The title, PREDATOR, is an acronym meaning: “Prefrontal determinants of aggressive-type overt responsivity”. This is a project to decide if murders have dissimilar brain patterns from normal people. Dr. Scarpetta who is a forensic scientist at the National Forensic Academy in Hollywood, Florida, is dealing with a case that is quite troubling. In this journal, I will be questioning, evaluating, and visualizing the novel, PREDATOR by Patricia Cornwell. Considering that the author of this book has the knowledge of no medical information, one question her about her knowledge. How does Patricia Cornwell know numerous facts about the human brain? How much time did she take to learn and where did she learn about medical information? A reader can assume that she has had past experience with the medical field or family members know information on the human brain. One can predict this because previous novels …show more content…
written by her also have crime-related themes. It would seem that she has had prior experience or knowledge with medical information from writing several novels with murderous themes. The author wrote: “The reason he is getting his brain scanned in a 3-Tesla MRI machine that has a magnetic field sixty thousand times more powerful than the earth’s is to see if there is anything about his gray and white matter and how it functions that might hint at why”. This is just one example of many that shows how detailed her information is (Cornwell 7). One can also question why she is a fan of writing crime-related novels. Researching Patricia’s background information, she was born in Miami, Florida in 1956. Taking Patricia’s birth city, Miami, Florida is in the top 20 for crime rates as of 2013. One can say that Patricia has gotten her idea of crime-related books from her hometown. Many assumptions can be made from the author or the book, but the truth will be spoken from the author or read in the book. Continuing along, one can evaluate that this novel has quite a load of foul language, but creates a realistic living of a forensic scientist. The main category of the series can make readers assume that there will be foul language because of all the violence and mysterious events that occur. This can either be a positive or negative characteristic of the series, depending on the age and the favoring of topics of books. One positive outcome of this book is the introduction that Patricia writes in the beginning. The first sentence: “It is Sunday afternoon and Dr. Kay Scarpetta is in her office at the National Forensic Academy in Hollywood, Florida, where clouds are building promising another thunderstorm”. The first sentence of the novel gives the reader the main character, one of the settings in the book, and a portion of inclement weather to keep things realistic (Cornwell 1). A reader can appreciate the first sentence because the author gives them the basic settings of the book. If the reader has not yet read the previous books in the series, they would not be missing out on already known facts. So far, this book generates many questions for the reader as they continue reading the book. Visualizing is key when reading a crime-related book because of all of the chaos being being dispersed.
In the beginning of chapter one: “Inside a desk drawer are pencils, ballpoint pens, and Magic Markers. Two of the pencils and one pen are chewed, and Scarpetta looks at the indentations made by teeth in wood and plastic, wondering which of the boys nervously chew things” (Cornwell 167). Inside of the drawer, I can visualize chewed up pencils in an old drawer in a dark room. This quote is dealing with a case with two boys who went missing and Scarpetta is deciding which of the boys nervously chew things. The details that the author gives the reader creates a better visualization such as the Magic Marker. I think of a white, plastic marker with the brand of Bic. This quote also reminds me of when dogs get a hold of writing utensils and find small, pungent bits laying on the floor. The author not only gives you a description of the pencil, she also gives you the quantity of how many. Overall, the author gives outstanding details to help readers remember specific
details. Towards the end, Scarpetta continues to work on difficult cases. The book creates exhilarating questions and lead to predictions with the help of visualization.
Schechter, Harold. The serial killer files: the who, what, where, how, and why of the world's most terrifying murderers. New York: Ballantine Books, 2004. Print.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations website, psychopathy has been described as the single most important clinical construct in the criminal justice system. It goes on to say that the need to understand psychopathy cannot be overstated (FBI, 2013.) From environmental influence to biology, psychopathy can be looked at from several different angles. This paper examines current thinking about how the brain and its structures contribute to psychopathy.
The question of whether or not man is predetermined at birth to lead a life of crime is a question that has been debated for decades. Are serial killers born with the lust for murder, or are their desires developed through years of abuse and torment? Many believe it is impossible for an innocent child to be born with the capability to commit a horrible act such as murder. But at the same time, how could we have corrupted society so much as to turn an innocent child into a homicidal maniac? Forensic psychologists have picked apart the minds of serial killers to find an answer as to what forces them to commit such perverse acts. Their ultimate goal is to learn how to catch a serial killer before he commits his first crime.
