James Holmes: Can We Predict the Next Mass Murderer?

1360 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on james holmes

James Eagan Holmes was born on December 13, 1987 in San Diego, California, raised in Castroville, California. His father is a mathematician and scientist with degrees from Stanford University, UCLA and UC Berkeley, his mother is a registered nurse, and he has a sister. In high school he played soccer and ran cross-country. He attended at local Lutheran church with family. In 2006, he graduated from Westview High School in San Diego, California. Holmes moved to Aurora, Colorado where he lived in a one-bedroom apartment on Paris Street in a building where other students that were also in health studies. Prior to attending the University of California, Riverdale, Holmes was an intern at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in 2006. During his internship he was assigned to write computer code for an experiment. Supervisors described his attitude as stubborn, uncommunicative and socially inept. Holmes further supported the perspective of his supervisors as he was assigned to present a project to the other interns, which he never actually completed. In his college application essay he wrote about his experience at the Salk Institute stating: "I had little experience in computer programming and the work was challenging to say the least. Nonetheless, I taught myself how to program in Flash and then construct a cross-temporal calibration model. Completing the project and presenting my model at the end of the internship was exhilarating.” The statement in his college application essay was a completely different opinion of him compared to what the company stated about their experience with him as an intern. In 2010, he received his Associates degree in neuroscience with the highest honors. In college Holmes was a member of... ... middle of paper ... ... movie fanatic. As the case reviled he entered the movie theater as a regular patron and exited the rear exit to retrieve his weapons. There was no way for anyone to predict or prevent this from occurring. We can not only become more aware of our surroundings and not overlook small things that seem out of place. Business owners will now have to predict the possibility of such incidents happening in their businesses. In doing this, they will possibly have to impose tighter security measures and raises prices to ensure that they have the best interest of their patrons in mind. This is no longer the world that our grandparents grew up in where you could leave your front door open and not worry about anyone harming your family. We live in a society that we must stay on constant alert to the possibility that the very person standing beside you will try harm you.

Show More
Related

  • Gun Control And Suicide Rates

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ental illness. The article says, “a case usually begins with a gut feeling that something is off” (“Trigger warnings”). Workshops on mental illness should be carried out in schools and workplaces. These workshops should educate people on signs to look out for. Also educate people on who they should talk to if they notice strange behavior. According to the same article “threat assessment is essentially a three part process: identifying, evaluating, and then intervening” (“Trigger warnings”). With more people being educated about this more mentally ill people can be helped and more shootings can be prevented.

    Read More

  • The Mind of Serial Killers

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    We can all agree that serial killers are unpredictable scary people but when it comes to why they kill, everyone has a different view. In my research paper I will get into the mind of a serial killer and try to figure out what exactly sets them into uncontrollable rage.

    Read More

  • Charles Manson: Different Types Of Serial Killers

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    Serial killers are a type person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a characteristic, predictable behavior pattern. Most of the time something triggers them and then they go on their serial rampage. Some things that can be part of a serial killer's profile is they are normally white males, late 20’s early 30’s, kills with in own race, method of murder is hands on, and their victims are selected because they share specific characteristics. The types of serial killers are disorganized asocial and organized nonsocial. The different types of serial killers are: missionary killers, power seeking, lust killing, visionary killer, thrill killing. The profiling of a serial killer's changes upon the

    Read More

  • Dr. H. H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer

    1515 Words  | 4 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Studies on The Childhood of Serial Killers

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a "cooling off" period between each murder, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. Most people do not understand what can make a person want to kill multiple people for no reason other than own satisfactional gain. In actuality serial killers have been studied for over hundreds of years, and the information that has been documented continues to grow. The research that I have gathered about serial killers focuses on their childhood development, the differences and similarities between men and female serial kills, and finally general information on how their brains operate and their motives for committing such harmful acts.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Serial Killers

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Serial Killers: Nature vs. Nurture

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    The question of whether or not man is predetermined at birth to lead a life of crime is a question that has been debated for decades. Are serial killers born with the lust for murder, or are their desires developed through years of abuse and torment? Many believe it is impossible for an innocent child to be born with the capability to commit a horrible act such as murder. But at the same time, how could we have corrupted society so much as to turn an innocent child into a homicidal maniac? Forensic psychologists have picked apart the minds of serial killers to find an answer as to what forces them to commit such perverse acts. Their ultimate goal is to learn how to catch a serial killer before he commits his first crime.

    Read More

  • Serial Killers: Nature Or Nurture?

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Should Guns be Allowed on College Campuses?

