm|Graf|Dittmann|2006|pp=167–176}}, {{harvnb|Holmes|Holmes|1998|p=171}}, {{harvnb|Newton|2006}}</ref> Other methods used by female serial killers include shootings (used by 20%), suffocation (16%), stabbing (11%), and drowning (5%).<ref name="concordia1">{{cite book|url=http://www-psychology.concordia.ca/fac/Laurence/forensic/ProfileAnalysis1.ppt |title=Educated attempt to provide specific information about a certain type of suspect |publisher=Department of Psychology, Concordia University |format=PPT |year=2008 |access-date=July 1, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426081443/http://www-psychology.concordia.ca/fac/Laurence/forensic/ProfileAnalysis1.ppt |archive-date=April 26, 2012}}</ref> They commit killings in specific places, such as their home or a health-care facility, or at different locations within the same city or state.<ref>{{harvnb|Vronsky|2007|pp=1, 42–43}}, {{harvnb|Schechter|2003|p=312}}</ref> A notable exception to the typical characteristics of female serial killers is [[Aileen Wuornos]],<ref>{{harvnb|Schechter|2003|p=31}}, {{harvnb|Fox|Levin|2005|p=117}}</ref> who killed outdoors instead of at home, used a gun instead of poison, and killed strangers instead of friends or family.<ref>{{harvnb|Schmid|2005|p=231}}, {{harvnb|Arrigo|Griffin|2004|pp=375–393}}</ref> One "analysis of 86 female serial killers from the United States found that the victims tended to be spouses, children or the elderly".<ref name="Frei"/> Other studies indicate that since 1975, increasingly strangers are marginally the most preferred victim of female serial killers,{{sfn|Vronsky|2007|p=41}} or that only 26% of female serial killers kill for material gain only.{{sfn|Hickey|2010|p=267}} Sources state that each killer will have her own proclivities, needs and triggers.<ref name="Wilson 1998 495–498">{{harvnb|Wilson|Hilton|1998|pp=495–498}}</ref><ref name="Frei"/> A review of the published literature on female serial murder stated that "sexual or [[sadistic personality disorder|sadistic]] motives are believed to be extremely rare in female serial murderers, and psychopathic traits and histories of childhood abuse have been consistently reported in these women."<ref name="Frei"/>

A study by Eric W. Hickey (2010) of 64 female serial killers in the United States indicated that sexual activity was one of several motives in 10% of the cases, enjoyment in 11% and control in 14% and that 51% of all U.S. female serial killers murdered at least one woman and 31% murdered at least one child.{{sfn|Hickey|2010|p=265}} In other cases, women have been involved as an accomplice with a male serial killer as a part of a serial killing team.<ref name="Wilson 1998 495–498"/><ref name="Frei"/> A 2015 study published in ''The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology'' found that the most common motive for female serial killers was for financial gain and almost 40% of them had experienced some sort of mental illness.{{sfn|Harrison|Murphy|Ho|Bowers2015|pp=383–406}}

[[Peter Vronsky]] in ''[[Female Serial Killers]]'' (2007) maintains that female serial killers today often kill for the same reason males do: as a means of expressing rage and control. He suggests that sometimes the theft of the victims' property by the female "black widow" type serial killer appears to be for material gain, but really is akin to a male serial killer's collecting of totems (souvenirs) from the victim as a way of exerting continued control over the victim and reliving it.{{sfn|Vronsky|2007}} By contrast, Hickey states that although popular perception sees "black widow" female serial killers as something of the [[Victorian era|Victorian]] past, in his statistical study of female serial killer cases reported in the United States since 1826, approximately 75% occurred since 1950.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130215231752/http://www.erichickey.com/ Eric W. Hickey], (2010).</ref>
[[File:Alžbeta Bathory.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungarian]] countess [[Elizabeth Báthory]] is thought to have murdered hundreds of young women]]
[[Elizabeth Báthory]] is sometimes cited as the most prolific female serial killer in all of history. Formally countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed (Báthory Erzsébet in [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], August 7, 1560 – August 21, 1614), she was a countess from the [[Báthory family]]. Before her husband's death, Elizabeth took great pleasure in torturing the staff, by jamming pins under the servant's fingernails or stripping servants and throwing them into the snow.{{sfn|Yardley|Wilson|2015|pp=1–26}} After her husband's death, she and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and young women, with one witness attributing to them over 600 victims, though the number for which they were convicted was 80. Elizabeth herself was neither tried nor convicted. In 1610, however, she was imprisoned in the Csejte Castle, where she remained bricked in a set of rooms until her death four years later.{{sfn|Vronsky|2007|p=73}}

A 2010 article by Perri and Lichtenwald addressed some of the misconceptions concerning female criminality.<ref name="Perri">{{harvnb|Perri|Lichtenwald|2010|pp=50–67}}</ref> In the article, Perri and Lichtenwald analyze the current research regarding female psychopathy, including case studies of female psychopathic killers featuring [[Munchausen syndrome by proxy]], cesarean section homicide, fraud detection homicide, female kill teams, and a female serial killer.<ref name="Perri"/>