The present paper intent to enquire into a female serial killer. It shall describe and analyze the theories behind the occurrences and sequent offer explanations. The studies of criminology theories it is important to recognize why humans decide on living a life cycle of crime. Wikipedia.org defines serial killer as, “a person who murders three or more people, usually in service of abnormal psychological gratification, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant break (a “cooling off period”) between them.” Precisely of this, humans who tend to be a serial killer are prone to developmental and physical characteristics. Several of these trends could fit into a model standard of a crime. A good example of analyzing the life and crimes of Aileen Wuornos, an American female serial killer who killed
The case of whether serial killers are born with the lust to kill or if they are truly victims of their environment has been a hot debated question by both psychologists and the FBI today. A serial killer is traditionally defined as one that kills 3 or more people at different times with “cooling off” periods in between kills. Both psychological abuse as a child and psychological disorders are to blame for the making of a killer. The nature vs. nurture debate is best applied to the mysterious behaviors and cases of serial killers and their upbringing and environment. Nature is the genetic and biological connections a person has, personality traits, and how genetic make-up all relates to a killer. Nurture is examining the upbringing and environment that a person is around that affects what a person becomes. In some cases however, the effects of only upbringing or only biological problems were the reasons certain serial killers committed crimes. Although there is no definitive answer to what plays the bigger role: nature or nurture, they both are contributing factors that make a serial killer. These deviants of society are afflicted with problems in either their upbringing or have psychological disorders, and are able to blend into our everyday lives with no apparent differences, yet they wreck havoc through their unremorseful killings.
Simon, Robert I. "Serial Killers, Evil, And Us." National Forum 80.4 (2000): 23. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
In a Google search of “serial killer memorabilia”, approximately 135,000 results would appear. While the U.S. produces over eighty-five percent of the world’s serial killers (“Why do Americans Idolize Serial Killers?” 11), Americans still tend to treat these murderers as icons and celebrities. As defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a serial killer is expressed as the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events. While it is no secret that serial killers have a different mindset than that of a normal person, do these murderers have genetically different minds? Although there is no exact answer as to what causes certain people to have the urge to kill, studies from the “Minnesota Study of Twins
Several serial killers have a definitive and common personality profile. Almost every major social, biological, psychological behavioural influence that has been seriously suggested as playing a role in causing crime has been thoroughly thought as potentially contributing to the behavior of serial killers (Levin, 2008). The time period and amount of killings fluctuate depending on the individual committing the crimes. Usually, the murders happen in different geographical areas. A mass murder has a separate definition than a serial killer, because a serial killer has a “cooling off” period, where mass murders kill several individual in a single event.
Vronsky, P. (2004). Serial killers : the method and madness of monsters. New York, NY:
Serial killers are defined to “be driven by instinct and desire to kill.” In a study done in 2000, Dr, Richard Davidson says, “people with a large amount of aggression – in particular people who have committed aggressive murders or have a social disorder – have almost no brain activity in the orbital frontal cortex or the anterior cingulated cortex while activity in the amyglade continued perfectly. The orbital frontal cortex and the anterior congulated cortex control emotional impulses while the amyglade controls reactions to fear.” Davidson concludes his research claiming that although environment can and will affect a serial killer’s thoughts, it is a killer’s genetic makeup that inevitably creates murderous thoughts.
Serial killers have captivated the attention of scientists from the first signs of their existence to modern day. Interested by these killers’ inhumane actions, researchers set out to determine the cause of such graphic, horrific crimes. The brain has been brought into question regarding the motivation of these cold blooded killers. After extensive research, abnormalities of both the chemical composition and material makeup have been identified within the brains of numerous serial killers. These differences are more than mere coincidence, they are evidence that killers do not think in the same way. The killers’ drives and motives are irregular, just as their brains are. Not only are these variations interesting, but they are also crucial to the justice system in regards to the punishment of past, future, and present sequential murderers. It is important that as a society we learn the differences in the mind of a killer, and also recognize and understand them. A serial killer’s brain greatly differs in function from the average citizen’s brain due to physical variations in the brain and a different chemical makeup.
Miller, Laurence. "The predator's brain: Neuropsychodynamics of serial killers."Serial offenders: Current thought, recent findings, unusual syndromes (2000): 135-166.
'Serial murder'; has long been a term used to describe those human beings that repeatedly commit heinous crimes. It is rare that the average person probes the mind of a serial killer without bias. However, what lies behind the eyes of a serial killer deserves more than the cold hard look that society so often gives (Aaronson, Inter...
Mass Murderers and Serial Killers are nothing new to today’s society. These vicious killers are all violent, brutal monsters and have an abnormal urge to kill. What gives people these urges to kill? What motivates them to keep killing? Do these killers get satisfaction from killing? Is there a difference between mass murderers and serial killers or are they the same. How do they choose their victims and what are some of their characteristics? These questions and many more are reasons why I was eager to write my paper on mass murderers and serial killers. However, the most interesting and sought after questions are the ones that have always been controversial. One example is; what goes on inside the mind of a killer? In this paper I will try to develop a better understanding of these driven killers and their motives.
The brain is the most complex organ in the human body. Since the beginning of time, scientists and neuropsychologists alike have studies its composition and how it influences human behavior. However, no human behavior has baffled researchers more than serial murder. Serial killers are dangerous animals that act upon bizarre influences that have fascinated the human race for thousands of years. Many wonder what could cause a person to take the life of another innocent soul. Do internal factors cause them to do it? Is it their environment? What causes a serial killer to kill?