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Maddie Leger
Jean Coco
English 1001
15 November 2016
Audience: Anyone who is interested in the nature versus nurture controversy, anyone who wants
to learn more about the nurture aspect, anyone who might be interested in learning more about
serial killers
Preface
What is working well for me is that I am able to find a lot of information about my topic. I have
learned a lot about the nurture side of the nature versus nurture topic and I am able to use this
knowledge throughout my paper. I have also found a lot of research on serial killers that I can
use as examples. What I may need to work on is developing my paragraphs more, and I also feel
like I am repeating the same words and sentences over and over again. What I am having trouble
with is figuring out how to cite sources in my paper. I am kind of confused on the quoting,
paraphrasing, and summarizing part of this project. In the group conference I would like to know
more about how to cite and also how to do an annotated bibliography.
Update: Did I cite my sources correctly? Did I do my works cited correctly? Should I add a
paragraph before my conclusion as a transitional paragraph?
Serial Killers Made by Nurture
There has always been a popular controversy between scientists, researchers, and many
others about the way serial killers are formed. Some say that they are created by nurture, some
say that they are born by nature, and others say that serial killers are both born and created.
Though I think that serial killers are both created by nurture and born by nature, my paper is
focusing on the nurture side of the controversy.
When nurture forms a human into becoming a serial killer, it often starts out when they
are children. It happens when their environment negatively impacts them. As it is addressed
throughout the Justice Professional, this may include child abuse, beatings and falls, and
growing up with parents who did not give proper care (Simons). These factors often scar the

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child and leaves a negative impact on him/her, which may then trigger the child to act out. Serial
killers who have experienced these factors have often shown evidence of arson, animal torture,
and voyeurism at one point in their childhood.
Many people may think that serial killers and murderers are typically the same kind of
person, but in reality, they are completely different. According to the National Center for Crisis
Management, Murderers typically have a vendetta when they kill someone. They often kill out of
revenge that is associated with a person because of a family affair or a dispute between lovers
and/or friends. Also, murderers may often commit a homicide due to violence among a gang or
because of financial difficulties (2). Between all of these reasons in which a person kills another
person, most cases the murderer knows the victim. With serial killers, there is usually no
relationship among killer and victim. Serial killers do not kill out of revenge or due to a vendetta,
but with a desire to kill. They are often driven by sexual desires and fantasies, and killing is the
only way to fulfill those desires and fantasies. What most people do not know is that serial killers
only make up one percent of all murderers.
There is a very specific definition of a serial killer. A serial killer is a person who has the
desire to kill that is not driven by revenge or a vendetta. There are a specific number of killings
within a specific time frame, and there is also a cooling-off period between killings. According
to the FBI reports and publications of serial murder, a serial killer is defined as the unlawful
killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events (Morton).
Serial killers are often under many stereotypes as they are shown in the media, such as
television shows and movies. But in reality, they appear to be very normal looking and can be
described as looking like the guy next door. Serial killers often have very little education, but
they are very clever and intelligent. They know how to blend in to society because they have

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mastered disguising their emotions and thoughts. Though serial killers can be any gender, race,
and age, most of them have a specific identity.
All serial killers have a different cause of why they kill. This where the nature versus
nurture comes into play. Some serial killers due to their genes affecting them and some kill due
to their environment that has affected them, but according to research, most of them kill because
of their genes and their environment. A serial murderer develops starting from birth and ending
in adulthood. They are born by their heredity and depending on whether they have any brain
disorders. They often have disorders in the area of their brain that controls their emotion and how
social they are. They are created by growing up in a bad home environment and whether or not
they experienced any child abuse or falls. Serial killers are also created by the choices they make
during childhood development, such as arson, animal abuse, and voyeurism.
Child abuse can be a leading factor in the formation of a serial killer. The abuse can be
physically, psychologically, and/or sexually. Though the child can be abused by anyone, it is
often committed by a close family member. When children grow up experiencing forms of abuse,
it leaves the child scarred forever. They often feel very helpless and powerless. As they grow up,
they turn to killing people and making their victim experience what the killer experienced as a
child. They want their victims to feel helpless and powerless just as they once experienced.
Aileen Wuornos was a famous, female serial killer of the late 80s and early 90s. She is an
example of a serial killer who was formed by nurture because she grew up in a bad home
environment and she also experienced child abuse. Aileen Wuornos was born February 29, 1956
and she grew up in Michigan. Her mother was a teen mother and ended up being very
irresponsible, while her father was a child molester who was sent to prison. At a young age,
Aileen and her brother were sent to live with their grandparents after the fathers imprisonment

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and the mothers abandonment. Aileen claimed that her grandparents were very abusive. Her
grandfather was physically and sexually abusive, while her grandmother was physically abusive
and also an alcoholic. At age fourteen, Aileen became pregnant in which she claimed was caused
by her brother. The baby was later born and put up for adoption. Later in her life, Aileen lived a
life of prostitution and crime to help support her. The bad home environment, the child abuse,
and the prostitution and crime are factors that caused Wuornos to turn to violence and become a
serial killer leading her to murder seven white men from 1989 and 1990.
When a child has experienced living in a bad home environment along with child abuse,
the child may show many red flag of becoming a serial killer. Some of these warning signs can
be, but are not limited to, animal abuse, arson, and voyeurism. Examples of serial killers that
have shown these warning signs is Jeffrey Dahmer, David Berkowitz, and Ted Bundy.
One of the first warning signs that can be noticed among children is the abuse of animals.
According to Victims and Offenders, Children who are cruel to animals may later in their life
commit violent acts on people. Petersen and Farrington observe studies by researchers about
children who were once cruel to animals, later were violent to humans. Petersen and Farrington
suggest that children committing acts of abuse towards animals are associated with domestic
violence and abuse in their families (Petersen and Farrington). Often times, the animals that
children abuse are small animals that cannot really defend themselves. The animal is too small
and may feel helpless and powerless, just as the child may have felt during times of themselves
experiencing abuse.
Jeffrey Dahmer was one of the most infamous serial killers in the United States. Dahmer
is an example of a very notorious serial killer who committed multiple acts of animal abuse. For
the beginning of his childhood, he had a regular childhood up until the age of four in which he

