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Are Serial Killers Born Or Made Essay

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A serial killer’s mind is a hub of anger, sadness, hate, and desire. Where do these feelings come from? The topic of whether serial killers are born or made has been debated for several decades, but people still can’t seem to agree. It is obvious that serial killers have different urges and reasons to kill, and have different influences as well. However, people believe the reasoning behind a serial killer’s actions is entirely their brain. The thing is, it is not only their brain activity, but different influences from people and the media, life situations, and the environment in which they are raised are all reasons why serial killers are made, and not born.

Serial killers can be created in various ways. An example of that is influence from …show more content…

Childhood trauma is one large cause for serial killer creation. It can traumatize them and bring up feelings of hurt, anger, jealousy, sadness, and more. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration says, “Children and youth who experience child abuse or neglect and associated trauma, brain development may be interupted, leading to functional impairments. Ongoing maltreatment can alter a child's brain development and affect mental, emotional, and behavioral health into adulthood.” This is telling how the trauma a person faces can affect them in their adulthood. If this could happen to ordinary people, the same could happen to serial killers. The thought.co says, “A study conducted at Radford University in Virginia comparing the abuse history of 50 lust killers from the USA with the rates of child abuse in the general population showed that there was a high amount of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse in the serial killer group. Here, abuse not only entails the ability the individual faced personally, but also the acts of violence (physical and/or sexual) witnessed by them growing up” This quote gives us statistics on how serial killers usually face more abuse as a child than the ordinary person. OUP.blog has an explanation for this too. It says, “ In many …show more content…

Amen Clinics says, “Although brain dysfunction contributes to violence, it is not an excuse for bad behavior. People who commit heinous acts should not be excused and allowed to go home because they have a bad brain. Many people who have troubled brains never do anything bad.” This shows that a serial killer's genetic brain isn’t the end all be all reason serial killers are here today. They were not born with the “serial killer trait.” OUP.blog even agrees. They say, “Yet serial killers also seem to possess an enhanced emotional drive that leads to an urge to hurt and kill other human beings. This apparent contradiction in emotional responses still needs to be explained at a neurological level. At the same time, we should not ignore social influences as important factors in the development of such contradictory impulses. It seems possible that serial killers have somehow learned to view their victims as purely an object to be abused, or even an assembly of unconnected parts.” This piece of text basically explains how serial killers still have a neurological explanation for their actions, but it’s not all about

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