Preview

Serial Murderers

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3952 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Serial Murderers
Serial Killers: What Really Makes Them Tick Are serial murderers born with an instinct to kill, or is it something that forms over time? Sometimes it is one or the other, but it can also be a combination of both, and in most cases it is. These people are always and will forever be considered dangerous and a threat to mankind because it is not always easy to spot them. In order to understand the mind of a serial killer, as it related to Sleeping Beauty, it is necessary to examine how the mind of a serial killer works and differs from the average civilian. For example, Dennis Radar, better known as BTK, was the head of his church. Ted Bundy worked alongside many normal and unsuspecting people at a rape hotline. There’s no distinctive item that makes them stand out, and that’s the scary thing. Some of the most notorious serial killers in history have been those people that are active in their community, stable in their jobs and highly intelligent. Jeffrey Dahmer who tortured, killed and ate some of his 17 victims has been quoted as saying, “These thoughts, they just come blasting into my head… These thoughts are very powerful, very destructive, and they do not leave. They're not the kind of thoughts that you can just shake your head and they're gone. They do not leave.” (“Early Signs Of Serial Killers 1”) This kind of statement begs the question, “can anything be done to stop these monsters before their killing sprees begin?” What some people do not realize is that a normal human brain can be much, much different than the brain of a serial murderer. One part of the human brain that has an influence over whether or not a person is stable or not, is the prefrontal cortex, which is the front half of the brain. It is responsible for our focus, planning, impulse control, emotional control, empathy, judgment and insight. If the activity in the prefrontal cortex is healthy, it usually leads to conscientiousness, thoughtfulness and a goal-oriented personality. If the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Serial Killer Mind

    • 2375 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Inside the mind of a Serial Killer and the current biological differences between our minds and that of a serial killer.…

    • 2375 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The social construction of a serial killer can consist of many different behaviors, thoughts, and actions that play out over time. A serial killer in my opinion is one who acts out on his or her impulses. Impulses that are usually made up of fantasies that the individual cannot separate from reality. Most serial killers come from abusive homes and experience traumatic events throughout their lives. I believe that due to these events and abuse serial killers can detach their self emotionally from not only their victims but from what society deems normal. “A large number of serial killings are motivated by sexual urges, and with female serial killers, a large number of the killings are motivated by financial gain” (Hickey 1997, p. 27).…

    • 1958 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Glazer points out “Serial killers probably account for at most about 200 victims in the United States each year or 1 percent of all homicides” (Paragraph three). The reasoning for the violent acts varies with killers along with the motives. Glazer says “from head trauma to childhood abuse {…} to explain how someone becomes a serial killer, but many people suffer from such conditions without becoming serial killers” (Paragraph three). These beings unlike murderers kill in a brutal, violent and disgraceful way. Like Glazer states “most serial murder is an intimate experience for the killer in which the torture of the victim and watching the victim die are important parts of the experience. Sexual murderers often engage in bizarre sexual practices with their victims both before and after death” (Paragraph…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ted Bundy Research Paper

    • 3271 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Many researchers have studied the fascinating yet horrifying world of serial murderers. The discoveries made since the phrase "serial killers" was coined, have amazed society. Despite all the knowledge discovered related to this topic, much more still needs to be disclosed.…

    • 3271 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    A serial killer could be dining, sitting, or even living next to you at this very moment. Most killers offer little to no obvious clues that will lead anyone to detect their often secretive, undercover actions. I ask myself, “How can we be so naive to these types of people?” Serial killers amongst us are often well educated, portray an All-American image, yet have a psychotic side to them.…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    LE300J Final Essay

    • 1643 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Throughout time many have had a fascination with serial killers and with help from the media they have become celebrities within our culture. There are many books, movies, television shows, and news coverage to introduce viewers to their lives. With all the interest behind serial killers, many wonder how they come to be this violent. The question is often asked, are serial killers born or made?…

    • 1643 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ted Bundy Personality

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The inside of a serial killers mind is a very vast world of mixed emotions and the feeling of needing to fill a need. Something in a serial killers past is what typically triggers them to start…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Firstly, when the serial killer was not found, they feel their self a little bit shocked and then they committed a second crime. Following this, when they do not arrest again, they started to feel amazing and of course, they continue their actions. However, at this point in times they start to believe that they have a something like power which is only belong to them and also they sees their self much more powerful than the law. Besides, that believe is not a sign of the psychopathy since it is a clue of the narcissistic personality trait. Secondly, the serial killer has demonstrated an extreme sexual assault potential that illustrates that the serial killers prone to attack someone sexually by in words or rape. Thirdly, the serial killer has a repetitive activity that does not carry any meaning in their activity. For example, serial killer smokes before the killing or kill with the same method. Fourthly, the serial killers do not feel anything about the victim because they see that activity as ritual. Therefore, when they direct their emotions to the victim, their activity loses the meaning. Finally, they feel a need to sign their victim or activity by means of collecting a material which belongs to the victim or eat their some part. For instance, hoarding the objects which belong to the victims like watches or eat their body part of…

