Dr. Helen Morrison Summary

Murder is defined as the illegal taking of another human's life and is grounded in the intent of this action. Many murders occur at the time due to an increased passion of a situation; jealousy, anger, or a lapse in judgment that leads to someone else's death. In the case of serial killers, this is not about the passion of a onetime situation, it can be a compulsion that drives a person to kill over and over. The cause of this compulsion is motivated by mental illness, a sense of duty to a particular person or entity, or it is a way to release pent-up frustrations that the killer does not have the emotional capability to handle. This last one is the case for Edmund "Ed" Kemper III, also known as the Co-Ed Killer.

John Wayne Gacy, Aileen Wuornos, Richard Ramirez and are all widely known notorious serial killers who in common, share the feeling of abandonment, neglect, and abuse during their adolescence years. Studies often show a traumatic experience can lead to mishap in one’s psychological and physical behavior which can cause anxiety, alcohol and drug use, low self-esteem, withdrawn, dissociation, difficulty with making and maintaining relationships, experiences flashbacks, hypervigilant, self-harm, and criminal activity. Since these killers had to endure a troublesome childhood, they were destined to become criminal masterminds. John Wayne Gacy was a U.S. serial killer who was found guilty of killing thirty-three boys and young men. He had an abusive childhood and struggled with his sexuality.

Animal abuse is a big part in determining a psychopath, even though not all psychopaths become serial killers, or even commit crimes. If a psychopath does, in fact, turn out to be a serial killer, when the FBI profiles them, one of the main things that they look for is people who abused animals when they were younger or, people who still abuse animals today. They do this because animal abuse is one of the most common things that serial killers share in common. Also, most psychopaths have this in common. More than half of serial killers, or psychopaths, abuse animals (Meyer 9).

It can be difficult to understand why anyone would choose to murder another human being. However, not all serial killers have the same motivation behind their crimes. There are many different categories, and each tend to have different reason for why they choose to take the lives of others. The two main types of serial killers are organized and disorganized. From there, they can be broken down into even more specific categories, however, each category will usually fall under organized or disorganized.

The show dramatizes the lives of many real cases where the majority of viewers are familiar with. For example, many people know about the case of the Zodiac the serial killer, Robert Berdilla, one of the most aggressive, bloody and torturing assassins who used to take photographs of his horrifying acts, and many other cases which are narrated in this show. According to the author of the book “The forensic psychology of criminal minds” Ramsland mentions that, “in criminal minds, we see not only the activity of crime scene analysis and reconstruction variety of criminal psyches.” (8) On the show psychopathic murders are portray as cold-blooding, lacking of rumour, and emotionless.

In Dave Cullen 's book Columbine we are given a new perspective on the columbine high school shooting, and the events prior. We are shown Eric and Dylan’s personal lives outside of being the “Cruel” and “Heartless” people that they are. They are people that we have created and refuse to accept so it’s their fault for what they become. Have we as a society willingly created this?

In 1993 scientists reported a Dutch family, there were 14 members of the family and all of them were sociopaths. They entire Dutch family had a mutation in a gene that makes an enzyme called MAOA. The enzyme’s function is to break down neurotransmitters like serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Over production of testosterone might be a factor that creates mass shooters. Normal testosterone levels are between 20%-200% of the average, and people whose testosterone levels exceed 400%, are more prone to violent behavior and over aggression.

Mass murderers and serial killers are nothing new to today’s society. We learn about them in TV shows, books, research papers, in our classes, etc. Psychologists have spent decades trying to uncover the truth behind these killers’ madness. Serial killers vary in their behaviors, techniques, desires, mental illnesses and their personal lives. Have you ever heard of the Tamiami Trail Killer?

Nuture isn’t the only thing that affects a serial killer. Many serial killers are affected by nature just like some are affected by nurture. Nature isn’t the most common effect, but it does play its part in creating a psychopath. Antisocial attitudes, values and beliefs, and negative family experiences and low levels of school or vocational achievement (Dawn Wissman, 2013). “It is also important to note that the "triad of evil" that has historically been used to identify social behavior typical of a serial killer is incorrect.”

Introduction I. Look around this school and think about exactly how many students are here daily. How would you feel if I told you that one out of every twenty five people are sociopaths(Pratt 2006).The fact of the matter is that not everyone who is a sociopath is a serial killer but oddly enough it has been proven that all serial killers are sociopaths. II. I have chosen serial killers that I found intriguing and that I thought not many people would know a lot about.

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.

Aileen Wuornos Rebecca McRunnel CRJ 308 Psychology of Criminal Behavior Professor David Ojo October 6, 2014 A serial killer is defined as a “person who murders three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a “cooling off” period between each murder, which whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification.” (University, n.d) Many times serial murders go unsolved and other times it takes decades to unravel. According to the FBI there is no set profile of a serial killer, because they can come in all sizes, ages, shapes, colors and groups. (Welch, 2011)

Being a seriel killer also may have some sort of psychological gratification with the murder committed. The number one reason a serial killer murders is for some sexual reason others are motivated by anger, thrill, finanxial gain and because they crave the attention. Murders can be attempted or completed in the same manner. Victims would have either

In the filed of biology psychology, it is said that there are 3 areas of the brain that are mainly involved in our aggression and violence behavior, which are the hypothalamus, the frontal lobes, and the limbic system. Morley and Hall(2003) have investigated o how the human genes have an influences on their criminal behavior. In their research, they have found a positive relationship between criminal behaviors and genes. Brunner et al(1993) conducted an research on a Dutch family, the result showed that some of the family members from the Dutch family with tendency of aggressive behavior turned out to have mutation occurring in their monoamine oxidase A, a type of neurochemical in the brain. Therefore, we tell say that aggressive behavior is somehow related to human brain structure.

The theory used in this journal pertains to the race, age, and gender of a serial killer; how they kill, the race, age, and gender of the victim; and how the killer lived before and during the killings. Before beginning his own study, Pakhomou (2004) found that “Serial (sexual killers are believed to be mostly white males in their twenties and thirties (at the time of the crimes) with above-average intelligence who commit intra-racial (within the same racial group) murders of strangers” (p. 220). Approximately half of them never had consensual sex with another adult, some joining the military, about half did not finish high school, and they had a history of burglary and sexual offenses prior to murders. There is no set reason or evidence that explains why people commit sexual homicide; however, there are many theories. One set factor that all researchers agree on is that “the most monstrous and most perverse sexual acts are usually committed by persons of sound mind, who are functionally rigid (in terms of a number of activities that they carry on), obsessed with fantasy and who have a determination to do what they want” (Pakhomou, 2004, p. 221).