The Evolution Of Serial Killers: Nature Vs. Nurture Debate

Serial Killers have been prevalent in our society for a long period of time. They’re known as ruthless individuals with absolutely no regard to human life. But what exactly defines a serial killer? According to Adjorlolo and Chan (2014), A “Serial Killer” is defined as an individual that commits three or more murders over an extended period of time. The actual term comes from the word “serial homicide” which was introduced by former FBI Special Agent, Robert Ressler in 1974 (Sullivan, 2013). During a lecture, he used the word and it later evolved into the word that’s frequently used today. For years, psychologists and criminologists have been trying to understand these individuals and what exactly drives them to commit such vile crimes yet

The “Nature” part of the debate states that genes determine an individual’s personality and the actions they take towards the world, while the “Nurture” part claims that the environment one grows up in determines their development and the person they grow up to be (Nesterak, 2015). Although a lot of scientists believe that serial killers are born with a predisposition to kill because of their genes, according to psychologists and criminologists, there's a lot more evidence of there being environmental factors such as trauma in one's childhood, dysfunctional families, and exposure to violence whether in real life or in the form of media that lead to someone committing these heinous

86). There’s far more evidence of the correlation between the two than there is polarity. “Genetic factors substantially influence measures of behaviorally relevant environments such as parenting stress or social support, a phenomenon called "the nature of nurture" (Plomin, 1994, p. 90). This phenomenon simply states that the aspects of our environment that are important to behavior, such as the stress of parenting or the support we receive from others, are significantly influenced by genetics. As for serial killers, the issue of violence consists of both neurological as well as social factors. According to Raine (2014), “When unstable environments mix with neurological illnesses the result is a spike in violence” (p. 91). For instance, if an individual with a history of neurological disorders in their family is exposed to violence in their immediate environment growing up, they’re more likely to turn to a life of crime than individuals who grow up in a stable