Etiology
There are several perspectives of etiology relates with serial killer born or made.
LaBrode (2007) argues that not only biological and environmental have the potential to the impact of psychopathy serial killer, but also take genetic factors into account. Normally people usually related antisocial personality disorder with psychopathy together to relate with serial murder but these both dysfunctional personalities have different characteristics.
Serial murder who had diagnosed as antisocial personality will have symptoms like unstable emotional, lack of controllable through the behaviour, difficulty build trust towards others, lack of interest making friends, substances abuse, involve self-harm, not show empathy to people, lack of express the feelings, not follow the social values and irresponsible (National Offender Management Service, 2011; LaBrode, 2007).
The psychopathic trait can be found in the criminals and has shown related with impulsive behaviour, seek for sensation, less feeling guilty or remorse, like to manipulate people, charming, irresponsibility, parasitic goals, lack of behavioural controls, juvenile delinquency, criminal versatility and problematic behaviours in the early childhood and so on. Besides these, offenders usually involve the acts of assault, rape and murder without taking any consideration of the normal society norms such as morality and rules and regulations and the offenders just take care about the personal needs and satisfaction with the selfishness attitude. Psychopathy Check List-Revised (PCL-R) is one of the tools used to measure the magnitude of the psychopathy of an individual involve with the criminal acts, individual who scored high scores on this tool will link related to psychopathy trait (Morton, 2008).
Individual who has psychopathy can be considered as antisocial personality disorder, but not all individual who suffered antisocial personality disorder can regards or related to psychopathy. This is because psychopathy is just a sub part of the antisocial personality disorder. Although these two of personality dysfunction is quite similar, but the psychopathy is higher related than criminal act than the antisocial personality disorder (LaBrode, 2007).
There have several serial murders has shown with the psychopathy personality disorder, for instance, Ted Bunny, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein, Gary Ridgeway, (BTK) Dennis Rader and John Wayne (LaBrode, 2007). But not overall of the violent offenders involved with criminal acts will consider with psychopaths and not all psychopaths can be directly linked to the violent criminals. Individuals with psychopathy traits not necessarily will relate with serial offenders but serial killers will posit certain degrees of the psychopathy traits whether is weak or strong (Morton, 2008).
This can be shown that core of the personality and temperament in the serial killer are born in nature in the body and cannot change and it is persistent in the whole life.
On the other hand, accordingly to Fallon (cited in Are murderers born or made?, 2015), he comes from stemmata with numerous of the killer and found that he had high potential risks connects with the gene of violent psychopathy. Although he had a higher chance have the relevant gene, but due to previous healthy experiences in childhood, he was not affected. This shown that even an individual who has higher risks of a gene related with violent behaviour, that will not affect the individual prone to have violent psychopathy and become as a serial killer unless the individual who had experienced incidents abused in the childhood, it may cause the individual has higher risks to related with the crime act and highly potential become as a serial murder. In the other word, if a person who have higher potential gene related violent behaviour but with not history experiences of abused in the early childhood, that would not make a lot of changes. Gene alone will not influence the individual more prone to violence behaviour and offend act but combine with potential risks of environmental will make changes to the individual. This shown that the gene or heredity can born in the biological in the body but the biological only born in a person cannot produce a person to become as a serial killer unless the social and environment made a person become as a serial killer.
Besides these, there has a key factor to influence an individual has a vulnerability to related with dysfunctional personality with crime act can be explained by the biopsychosocial model. This model consists mainly three dimensions. There are included interrelated with biological vulnerabilities, early historical relationship with the caregiver and social factors (National Offender Management Service, 2011).
Accordingly, National Offender Management Service (2011), biological vulnerability has taken account to explain the effects of genetic and biological factors to influence the development of personality of the serial murder. There has suggested that personality disorder of the serial killer may due to causes of the core of genetic and influence the way to express the behaviour from the core gene. For example, the serial killer may have the inherited gene related with lack of control of violent behaviour, this may influence they also express the violent behaviour from their core gene (National Offender Management Service, 2011).
As suggested by Raine (cited in Are murderers born or made?, 2015) a kind of enzyme name as MAOA produced by the gene, to generate the level of neurotransmitter with play a role in controlling impulsive behaviour. People with lack of this gene have susceptible related with violent behaviour, but also need to consider the history of the childhood.
National Offender Management Service (2011) contend that the important to understand individual to develop the core temperament in the daily functioning activities during early childhood. There is because the higher risk to become as a serial killer can be related with starter violent behaviour during the early stages in age with the antisocial acts or usually engage with antisocial and offenders act (LaBrode, 2007).
