Essay Sample on Serial Killers: Nature or Nurture?

Have you ever heard of a crime or a criminal that did something so unthinkable that it makes you sick just thinking about it?  You may ask, “How could someone do something like this?” “What’s wrong with this person?  Am I capable of doing something this horrible?” The answer to the last question is yes; anyone can be capable of committing a crime or murder.  Killers' brains are constructed of three main components; specific brain patterns or brain injuries, high vulnerability genes, and early abuse or abandonment.

Injuries and brain patterns have been proven an abettor in criminals.  Most crimes consist of physical and mental factors. Men's rea (the guilty mind) is a person's mental state when committing a crime and can make a huge difference in a conviction, such as was the murder planned or done on caprice?  Did the felon intend to kill, or was it manslaughter?  However, many criminal cases that have had brain scans done on a suspect have primarily resulted in two different forms, either stating that the brain differed structurally or that a tumor or traumatic brain injury caused damage resulting in a significant personality change.  Change in a person's personality because of a structural change in the brain can include increased impulsiveness, depression, aggression, inappropriate sexual behavior, lack of thought, control, and violence.  An example of this process of a brain injury causing a personality change can be seen in a case that involved a middle-aged school teacher who began to have an inappropriate interest in child pornography and young children after not having a history or record of crimes; similar to this at all. When being brought into prison, he reported having migraines.  When he was taken to the hospital, a scan said there was a tumor in the brain's frontal lobe. After removing the cancer, he discontinued the strange interest and returned to his normal personality until cancer returned, along with the tendencies.  

The frontal lobes are a small collection of cognitive skills such as the capacity to plan, organize, initiate, self-monitor, and control someone's response to achieve a goal.  Therefore, the frontal lobe is also considered the behavior and emotional control center.  Damage to the frontal lobes can result in several injuries that can vary by physical trauma, such as reduced taste or smell and falling or weakness in a part of the body, impaired judgments, and even odd sexual behaviors or drives.  Because of this, damage to the frontal lobes of one's brain can easily cause a personality change and cause someone to commit a crime or even a murder.  According to the authors of Medical News Today, “The reductions in the gray matter among homicide offenders were evident in several brain areas important for affective processing, social cognition, and strategic behavioral control” (Newman).

A factor analyzed in many different murder cases is what people call the “serial killer gene” or the “warrior gene.”  The professional name for this gene is Monoamine oxidase A.  Monoamine oxidase A is created by a mutation in the MAOA gene.  Because MAOA is located in the X chromosome, and women have two x chromosomes. In contrast, men have one x chromosome from their mother and one y chromosome from their father; boys are more likely to get their mother's “serial killer” gene.  The MAOA gene is called the “warrior” and “serial killer” genes because versions of this gene usually result in aggressive behaviors.  Having this gene and having a very traumatic experience as a child can easily lead to a criminal or even a murderer.  The article written by Julian Highsmith quotes, “Low levels of MAOA make it hard for individuals to resist inflicting physical and psychological damage to the individual, while individuals with higher levels of MAOA allow them to resist these harms (McDermott, 2009). Acts of aggression in individuals include 1st and 2nd degree murder, aggravated assault, domestic and non-domestic battery, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated kidnapping, rape, and indecent liberties with children (Stetler, 2014). These acts of aggression belong to the entire aspect of nature versus nurture.”

Early abuse or trauma events at a young age can produce a serial killer or a criminal with certain people.  If a child is raised in an abusive household all their life, they can learn to suppress empathy or suffer damage to the areas of the brain that control emotional impulses.  A quote from Julian Highsmith during the Levit (2013) test, “They believed that life factors and societal and political pressures affected the way that an individual grew and adjusted to the world around them in a psychological manner (Levitt, 2013). The source closed by talking about how behavior affects gene expression (Levitt, 2013). Levitt (2013) focuses on how participants explain the assigning responsibility of violent and antisocial behavior when genetic and environmental influences are claimed to be the cause of the behavior. These same participants viewed that genetic factors were not the cause of violent and antisocial behavior, but by most it was considered to be irrelevant to personal responsibility (Levitt, 2013). When the participants took a questionnaire, of the forty students most agreed that the offender had a choice and/or free will while less than half of the thirteen senior participants agreed (Levitt, 2013).”  If one is grown up without being shown attention, love, or sympathy, they could continue to offer those traits, and it can lead to the lack of empathy that most serial killers have for their victims.  Detectives can tell if a serial killer has remorse or not because if a victim has their arms crossed over their chest, that is usually shown as a sign of regret or remorse from the killer.

In conclusion, anyone can be a killer with three main components; specific brain patterns or brain injuries, high vulnerability genes, and early abuse or abandonment.  A killer can either be created by nature or nurtured separately or together.