Society Rebels: The Origins of a Serial Killers Twisted Mind - Coursework Example

Society Rebels: The Origins of a Serial Killer’s Twisted Mind Details: al Affiliation: Submission: Society Rebels: The Origins of a Serial Killer’s Twisted Mind "In my lifetime I have murdered 21 human beings, I have committed thousands of burglaries, robberies, larcenies, arsons and, last but not least, I have committed sodomy on more than 1,000 male human beings. For all these things I am not in the least bit sorry" Carl Panzram. As it is in history, man’s monstrous, aberrant and/or criminal behavior has and continue to elicit intrigues and turns. Indeed, serial murder, like many such behaviors believably abnormal has had it fair share, with scholarly literature now almost awash with borderline scientific explanations, which by clinical standards, are greatly limited in accuracy that extends far beyond clinical therapy (Schechter & Everitt, 1997). Taking cue into sensationalizing the high profile killings is the media that has done more harm than good by magnetizing the public into a state of despair with ‘reality’ films whose content are suspect, and even more confusing. But does biology has anything to do with serial killing? What, if at all there is, releases the inappropriate, monstrous instincts that reprogram the mind into receipt of pleasure from such beastly appetite? This essay dives deep into literature to delineate what exactly makes a serial killer. In his book “Profiling and Serial Crime: Theoretical and Practical Issues”, Petherick Wayne (2012) defines serial murder as brutal/sadistic killing of a minimum of three victims, with a "cooling off" period in between, by an individual, usually a stranger, whose motive is psychologically symbolic rather than material gain. Statistically, Serial killers are but a minute minority of the world’s population, inflicting an almost equal, maximum pain on the very world’s population at any given time. Averagely, serial killers are white males, mostly in their twenties and/or thirties, usually from low to middle class backgrounds, very intelligent, but with difficulties in being focused. Most come from unstable families, and show early signs getting pleasure in setting fires, torturing animals, among other weird things. Almost all have either served in the security forces at one point and/or are infatuated with the job as security officers, and so disguise themselves as security officers to give them a feeling of being special or important; a strategy that gives them easy access to their victims. They have strange cravings for power and being in control, which they more than often achieve by choosing victims weaker and gullible enough to fall for their traps: a craving achieved in no other respectable way other than torturing, sodomising, and/or dismembering after killing victims to derive pleasure, so much to the extent that they even resuscitate them at the brink of death to get that opportunity to torture them some more: “Towards the end of December 1977, 19 year old department store employee Robert Donnelly was walking along a north west Chicago sidewalk on his way to a bus stop when a black Oldsmobile pulled over to the kerb. It was late at night and the boy suddenly found himself fixed in a spotlight shinning from the driver’s side of the car. Gacy played a tough cop and asked for identification. Pointing a gun at him, he shouted, “Get in or I’ll blow you away”” (Berry-Dee, 2005). How and why is it so hard to spot these lunatics with uncontrollable urges to eliminate their victims until they are caught? On the streets, at the bus stop, right to where we work, we talk and dine together with killers right in front; people so harmless, yet so lethal not to care even one bit the life of another human being. They camouflage, blend in the society with complete anonymity. The seemingly natural beastly killings have drawn a wide array of theorists, with forensic psychiatrists among academics from a host of disciplines such sociology and psychology all delivering their verdict on the origins of a serial killer’s mind. The accuracy of such theories, however, leaves to desire. The first of these theories point fingers towards a turbulent upbringing of those who eventually become serial killers (Stein, 2007). It is indeed a fact that quite a huge chunk of children go through extreme abuse that can only be termed barbaric, at that, more particularly through the modern global trafficking networks that more than resemble the 16 century voyages of slaves in transit to various destinations the world over for exploitation that includes but not limited to labor and business of the flesh. To hit right in the head, Albert "Boston Strangler" DeSalvo was brought up by a monstrous, alcoholic, promiscuous father who never had time nor cared for his family (Wilson, 2013). In his own account of his childhood events, DeSalvos vividly gives horrendous recollections of a father who once knocked out all of his mothers teeth in full vew of his son. DeSalvo himself lived with the father like a stranger, receiving not only regular, vicious beatings along with his two little sisters, but all ended being sold into slavery to one of the DeSalvo senior’s acquaintances who paid nine dollars (Schechter, & Everitt, 1997). The three were subsequently shipped off to Maine into forced, hard farm labor. Henry Lee Lucas was yet another brought up in unimaginable atmosphere, with his brutal, alcoholic, prostitute mum compelling her paraplegic husband and the young Henry at some point to watch her have sex. Over and above the apparent exposure to his mothers sexual activities, Henry Lee Lucas was forced to liver as a girl; being dressed and forced to keep long hair like a girl until 7 for reasons best known to her sadist, heavy drinker and bootlegger mom. He was senselessly beaten by his rogue mom after he had his long hair cut on advice by his teacher. As if the beatings wouldn’t