There has shown that the activity in the brain of the produced biochemical can relate with impulsive behaviour and emotional arousal can found in the psychopathy personality style relate with offender criminal (National Offender Management Service, 2011). Raine (cited in Are murderers born or made?, 2015) also claimed that a part of the brain known as pre-frontal cortex shown a low level of activity to control emotional impulses, while the other part of brain addresses as amygdala involved with high active level to generates emotions found in majority of the serial killers. This can be explained victims of child abuse become serial killers may due to the injuries of the brain which is pre-frontal cortex. An individual with this situation will tend to have an easily negative feeling such as angry and also lose of controllable the behaviour and can relate the reason of serial murder easily take action without consideration further.
There has study indicated that criminals with psychopathy shown the characteristic of the brain is different from people without the psychopathy trait and influence the offenders to make decision-related with the morality and this can be related the reason individual hard to make changes the behaviour (National Offender Management Service, 2011). This can explain that psychopathy criminals behave violently and reoffend for 3 or 4 times than those who are not diagnosed as psychopathy offenders when coming out of the jail (LaBrode, 2007).
In addition, LaBrode (2007) recommends that the brain development in the psychopathy serial murder has involved two part of the brain known as the amygdala and prefrontal related with the functioning of aversive conditioning, instrumental learning, responsive to fearful and to express their sad facial expressions and this may bring the consequences into their daily life. The serial offenders diagnosed with a high level of psychopathy will tend to have a slower response to neutral and negative words due to the volume of amygdala reduced. This makes the serial killers have difficulty in daily life, for instance, socialise with people, instrumental learning and aversive conditioning.
Apart from that, National Offender Management Service (2011) stated the idea that during puberty, the developmental of the brain in the final stage, will influence individual to assimilation the attachment relationships to outsiders and choose the suitable social context for conformity. However, this had influence the serial killer with a personality disorder will have difficulty to understanding the people surrounding and influence the relationships with people surrounding become worse to stimulate the negative emotions and misinterpreted as threatening due to anomalies in their certain part of brain functions and structure.
There has also reported serial murder who has diagnosed in the early childhood with a certain disorder such as Conduct Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has a vulnerability to develop personality disorder in late adolescent due to emotional or conduct issues during onset childhood (National Offender Management Service, 2011).
Besides biological vulnerability aspect, biopsychosocial also linked to the relationship with the caregiver and early experiences individual which is related psychological and physical attachment infant with the primary caregiver. Attachment is a very important part of human‘s life in the early stages because it can influence the later life of an individual in the daily life (National Offender Management Service, 2011).
Social coping mechanisms’ development is important in the early stage of the life if the individual lack of developing the social coping mechanisms may link to violent behaviour with crime act (Morton, 2008). There has shown that securely attached child tends to explore and learn own feelings and thoughts and also learn emotions and feelings from others. With these conditions, securely attached child can effective maintain emotions and interpersonal with people surrounding to develop the social coping mechanism. This may due to the involvement of both parents and caregivers provide sufficient of the needs to the child and tends to improve the securely attached child satisfaction needs (National Offender Management Service, 2011).
While insecurely attached child is lack of involvement of the primary caregiver with lack of provider physical and psychological needs to provide the child and this make them will easily tend to have negative feelings of insecure and anxious with cry easily, this also create the distress to the caregiver due to difficulty to comfort or calm down the child’s response. These can cause the insecurely attached child have high possibility related with unpleasant events and as a victim, for instances who experiences sexual, physical or emotional abuse from the caregiver. This can relate with the serial killer as an insecurely attached child in the early childhood and influence the development of the later life. These can link to serial killer with the unpleasant events histories due to lack of understanding and inappropriate to manage emotions and relationship with others, these create the psychological problems and bring the negative consequences to the biochemical activities in the brains with difficulty to cope the stress and emotional and continually to express the violent behaviour in the later life (National Offender Management Service, 2011).
Although there has shown that serial killer involved with neglect or abused history during childhood have higher risks link with the violent behaviour in the later life but securely attached children may also due to the environmental factors to deteriorate the behaviours and influence the later life to become as a serial killer (National Offender Management Service, 2011).
Historical experiences normally appear in serial murders such as unpleasant experiences events as victims of abuse, neglect, negative relationship with significant others, head injury, low arousal levels having emotional or involved in negative behavioural problems could potential to link with a personality disorder related with the serial killer (National Offender Management Service, 2011; LaBrode, 2007 ). A serial killer has experience the historical experiences had influence the psychological state and bring the negative consequences to others can link to the low level of self-esteem, self-harm behaviour and lack of self-concern (Beasley II, S, & A, 2004).
There has the found victim of physical abuse can be related with a serial killer. Physical abuse is considered that the incidents usually happened on victims, who suffered the physical damage from someone and not consider as accidentally but by purposely intentions to make injury to victims. This incident will influence the self-perception of serial killers. Serial offenders perceived that the behaviours that they suffered are unfairness to themselves (Mitchell & Aamodt, 2005; National Offender Management Service, 2011). This can explain that serial murderers had recorded thirty-six percentage of physical abuse from the population proportion and this indicated the percentage is 6 times higher than USA general population proportion (Mitchell & Aamodt, 2005).
