MULTIPLE CHOICE:
1. She was a medical doctor in the Auschwitz death camps who killed children with oil
and a surgical anesthetic. She removed organs and limbs from her victims.
a. Leni Riefenstahl
b. Terri Rachals
c. Herta Oberheuser
d. Christine Falling
2. Who are the “quiet killers”?
a. female serial killers
b. persons who kill with poisons
c. persons who kill family members
d. male hospital orderlies
3. This offender, a Texas nurse, was continually employed in a hospital long after
numerous complaints and charges that she was injuring the children in her ward.
a. Mary Beth Tinning
b. Genene Jones
c. Kathleen Heide
d. Herta Oberheuser
4. Females represent what percentage of all serial killers in Hickey’s study?
a. 8
b. 15
c. 26
d. 34
5. Heckert and Ferraiolo (1996) conducted a study of college students to examine
perceptions of female serial killers. What did they discover?
a. Students thought female serial killers would be in their 30s and slovenly.
b. Students thought female serial killers would be insane.
c. Students thought female serial killers would be quite attractive.
d. Students thought female serial killers would have a criminal record and be adept at
using poisons.
6. In the Heckert and Ferraiolo study, most respondents imagined this of female serial
killers.
a. They have prior criminal records.
b. They were brutal killers.
c. They used torture techniques.
d. They used guns to dispatch victims.
7. Which of the following is false of female serial killers?
a. Average age is 40.
b. Most never married.
c. Most of them were unemployed or listed no occupation.
d. They tend to be viewed as anomalies in female homicide patterns.
8. This offender admitted to having tried to kill two previous husbands in order to collect
insurance. The day after she was sentenced to 20 years in prison, she married again in
a ceremony performed by the same judge who sentenced her.
a. Linda Sue Jones
b. Betty J. Neumar
c. Mary Beth Tinning
d. Aileen Wuornos
9. Which of the following statements is correct?
a. Since the turn of the 20th century the number of victims per case killed by female
serial offenders has fluctuated.
b. Most female offenders were employed outside the home during the course of their
killings.
c. Unlike their male counterparts, about one third of female offenders were black.
d. Females tend to kill more for revenge than any other motive.
10. Which of the following statements is correct?
a. Female serial killers tend to kill over a longer period of time than their male
counterparts.
b. Serial killing is highly correlated to regional variations.
c. Most serial offenders kill in at least two or more states.
d. Most victims of serial killers are murdered in or very close to their homes.
11. Wolfgang noted a preponderance of killings among the _____, where interpersonal
violence was more “acceptable.”
a. lower socioeconomic classes
b. higher socioeconomic classes
c. middle classes
d. extremely wealthy
12. According to the FBI, who was the first documented female serial killer?
a. Nannie Hazel Doss
b. Linda Sue Jones
c. Aileen Wuornos
d. Mary Beth Tinning
13. According to the FBI, which of the following would best fit the definition of male
serial killer?
a. Mary Beth Tinning
b. Kristen Gilbert
c. Marie Hilley
d. Aileen Wuornos
14. Regardless of sex, homicide usually involves an offender and a victim who are
_____ to each other.
a. strangers
b. acquainted or related
c. unknown
d. opposed
15. Since 1975, female serial killers have been more likely to target which type of
victim?
a. family
b. acquaintances
c. strangers
d. family and acquaintances
16. Which of the following statements is correct?
a. Female offenders generally target specific age groups.
b. The most common method used by female offenders to kill their victims is
suffocation.
c. The most common motive reported by female offenders for killing victims was a
combination of motives.
d. Most female offenders acted alone.
17. In the case of _____ victims, some offenders took years to systematically kill each
one.
a. husband
b. child
c. sibling
d. acquaintance
18. Which of the following used rat poison laced with arsenic to kill at least four of her
husbands, her mother, two children, and several other relatives?
a. Terry Rachals
b. Christine Falling
c. Nannie Doss
d. Genene Jones
19. Which of the following is true of U.S. female serial killers?
a. Most killed children, not adults.
b. Most killed at least one elderly person.
c. Few killed from all age groups.
d. When adults were killed they were more likely to be female victims.
20. Female serial killers were most likely to be _____ in their mobility.
a. traveling
b. local
c. place-specific
d. regional
21. Among serial killers who had at least one partner and traveled from state to state, a
_____ proportion involved female offenders.
a. significantly high
b. moderate
c. small
d. median
22. Since 1975, the number of _____ female offenders has appeared to have dropped
considerably, while their male counterparts have remained about the same.
a. traveling
b. local
c. place-specific
d. gender-specific
23. Who were the “poison eaters?”
a. Victims who were given poison by females serial killers.
b. People who deliberately ingested arsenic.
c. People who ingested potassium chloride to improve their physical appearance.
d. Nurses who over time fed poison to their patients and some to themselves to conceal
their crimes.
24. What is the most common motivation for female serial murderers?
a. sex
b. trauma
c. money
d. enjoyment
25. Lombroso considered the female offender to be _____.
a. insane
b. physically fairly similar to the male offender in facial appearance
c. psychologically similar to the male offender
d. psychologically more cruel and vicious than the male offender
26. According to some researchers, mothers who commit filicide also _____.
a. kill their husbands
b. kill their siblings
c. use psychotropic medications
d. attempt suicide
27. Obese, epileptic, and abused, this female serial killer experienced a traumatized
childhood. She admitted to smothering to death five small children in her care so “no
one would hear them scream.”
a. Nancy Hazel Doss
b. Terri Rachals
c. Genene Jones
d. Christine Falling
28. In terms of psychopathy, Verona and Vitale note that females likely have differing
norms for aggression that may require a higher level of this in order to for them to
engage in violent behavior.
a. psychopathic traits
b. frustration
c. physical strength
d. testosterone
29. Female serial killers are most likely to be _____.
a. sent to death row/executed
b. given life in prison
c. never apprehended
d. confined to mental hospital
30. When family members are the victims of female serial killers _____ are the primary
targets.
a. children
b. siblings
c. parents
d. husbands
TRUE/FALSE
1. Women who kill rarely do so as a result of domestic conflicts and tend to kill multiple
times.
2. Women who commit multiple murders typically use methods comparable to their male
counterparts.
3. Female serial killers tend to be typical in terms of female criminality.
4. Some underlying issues in understanding gender-based psychopathy regarding
females may include a firm grasp on reality.
5. Most female serial murderers hold skilled occupations.
COMPLETION
1. The orientation of criminological research focuses primarily on _____ criminality.
2. In earlier decades of American history, _____ was not considered a justification or an
explanation for female homicide.
3. _____ killers, common among female offenders, repeatedly murdered their victims in
the same location.
4. As mentioned earlier, many victims play a prominent role in their own demise by
_____ the encounter with the offender.
5. _____ was popular for hundreds of years as a method of murder.
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. Because women are seldom viewed by the public as killers, how are female serial
murderers identified?
2. Discuss the relationship between victim selection and power among female serial
murderers.
3. Identify the methods and motives of female serial murderers. Speculate why poison is
so popular.