The Nurture Theory: The Story Of Serial Killers

The FBI defines serial killing as "a series of three or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone". The “separate events” part is what makes serial killing different than spree killing and mass killing. Another thing that makes serial killers stand out is that they often demonstrate specific patterns that can be easily identified by police investigators. It was often debated that those patterns are products of either their genetics, or their environment. We now know that both are important to the development of all people, so now people argue which one is more important, especially when it comes to serial killers.

The Nurture Theory
The nurture theory suggests that genetic influence

Gein was born in 1906 as the younger of two boys. Gein was a shy kid that grew up with a weak alcoholic father and a dominant, profoundly religious mother who constantly taught her kids the the evils of women and discouraged sexual desires. Gein was extremely attached to his mom – unhealthily attached. This caused great jealousy and criticism from his older brother Henry, who happened to die in a fire somehow. It wasn’t until later that Gein was suspected of killing his older brother. After the death of his mother, nobody was left who could stop him, and Gein started living out his horrible fantasies and performed disgusting experiments on dead bodies. The trigger to his serial killing was that he desperately wanted to have a sex change and for some reason that made him believe that he would need fresh bodies to transform himself. Gein claims that his killing spree and disturbing psychological state was due to his love-hate relationship with his mother that was sprung from the way she brought him up as a child.

As a child, all who knew him depicted Berkowitz as peaceful and well mannered. His new parents Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz brought David up in an adoring, strong condition. The couple gave Berkowitz all that he required and treated him with the adoration any genuine parent would give. David experienced childhood in a domain that was helpful for good emotional wellness and general bliss. Berkowitz expressed that his purpose behind murdering was so he could "keep the demons quiet." He claimed that the evil demons in his mind would not quit tormenting him; with a specific end goal to dispose of them, he started doing what they needed. This mental deterioration is just a single indication of deep psychological disturbance. Alongside this, Berkowitz also said that when dogs howled, he was convinced that these dogs were demons asking him to kill women. Another example of his mental disturbance affecting his life appeared when he was an adult. He was convinced that his house owners were part of the demon conspiracy. Berkowitz later moved into another apartment but was still controlled by the demons in his mind. This evidence makes it obvious that David Berkowitz experienced profound mental brokenness, no doubt embedded in his genes.