Clifford Olson: Canada's Most Notorious Serial Killer

Clifford Olson was arguably Canada’s first and most notorious serial killer. During his reign, he committed many different crimes, including rape, theft, and murder. He was responsible for the murder of eleven young individuals, which caused pain and grief to their friends and families. Psychopathy is a mental condition found in many serial killers and was the reason that Clifford Olson committed his many heinous murders. A look into Olson’s background and his conduct after committing the murders will provide more than enough evidence to show the clear signs of psychopathy that he displayed.
Olson grew up in a relatively normal household, with two parents who had regular, middle-class lives (Mulgrew, 2011). There was no sign of abuse from

Looking back at Olson from his youth, he had clear signs of psychopathy throughout his life. Ever since his youth, Olson was a thief and a bully, who loved to torment individuals (Mulgrew, 2011). He would often lie and try to manipulate others for his gain (Mulgrew, 2011). This behaviour of constant aggression, and lying to others for no reason, from an early age are the symptoms that Ceckley decided were a good fit to describe a psychopath in their early life (Harris et al., 2001). Oftentimes, juvenile psychopaths will act the same as themselves when they become adults (Lynam & Gudonis, 2004). Clifford Olson would already be tormenting individuals and animals at such a young age, and that progressed to be even more violent during adulthood (Martin, 2011). Another characteristic of a psychopath would someone who is very narcissistic and sees themselves as being above everyone else (DeLisi, 2009). When Olson was in jail, he would often give information to police in exchange for things like media appearances, because he wanted his name to be plastered everywhere and for everyone to know who he was (Martin, 2011). He also suggested that they make university courses that study him, just because he wanted to constantly be the centre of attention, which shows just how truly narcissistic he was (Martin, 2011). As previously mentioned, Olson often committed heinous acts against the individual before he murdered them (Mulgrew, 2011). In some cases, he would sexually assault the individuals, including necrophilia, and in others, he would perform certain experiments on their bodies that ended up killing them (Mulgrew, 2011). He had a clear lack of regard for human life and showed no empathy for any of the victims or their families after murdering them in such a brutal manner (Mulgrew, 2011). Even in how he selected his targets, he was a very charming but also a manipulative individual who