The Serial Killing Issue - Essay Example

Serial Killing Human life is sacred and highly valued compared to the lives of other living creatures. The life of any human is regarded with lots of respect irrespective of age, gender, race or ethnicity. Despite of this, there are special kinds of people who find no remorse for doing away with fellow human lives. Among the many murders, there is a special group that is referred to as e serial killers. Serial killing is a terminology that was brought about by Robert Ressler, who previously served with FBI. Robert chose the word “serial” because the crimes committed by serial killers used to happen in “series.” Serial killing can therefore be defined as the killing of three to four people accompanied by “cooling -off” periods or breaks in between. Serial killings do not need to be confused with mass murderers. In the later, mass murder may kill four or more people at the same time, while a serial killer will have breaks or periods in between. Freeman posits that serial killers do not work in partnerships; they work alone and kill strangers in most cases (3-4). Their main drive is killing just for the sake of it not for passion. Serial killers can be put into four categories; the categories are cited as visionary, mission-oriented, hedonists and power control oriented. These four categories exhibit special features which distinguish them from each other. For instance, serial killers in the visionary category commit their killings under the command of special voices or visions which appear to them only. These killers at times suffer from mental disorders or psychosis. Conversely, the next category; mission oriented serial killers have the belief that they have a special mission or goal to achieve. This goal is only attainable by an act of killing one person or a certain number of people in particular place or different locations. The people to be killed may be of a certain gender, age or any other specification. Usually the targeted victims are not usually known to the killer, but perfectly fits into the category stated for elimination. Hedonist serial killers have different sub categories; however, the central drive for such killers is mainly pleasure. According to Veste (3), hedonists fall into two main sub-categories, we have thrill-oriented serial killers, who derive their pleasure from the excitement of killing their victims. The amount of pain that they inflict on their victims determines the extent of pleasure they achieve. The other type is the lust killers who derive sexual satisfaction out of murdering their victims. Sexual pleasures experienced depend on the amount of pain impose on the victim too. The last category of serial killers; the power/control killers have almost similar features like the hedonists only that for this group, they derive satisfaction through exercising complete control or power over their victims. By torturing their victims to death, which is the ultimate aim, these killers are able to show total control over their victims (Veste 4). Different kinds of researches have been conducted to establish the kinds of motives that work within the minds of serial killers, causing them have the guts to kill fellow human beings at ease, without showing any acts of mercy. The behavior of serial killers can be defined in biological, sociological and psycho-social dimensions. Many of the behaviors of serial killers have been associated with external causes; however, there are researches that have shown that such causes are biologically, sociologically or psychosocially influenced. Biologically, White (6) points out that some of the violent acts by serial killers are caused by damage to the human brain at one point in time during the early developmental years. The brain structure of a human being is complex and very delicate such that its effects when exposed to injury are still largely not clearly understood. Control of human behavior is usually assigned to particular brain structures. When these regions experience some kinds of abrasions, its effects are significantly noted in the behavior of the individual. For instance, the brain’s hypothalamus region is a centre for sexual reaction and aggression. Since these two hubs are very close to each other in the hypothalamus, any damage to it can lead to social harm and brutal behavior centered on abnormal psychological association of sexual intuitions and encroachment of cruel sexual pleasures. This leads to difficulties in being able to separate between sexual excitation and violence. This kind of brain damage to its different structures makes an individual unable to behave according to the societies expectations. When it goes to extreme levels, the person engages in repetitive violent behaviors against fellow beings. Damages to the temporal brain lobe has been seen to lead to conditions of amnesia, epilepsy challenges and an increase in the frequency and a violent actions something that is characteristic of most serial killings (White 9). A case in point is Sweeny Todd a British serial killer in the late 1780s and early 1800. Todd was raised in abject poverty in London; he belonged to abusive parents who were ardent alcoholics. Todd experienced brain damage from frequent beatings by his parents and other children while still a child, something that contributed to his violent actions when he grew older. It’s his violent activities that landed him in jail in 1785. He was later released and opened a barber shop along one of the streets in London. Todd was later involved in serial killings of up to 160 people. In order to avoid apprehension, Todd would dispose his victims by changing their carcasses into meat pies and selling them to the public in London through the meat pie-shop of Margery, his purported lover. Sociologically, studies conducted on samples of serial killers as well as their biographies reveal that most of them had been victims of abuse in their physical state, mental, sexual or all the three and other forms of violence at childhood.. Alternatively, most of them were victims of broken families; which led to some kind of abandonment (Krueger 2). According to this research, the level of