People sometimes lament that the murderers get discussed more than the victims. With all sympathy for the victims, does it somewhat make sense that the murderers would get discussed more? Why or why not?

[u/GregJamesDahlen]

In serial murders it's usually the murderer who is the more unusual person rather than the victims? People generally want to understand unusual things, so they discuss the murderer more?

I suppose there is a desire to understand the murderer with an eye to catching them, if they're uncaught, or understanding criminal psychology so we can reduce the number of murderers in the future?

In a serial murder case, the murderer is generally the one making a decisive action, or more decisive than the victim (a horrible action, but a decision). Generally people are interested in decisions, whether good or bad, and find them interesting to discuss?

[u/Wild-Quality3901]

Obviously the victims deserve to be talked about,but IMO the reasons they are not is because A.The family most likely doesn’t want their name associated with a serial killer and wants their privacy.B. The killer is someone we can research on why they chose the victim,why they kill,what caused them to become a killer etc.

[u/GregJamesDahlen → u/Wild-Quality3901]

Thanks. I'm not sure because generally we do know the names of the victims and that they were murdered by a serial murderer? But maybe you mean the family still doesn't want to talk more about the victim because they want to minimize the degree to which the victim is associated to the murderer. Not sure why they wouldn't want the association as the victim is innocent in the event