I don't think most of us do. I studied for and went into a career studying serial killers and their behavior. I never glorified them...far from it. I went to school with the son of a serial killer. I was young but I knew there was something "odd" about his crimes. People were talking more than usual. I researched it (as much as a child can) and became fascinated. It was a crime I didn't understand. I actually still don't though I have researched serial killers, their crimes, psychopathology and behaviors now for years. I can tell you many things about them but not why they do it. They cannot even articulate it well. Dahmer was lonely, as was Dennis Nilsen but they are the exception (perhaps the motivation is actually not exceptional but the ability to convey the reason for their crimes is unusual). Ted Bundy summed up the reason for his killings to a prison guard by saying "I enjoyed it. It was fun".

I think we are fascinated by things we don't understand and many Americans are interested in darker more morbid elements of life and thus, our interest in serial killers.

A person glorifying them however, would be a cause for alarm. These are not heroes and not people to be respected. Adam Lanza was clearly glorifying mass murderers before he embarked on his own murder spree. Glorifying murderers of any kind is a sign of trouble but wanting to understand such an unusual and "evil" pattern of behavior is human nature to a degree. We simply seek to understand something.

When I first got my hands on the file of John Gacy (the one from the original lawyer who he confessed to), I thought there might be some glimmer of a reason. Something. Anything. In a way, I suppose, there was. Everything said, written and transcribed was cold and utterly devoid of feeling. The diagram he drew of the crawl space was extremely precise but could have just as easily have been a car park or drawing of a office building. Nothing suggested that these were bodies that had once been living and breathing, and were placed there by him. He could not even fake remorse. Ted Bundy was able to fake it, towards the end. Danny a Rolling was able to fake it. Not Gacy.

I was once at a conference at a hotel and some people in the jacuzzi were talking to me. They asked the normal questions people do and when they got to my background, they perked up. They were very interested in serial killers. These were mostly middle aged and older men and women. They did not glorify serial killers. They wanted to understand. Their questions were not "Ewwww, what do the bodies look like" as a 12 year old might ask but more analytical. "Do most suffer physical abuse and could that cause physical/neurological damage." "Do all serial killers meet the threshold for sociopathy or are other diagnoses (or lack of any diagnoses) just as common?" "Why do more men kill violently and women passively?". The questions went on and on but clearly none of them glorified the killers.

TV and media feature them because we are fascinated by behavior so different from our own, that we tune in. At least many people do (I personally don't care for such shows very much)

So personally, I would not use the word "glorify". I don't think most people do. 

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