Essay About Serial Killers And Substance Abuse

Criminal Mind
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Criminal Mind
Although much has been written and many theories
brought forth on identifying the criminal mind, it
is still evident that there is no foolproof way to
know in advance whether a person is prone to
criminal activity. Law enforcement agencies have
begun using a method called profiling to identify
serial killers and terrorists. Some school
districts are looking into the concept as a way of
early detection into the minds of troubled
children whose violent ways might be discovered
before it is too late. By watching for certain
signals educators hope to intervene before these
students actually complete a violent act (Lord
Some have felt it is the influence of drugs or
alcohol that induces this kind of criminalistic
behavior. While substance abuse may affect a
person as far as committing offenses, it is far
unlikely that substance abuse alone could create a
serial or mass murderer. Mitchell (PG) points out
that there are “studies correlating a geographical
prevalence of alcoholism and serial murder and
might show that there is some relation between the
two (although this relationship might well be
spurious).”
Some personality traits have been shown to be
more prevalent in the makeup of serial or mass
murderers. Impulsiveness, low self-esteem and poor
social skills, as well as competitive and
aggressive behavior are quite common among these
killers as is hypersensitivity to criticism
(Mitchell PG). It has also been pointed out that
those with active or high fantasy prone
imaginations are more apt to be able to become
serial killers. Even Carl Jung pointed out that it
is the tortured that become the torturers, thus
establishing the fact that child abuse assumes a
very prominent role in the makings of a serial
killer. Perhaps it is a sense of helplessness or
lack of self worth that causes the abused to turn
to others to inflict pain upon. Sometimes this
fantasy life comes to the forefront in the
presence of actual abuse the killer has had to
endure, at which time the mind takes over and
concocts a fantasy in which the abuse is happening
to someone or something else. This can perhaps sow
the seeds in which the mind allows the fantasy to
be played out in reality later on in life
(Mitchell PG). So far, however, not enough has
been discovered in order to accurately predict
deviant behavior in the young and enable it to be
corrected before it comes to fruition.
It is interesting to note that only a few
examples of female serial murderers exist. There
are even fewer examples of female serial sadistic
killers. It seems that serial killers are most
predominately male. Because women are socially
taught subservience and obedience, it is felt that
to overcome this sociological learning is more
than normally would take place in the mind of even
the aggressive female in a social setting. It
normally takes a propensity toward violence and
overbearing in order to be expressive rather than
alien to the social culture of a given individual.
It is noted that a feminist approach to serial
murder would have, no doubt, much to offer in the
terms of social analyzation (Mitchell PG).
Children are not displaying normal behavior when
they hurt, torture or kill animals. That, say
behaviorists, is one of the significant
indications of underlying psychological trouble.
Bundy, along with Manson, Dahmer and most other
killers of this sort, began their torturous abuse
on animals. The evidence that childhood animal
abuse ultimately leads to adulthood crimes is
irrefutable. Senator Ed Perlmutter, who sponsored
a bill to stiffen the punishment of animal cruelty
charges, has no doubt that animal cruelty is
linked with “much more serious crimes” (Sanko 38A)
later in life. It is as though the animals act as
practice tools until the time is right to graduate