education of a serial killer largely determines the time at which they engage in such violent actions. For instance, those serial killers who had low levels of completed education started their actions early in life compared to those who had advanced levels of completed education levels (Sandford 1). Findings from behavioral researchers posit that there is a strong correlation between sociological and psychological motives behind serial killers. This points to the fact that there is no main origin of violent behaviors of serial killers. The actions are rather a blend of peculiar, early and progressive abuse of the brain and other psychotic system of the body, especially paranoia. When the level of childhood abuse is high in the particular person, chances of harm or involvement in serial killings is high in the individual when he grows older. Different psycho-social explanations have also been used to shed light into this issue. Sandfort (2013, p, 4) explains that there are serial killers who conduct their killings in a certain organized manner, something that may not easily predict the cannibalistic tendencies in the killers. There are some killers who have above-average intelligence and are respected; as a matter of fact they are functional members of a normal society. These types of killers make a clear plan on how to attack and kill their victims, after they kill them; they take some of their victim’s body parts as souvenirs with them. They do not usually leave their weapons and other tools at the scene of crime, they carry them along and thus it’s hard to tell their behavior. For this reason, this killers end up killing many victims while the society is left unaware of the real culprit. These killers are said to be affected by psychopathy and sociopathy personality disorders. The characteristics of these kinds of people include lack or regrets after killing or causing harm to their victims and total incompliance with social standards of behavior. Psychopaths will always use all means possible to attain their desire, for instance, they can pretend to be charming, impulsive or can be intimidating just to achieve their aim. A good example of a psychopathic serial killer is John Wayne, a professional clown and a contractor who was loved by his community in Chicago. John had siblings and a healthy family and lived a normal humble life. John managed to kill a total of 33 young teenage boys, something that was unknown to his community for a long time. He would bury the bodies of in a certain hole which he had dug under his house. John would lure his victims into his house with the promise of offering them lucrative jobs. After locking them up, he defiled them, killed and strangled his victims to death and then disposed their bodies secretly. When his space got full he resorted to dumping the bodies in a nearby river. He was later arrested in 1968 while damping the victim’s bodies in the river (Sandfort 2013, p, 4). The case of john points out a normal heterosexual husband with a family, something that is normal in any human society. John’s first marriage is recorded to have ended when he was accused of sexually harassing a male employee and worse of all, a minor. The court sentenced him to jail but was later to be released only to remarry again, this did not stop his serial killing tendencies. During night time, John would go luring innocent young teenage men into his house, promising them alcohol and drugs and others jobs, once they got into his house, he used chloroform to make them unconscious. This gave him room to sodomize them with foreign objects and later kill them with tourniquet or strangle and bury them under his house. All this time, his new woman did not realize until he was later arrested by law enforcers and arraigned in court (Sandfort 2013, p, 8). In conclusion, studies about serial killing are a complex process. This is because; there are many approaches that can be used to explain the motives behind serial killers, biological, psychological and sociological researchers are still finding better reasons that explains this inhumane behaviors. Knowing about serial killers in one dimension does not become enough since another dimension about the same has a different outlook. It is therefore important to point out that the only people with reliable information about serial killers are serial killers themselves; unfortunately, the serial killers themselves do not have full knowledge about their motivations in their behavior. There is no single explanation advanced for serial killing behaviors, rather, they are a combination of several factors. There are many similarities between serial killers; analysis into these factors is helpful in telling the factors that motivate them. Childhood lifestyles of serial killers provide a clear picture about some of the sociological and other factors that motivate these killers. Sexual drives and the patterns of victims can only be explained after the actual killings have been committed. The most unfortunate thing about this perspective is that it is not possible to provide a future expectation about the behavior of another serial killer but only gives an idea about past actions and behaviors. Therefore, conclusive explanation into behavioral patterns of serial killers and reasons for their actions still remains an ongoing process. The three types of perspectives into the behavior of this killers i.e. sociological, biological and psycho-social only provide green light into the real subject. Further research still remains welcome so that the society can be saved from these actions which are a total unexpectation of human behavior Works cited Freeman Shanna. “How Serial Killers Work.” 2014. Web. 5 march 2014. Krueger, kalic. “Sociological and Psychological predispositions.” 2009. Web. 5 march 2014. Sandford Samantha. “Some Psychosocial Factors That Serial Killers Have In Common.” 2013. Web. 5 march 2014. Veste Luca. “The Motivations of the Serial Killer – Real Life vs Fiction.” 2014. Web. 5 march 2014. White Sadie. “Making a Monster: The Biological, Social, and Artistic Construction of a Serial Killer; From Psychosis to Sondheim.> 2001. Web. 5 march 2014. Read More