The Social Control Theory: The Causes Of Serial Killers

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What drives an individual to kill another human being? This complex question has no single answer. One might say out of greed, anger, revenge, a domestic dispute taken too far, or even through self-defense. Generally, these reasons can represent the underlying motive behind most killings; however, what about the motives of serial killers? Scholars have often debated what truly makes a serial killer. Several theories have been proposed by criminologists to explain the origin of a serial killer. These include popular theories such as the labeling theory, social structure theory, strain theory, differential association theory, or learning theory. This paper will analyze the violent phenomena of serial killing through the social control theory. …show more content…

An organized serial killer tends to be educated and their serial killing is carefully planned out (Gerbeth, 1995). Organized serial killers are cunning, socially adept, mobile, and take trophies from their victims (Gerbeth, 1995). Contrastingly, disorganized killers do not carefully plan out their serial killing (Gerbeth, 1995). They tend to have a low IQ and generally fail to make an effort to cover up their killings (Gerbeth, 1995). Whether a serial killer is organized or disorganized, they have a variety of motives that they operate through (Dogra et al., …show more content…

Psychotic serial killers are deemed insane and do not think that their deviant behavior is morally wrong (Gerbeth, 1995). Psychologists have stated that an antisocial personality disorder and psychotic behavior may arise from a traumatic incident during the individual’s childhood (Dogra et al., 2012). It is not a coincidence that many serial killers have claimed they suffered sexual abuse during their childhood (Dogra et al., 2012).
Due to the extreme vile behaviors of serial killers, they become a phenomenon in modern culture (Dogra et al., 2012). People are captivated by serial killers, giving them an almost celebrity like status. Serial killers such as Ted Bundy or Jeffery Dahmer have even had films made about their lives and killings. Serial killers have essentially become icons of infamy in our

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