What are Serial Bombings?

OVERVIEW

Serial bombings, though infrequent, have catastrophic consequences. Unique in the sense that even if the crime is only committed once, hundreds and even thousands of lives can be lost. The damage caused by serial bombings and bombings, in general, have no match, making it shocking that it is relatively undocumented and uninteresting to the public eye. However, with the horribly recent Austin serial bombings, people’s interest in the phenomenon of serial bombings have piqued, hopefully leading towards further research and studies on this serial offense. Coincidentally, if lives are taken in each of the bombings, a serial bomber can also be considered a serial murderer. Hopefully, in the near future, more conclusive research will be done on this serial offense that could potentially save lives.

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WHAT ARE SERIAL BOMBINGS?

Though relatively undocumented, serial bombings must meet the same requirements as other serial offenses. There must be more than three occurrences with a noticeable cooldown in between committed by the same offender(s). Serial bombers tend to be male (though it is definitely not uncommon to see female bombers) and socially inept. A serial bomber’s unsuccessful social life leads to intense frustration and a need for attention, even if it is negative. This is, unfortunately, when things take a turn for the worse, and they decide to turn to violence to feel better about themselves. Serial bombers follow the case closely in the media and use their motivations as justifications for their violent actions. (Lord, 2018)

Terrorism can be considered a form of serial bombing if it fits the abovementioned criteria. Terrorism is the use of extreme and deliberate violence to achieve political or ideological goals, shockingly similar to serial bombings. Much like the generic bombers, serial bombers can have suicide as a “finale” to their series of crimes rather than a primary motivation. This differs from the commonly seen suicide bombers in the sense that suicide bombers only set off a bomb once as a histrionic way of taking their own life and is, on most occasions, their primary motivation.

MOTIVATIONS

There can be hundreds of motivations behind serial bombings. It should be noted that serial bombers, on average, have a combination of motives, and it would be rare to find one with only one motivation behind their crimes. Many articles and studies state several or no reasons for a bomber’s motivations or reasonings, making it much harder to figure out what drives someone to commit such a horrifying act. With all of this in mind, we have compiled a list of possible and prevalent motivations of serial bombers;

Power Disparity - When a person feels humiliated, powerless, or even ostracized, they may turn to serial bombing to feel like they’ve regained control of something in their lives. These types of bombers typically have a target in mind, whether it be a building or a person. Some believe that revenge may also be included in this motivation; however, many of those seeking revenge and revenge alone are looking to punish someone, or something they believe has wronged them. When uncombined, power disparity and revenge are two different things. On most occasions, this type of bomber feels as though their personal identity is being threatened by an outside force leading them to turn to violence to solve their problems. As expected, if they still feel their issues are not solved the first time, it’ll repeatedly happen until they’re satisfied, turning the phenomenon into serial bombing. (Understanding Bombers’ Motivations: A Historical Study | FBI: Law Enforcement Bulletin, 2022)

Revenge/Malice - Revenge or malice-based motivations are, unsurprisingly, extremely common in all serial offenses. With that in mind, it’s a surprise that these serial bombers are so complex. In some cases, the bomber needs to be provoked by something they deem a threat; in other cases, it is utterly unprovoked violence motivated by hatred. In fact, hate crimes can also be included in this motivation. Differing from ideology-driven serial bombers, these serial bombers don’t usually feel as though they have a mission they believe they need to complete. These bombers feel as though they need to show the world their hatred for everyone, or on most occasions, a minority group, by taking extreme measures. Like all serial offenses, there are some serial bombers who don’t have a clear motivation. This could be categorized as a malice-based motivation due to the fact that these bombers already have some sort of hatred, or malice, building up inside of them.

Ideology - These types of bombers have a hateful message they wholeheartedly believe in and want to tell the world, whether it be religious, political, or, on most occasions, hateful. Like most serial bombers, the ones with this motivation have a history of being socially isolated and subdued. These ideology-motivated bombers can be incredibly difficult to identify when paired with high intellect, like Ted Kaczynski. Unsurprisingly, it is pervasive in terrorist attacks. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that ideology-motivated serial bombings can be and are usually hate crimes. An example of this could be bombing buildings or areas where it is known that minorities live or visit often.

Sexual Release - It’s not unusual for people to catch on to the ongoing theme in several different types of media of bombers having sexual release as a motive, as with all serial offenses. However, this is not a motivation documented near well enough to make a conclusive statement on both how prevalent it is and how the bomber(s) felt before and after their crime. While it is true that some serial bombers may gain sexual arousal or release from setting, planting, and creating bombs or seeing the amount of attention they get in the media, it is not a very common motivation.

Other, less researched yet still prevalent, motivations that we do not go into depth here include attention/spectacle, peer/social pressure, and vandalism. Additionally, many of these motivations are typically combined. In other words, it would be unusual and nearly impossible for a serial bomber to have just one of these motivations. Along with a primary motivation, serial bombers are typically looking to draw attention to themselves on top of everything else. The mere choice of using bombs to satisfy their goals is evidence of that.

CONCLUSION

Bombings have devastating effects on survivors, with some never fully recovering mentally and physically from their trauma. With an increase in research on serial bombers, the world can remain hopeful that we may one day have the knowledge necessary to apprehend serial bombers faster than before. However, it is very unfortunate that with increased media coverage, we can only hope it does not end up as sensationalized as other serial offenses. On that note, this is the final article in our series on serial offenses. We hope we have provided a little more insight into what drives serial offenders to turn to such drastic measures to feel better about themselves.

REFERENCES

Borum, R. (2004). Psychology of Terrorism. University of South Florida. https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/208552.pdf ‌

From “Unabomber” To “Mad Bomber,” A Look At Past Serial Bombers. (2018, March 21). NPR. https://www.npr.org/2018/03/21/595225573/from-unabomber-to-mad-bomber-a-look-at-past-serial-bombers

Grande, T. L. (2021). The Psychology of Notorious Serial Killers: the intersection of personality theory and the darkest minds of our time. Unhooked Books.

Kruglanski, A. W., Chen, X., Dechesne, M., Fishman, S., & Orehek, E. (2009). Fully Committed: Suicide Bombers’ Motivation and the Quest for Personal Significance. Political Psychology, 30(3), 331–357. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2009.00698.x

Lord, D. (2018, March 19). Austin bombings Q&A: What are the distinctive traits of a serial bomber? Dayton-Daily-News; Dayton Daily News. https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/national/austin-bombings-what-are-the-distinctive-traits-serial-bomber/WH2MpCg7co3Gh4j84XAh4L/

Male and Female Suicide Bombers: Different Sexes, Different Reasons? | Office of Justice Programs. (2023). Ojp.gov. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/male-and-female-suicide-bombers-different-sexes-different-reasons

Morley, B., & Leslie, G. D. (2007). Terrorist bombings: Motives, methods and patterns of injuries. Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal, 10(1), 5–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aenj.2006.07.001

Understanding Bombers’ Motivations: A Historical Study | FBI: Law Enforcement Bulletin. (2022). FBI: Law Enforcement Bulletin. https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/understanding-bombers-motivations-a-historical-study