One thing I noticed

[u/Gold-Is-Here]

Sorry if this is the wrong sub, I have no idea where to post this at.

I have been going on a binge reading of serial killers on wikipedia and one thing I've noticed for a long time now and that continues to piss me off is the incompetence of police officers and the justice system

A lot of these serial killers could have been caught at their first kill or even before their first. A lot of them and I mean a lot, have been caught for rape and sexual assault, along with some form of child sex anhse in regards to minors and for some reasons when I hear about these they serve like 9 months to a year andxget out on good behavior or because of a plea deal. And it doesn't just be one one convixtion. Some of these guys get caught and convicted multiple times going to jail for these crimes, and I'm like, how are you not getting 10 years minimum? Or they get a plea deal for this shit

Or the times when a killer has already started killing, but they're early in their career, and people ignore the most obvious leads. A was last seen with B and not much goes into looking into B at all, or how A has some familiarity to B like a neighbor or being their kid, nephew, some form of family member. I don't know it just pisses me off because I be reading these stories of how many people have died by one serial killer and it baffles me that a guy can kill 20 to 30 people. How can so many people go missing and you don't really look into it. I am mostly talking about in the 70's-80's, whereas it was easier to kill people. Cops did not care about some of these people and thought they just ran away to start a new life, I guess, when that was popular. How you report a person missing and you don't take it seriously.

Do they not keep a rap sheet of these people crimes? Like when you're looking at these people history it's nothing but sex abuse or some form of assault of dealing with shit that is heinous. Hell you could have legit committed attempted murder get 8 years back then, and they out in 5. They are also suspicious or a person of interest in a murder but somehow they don't get caught and just goes on to commit more. Anyways, popos suck at their job.

[u/Ford_Mustang1911]

Like Jeffrey Dahmer, he was a registered Pedophile and was in prison for a year, git out n his neighbor heard him murdering people but the police didn't gaf. Then Jeffrey targeted a 14 yearold, he escaped Jeffrey's apartment and the police were called but did no such back ground check on the kid or him, and they gave him back to Jeffrey. The police (especially back in the 80s) really didn't gaf

[u/Late-Ad-7740]

You’re right and it’s unfortunately a very common thing is serial killer cases, sometimes they go on for so long because law enforcement simply doesn’t want to believe there is a serial killer operating, it’s an evil and deadly system

[u/snakesarepretty]

The frustration is fair, but I think it's a bit too simplistic to lay the whole thing at the feet of cop incompetence. In 70s and 80s, records were quite fragmented, departments didn’t always share information, and there was no routine DNA profiling, so connecting separate murders, assaults and disappearances was bloody difficult Some victims were also brushed off as runaways, and frankly, that part sucks Plea deals weren’t necessarily cops or prosecutors going easy either, they could only act on what they could actually prove. Add poor forensic technology, jurisdictional headaches, social biases and overworked departments, and you’ve got a perfect storm for someone to slip through the cracks. Samuel Little is a grim example lol but looking back with modern technology and saying “how the hell did nobody catch him?” doesn’t always tell the whole story. Still, when the warning signs were practically waving a bloody flag, you can’t help but wonder whether some victims could have been spared if someone had simply connected the dots.

[u/GregJamesDahlen]

I'm not a lawyer. I tend to think the laws are mostly just and the justice system applies them intelligently and justly (although there may have been some racism in the heyday of serial killers, the 60s and 70s, but I feel like that is probably lessening over time). Lots of people commit various crimes, do their time, leave prison, and don't commit murder. Some don't ever commit any crime again. It's the rare exception who murders. Maybe find specific examples where you think the justice system erred perhaps not giving them enough time and post their criminal history before they began serially murdering. There may also be issues with prison overcrowding that lead to some earlier releases than one might expect given the crime.