Case Analysis.
Dr. Harold Shipman: Motives For Murders.
Due to very little being said by Dr. Shipman before his quick demise by suicide, or hanging himself in prison, no one really knows what caused him to become a serial killer, only speculation. After multiple counts of murder, Dr. Shipman was incarcerated before hanging himself while locked up (Saferstein, 2015). Based on the evidence, from forged wills to stolen jewelry from his deceased victims, greed had to be one of the motives. When Dr. Shipman was finally captured and imprisoned, he did not let anyone know why he committed any of the crimes, which is a secret that he carried to his grave. There are some that would argue that his domineering mother played a role in his murderous
personality by instilling in him a sense of superiority over others.He may have killed because he felt that being a doctor gave him the right to decide who lives and who dies - a sense of superiority, or a God complex. He was fascinated with the effects of morphine because, even though his mother was a cancer patient who was terminally ill, the drug did give her some type of comfort and making her last days more bearable. He could have felt that because the elderly was close to their last days due to their ages, that killing them with morphine would enable them to avoid any unforeseen suffering that comes with age, even though some of them was in decent health (Bio, 2017). References: Biography. (2017). Harold Shipman: Murderer, Doctor (1946-2004). Biography.com. Bio. A&E Television Networks, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/harold-shipman-17169712. Saferstein, R. (2015). Criminalistics: an introduction to forensic science (11th). Ed. Boston: Pearson. Retrieved from https://www.betheluniversityonline.net/
What are the root causes of a person becoming a serial killer? There have been many different serial killers over the past years, but only one is the infamous “Green River Killer.” Gary Ridgway was dubbed the “Green River Killer” because many of his first victims were found near the Green River in Washington. There are many factors which contribute as to why a person turns and takes their anger out on other people. Some people have a normal childhood with a loving family, while some are not so lucky. A loving family is built around the parents, but if the parents choose violence over love, then that is what the child will grow up only knowing. Gary Ridgway is an American serial killer who killed over sixty women within a twenty year period.
Serial killers are interesting yet unnerving to the likes of American society. Serial killers commonly lack empathy and show no sign of guilt or remorse after they have committed a horrible act or crime. These characteristics are an indication of psychopathic tendencies. Although it may seem like these people would be easy to spot, it is actually much more difficult than normally thought. These killers have a special way of putting on a mask of sanity. They can act very charming and very intelligent when needed. Their talent in becoming a normal person is part of their manipulative mentality, which they use to capture most of their victims. These individuals usually get a type of psychological thrill or pleasure from their acts, which cause
Harold Shipman is known as one of Britain’s worst serial killers. Over twenty-five years it is suspected he killed 251 individuals while working as a medical doctor (“Harold Shipman”, n.d., para 1). Shipman had been injecting fatal amounts of poison into their bodies (para. 1). Shipman’s actions and why he acted in this manner can be explained from the sociological perspective and psychological perspective. The sociological perspective examines factors including social setting, level of education and positive or negative role models in a person’s life (Pozzulo, Bennell & Forth, 2015, p.338-341). The psychological perspective examines colorations between an individual’s mental process, their behaviour, their learning process and traits an individual
Have you ever wondered why some people love art and music, and some love science and math? These individuals love math or art because they get a sense of relaxation and excitement from these activities. Serial killers are the same way they love to kill people and have lots of different motives for why they kill them. A serial killer is a person who kills repeatedly. The one motive that drove Dennis Rader, to kill his victims was to gain power and control over them.
What drives serial killers to kill their victims in the most brutal way possible? The answer to that question is still being researched today. The psychopathic mindset of serial killers tend to be influenced by abuse, insanity, and mental illness. In Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Capote shows great examples of mental illness and how being abused can affect their mind. An example of this is when Perry was abused by his parents, he had troubles wetting the bed and sucking on his thumb at ages “normal” people would consider troublesome. Serial killers are often portrayed as bloodthirsty monsters, when in reality, their psychological mindset needs to be considered.
Common psychological disturbances in the stages of making a serial killer are seen in childhood and are usually based upon mental and psychological abuse endured by a child.
Individuals explore their responses to conditions of internal and external conflicts throughout literature. Going in depth to a character allows the reader to better understand that character’s internal and external conflicts. Arthur Miller uses this technique in several of his plays, including Death of a Salesman. Miller portrays the character of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman through his internal and external conflicts.
