Violence In Serial Killers

A serial killer is defined as someone who has murdered three or more people over the period of three months; however, does not include mass murder or killing spree (Holmes 2010, pg. 39). 90% of all serial killers are male as are 80% of their victims (Christakis 2012, TIME), which leaves the question of why do men take part in such heinous acts of violence over women. There are many theories that some serial killers are predetermined at birth to be violent offenders, while others may suffer traumatic injury resulting in brain damage, which takes away many inhibitions. Often offenders claim an abusive and neglectful childhood made them the way they are, which brings up the argument of nature vs. nurture; however, one fact remains the same, the

Activities such as motorcycles, bikes, and road traffic accidents make up fifty to seventy percent of TBI suffered by males (Kennard, 2007). When an individual suffers a traumatic brain injury to the frontal lobe of the brain, specifically the prefrontal cortex, it can affect functions such as judgment, memory, personality and the “inability to inhibit aggression and violent reactions” (Craig, Week 3). In every situation one must deal with, the frontal lobes are an important factor in making decisions based on issues of morality. When the frontal lobes incurs damage, reactions become impulsive and the brain lacks the capacity to produce inhibitions resulting in “major changes to higher-order behaviors” (Kazarian & Boisvert, 2nd). The other system of the brain that is integrated with the frontal lobe is the limbic system, which provides our emotional reflexes and works as the “hot area of the brain”; meaning, it may be emotionally impulsive and “hot headed”. Bobby Joe Long, convicted of nine murders, stated at his trail "After I'm dead, they're going to open up my head and find that just like we've been saying a part of my brain is black and dry and dead" (Scott, The Crime Library). Long was involved in a motorcycle crash in 1974 and claimed that afterwards he has strong sexual impulses and lack of

A study by the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology showed that 34 out of a list of 50 male serial killers suffered some form of physical, sexual and psychological abuse prior to committing their crimes (2005, Volume 20, Number 1). This trend of abuse and neglect, may lead serial killers to grow up without a sense of anyone other than their individual selves. The majority of perpetrators of child abuse and neglect are surprisingly in the favor of females, more specifically, mothers abusing their sons (Dedel, 2010). When these children have no idea what is right and what is wrong, they also do not understand how to react and interact with society because they have not gained the social skills through the traditional family that are necessary to coexist peacefully. In the instance of Eddie Cole, his mother dressed him up in little girl’s clothes, beat him and threatened to kill him if he were to talk about her promiscuousness with the local boys while his father was away in World War 2. Cole would spend his adult life going to bars and seedy nightclubs picking up women and killing them if they had the same adulterous tendencies that his mother had. He once strangled a woman to death during sex after she disclosed to him that she was married (Greig,