FREE ESSAY ON SERIAL KILLERS

SERIAL KILLERS

Serial Killers and What They Are
Behavior is sometimes defined as the response of an individual, group, or species to its
environment. Parents, girlfriends, sisters, brothers, and peers can all affect a person's
behavior. Not everybody necessarily will have the behavior of a serial killer. In this
paper, I will attempt to show the difference between the psychopath and the psychotic.
Explain how the environment, upbringing, and treatment of serial killers led them to
become who they are today.
Most serial killers can be placed in two categories, the psychopath and the psychotic.
Psychotics are clearly insane and fail to perceive reality correctly. However, very few
serial killers fall into this category. Most serial killers have a thought out scheme, or
plan of going about things. They think things through, and evaluate what the situation
could bring to them. This comes from a long line of abuse, intolerance, and dysfunction
during their early childhood years. Many people may even go so far as to view certain
serial killers as geniuses, in the respect that their actions are so well thought out so
very carefully planned. These types of serial killers would fall, under the psychopath
category. A psychopath, also known as a sociopath, does not suffer from a mental illness,
where in their makeup of their DNA have nothing to do with the way they are. A
psychopath, rather suffers from a severe brain flaw, or personality, resulting due to the
way they were brought up, their environment, and the way they were treated by family,
especially that of the parents, or brothers, and sisters. One thing to note about the
psychopath is that, the majority of the time, they realize the crime they are committing
is wrong. This does not concern them, however, as they feel their need to kill and punish
is greater than any rule or law (www.serialkillers.net).
Psychopaths are usually very smart, very deceiving, and very normal upon first glance.
They look like everyone else and behave like everyone else when in the company of others.
Deep into the depths of their mind, they are working up an elaborate plan on how to catch
their prey tonight. They have a need to kill, and an elaborate scheme, to fit the pieces
of the puzzle. Their need to kill comes from the way they were treated in the past. Some
serial killers hold vengeful thoughts towards their parents, fathers in particular, who
dismissed them from their lives or abused and harmed them when they were children. An
example is, John Wayne Gacy, During Gacy's late teens, he had some trouble with his
father, although relations with his mother and sisters were very strong. John Wayne Gacy,
Sr., was an abusive alcoholic who physically abused his wife and verbally assaulted his
children. Although John Sr. was an unpleasant individual, young Gacy deeply loved his
father and wanted desperately to gain his devotion and attention. However, his father
would drink himself stupid and physically and verbally abuse young Gacy. He would call
him a queer, and a mama's boy, and seemingly avoided his son at all costs. Unfortunately,
Gacy was never able to get very close to his father before he died, something which he
regretted his entire life. (www.crimelibrary.com) This type of behavior, presented to a
child at a young age, is bound to stir up some troubled emotions. Gacy was to never get
over his father calling his only son a queer. During a three year period, Gacy would go
on to viciously torture, rape, and murder over 30 young boys, who would later be
discovered buried under the floorboards of his home.
Another notorious serial killer whose killings were based on major events that occurred
to him during his adolescent years is the infamous Ted Bundy. Bundy grew up with a family
of all women. He never knew his father, and his mother and sisters played a big role in
his life. He was shy as friends recalled him being a loner in school. In college he met a
young woman by the name of Stephanie Brooks, and he fell instantly in love. Stephanie
became Ted's first love, and she was the first woman Ted was ever involved with sexually.
Although they dated for a while, and enjoyed many of the same things, Stephanie did not
feel for Ted, the way he did for her. She felt he had no goals no future. Ted tried all
he could to impress her including lying, which was something Stephanie could not stand.
Eventually, she broke it off with him. Ted never recovered from this breakup. Stephanie
moved to California, but Ted could not stop thinking about his lost love. Ted was
obsessed with Stephanie, and he couldn't get her out of his mind. It was an obsession
that would span his lifetime and lead to a series of events that would shock the world.
(www.crimelibrary.com)
Ted Bundy, was sentenced to death on July 31st, 1979 when he confessed to the murders of
28 young women, all whom looked exactly like his first love, Stephanie Brooks. All of the
women were about college aged, with long brown hair parted in the middle, from middle
class families, just as Stephanie Brooks had been. The brutalities of his killings were
nauseating to most. He lured the women in pretending to be a poor, helpless man in an arm
or leg cast, asking for their help. Eventually, he would lure them away, rape and torture
them, and finally kill them. Again, we see the effects of how some trauma or even
heartbreak in a person's past could make such a menace to society in a search and destroy
mission.
The way a person is brought up and raised, the events that take place around them as they
are growing up, their relationships with parents, siblings, friends, lovers, all these
things are a factor in the way the mind of any one person will develop. I don't believe
one is born a criminal, or born a psychopath. These types of behavior, are made in the
mind at a young age. One does not have evil running through their veins. It is something
that can come up on most any one. Depending upon the situations in their lives, and the
events that unfold around them as they grow. This is not to say that just anyone person
who suffers a breakup from a first love will end up on a killing spree such as Ted Bundy
did. This is the result of a traumatic childhood, which lacked in the nurturing,
teaching, and understanding needed to become a well-rounded person in society.
Psychopaths, in return, feel the huge urge and desire to repair things to their liking,
to fit with their frame of mind. They will overcome anything in their minds to get what
they wanted and take back what they so wrongfully thought they lost to begin with. I
agree with the thoughts and the analysis, on the mental disorders of the serial killers.
It has become and art form or a job for these kinds of people. They kill for fun, and
they want to show that they are the ones that can't be caught or beaten. The killers that
are brought up in today's society are going to be better at what they do, show less
remorse, and also become an unstoppable killing machine. There are smarter ones coming
out now and there are ones that will no longer want to get caught and leave behind clues.
My opinion is one day there will be somebody that will be on the loose and take what he
took from society to his grave; some have almost succeeded in that mission.
Works Cited
Furio, J. The serial killer letters. Philadelphia: Charter Press, (1998). 
Holmes, R. & Holmes, S. Serial Murder. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE 
Publications, (1998). 
Schechter, H. and Everitt, D. The A-Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. Pocket Books. N.Y.
1996
Mary Beth, Tynning. Mind of a killer. Aug 1995.
www.serialhomicide.com/cases.htm
Unknown. The Criminal/profiling info cite Feb. 5 2001
www.serialkillers.net