Serial murder is the killing of at least three individuals, each in separate events, with a cooling-off period in between. So what drives seemingly ordinary people to deviate from social norms and become serial killers? This is the question many speculate about and are fascinated to uncover, yet the conclusive answer is unknown; some attribute this deviant behavior to a psychological predisposition, while others contend social influences are responsible (i.e., we are products of our environments). Through my research, I will attempt to explain in the case of the America’s first large-scale serial killer, H. H. Holmes, through the sociological strain theory, labeling theory, and maladaptive socialization. Background of H. H. Holmes Childhood …show more content…
H. Holmes the renowned 19th century serial killer—was born on May 16, 1861 to devout Methodist parents Levi Mudgett and Theodate Price in southern New Hampshire. Holmes’ family was of modest means and throughout his childhood, his mother was notorious for exuding a cold and aloof demeanor, while his father was depicted as an alcoholic authoritarian (Brown et al., 2015, para. 7). However, both were reported to have abused Holmes through physical as well as psychological methods such as food deprivation, extended periods of social isolation, and as a form of punishment, Levi would hold a cloth covered in kerosene over Holmes’ face. In an effort to evade his parents’ traumatizing chastisement, Holmes adopted a new hobby, killing and dissecting animals, that he developed a newfound allure to and began practicing in the local woods. Unfortunately, however, Holmes not only suffered abuse and intimidation from his parents, but also at school where numerous classmates would bully him relentlessly because of his mildly bizarre behavior and level of intelligence. Suffice it to say Holmes did not have many positive social interactions with peer acquaintances as an …show more content…
He was raised in a family where abuse was the norm, a typical form of disciplinary measures, and then experienced comparable abuse during school at the hands of his peers. Abuse—and violence in general—is the basis of how Holmes was socialized throughout his childhood and he never knew anything different. Holmes’ self-concept developed inappropriately in his childhood as the abuse . Additionally, he learned these actions did not have consequences, at least not in the milder context he was subject to. Due to the fact that no one ever received punishment for abusing Holmes, he probably expected not to be reprimanded as well; this gave him confidence that he would evade capture, and ultimately assisted him in executing these murders. Furthermore, Holmes was understandably aggravated with the treatment he received and he felt he needed scapegoats to take out his frustrations on since he was incapable of retaliating against his parents and
Erick Larson wrote in Devil in the White City, “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing – I was born with the Evil One standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered in the world, and he has been with me since” (Troy, Taylor). This statement was a quoted confession from Dr. H. H. Holmes himself in 1896. Holmes was the first major serial killer in America, even though he came after many others in his time. Thomas Neil Cream, the Austin Axe Murderer, the Bloody Benders, and Jack the Ripper came before him. His name was originally Herman Webster Mudgett. He was born on May 16th, 1860 in Gilman, New Hampshire. He was raised by his mother and father, who was a wealthy and respected citizen for 25 years. As a boy, Mudgett was always in trouble and was well known in his community for his rather sociopathic behavior. He would show cruelty to both animals and other children. The only thing keeping hope to society was the fact that he was an excellent student. He later changed his last name to Holmes in order to pursue both his medical and criminal careers. He had many other aliases in which he would hide under and try to derail the cops from finding him (Juan, Blanco). Holmes was medically trained to be a doctor and received his degree from the University of Michigan. He was not just into insurance fraud scams. His evil doings included forgery, claiming to find the cure for alcoholism, real estate scams, and pretending to have a machine that turned natural gas into water. He was quite the ladies man, had many wives, whom often had become his victims. Many of his medical partners became subject to him, also. He once even had three wiv...
(O’Neill, Weisfeldt, & Cabrera, 2015, para. 24) On the opposing end, a defense psychiatrist found that Holmes was psychotic and he had a warped view of reality. The psychiatrist, Raquel Gur, said, “The severe defect in his brain made him incapable of distinguishing right from wrong by societal standards” (O’Neill, Weisfeldt, & Cabrera, 2015, para. 25). I believe that James Holmes is a psychopath and according to the DSM-5, suffers from antisocial personality disorder. Holmes obviously has a disregard for other lives and lacks empathy. He felt that with each life that he ended, his life began to add value. In an interview with an appointed psychiatric, Holmes said “he gained nothing from injuring people or leaving them behind to grieve for the dead. He spoke of the 70 people wounded as ‘collateral damage’” (O’Neill, Weisfeldt, & Cabrera, 2015, para. 42). With the ending of his romantic relationship before the massacre, that is also an example of James lacking the ability to maintain relationships. It is believed that along with the ending relationship with Lynne Fenton, he had few relationships. I also think that moving at the pivotal age of 12 created depression and most likely anxiety in Holmes and began to create the personality disorder. Holmes did not
The nurturing of individuals plays a role in the making of killers, as 94% of serial killers had experienced some form of abuse as children and 42% have suffered severe physical abuse (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2010). A child abuse is a determining factor, in which supports the idea that serial killers and psychopath, are influenced significantly by nurture (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2011). In most cases social, cultural and physiological determinants all play a role in influencing serial killers to grow into a mass murderer. It is important that physiological and social determinants can be identified, so they could be altered for the purpose of preventing the number of crime.