A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a "cooling off" period between each murder, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. Most people do not understand what can make a person want to kill multiple people for no reason other than their own satisfaction gain. In actuality, serial killers have been studied for over hundreds of years, and the information that has been documented continues to grow. The research that I have gathered about serial killers focuses on their childhood development, the differences and similarities between male and female serial killers, and finally general information on how their brains operate and their motives for committing such harmful acts. There have been many theories over the years about how a person becomes a serial killer, and how having an unstable childhood affects a person.
Each serial killer can be classified as a specific type. The four main types of serial killers are thrill seekers, mission-oriented, visionary, and power and control. Thrill seekers kill for the sole purpose to entertain themselves. They also want attention from the media. Thrill seekers send messages and keep a record of their killings. Mission-orientated serial killers have a reason to be killing the type of person they are. They think that by getting rid of a certain group; for example, prostitutes, then they are doing a favor for the society. Their crime scenes are organized. Visionary serial killers have another personality, this is known as dissociative identity disorder. They tend to think that God or the demon has told them to do this. Power and control serial killers kill because it gives them power. They like to watch their victims suffer and scream. The tend to be abused when they are
Serial killers are the byproduct of many different things: trauma, death of loved ones, abuse, neglect, adoption, and even witnessing abuse (Are Serial). Serial killers have had to endure a massive amount of something such as trauma or abuse to an unimaginable extent to become what they are; the extent of the abuse, the trauma, the psychological damage they endure is incomprehensible to many. The destruction of one’s innocence can occur at any given time in his or her life, but he or she is more impressionable in his or her youth by the negativism of someone else’s actions (Scott, Shirley L. What Makes Serial Killers Tick ~ Childhood Event). People are susceptible to what they endure in their adolescence, and cruel upbringings, such as that of a serial killer’s, are possibly the determinant of their future.
We can all agree that serial killers are unpredictable scary people but when it comes to why they kill, everyone has a different view. In my research paper I will get into the mind of a serial killer and try to figure out what exactly sets them into uncontrollable rage.
By 1978, roughly thirty women were dead and mutilated by the same man with little explanation as to why. Ted Bundy, one of the most infamous serial killers in history brutally took the lives of numerous women for seemingly no reason at all. His justification for these murders was simply that he felt like committing them. A serial killer is defined as someone who has killed more than three people over a period of a month or more for seemingly no reason at all. Most serial killers have no real motive for killing; for them it is an urge that they must satisfy. Was Ted Bundy and others like him always a violent psychopath or did certain events cause him to behave this way? One common belief is that abusive childhoods and other environmental factors are the main reason serial killers develop the way they do. The other belief is that serial killers are born with an innate desire to kill. The answer to this question lies within both arguments and there is no secret serial killer formula. Serial Killers are neither born nor made; instead many factors, both biological and psychological, contribute to the making of these destructive monsters.
There have been many serial killer cases that have attracted the attention of not only the media but of mental health experts as well. Many experts from a variety of different fields have come together to answer one question: Why did they do it? It is believed that most, if not all, serial killers have a mental illness, motives, and/or trauma during their lives that made them start killing. Serial killers are not only the effect of nurture but also nature. The environment of their country, the United States is our focus, can cause the number of serial killers to increase especially if the country itself is unstable.
...who most likely have had some kind of childhood problem such as divorce or lack of a parent. They might be thinking that they are doing the world a favor, or in search of power of people, or just simply just find pleasure in killing. As to why serial killers have been increasing over the past thirty years, there is no certain answer to it, but hopefully it stops increasing soon and decreases instead.
So what makes a serial killer? Levin points out that contrary to popular belief, serial killers don't just 'snap'; or 'go crazy'; (Douglas, p. 137). Many of the serial killers have been the victims of childhood abuse. Jack Levin stated 'Research shows many serial killers suffered abuse, incest or neglect as children and develop poor self images'; (Douglas, p. 137). Serial killers often have a childhood marked by the absence of any nurturing relationship. 'They often come from families where the parents were absent or ineffective, where authority was not defined, and where they could engage in destructive behavior undeterred-violent play, cruelty to animals, and incidents of arson being some of the childhood behavior patterns noted among many serial killers'; (Clark, p. 206).