Recent Studies Concerning Violent Tendencies and the Confusion that Arises

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Recent Studies Concerning Violent Tendencies and the Confusion that Arises

"It was an urge. . . . . A strong urge, and the longer I let it go the stronger it got, to where I was taking risks to go out and kill people-risks that normally, according to my little rules of operation, I wouldn't take because they could lead to arrest." -Edmund Kemper (6)

Ted Bundy. Charles Manson. Timothy McVeigh. Bundy murdered pretty women. Manson had followers who killed on his command. McVeigh is responsible for one of the most horrendous terrorist attacks on America, the Oklahoma State bombing. While these three serial killers had different methods for their acts, the one thing they have in common is that they are killers. Murderers who took a number of innocent lives.

Perhaps to not the same extent, but sadly enough the world is full of Charles Manson's and Ted Bundy's. Violence has become a common and prevalent occurrence in society today. Everyday on the news one hears stories of crimes-murder, robbery, rape, assault, extortion, kidnapping, homicide, an endless list. Law enforcement works day and night protecting neighborhoods and cities from crimes and violence, but the truth of the matter is that crime still exists and all one can do is ask himself why. Why do such treacherous violent acts exist in society? In essence, one must ask himself whether or not these violent tendencies have any biological relation whatsoever. Do violent tendencies occur as an affect of disruptions or damage to the brain? Is there a genetic correlation? Is violence brought about by some other factor, such as economic difficulties or social or cultural differences? All these questions remain unanswered. But one even significant, broader question that one must consider is whether or not these factors, biologically related and non, effect the occurrence of violent tendencies in individuals.

In 1848, a railroad worker, Phineas Gage, was working when an explosion caused an iron rod to impale his skull, damaging the front part of his brain. Although Gage miraculously survived, his behavior severely changed in that the intelligent and respectful man everyone knew suddenly because fitful, impulsive, and rude (2).

This is one of the first dated cases insinuating that violence may be related to some kind of damage or abnormality in the brain.

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