Serial Killers Are Made Essay

Serial Killers are Made

Since the 1980s, there are still 222,000 unsolved serial killer murders in the United States. Serial killers are known for killing more than 3 people over the years. Their motivations for killing people and their behavior at a crime scene is also what makes them a serial killer. Common traits to them are sensation seeking, lack of remorse or guilt, and the need to control. Some serial killers that are known around the world are Jack the Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Aileen Wuornos. They all have lots of things in common with each other. All of them were abused when they were growing up and they didn't have the best homelife as a child. By looking at how serial killers are treated as children,

First, the children who grew up to become serial killers were physically abused when they were younger. According to Kirby Child, “36 percent have experienced physical abuse,” (Child 1) and “26% have experienced sexual abuse,” (Child 1). These statistics show that many people who were physically and sexually abused grew up and chose to do the same thing to other people. Another way they were abused was mentally. According to George E Rush, “Many serial killers experience childhood trauma or early separation from their mothers,” (Rush 1) and “As a consequence of that trauma or separation, scientists believe, they learned to suppress empathy or suffered damage to the areas of the brain that control emotional impulses,” (Rush 1). Starting at a young age these children were not taken care of and they were pushed away from older people in their life that they could look up to. This is shown to damage areas of the brain at a young age, which will progress as they get

First, a common trait is that they are manipulative and pathological liars. Statistics show that serial killers as children lie about everything, even when they don't need to lie. According to Amy Morin, a psychotherapist, “the key traits of a psychopath are a lack of empathy, superficial charm and pathological lying,” (Morin 3). Amy Morin also said “Other conditions, such as borderline personality disorder, may also lead to frequent lies, but the lies themselves are not considered pathological,” (Morin 3). Having no empathy and lying is something that professionals look at to determine if someone is going to be considered a serial killer. Another thing serial killers do as children is hurt animals. Jeffrey Dahmer is a very known serial killer and he would take road kill off the roads and operate on them. According to Bowie State University “Children who torture or kill small animals like squirrels, birds, cats, and dogs without showing remorse are highly likely to be sociopaths,” (Unknown 1). Another thing Bowie State University said about serial killers as children was “being cruel or abusive to animals, especially pets. setting fire to objects or otherwise committing minor acts of arson. regularly wetting the bed,” (Unknown 1). The specific combination of the three traits of bedwetting, fire setting, and animal cruelty is known as the Macdonald Triad. One