    1260 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...t is our job, as citizens, to at least be prepared for the criminals’ attack and to be able to defend ourselves in time of need. At the Virginia Tech shooting, the responding police officers took approximately three minutes to reach the school, but about five minutes to break through the chains binding the doors together. Cho fired rounds off for about nine minutes. Out of those nine minutes only four, or less, could have happened, if a professor or other college personnel stopped the aggressive action before the tragedy was completed. Police cannot get there fast enough sometimes to save a life; citizens must be prepared for the worst. One thing is for sure, one would rather have it and doesn’t need it, than need it and doesn’t have it. People often ask themselves, “Why should I have a gun?” Well guns are needed when seconds count, and the police are minutes away.

    Read More

  • Serial Killers and Criminal Justice

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most of the time people cannot comprehend why people that work in the forensic department are sometimes overwrought with anxiety when they have a serial killer case brought into their lab. These forensic scientists have these feelings due to knowing that this could potentially help advance technology. Over the years, serial killers have unpremeditatedly helped further advance the criminal investigation process by unintentionally leaving things behind for a forensics team to analyze. When the team finally solves these cases, it continually propels things such as DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) analysis, finger print techniques, and not to mention the investigation process itself.

    Read More

  • Devil In The White City Daniel Burnham Character Analysis

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    On page 39, it describes the moment in which bullies from his school force him to go face to face with a skeleton in a doctor’s office. Such a terrible experience truly could have scarred Holmes, but at the same time his comfortability with an representation of death could have prompted his killer roots. Also, the “accidental” death of Holmes’s childhood friend, at an event that Holmes was present, was another red flag in terms of potentially becoming a psychopath. We learn more of Holmes’s younger upbringing through the text in which it states,"He drifted through childhood as a small, odd, and exceptionally bright boy....in the cruel imaginations of his peers, he became prey" (Larson, 38) Holmes was essentially an outcast, a person who has been rejected by society or a social group. He was the target of many because of his oddness and rather unique characteristics. With no solid upbringing, and a probable fascination with death, Holmes was bound to be the infamous serial killer he became in his future.

    Read More

  • Serial Killers: H. H. Holmes

    2489 Words  | 5 Pages

    As if molded directly from the depths of nightmares, both fascinating and terrifying. Serial killers hide behind bland and normal existences. They are often able to escape being caught for years, decades and sometimes an eternity. These are America’s Serial Killers (America’s Serial Killers). “Even when some of them do get caught, we may not recognize what they are because they don’t [sic] match the distorted image we have of serial killers” (Brown). What is that distorted image? That killers live among everyday life, they are the ones who creep into someone’s life unknowingly to torture and kill them. The serial killers that are in the movies, Norman Bates, Michael Myers, and the evil master mind of SAW, these characters are just that characters. They have been made up as exaggerated fictional characters from the Hollywood imagination.

    Read More

  • Serial Killers: A Different Brain

    1412 Words  | 3 Pages

    Serial killers have captivated the attention of scientists from the first signs of their existence to modern day. Interested by these killers’ inhumane actions, researchers set out to determine the cause of such graphic, horrific crimes. The brain has been brought into question regarding the motivation of these cold blooded killers. After extensive research, abnormalities of both the chemical composition and material makeup have been identified within the brains of numerous serial killers. These differences are more than mere coincidence, they are evidence that killers do not think in the same way. The killers’ drives and motives are irregular, just as their brains are. Not only are these variations interesting, but they are also crucial to the justice system in regards to the punishment of past, future, and present sequential murderers. It is important that as a society we learn the differences in the mind of a killer, and also recognize and understand them. A serial killer’s brain greatly differs in function from the average citizen’s brain due to physical variations in the brain and a different chemical makeup.

    Read More

  • My Passion For Neururoscience Research: My Passion For Psychology

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    program in Clinical psychology with a concentration in Neuropsychology. I aspire to become a proficient Clinical Neuropsychologist in a hospital or private practice and later, hopefully open my own research center. I am fascinated by the complexity of the human brain and its endless capabilities. I yearn to continue learning about the brain and apply the knowledge I have gained to improving the quality of people 's life. With this in mind, conducting research is an imperative aspect of any psychology graduate program. This prestigious internship will introduce and provide me with the background on research that I will utilize during my graduate experience and beyond. It will enhance my analytical thinking skills and build upon my hands on laboratory experience. The program will equip me with knowledge and skills, which are valuable to my academic and career

    Read More

  • Edward Thorndike Psychology

    674 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edward Lee Thorndike was born in Massachusetts on August 31, 1874. He earned his education and degrees at Wesleyan University, Harvard, and Columbia University. In his lifetime, Thorndike had multiple honors and awards bestowed upon him for his contributions to science. Remarkably, while he has majorly influenced educational methods in the United States, Thorndike’s choice to follow a career in psychology drove from the opportunities presented more than his desires.

    Read More

More about James Holmes: Can We Predict the Next Mass Murderer?

Open Document