Why Does America Have The Most Serial Killers? Part 2: Bureaucracy, Guns & Pop Culture

Why Bureaucracy, Hollywood, and the NRA Helped Serial Killers ThriveWhy does America remain the global epicentre of serial killers? In Part Two of Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories, Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell uncover how bureaucracy, pop culture, and gun culture shaped the rise of American serial murderers.From the FBI’s behavioural profiling to the National Rifle Association’s influence, from Hollywood’s romanticisation of killers to the chilling question of whether Millennials and Gen Z will break the cycle, this episode digs deeper into America’s darkest shadows.We examine cases where red tape let killers roam free, the dangerous glamorisation of Bundy and Dahmer, and how easy access to firearms made serial murder uniquely lethal in the United States.Support us on Patreon for just £5 a month.TranscriptWhat if the system that's meant to protect you is the very thing that lets a killer slip through the cracks? What if the weapons are legally bought and the warning signs ignored? What if Hollywood's obsession with serial murder isn't just entertaining, but prophecy? In Part Two of 'Why Does The United States Have More Serial Killers Than Any Other Country On Earth?' we ask: has America created the perfect breeding ground for serial murderers and psychopaths? And as we race towards 2030, is there still time to stop the next one? But before we dive in, a quick shout out to our friends at Podcast Today, that's podcast dot today. They featured our Ian Huntley episode, 'A Psychopath at School', in their Quick Listens category. If you love discovering new true crime stories, head to podcast dot today and see what else they've lined up. It's free, it's daily and it's curated just for you. Welcome back to Psycho Killer: Shocking True Crime Stories. I'm Simon Ford and I'm Jacques Morrell. If you haven't heard part one yet, hit pause and listen to that first. We explored the growth of suburbia, the aftershocks of war, and the cracks in American policing. Today, in part two, we widen the lens. Bureaucracies that enable killers. Pop culture that glorifies them, guns that empower them, and a generation that might just change everything. Welcome to NBC News Daily. This Tuesday, we're going to start with breaking news. Quadruple murder suspect Austin Drummond is in custody after an intense days long manhunt in Tennessee. Drummond was wanted for the killings of four people, all members of the same family. We've talked about fragmented law enforcement. We've examined the challenges of jurisdictional chaos and under-resourced police departments. But there's another, less visible force at play in the story of America's serial killers. Something deeper, something colder. Bureaucracy? Yeah. Killer bureaucracy. It might sound like the title of a dystopian novel, but in real life, it's one of the quiet enablers of mass murder. Behind many of America's most notorious cases, you'll find crucial opportunities missed, not through lack of intelligence or even intent, but because the gears of the system ground too slowly or didn't turn at all. I think Mr. Little will get his final judgment. Before he died at 80 year old Samuel Little sketched the faces of the women he killed. And I'm sure these jurisdictions will go and try to connect the dots to deal with what he's come to. Take Samuel Little, for example. Officially recognised as America's most prolific serial killer. 89 confirmed victims, possibly over 90. He operated across state lines from the 1970s into the 2000s, murdering vulnerable women, mostly women of colour. And yet, for decades, law enforcement agencies failed to connect the dots. Why? Well, part of it is what we've already discussed decentralised policing. But even what agencies did have the information, there was no u