Recent research shows that there are anywhere from twenty-five and fifty serial killers

operating throughout the U.S. at any given time. While there are this many serial killers currently
operating how many are idle and on a break from killing? A psychopath can be more than a
serial killer, while most serial killers are psychopaths, and can be someone that you work for,
work beside, are friends with, or even married to. The majority of Serial Killers, with wives and
families, have portrayed their role as husband and/or father so well that the family has no clue
what type of individual they really are beneath their facade. The biggest question, and the most
debated question, in regards to serial killers is this: Are they born, made or both? Can
something trigger a psychopath to become a serial killer, instantly, or are they molded into a
serial killer throughout their lives? Since this is such a debated topic, the evidence is
insurmountable and points in all different directions but which is the correct direction? Is there
only one direction for all serial killers or are the circumstances different for each one? I believe
that a serial killer is both born and made and I believe that a serial killer isnt always a
psychopath but that other things can contribute to the desire to kill, or the inability to control the
killing.
I issued an on-line survey to fifty of my friends, associates and co-workers and asked
three questions that pertain to serial killers. The first question was, in your opinion, are serial
killers born or made? Out of the fifty responses, twenty four people said that a serial killer was
made, nine said that a serial killer is born, and seventeen said that a serial killer is both born
and made. Like I stated in my introduction, I wholeheartedly believe that a serial killer, or any
type of murdered, is born and made. There have been a number of studies done on these types
of cases and its still a much debated topic today. In the murder of James Bulger, a toddler that
was taken from the Strand, in Bootle, England, while his mother shopped, by two- ten year old
boys. The boys ended up torturing the two year old so severely that he had forty-two injuries
and the medical examiner could not determine the actual cause of death. The boys grew up in
split-families, shooting the heads off of doves with bb guns, stealing, and being overall violent.
The last movie that one of the boys watched before murdering the toddler was a Chucky movie
and the boys brought the tortures played out in the Chucky movie to the life of the toddler. They
even splashed blue paint in the face and eyes of the toddler, as done on the movie that was last
watched. I believe, though, that while an environment may have a lot to do with our actions,
especially those of murderers and serial killers, I do not believe it is the sole reason for these
types of actions. There was a study, called the Bobo Doll Study, that was done to younger
children where these children were placed in a room with a Bobo Doll, and their interaction with
the doll was recorded. During their initial session with the Bobo Dolls the children just played
with the doll with no aggression and no violence towards the doll. Once the initial session was
over they were required to watch an adult, basically, beat the doll by kicking and punches it.
After this, the children were again left in the room with the Bobo doll, alone, while their
interaction with the Bobo Doll was recorded.. The second time around, the children were more
apt to beat up the doll, as theyd seen the adult do, during the last session. While I get the point
of the study is to determine if this violence is bred or learned, I dont believe this study was a
great example. While our environment can be a huge trigger for our actions that does not mean
it is where our actions were founded. The most accurate explanation I have heard was in an e-
video on the UNCC Library Database, called Aggression: Is Violence Learned? and it was this
...These salty peanuts arent great for us but they probably dont really do us much harm either.
But if youve got a peanut allergy, the result could be lethal. This, I believe, is one hundred
percent accurate. If you are susceptible to aggression, violence, or anger, and you witness an
act of violence, or a very traumatizing event, youre more likely to become violent. However, if
you are not susceptible to violence, anger, or aggression, you are more likely to simply develop
a case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) than become a serial killer. To assume that
everyone subjected to this type of behavior is a serial killer would be ridiculous.
My second question in my on-line survey, to fifty people, was in your opinion, do
serial killers have the ability to display empathy? Out of the fifty responses, twenty size people
said yes, sixteen people said no, and eight people believe they have the ability to display
empathy but not truly feel empathy. I believe that psychopathic serial killers do not have the
ability to feel empathy, while they do have the ability to display empathy. A psychopath is
someone that can blend in, is very charming and a good talker, and can portray themselves as
to what they believe the people around them want to see. Everyone that is a psychopath is not
in prison and all psychopaths do not commit a crime because some psychopaths have the
ability to suppress their urges, or dont even have the urges, because even though they are
chemically made as a psychopath, they didnt have any triggers pulled during their early
developmental years. A psychopath is someone that is suffering from chronic mental disorder
with abnormal or violent behavior. As many as five percent of people possessing a psychopathic
tendency are everywhere. That means, if youre in a room of fifty people, it is likely that around 2
are psychopathic and you would never know it. Thats why when interviews are done with a
neighbor of someone just arrested for being a serial killer, like Radar, they cant even believe
that they would do something like that. Its because psychopathic killers have the ability to show
empathy, they have the ability to fit in with those around them.
My final question on my on-line survey was this: Are all serial killers psychopaths? I was
amazed at the number of people that responded yes to this question. Out of the fifty people
surveyed, thirty six people said yes and fourteen people said no. I do not believe, at all, that all
serial killers are psychopaths. I believe that there are a number of things that can cause
someone to become a murderer and cause them to continue to have the urge/desire to commit
those murders. Schizophrenic murderers seem to combine the lack of empathy of the
psychopathic killer with the lack of impulse control. A psychopathic killer has the ability to control
their urges but the lack of the want to control them, while a schizophrenic murdered does not
have the ability to physically control their urges. Aside from a mental disorder there are also
hormonal imbalances that can cause people to commit murders. A great example of that is
Michael Ross, a man who raped and murdered eight women. He said You cannot imagine what
it is like to be excited and to be stimulated by thoughts of killing somebody. By raping and killing
and degrading. They are extremely stimulating and satisfying in the short term but theyre
disgusting as hell and I wish to God I didnt have them. After testing on Michael it has been
determined that he has an extremely abnormally high level of testosterone in his body and could
be link to these violent crimes. Professor James Dams has evidence that proved that the higher
testosterone inmates had more often committed violent crimes. Without the proper functioning
of the serotonin in the body, the bodys relaxant, the emotional impulses cant be controlled,
hence the killing that Michael Ross couldnt control. Michael has stated that the urges would
take him over at any time, any place, and it wasnt something he could control even though he
was disgusted by them. In prison, Michael was given Depo-Provera to reduce the testosterone
levels, a form of chemical castration, and with this decrease in testosterone you have a
decrease in obsessive thoughts and urers and fantasies. The only problem with this theory,
though, is that you cant treat someone for something they havent been diagnosed with. Like
treating any other illness, you have to have been diagnosed to receive treatment, and to be
diagnosed, one would have to see a doctor. In my opinion, people with this type of imbalance
dont even realize they have a problem, until theyve become hormonally balanced again.
Michael strongly believes that had he begun receiving those 1 cc injections monthly, fifteen
years ago, the eight women would still be alive today. How striking is this quote? Its almost
sickening that we know it only takes one injection, monthly, to prevent murders and would have
saved, at-least, those eight lives, yet, hormone levels arent checked at yearly doctor
appointments, without request. Why not? If we know this is a huge possibility of murder, why
arent hormone levels checked, yearly, at physicals? Would it not be much easier, emotionally,
financially, and physically, to check these levels yearly and prevent murders than have to locate,
find, and charge a murderer after the heinous crime has been committed?
I believe, due to the mounting evidence, that a Serial Killer is both born and made. DNA,
hormones and chemical emalances are all factors to be considered when determining if
someone's brain is that of a psychopath. However, not just those things are the criteria to
determine if someone is a serial killer. A serial killer is definitely a psychopath, or sociopath, and
shows those tendencies, however, they have to have had something to trigger those tendencies
into action. That is proof enough, to me, that serial killers are born and made.