Why Sending Love Letters or Fan Mail to Convicted Serial Killers Should be Illegal

The same can be said about ‘love letters’ sent to serial killers. The women who declare their “love” for these convicted murders continue to puzzle many psychologists. The fact highlighted by Sheila Isenberg, the author of  “Women Who Love Men Who Kill”, found that these women were ‘regular/normal’ in every aspect. They have regular jobs ranging form clerks, hairdressers to schoolteachers; hard working-tax-paying citizens just like any ‘regular/normal’ folk. There are hidden implications of such findings, which shouldn’t be ignored.

One cannot help but see the chilling similarities in the psychological makeup of some of these women and the serial killers. For most serial killers presenting a ‘regular/normal’ façade is both a mask as well as a weapon. By appearing ‘regular/normal’ the serial killer is able to diffuse any suspicion from neighbours as well as Law enforcement agents. The likes of Shipman who used the façade of a respected doctor and family man to Bundy who used his charming educated man and “Iceman” who was described by his neighbours as a happily married man and so on should serve as both a reminder and a warning of the “evils” that may lay behind a façade. Otherwise as the serial killers have shown, these ‘regular/normal’ facades become the perfect masks allowing them to kill time and time again. Moreover it is through these facades that serial killers, often times than not, are able to earn the victims’ trust. 

The point here is not to suggest that the women who confess of their “love” to the convicted serial killers are themselves potential killers. However it is to emphasize that appearing ‘regular/normal’ per se should not be a reason enough to render their acts/letters as harmless. It may be true that so far on average men are more likely to become serial killers than women. However convicted women serial killers such as Rosemary West, Myra Hindley, Beverly Allit, to name just three, have shown that there are just as capable of gruesome and cruelty just as their male counterparts.

Undoubtedly there are those who would wave the ethical and human rights flag in hearing the suggestion that these ‘love letters/fan mail’ should be made illegal. They will argue that the human rights of the women/fans and the serial killers will be violated. Surely writing letters be it ‘love/fan mail’ is not a crime regardless of the recipient. Or is it?  The answer is that it should be just as it is illegal in many countries to incite “hate” by any means be it letters, videos or public speech. Inciting religious or racial hate is well documented in its part in many terrorism acts, anti-social behaviours and so on targeted at innocent civilians. 

Therefore such letters/fan mail not only have the same potential of harming the general public but worse they continue to be a form of torture to the grieving friends and families of the victims. In a sense “terrorising” these grieving individuals and thus the same “Anti-terrorism” & “Anti-social behaviour” Laws in the U.K/U.S.A need to be extended to include these acts. Furthermore it is due to the practise of the Human Rights Law that the convicted serial killers are, in many countries, speared the torture and pain that they inflicted on their innocent victims. The convicted serial killers are allowed the right to life either while serving the often multiple life-sentences or as they wait for their execution, as is the case in some American states. This right to live albeit in an institution (Prison) is more than there were able to grant their unfortunate victims.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1024092/Cellar-monster-Josef-Fritzl-receives-hundreds-love-letters.html

http://www.sheilaisenberg.com/