Holmes and Holmes developed this typology based on various characteristics of the crime scenes and the victims themselves of 110 interviews of selected offenders and serial murders (Canter & Wentink, 2004). David Canter and Natalia Wentink conducted an empirical test of this typology and developed several criticisms to their work. Their empirical test concluded that the features described for each category tend to co-occur within each other. For example, the characteristics of a lust killer include a controlled crime scene, evidence of torture, the body being moved, a specific type of victim, no weapon left at the crime scene, and rape; all of these features are also included for the thrill killer. This makes it difficult to categorize these
In a Google search of “serial killer memorabilia”, approximately 135,000 results would appear. While the U.S. produces over eighty-five percent of the world’s serial killers (“Why do Americans Idolize Serial Killers?” 11), Americans still tend to treat these murderers as icons and celebrities. As defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a serial killer is expressed as the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events. While it is no secret that serial killers have a different mindset than that of a normal person, do these murderers have genetically different minds? Although there is no exact answer as to what causes certain people to have the urge to kill, studies from the “Minnesota Study of Twins
Due to crime-inspired shows that air on television, fascination with serial killers presents itself more and more. People want to learn what makes a person break to the point of taking another’s life. Some suggest that killing releases a sexual desire, while others suggest that revenge may be the motive. A serial killer has the stereotypical look of a white male who tends to act socially awkward, not easily approachable, and possesses a mental illness. While the accuracy of this look tends to be true occasionally, the majority of the time a serial killer looks no different than anyone else and appears rather social. Some experts believe that a serial killer has codes in his DNA which causes him to kill; nonetheless, other experts believe environmental
Emotions get the best of everyone in stressful situations, but what about those without any emotions to spare? The media glamorizes murders and serial killers by making them the spotlight of movies, shows and novels. What readers and viewers often forget is that these people are real and have resided on the same street that their kids ride bikes on. The people that commit these horrendous crimes are often known as sociopaths. Not all sociopaths become serial killers, but the combination of abusive childhood, environment and genetic influences pushes them to repeatedly kill and take innocent lives.
Serial killers have long eluded law enforcement while simultaneously grabbing the attention of the public, and now more than ever, criminal psychologists are beginning to understand what makes a serial killer. In his true-crime documentary, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote depicts the horrifying murders of four members of the Clutter family and the search to find the criminals responsible for the deaths. Eventually, two killers are caught, one being Perry Smith, a detached and emotionless man. And although his carnage of the Clutters labeled him a mass murderer, many of Perry’s personality traits are characteristic of a serial killer. In fact, if detectives had not caught him, Perry could have easily become a serial killer.
The stereotype that exists for individuals who commit serial murder is one that mainly includes males of a specific race. However, it is now known that white males are not the only individuals who commit serial murder. Men and women from all racial and ethnic backgrounds and socio-economic statuses have been found to be serial murderers. Although this information has been presented to society, the cultural schema of the white male serial killer is still prevalent. The assumptions that involve serial murderers often include two aspects, the serial murderer is male and the serial murder is a type of “lust murder”, often involving sexual crimes committed by a sadist (Keeney and Heide, 1995).
An analysis of the most famous murderers and serial killers in the Chicago area shows varying degrees of psychopathy or mental illnesses, which ultimately contribute to homicidal conduct. Analysis also shows that the paths of serial killers have a tendency to converge.... ... middle of paper ... ...
...mes’ lifestyle. Holmes, throughout his life was a criminal. Holmes desire to murder people was believed to come from from his desensitized feeling about dead bodies. This was due to his medical career. As mentioned earlier, when Holmes was in medical school, he had many dealings with cadavers and was very familiar with them. Later, when he began killing he did not look at the bodies as human beings, but as material or later, cash money. This relationship between crime and deviance is mainly why I choose this book. I feel that H. H. Holmes, although Holmes was a strange and demented man, was very successful. This success questions what makes people successful: is it your status, education, or was it his determination?
Almost every major social, biological, psychological, behavioural influence that has been seriously suggested as playing a role in causing crime has been thoroughly thought of as potentially contributing to the behavior of serial killers (Levin, 2008). The time period and amount of killings fluctuate depending on the individual committing the crime. Usually, the murders happen in different geographical areas. A mass murder has a separate definition than a serial killer, because a serial killer has a “cooling off” period, where mass murders kill several individuals in a single event. Each of a serial killer’s killings temporarily gratifies whatever provokes the killer’s actions, and each subsequent killing terminates a separate sequence of behaviors.
' God, I've never done anything. Help me, help me, help me! God, why is this happening? Help Me!'; Robert Violante screamed as the Son of Sam's .44 caliber bullet tore through his temple (Mitchell p.15). At this moment Robert Violante must have asking himself why this was happening, what could cause someone to do something so atrocious? This paper examines issues related to the definition and study of serial murder. It probes the minds of some of the world's most infamous killers all the while asking the question WHY. It examines methodological issues such as problems with the FBI's so called serial murder profiling system: the fact that the serial killer stereotypes does not necessarily stand true. This paper argues that the killer is not the only one to blame for his/her actions. Together we will probe the minds of killers such as Charles Manson and John Wayne Gacy. I ask you, 'Are they Murderers or Victims?'; I personally have come to the conclusion that they are both murderers and victims.
Holmes was never arrested for the incident with his father-in-law. However, he was later arrested in “July 1894, Holmes was arrested for the first time. It was not for murder but for one of his schemes” (Taylor). Being arrested should have scared Holmes onto the straight and narrow path, it did not. It was in jail that Holmes met one of his accomplices, Marion Hedgepeth (Nash, Bloodletters 448).
Brogaard, Berit, DMSci, PhD, and Kristian Marlow. "The Making of a Serial Killer." N.p., 7 Dec. 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.