    • 2100 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tests have shown that the nervous systems of psychopaths encounter less fear and anxiety than normal people. Tests have proven that low arousal levels have caused these individuals to project impulsive thrill-seeking behavior. Proven by one experiment, a group of healthy individuals and a group of serial killers were given the task of finding which lever out of four turned on a green light. One of the levers gave the subject an electric shock. Though both groups made the same number of mistakes the sociopaths took much longer in learning to stay away from the lever with the electric shock. This higher need for stimulation leads these individuals to seek dangerous situations. In fact most serial killers have a desire to become cops, the intensity of the job makes it exciting and desirable to them. The famous serial killer John Wyane Gacy, responsible for the rape and murder of 33 teenage boys and young men, told…

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Apparently, all serial killers are murderers, but not all murderers are serial killers according to an article titled "Serial Killers: Nature vs. Nurture." There are major differences between murderers and serial killers and according to this article,“ Serial killers are only driven by instinct and a desire to kill. Due to these sexual desires and the need to fulfill their arousing fantasies it often urges these individuals to murder those who are complete strangers. Therein lays the fundamental difference.” Now, the article discusses the fact that typically a serial killer’s profile is that of a white male between the ages of 20 and 30 who commonly target their victims within the area of their living space. Note that not all serial killers fit this profile and this is apparent through history, as women have been known to develop into serial killers as well. Psychotics and psychopaths can have personalities in common, such as dull emotions, but they tend to diverge regarding whether he/she can mentally stay within reality. Psychopaths are cunning and manipulative, but they do not experience hallucinations nor delusions. They do not hear the voices of strangers in their minds nor do they hold inaccurate theories about the world. However, no matter his/her sex, age, or race a serial killer is a serial killer. Thus, the question remains: Was it nature or what it nurture? Could it be both? It is evident that nurture takes the principal role in the creation of a serial killer. According to Gina, who wrote the article "Nurture Over Nature: Mental Illness and Traumatic Life Events," while nature does play a chief role in their creation and is accountable for a decent part of the process, it does not take it…

    • 1830 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the most famous questions of all time asks, “Why do serial killers, kill?” Everyone is different in their own way, so no one can really answer that question specifically. Dr. Helen Morrison, author of “My Life Among The Serial Killers” interviewed ten famous serial killers to try to answer this question. She found that almost all of them had similar characteristics besides killing. Unlike what most people believe, she surprisingly found that these characteristics did not include insanity, child abuse, or drug abuse. Instead she explains that their most common trait is that they have an emotional age of an infant. Other characteristics include fluent lying, the lacking ability to comprehend that they did anything wrong, and no memory of the murders however when they do remember they show no mercy.…

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Serial Killer

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages

    "Why College Athletes Deserve Six-Figure Salaries." The Week. N.p., 14 Sept 2011. Web. 10 Apr 2013.…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Serial Killers

    • 644 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Henry Louis Wallace is a serial killer who killed at least 10 women in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. He is also known as the Taco Bell Strangler because a lot of his victims worked with him at Taco Bell. Wallace’s crimes did not start with murders. He had several burglary charges in Seattle, Washington. He also began to use several drugs including crack cocaine while he was in the Navy. In 1990, Wallace committed his first murder in his hometown of Barnwell, South Carolina. His first victims name was Tashonda Bethea and he dumped her body in a lake, not to be found until weeks later. He was questioned about this murder but was never formally charged with anything relating to it. In 1992, Wallace murdered two people, Sharon Nance and Caroline Love. He has four victims in 1993, Shawna Hawk, Audrey Spain, Valencia Jumper and Michelle Stinson. All of those women were raped and then strangled by Wallace. In February of 1994, Wallace was arrested for shoplifting but the police did not make a connection between him and the murders. Later that month he strangled Vanessa Mack in her apartment. On March 8, 1994, Wallace took two more lives, Betty Baucom and Brandi Henderson. The police started to crack down and look for the killer but Wallace still managed to murder one more, Deborah Slaughter by stabbing her around 38 times in the stomach and chest. Her body was found on March 12, 1994 and Wallace was finally arrested on March 13th. He confesses to murdering 10 women in Charlotte and described how he raped, robbed and killed all of the women. Henry Louis Wallace was charged for nine of the murders and is currently on death row in the state of North Carolina with nine death sentences. There is no execution date set yet and he is being held at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina.…

    • 644 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Serial Killer

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Do serial killers have the same motive for killing? In “What Makes a Serial Killer” by La Donna Beaty, she composes an informative argument providing characteristics of a serial killer. She bases her argument on what makes a serial killer according to information gathered from eight different sources. According to the theories that she has provided, society, family atmosphere, mental illness, and excessive use of alcohol are the characteristics that make up a serial killer. Can these characteristics mask all serial killers? Beaty provides evidence that suggests what might make a serial killer, but, she doesn’t state what she thinks defines one, which makes this essay more of an essay to inform.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Serial Killers

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For centuries Stories about Serial killers have graced the covers of newspapers and magazines. Famous stories like “Jack The Ripper” and Edward “Ed” Gein, which influenced many popular films such as Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs. There are so many questions surrounding this topic one being: Nature versus Nurture? Is this need to kill a simply male completion in an effort to show status and be “The Alpha Male”? If this is true then why are there Female serial killers? Or is this just natures survival of the “fittest” like animals “kill or be killed”? Ultimately can this be broken down to a scientific explanation? Darwin’s theory of evolution of certain genetic traits that have helped animals as well as humans adapt to their surrounding can be found through countless examples. Which brings me to the question is there a certain common trait found in these serial killers? And if so what is it?…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics