Adam Lanza

Nature vs Nurture: Adam Lanza
Nature vs Nurture has always been a contentious topic. Nature usually refers to the hereditary factors that influence who we are; these factors can vary from our physical aspects to our personal characteristics. Nurture refers to all the environmental elements that impact who we are; these elements including our childhood encounters, parenting, culture, and relationships. Nature vs Nurture has been used to identify the cause of innumerable murders, this is the point where people take a more in depth look at the psychological features of a murderer. One incident that happened approximately two years ago, that can render the difference between Nature vs Nurture is the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Adam Lanza, the perpetrator of the massacre,

committed suicide shortly after executing the murder; his motives are still vague.
On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot twenty first-graders, six staff members in Sandy Hook Elementary School, and his mother at their home in Newtown.

According to the investigation, Lanza, planned his actions but it’s still unknown what impelled a 20 year old man to carry out such a sadistic crime. People who knew Lanza described him as “Intelligent, but nervous and fidgety”. He had trouble socializing and did not have friends. It was reported that Adam Lanza was suffering from several mental illnesses. He was believed to have a Personality Disorder,and was also diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome; a developmental disorder related to autism and characterized by higher than average intellectual ability combined with impaired social skills and restrictive, repetitive patterns of interest and activities. However, this was not the determining factor in Lanza’s case. There are many people suffering from the same mental illnesses as Lanza, but they do not perpetrate such a brutal crime. In Lanza’s case, his environment had to played a prominent factor that contributed to the murder he has executed; one derived that Adam Lanza was indeed nurtured into a psychotic

killer.
It was not Lanza’s nature but nurture that pushed him to murder. Adam Lanza’s had a dysfunctional family. His parents divorced when he was young. Adam was separated from his father, and lived with his mother. Even though Adam received love and money from his parents, one can say that this could have impacted Adam Lanza’s state of mind. An individual like Lanza requires additional attention considering that he had several mental illnesses. It was reported that his mother, Nancy Lanza, was a shooter herself. She often took her two sons to a local shooting range and trained them to shoot a gun. One can say that this triggered Lanza’s violent behavior. Since Adam was a mentally unstable individual, an environment such as a shooting range would undoubtedly increase violent intentions; Adam’s mother is partially responsible for the murder he has committed. Inside Adam Lanza’s room, authorities recovered an array of violent video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Left 4 Dead.’Brutal video games combined with his mental illness could have influenced him to commit such a vicious act.
Adam Lanza’s case depicts his murderous intentions out of nurture; his surroundings influenced his actions. In this instance he was brought up in a dysfunctional environment. His parents were divorced, and his mother did not raise him properly; she did not anticipate what would happen to her son if he were introduced to guns. Lanza’s obsession with violent video games also contributed to his delirious decision to murder. Even though Lanza had a Personality Disorder and Asperger's syndrome it didn’t mean that it was his nature to commit murder; it was his environment that brought him up to commit the brutal murder in in Sandy Hook Elementary School.