The general definition of spree murder is two or more murders committed by a person (or people) with no cooling-off period, in contrast to
serial murder, where there is a period of time between killings. How to distinguish a spree killer from a
mass murderer, or a
serial killer, is subject to considerable debate, and the terms are not consistently applied even within the academic literature. The
United States Bureau of Justice Statistics has defined a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations with almost no time break between murders". The
Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment lists five different categories of spree killers and cites
Mark O. Barton as an example of the second one. He is also noted alongside mass murderers, such as
Patrick Sherrill, in the respective entry about mass murder. In
The Anatomy of Motive,
John E. Douglas cites
Charles Starkweather and
Andrew Cunanan (who murdered five people over three months) as examples of spree killers, while
Jack Levin calls Starkweather a mass murderer and Cunanan a serial killer. In
Controversial Issues in Criminology, Fuller and Hickey write that "[t]he element of time involved between murderous acts is primary in the differentiation of serial, mass, and spree murderers", later elaborating those spree killers "will engage in the killing acts for days or weeks" while the "methods of murder and types of victims vary".
Andrew Cunanan is given as an example of spree killing, while
Charles Whitman is mentioned in connection with mass murder and
Jeffrey Dahmer with serial killing. In
Serial Murder, Ronald M. Holmes and StephenT. Holmes defines spree murder as "the killing of three or more people within a 30-day period" and add that killing sprees are "usually accompanied by the commission of another felony." They cite
Charles Starkweather and the
Beltway Snipers as examples of spree killers. They define
serial murder as "the killing of three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a significant cooling-off period between the killings." Under this definition, Andrew Cunanan would be categorized as a serial killer and not a spree killer. In
Sexual Homicide, Ressler, Burgess and Douglas gave more emphasis to killings being at more than one location, and less precision about the time span, saying that a single event can last a short or long time, citing
Christopher Wilder's seven-week "murder event" or "killing spree". Douglas wrote that the identity of serial killers is generally unknown until they are caught, and a mass murderer's identity is learned only after they have committed the crime. The identity of the spree killer, on the other hand, usually becomes known by police while the spree is still in progress. The term
rampage killer has also been used sometimes to describe spree killers, especially when a single individual perpetrator: == See also ==