Two Articles on the Motives and Mind of a Serial Killer

The mind of a serial killer can be very interesting in being able to find out what makes them want to do what they do. Knowing if someone was abused as a child and if this makes them more likely to become a serial killer or not become a serial killer is something I was very curious to learn about. Something that happens in a person’s childhood can affect the way they act when they become adults. I found two sources talking about childhood abuse and serial killers. The first source was an internet article entitled “Serial Killer Motives” found on the website How Stuff Works and was written by Shanna Freeman. The second source I found was a video entitled “Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer” which is found off of the website Big Think. This video was narrated by Michael Stone. Both of these sources are able to answer the question if childhood abuse or neglect makes someone more or less likely to become a serial killer later on in their lives.

In the article “Serial Killer Motives”, childhood neglect and abuse is talked about and the way this it can affect a person’s chances on becoming a serial killer. In the video “Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer”, neglect and abuse are talked about to see if these are the reasons why someone would become a serial killer. Both the article and the video have a very plain tone to them; for example there are not any crazy backgrounds or any outrageous introductions in them. In the video, the speaker stands before a plain white background. He looks right at the camera when he is speaking making it look as if he is talking directly to the person watching the video; it does not appear he would be talking to a large group of people. The article does not have anything exciting about it; just an abunda...

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...ll mostly women because of abuse and neglect by his own mother as a child. Based off of those articles I may find other serial killers that did the same thing as Sells; and from there will be able to look up information on those serial killers. Out of the two sources I found, the video presented more relevant information than the article did. The video gave examples of serial killers and gave more factual information where the article only listed a few examples of why serial killers did what they did because of abuse. The video an article provided very valuable information that will help me down the line of the research process as well as to composing my final paper.

Works Cited

Freeman, Shanna. "How Serial Killers Work." HowStuffWorks. N.p., 2 Oct. 2007. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

"Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer." YouTube. YouTube, 10 June 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.