stop, he had to be hospitalized at one point after being beaten on the back of the head with a wooden beam that ended up fracturing his skull. The harsh realities of Henry’s childhood have, apparently, all been linked to his eventual status. Like DeSalvo and Henry, little Charles Manson had a bisexual, disturbed minded, alcoholic, prostitute mother, Kathy Maddox, who had little or no time for his son. As if destiny was never kind enough, Manson was taken in by his uncle, who like the sister, turned out to be another uncaring character; besides being brutal and full of ridicule, Manson was regarded a sissy [coward] who never deserved to live with him, and so the uncle decided to send him to school dressed as a girl before later sending him to an institution where he was routinely beaten with a wooden paddle for bed-wetting (Schechter, 2012). The sadistic tales of murderers’ childhood horrifying sexual abuse, torture, and mayhem is long and actually endless, with almost every other serial killer having had their fair share. To the very deepest of thoughts, it may seem little wonder that anything but a serial killer would come out of such horrible experiences. Although aforementioned serial killers’ stories of childhood experiences may be suspect for exaggerations to attract sympathy by witnesses as well as academics making their arguments as solid as possible, the very fact that many families that appear healthy have hidden dirty tales is but an open secret. However, to what extent does childhood abuse stretches to a future love for outright crime? By inference, a huge number have been/are exposed to similar or even more traumatizing experiences but never grow up to become violent, blood thirsty murderers, more importantly to strangers who had nothing to do with their childhood anarchic upbringing. If anything, those with such violent childhood experiences grow up to become very good citizens, many of who even child’s rights advocates as well as that of the entire society. That though a child’s formative years of development plays a fundamental influence on a person behavior, childhood abuse alone falls far short to the explanation to the origins of the subject at hand. To some theorists, serial killers are but mad/insane individuals. The classification of serial killers as insane individuals, however, does not seem to fit the exact description of what goes on in their minds; for a person must have been suffering from a some mental defect[s] to differentiate between right and wrong at the time of committing crime to be successfully classified as insane, to which only a handful have ever succeeded with such pleas (Giannangelo, 2012). In effect, insanity accounts for a negligible percentage to warrant the explanation to the serial killers state of minds. Another explanation for to the origins of serial killers behavior is a psychological disorder known as antisocial personality disorder [APD]. Those diagnosed with APD behave in a pattern that violates the socially regarded norms of conduct, which includes but not limited to abnormal aggressiveness, lack of remorse to antisocial conducts, inability to tolerate boredom and promiscuity (Stout, 2006). Known professionally as psychopaths/sociopaths, the antisocial behavior of serial killers is believed to ignite their desire for literal, fearless thrill in devaluing others, to the extent of even causing harming. This explanation, still, is deficient and misses some key component not known to any academics; approximately 3-5 of the world’s population are psychopaths, with quite a number successful in a various fields, and are not necessarily motivated to kill. These individuals are not insane, and in fact know perfectly well that murder is a crime, and so those that do turn to killing do so with utmost secrecy until they are found. The inadequacies of the foregoing theories have informed explanations from genetics. In his 2000 report that compared brain scans of more than five hundred individuals, Dr. Richard Davidson concludes that those prone to violent, antisocial behaviors exhibited no activity in their anterior cingulated cortex part of the brain that control emotional impulses. Accordingly, it this condition that denies the serials killers the moral safety latch to inhibit their murderous thoughts. Yet again, this study like any other before it only indicates a predisposition evident in a majority of the world’s population, many of who aren’t that cruel. It is apparent that there are no simple, straight forwards answers to the origins of the urge to kill in serial murderers. The evidence is quite explicit; that though many go through violent, horrific childhood, only a negligible number actually become mass murderers. It may be that the environment and the genetic makeup combine to create the monstrous serial killers, but even so, the ratio of that combination is yet to be determined; in effect, leaving the numerous theories to be just but hypothesis that do not give explicit proof. The answers to the subject discussed may never be known with certainty. References Berry-Dee, C. (2005). Talking With Serial Killers 2: The Worlds Most Evil Killers Tell Their Stories. London: John Blake Publishers. Giannangelo, S. J. (2012). Real-life monsters: a psychological examination of the serial murderer. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, LLC. Petherick, W. (2012). Profiling and Serial Crime: Theoretical and Practical Issues. London: Elsevier. Schechter, H., & Everitt, D. (1997). The A to Z encyclopedia of serial Killers. New York: Pocket Books.  Schechter, H. (2012). The A to Z Encyclopedia of serial killers. New York: Pocket Books. Stein, A. (2007). Prologue to violence: Child abuse, dissociation, and crime. Mahwah, NJ: Analytic Press. Stout, M. (2006). The sociopath next door: the ruthless versus the rest of us. New York: Broadway Books. Wilson, C. (2013). A plague of murder. London: Constable and Robinson Ltd.   Read More