Questions on serial killers?

Question

First of all, I just want to make it clear that I'm not planning on becomming a serial killer or anything. A man was just arrested in my cousin's neighborhood for the murder of three people, which got me thinking about serial killers and what goes on in their minds that drives them do they awful things they do.

1. What makes them murder people?
2. How can you tell if someone is a serial killer?
3. In your opinion, do you think there's any chance of a murderer being rehibilitated?

Thank you for answering :)

Answer 1

1. It's depends on the specific person. How they grew up plays a big part of it. Some are driven by hate and anger, others by the need for revenge, others for attention, some just want control, some get a sexual pleasure out of it, and others just like the exhilarating feeling of it all. Most serial killers are incapable of feeling empathy, which is why they do not understand the severity of the crime until someone explains it to them. A lot of murderers had some type of abuse as a child, whether it was bullying, being outcasted, emotional abuse, neglect, or phsyical abuse, which sometimes sends them into a world of hate, fear, confusion, and depression. Often times they do not know how to deal with these feelings as they have no one to talk to, and the lack of understanding can cause them to act irrationally or just intensify the emotions. Eventually they begin to have twisted fantasies that become very difficult to control and stop.



2.

- They create art or write about murder and / or torture, or they research it on the internet.

- They are antisocial.

- They torture or kill animals.

- Lack of empathy, have absolutely no concept of how to relate to others.

- Bad grades, shows a strong dislike for school or authoritive figures, also doesn't follow rules.

- Finds interests in others' crimes, natural disasters that cause death, etc.

- Sadistic personality, enjoys pain.

- Frontal lobe deficiency; it's the part of the brain that says, "No, killing your teacher is not a good idea", and holds you back from carrying out the fantasy. Serial killers often cannot distinguish right and wrong.



Then again, there are serial killers like Ted Bundy, who was very charming, smart, and outgoing / social. It really depends on the person.



3. No, they cannot be rehibilitated. They love the thrill and the power they experience during the murder, so they do it again and again. If they have been to prison at any point in their life, chances are they have been de-sensitized to the point where they only feel anger and hate. When they come out of prison they are just like "what the f*ck?!" because the world doesn't stop moving while they are incarcerated. This makes them feel scared and powerless and confused. Also if they had experienced solitary confinement they most likely have developed mental disorders, ex. they are scared of being alone or they forgot how to act around a crowd. With a felony on your record and a long(ish) time in prison, it is hard to obtain a job, which means they have to return to a life of crime. Maybe they had neglectful parents and they just want to elicit a reaction from somebody. Maybe it gets them off. Maybe they love the feeling of control they have over something as important as someone's life. After the first murder, it becomes an uncontrollable urge, a compulsive need. They retain the thoughts for as long as they can, but that only makes it build up stronger and stronger, and eventually they blow and they just need to fulfill the fantasy. Once that happens, everything about murdering people overtakes them until what was left of their innocent personality is gone, and all that is left is the need to kill, the thurst for blood, and the feelings of rage and hate.

Answer 2

To answer your questions, in a different order



3. Can a murderer be rehabilitated. It is dependent upon the circumstances of the crime. Was it in cold blood? such as a murder for insurance money or "in the heat of passion" A guy walks in on his wife in bed with another man? There are a lot of factors that determine the state of the person's mind and mentality regarding the leaning towards criminal behavior/ thinking or as said another way " criminogenic thinking" Yes some people who commit murder can be rehabilitated and some cannot.



2. It isn't always clear to tell a serial killer. Just think for a moment- serial killers have day jobs- they're not announcing what they do when not supporting themselves. The characteristics to look at and observe would be a malevolent narcissistic personality disorder, and /or antisocial personality disorder, those two traits are characteristic of serial killers. There is always a sociopathic tendency many are quite intelligent and cover it well.



3. They murder people for a variety of reasons, associated with a distortion in the thought process. They "get off" on it, it gives them a sense of power and pleasure, or a compulsive need, they could even feel they are "cleansing society"- the last example's type are called "Street Sweepers"



Studies have shown that there is a definite difference in the brain structure of the sociopathic brain which lends to a medical reasoning for there actions. This does not mean in any way that because there is a brain deficiency that a killer should run loose in society- that courts will not allow regardless of the source of the behavior. Can this type of brain abnormality be fixed, not as of yet in our knowledge of medicine and science.

Answer 3

3. first, most murders are one time people. They got into a fight or had a moment of passion.

When I was a homicide detective and keeping track the percentage of these nationwide was about 78% of all murders.



1. a real serial killer or a person who could be a serial killer, we catch many before they fall into the serial (3 or more) category, is the same type of person who can be successful in business. They care not for anyone else and cannot really relate to others. What they feel, for what ever reason, is only for themselves. The way they express it may have to do with their upbringing or something that happened in the past. You have to remember, as I said many successful business people and many con artists are the same way, they just took a different path.

The brains of serial criminals show a difference. The frontal lobes are slightly damaged or do not receive enough blood flow. Many believe that the brain did not fully develop past infancy. IN infancy to survive the child must think of no one else but itself. We had a forensic psychologist, a Dr. Morrison, who did extensive interviews any time we got what we thought was a potential serial criminal. I you can find any of her writings on the web you will get good answers.



3. a person like that, killer or not, cannot be changed. It is part of their basic personality and the way their brain works.

Answer 4

serial killers only stop killing or hunting when they are caught. rehabilitation is strongly doubtful due to the fact they don't want to change. consider them as people with a different type of wiring in the mind than non killing people. they have a switch turn to kill and that's it.



your not going to be able to tell if someone is a serial killer without a string of bodies. the person is going to look just as normal as everyone else, he's able to hide what he's truly about from other people so you can't tell. the best thing to do is learn about sociopaths and psychotics. these people are void of caring emotions for others. if you have no emotions for others you can pretty much do anything to them and not be upset etc.

Answer 5

to be a serial killer u have to kill and be convicted of killing for five or more people .



people can be driven by a number of things, revenge for doing something or a spur of a murder thing where somebody gets angry or for power, if somebody is abused as a child or has no control over their life they often turn to murder and rape because they feel in control of what they are doing. you cant really tell apart from the fact they might have underlying issues with anger or recently have fallen out with some for example getting a divorce, it depends why they have murdered, and how many times, usually with serial killers or somebody who has murdered more than one person it is for the power and control over somebody's life in which case they will do it again and again, their is little hope or rehabilitation especially after they have been de-sensitised from jail on top of the murders. however if somebody does it out of revenge their is a slightly more high change of them changing however 22 years in prison is a long time and time doesn't stand still it moves on without you, often they can feel daunted when they come into the outside world again with all the knew technology, and feel powerless and de-sensitised after being in jail and having everybody else call the shots plus the added difficultly of family members probably disowning them and not being able to get a job they are very likely to re-offend especially after serving that much time in prison. i suppose it is a little like self harm, once you have done it once you will do it again. 9 out of 10 times a murderer or a rapist has a reason underlying and it often comes from childhood maybe feeling un-loved or like they have no control or abused, they want control over something and they turn to things like murder because they have control over that person's life - its such an important thing.

Answer 6

1 well it's mostly revenge or what makes me think is that u only get one life life will never end so i think that they wanna just do something for attention 2 u can't reLly suppose if there runnin round shooting ppl thts wen u no. 3 only if the murder was a blur of the moment thing if he done it for joy then not much chAnce I do believe ppl SHUD be given a second chance but if some ppp take Advantage of it they SHUD rot in hell

Answer 7

1 - That is different to each case..



2 - Again, different to each case



3 - Yes, but do they deserve to be given a second change? No.