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had a surgery done. Dahmer had a surgery to fix a double hernia on his scrotum and it left him
feeling sexually insecure. At this point in his life, Dahmers childhood was no longer normal as
he became less social and very introverted. Dahmer and his family began to move around the
country in hopes to find the perfect childhood home for Dahmer and his newborn baby brother.
All of the moving around the country, as well as the birth of Dahmers brother made him feel
neglected. Dahmer began to be more and more antisocial for these reasons as the years went by.
Although there was no specific evidence, Dahmers father claimed that he was sexually abused.
Also, Jefferys mother was put into a hospital for psychiatric problems. All of these childhood
issues are possible reasons which may have contributed to the serial killer upbringing.
Throughout his childhood, Dahmer committed many acts of animal abuse. The abuse included,
but is not limited to, killing frogs, cats, and dogs and impaling their heads on sticks. Jeffery
Dahmer later became a serial killer and sex offender. Over the course of 13 years, between the
years of 1978 and 1991, Dahmer murdered seventeen boy and men, along with committing acts
of cannibalism, necrophilia, and dismemberment.
Another warning sign that is common among serial killers is committing acts of arson,
also known as fire setting. There is a pattern among many serial killers of them starting out as
arsonists. Just like animal abuse, arsonists set fires because it gives a sense of power. It makes
the person be in charge and feel like they are in control, which are things that serial killing may
also allow a person to feel.
David Berkowitz, also known as the Son of Sam and the .44 Killer, is a serial killer
who displayed many acts of arson. Throughout his childhood, Berkowitz was considered to be
troubled. He committed acts of larceny, theft of stolen property, and arson. Berkowitz was also
considered to be a bully in school. Larceny, arson, and bullying all gave him the sense of power.

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Another factor that may have set him off, was the death of his mother, whom in which he was
very close to. As a grew older, Berkowitz was not a very social person, and he was especially
uncomfortable with the opposite sex. As stated in murderpedia, Police speculated that the killer
had a vendetta against women, perhaps due to chronic rejection. This goes along with his
murder victims, whom in which were mostly female. By the time of his capture and arrest,
Berkowitz murdered six victims and had wounded many others from 1976 to 1977. His preferred
choice of weapon was a .44 caliber bulldog revolver, just as stated in his nickname, the .44
Killer.
Voyeurism is also considered a warning sign of a potential serial killer. Voyeurism can be
described as many things, all of which involve the watching of another person without their
knowledge. Voyeurism is a way for the watcher to feel power over the person being watched
because it gives them a sense of dominance. The predator uses this tactic to obtain sexual
gratification over the prey by watching them do many things, such as undress or engage in sexual
activities.
A serial killer who was described as someone to commit acts of voyeurism was Theodore
Robert Bundy, also known as Ted Bundy. According to Susan Frese of Crime Museum, Ted
Bundy claimed that, as an adolescent, he would get drunk and stalk around his community at
night, looking for undressing women or other titillating sights (Frese). Throughout his
childhood and adolescent life, Bundy was described as very introverted and not easily able to
communicate with other people, especially people his age. The reasoning for him to have grown
up as shy, was because he wasnt very close with his family, especially his stepfather, whom in
which he felt very detached from. As Ted Bundy became a serial killer, he would also rape his

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victims. In the end, Bundy killed more than fourteen young women along with raping them.
Bundy died in 1989 on death row in the Florida prison in which he inhabited.
There has always been a popular controversy between scientists, researchers, and many
others about the way serial killers are formed. Some say that they are created by nurture, some
say that they are born by nature, and others say that serial killers are both born and created.
Though I think that serial killers are both created by nurture and born by nature, my paper is
focusing on the nurture side of the controversy.
Though there is much proof that serial killers are brought into this World through nature
and nurture, my paper discusses the nurture aspect of this popular controversy. Serial killers are
often made during their development starting from the moment they are born, all the way
through their childhood, and ending in their adulthood. Certain factors such as animal torture,
arson, and voyeurism can be warning signs of a potential serial killer that is brought up through
nurture caused by their childhood development and the way that they were raised within their
family environment.

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Works Cited

Blanco, Juan Ignacio. "David Berkowitz." Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2016. <http://murderpedia.org/male.B/b/berkowitz.htm>.

Frese, Susan. "9 Early Warning Signs for Serial Killers." Crime Museum. N.p., 23 June 2014.
Web. 28 Nov. 2016. <http://www.crimemuseum.org/2014/06/23/9-early-warning-signs-forserial-killers-2/>.

Petersen, Marie Louise, and David P. Farrington. "Cruelty to Animals and Violence to People."
LSU Libraries Discovery. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Serial Killers: Nature vs. Nurture." National Center for Crisis Management. N.p., n.d. Web. 28
Nov. 2016. <http://www.nc-cm.org/article213.htm>.

"Serial Murder." FBI. Ed. Robert J. Morton. FBI, 21 May 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.

Simons, Cassandra L. "ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER IN SERIAL KILLERS:

THE THRILL OF THE KILL." LSU Libraries Discovery. N.p., n.d. Web.