Summary: Are Serial Killers Born Or Made

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Recommended: Jeffrey Dahmer and theories explaining his behaviour

Are serial killers born or made? To start, you have to understand what characterizes and motivates a person to kill another human. A serial killer, by definition, is a person who murders “three or more victims, with significant cooling-off periods occurring between murders.” (Bartels, Ross, and Ceri Parsons, 2010) These murderers have no affiliation with their prey and have no monetary compensation for killing. However, there is often religious or sexual symbols behind why they kill. Jeffrey Dahmer was a sadistic serial killer who suffered trauma in his childhood which lead to antisocial personality disorder and urges that he didn’t understand. So, do you think serial killers are born or made? Over the years, sociologists and psychologists …show more content…

While conferences with Dahmer’s family told stories of a cheerful boy who cared for animals, they also spoke of a peculiar gloom that followed Dahmer. Jeffrey’s dad, Lionel Dahmer, revealed many family obstacles that could have damaged Jeffrey Dahmer’s psychologically. Dahmer had to have surgery as a four-year old on a double hernia. After this surgery, he feared that his penis was lacerated off. Psychologists deduct that this is what led Dahmer to cut off his victim’s penises later in life. Another obstacle during Dahmer’s childhood is that his parents focussed on their own lives: his mom dealing with negative effects of her anti-anxiety medication, and his dad consumed by his chemist career. Unfortunately, this not only left Dahmer to fend for himself but also feel the effects of neglect. The way Dahmer dealt with his emotions was through self medication, showing up to school drunk or high very often. Later in life, he began to feel belligerent towards his parents, continuously getting into arguments with them, and eventually destroying his parents relationship. Once they got a divorce, Dahmer lived with his dad, who was never home, and got separated from his mom and brother. This only lead Dahmer to become more isolated and increased feelings of …show more content…

Psychologists believe ]that he had conduct disorder. This is when children have a continuous behavior pattern violating others rights or being inappropriate. Conduct disorder is generally found in young teenagers or those in late childhood and these kids likely lie, steal, destroy property, or bully. Normally, young children that act out get reprimanded and then the unacceptable behavior halts. Although, children with conduct disorder lack guilt and don’t see anything wrong with their misconduct. Unfortunately, when conduct disorder is left without diagnosis, the problem child starts to display antisocial behavior. “Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is characterized by a pattern of socially irresponsible, exploitative, and guiltless behaviour.” (Black,

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