Why some people become serial killers

Serial killings have increased exponentially within a century. Being that populations are bigger and people have better chances of getting away make it easier for people to commit heinous crimes. People become serial killers because they have antisocial personality disorders or other similar mental disabilities.  People believe that there is more to becoming a psychopathic serial killer such as traumatic experiences while growing up, or the environment that they grew up in. In reality it is that some people are born with chemical imbalances in their brain, which make them more likely to have antisocial disorder or borderline personality disorder.

            Antisocial personality disorder is when a person has traits of irritability, impulsivity, and remorselessness. Not all people who have this disorder are psychopaths but the ones who are display a greater lack of empathy and grandiosity (De Brito and Hodgins, pg. 133). According to Personality, Personality Disorder and Violence: An Evidence Based Approach ASPD and Psychopathy are very different however both can cause a real burden to society. People who suffer from ASPD tend to commit crimes, do not keep a job, and harm their loved ones because of the crimes they commit. ASPD combined with psychopathy is what most serial killers have been diagnosed with.

 Only one third of people ASPD are diagnosed with psychopathy, however every individual diagnosed with psychopathy have ASPD. There are certain biological signs that can also show if a person is more prone to becoming a serial killer or not. It all starts with the brain, most psychopaths brain scans’ show low activity in areas related to self-control, empathy, and ethics (Ehrenfeld). Other markers to potential criminality are brain damage, low resting heart rate, being male, gene variants, and a mother who smoked, drank, or both during pregnancy. All of these markers can vary depending on the person and not all people with these traits are psychopaths. Adrian Raine, a college professor, did a study on people with brain scans similar to psychopaths.

In Raine’s study he discovered that there are “pro-social psychopaths” (Ehrenfeld). In other words, there are people who have all of the traits of a psychopathy but can still be contributing members of society. This is supposedly because psychopath’s who have parents who are devoted to them and show constant love and affection, have a better understanding of how people should behave in everyday situations. This theory is flawed because there have been people who come from a good and healthy family and still commit terrible crimes. Therefore, being a psychopath is the only reason why people become serial killers.

In Raven’s article What Creates Serial Killers and Psychopaths: Genetics or Environment? Raven states that “all serial killers are psychopathic, but not all psychopaths are serial killers.”  The things that drive these people to kill is their desire for control and sexual or aggressive drive towards another living, breathing being. Having psychopathy does not mean that a person is crazy or insane it means that they suffer from chronic mental disorders and violent and aggressive social behavior. They feel no guilt, sympathy, or remorse for their actions. This is the difference between psychotics and psychopaths, psychotic people go through a period of psychosis where they do not remember what they do. They can also feel remorse for their actions.

Psychopaths on the other hand can tell the difference between right and wrong but they do not feel as though it applies to them. They view themselves as being above everything including the law, this is due to their egocentric and narcissistic behavior. Over 90 percent of serial killers are white males with normal to bright IQ’s, however even with being so intelligent they are quite unstable. Most serial killers are very charming and manipulative, they can usually persuade people into thinking they actually care. They tend to not learn much from experiences and when from their actions occur they typically turn hostile. In doing so it gives them justification for more violent behavior (Raven).

Taking a look at all those characteristic in turn creates a profile for psychopathic serial killers. There are a few specific traits to look for in potential serial killers. They begin to feel depressed and fail to succeed at anything. They also become socially withdrawn, but display attention seeking behavior. These characteristics do not really explain why they choose to kill but the reason is because they like to have some sort of control of a situation. Psychopaths have the tendency to blame everything on society. When they kill and torture people they feel as though they are getting revenge for what was done to them. This furthers the idea that people who become serial killers do so because of brain abnormalities.