The Mind of a Serial Killer Essay Sample

True crime is a big world I live in. When I graduate highschool I wanna go to college and study forensic science. The topic of the justice system has always interested me.  The one thing that I know that most serial killers have in common is that most of them have childhood trauma. Maybe childhood trauma isn’t always the case. Sometimes it's a mental disorder that just develops over time. It could be kind of like a switch that clicks one day. I’ve always wanted to know those types of things when I’ve found out about a new case. 

I’ve always been so interested in the mind of serial killers. For example, “what caused them to be the way they are?” Another one is, “what do they feel or think after a Murder?” I’m also curious about, how do they go right back into society like a normal person?” My last question is regarding the disorder that serial killers have, “is it a gene carried through relatives even though the other family members haven’t acted on any killings?” 

For the past few years I’ve been really heavy in true crime. It’s always been fascinating to me, and that’s why I’ve decided to research it.  My motivation has come from these questions that I have that are unexplained. Where am I going to find my information for the answers to my questions? On my laptop I have a section for research on my school website. I’ll start with finding any articles or timelines. Then I’ll compare other well known Serial Killers and compare what's similar, and different. I hope I find answers to all of the questions. I really hope you find this interesting as well as I do. The topic I’m studying or researching is really interesting. I hope that what I’ve researched has really intrigued you into learning more about the justice system and forensic science. 

The database I used helped me answer a lot of the questions I had. I thought it was going to be hard to find my information. Finding my information was so simple using my research questions. I learned so much about my questions and even more than I wanted to find out. I'm glad that this process showed answers to questions I didn’t think I had.  This whole process of research wasn’t that hard, I’m glad I did it. 

The first thing I wanted to know was “what causes serial killers to be the way they are?” We do not know whether this model of fantasy driven behavior, derived from interviews with male serial killers, can be applied to female serial killers. Interview data give tentative evidence linking female serial killers with high rates of severe parental deprivation, childhood abuse, personality disorder, low self esteem, and a sense of personal inadequacy.  male serial killers are more geographically mobile (50% are local killers), show a greater tendency to include torture or mutilation as part of the process of killing, and more often report a sexual motive (Medical Journal, vol. 312). This showed that most serial killers aren’t born to do what they do. That it’s based on their upbringing most of the time. 

“what do they feel or think after a Murder?” According to novelist Patricia Cornwell, "the most distinctive and profound characteristics of all psychopaths is that they do not feel remorse. They have no concept of guilt. They do not have a conscience" (27). This showed that serial killers typically don’t feel anything at any point, because most of the time they are considered “emotionally numb”. With this statement it shows that typically they don’t feel remorse at all. They have a part of their brain that kinda shuts off, because they don’t care enough to care. Or just simply the fact that they have a disorder that cuts off their emotions that causes them to feel. 

“How do serial killers go right back into society like a normal person?” 

"Since a lot of the cases I wanted to cover were so haunring, so unforgettable, I was able to jot down those pretty quickly," Burgess says of writing the book. "It's been interesting to see the evolution of public fascination with serial killers over the years. There is something compelling about staring into the darkest aspects of humanity. It's an unmasking in a way--a glimpse into the rawest fringes of human psychology."  (Publishers Weekly, vol. 268). This shows that typically serial killers just go right back to  society by evolving to what's going on around them to cover his or her tracks. 

“Is it a disorder that serial killers have, or is it a gene carried through through relatives even though they have not acted on any killings?”  

The inability to break such an extremely regular pattern can be attributed to the brain function of the person. Since the frontal lobe deals with the decision- making, this could possibly be an explanation as to what is going on in the mind of a serial killer. If there is frontal lobe damage or abnormal activity in this region of the brain, there is an inability to make rational decisions. This in no way serves as a justification for such behavior.  (Brain wired for violence). This proved that it’s not a gene that they carry, but that it is a disorder that they have developed. Or it was simply caused by brain damage or a brain disorder from overtime. 

I learned a lot from this research paper. This process taught me a lot of things I didn’t know from when I started. This also showed me a few things I did know, but not very many things. I learned that serial killers don’t carry a gene that causes the actions they partake in. That was really interesting to me. Most of the time serial killers have a background of neglect, child abuse, sexual abuse, truama ect. Another thing I learned was that very murder has a motive. I learned the diffrence of murders between men and women. As of now this research left me feeling very satisfied. I was left with questions but they were all answered by the end of this. I think this was a very successful research.