Psychological abuse is the behaviours that bring the negatives consequences to the serial killer, and the serial killer may felt negative feeling or emotional from the humiliation, emotional confused and psychological hurt with behaviour involved (Mitchell & Aamodt, 2005). With the incidence of the serial killer had influence the well-being of serial killer from the psychological state and affect to violent behaviour link with a criminal act. This can show that the percentage of psychological abuse is extremely higher than usual population of the society of USA. For the serial murder group indicated fifty percentage of the victims whereas only shown two percentage in the usual generation (Mitchell & Aamodt, 2005).
Victims had experience the incidents of sexual abuse has the potential to become as a serial killer related with sexual incidents. Sexual abuse is the illegal codes or acts that bring the sexual behaviours or visuals towards the victims especially during early childhood that influences the sexual development of victims and affect the cognitive and emotional of serial offenders in the later life (Mitchell & Aamodt, 2005; National Offender Management Service, 2011). The sexual abuse happens on serial murders recorded twenty percent from the population and had nearly 9 times higher than the population of the USA society in general (Mitchell & Aamodt, 2005).
In the serial offenders cases, also indicated that individual with psychopathy involved sexual, sadistic elements or violent cases relationship with mothers, this bring the impacts to serial killer select symbolic victim, objective and real same specific cues from the mothers and to express the negative feelings and displacement to the victim (National Offender Management Service, 2011; LaBrode, 2007 ). This can be said that there are not many of the serial killers are pay attention on the benefit for external factors but more focus by the psychological state the individual personal motives (LaBrode, 2007).
With the lust serial murders involved as a victim of child abuse can influence the dysfunctional interaction with people surrounding and give the punishment or take revenge to other people (Mitchell & Aamodt, 2005).
Biopsychosocial also links with the environmental of social and cultural factors. Social and cultural is important factors to influence individual personality development. Individual can either consider the social and cultural factors provider as a source of buffering effect or to create the negative characteristics of personality developments due to a variety of social environmental. For instance, there has evidence shown that during the war and in the Asian social cultural factors has decreased the number of people to having the antisocial personality disorder (National Offender Management Service, 2011). This can show that social and cultural of the environment will influence the individual response to develop dysfunctional personality related with violent behaviour to a criminal act if the environment involves with stressful and violence as stimuli. This can explain that serial killer involved with the criminal acts when having stress and after committing the violent behaviour, the feeling become calmer (Mitchell & Aamodt, 2005).
Besides that, there has shown the substances abuse used among some the serial murders and these may due to the individual commit criminal acts because the substances can make the individual increase misbehaviour by the violate rules, feel dissociate and hallucinations and suppressed the emotions (Beasley II, S, & A, 2004). There has also shown that female serial murders also misuse drugs or alcohol in the daily life and may be considered as a causality behaviour link to a serial killer (Harrison, Murphy, Ho, Bowers, & Flahertyb, 2015). The person who involved with substance abuse behaviour will link to aggressive and violent behaviour. This can be the influence from the serial killer surrounding environmental for examples social, cultural and situational influence.
With exists social cohesion creates the atmosphere harmony and encourage people to cooperate together avoid self-centered. Local social and cultural factors important to create the atmosphere as buffering effects such as social stability and safety (National Offender Management Service, 2011).
From the overall, these can be said that serial killer can be born because from the perspective of biological and gene of individual there is cannot change and as a persistence the core of the temperament and personality traits in the human body. There has serial criminals had the experiences of head injuries and affect the brain functioning, genetic issue or abnormality of activity brain to produce the biochemical (Mitchell & Aamodt, 2005), these all should consider that serial are born but not made.
Besides these, the serial murder who experienced the unpleasant event histories such as child abuse, relationship with primary caregiver or parents and social cultural and prone to become as serial murder. My personal opinion is the serial killer is not born, and is made because all of the factors can be preventions and there has the choice to people to select the life of a normal human or become as the serial killer. In addition, people surrounding also have responsible for taking care the well-being of the children’s life to ensure the society and cultural to ensure the society become peaceful and stability.
However, all of human being live in this world cannot live in alone only because all human being will interaction with each other and also will influence reciprocal and to influence the society and cultural environmental well-being. In this perspective, the serial killer will not only depend on the biological, psychological and social. But will take this three perspective into the account because there are all interrelated in the daily life activities. This can explain that central nervous system is responsible as a role of stimulation of receiver and processor to affect the human’s behaviour. Therefore, the nervous system is sensitivity toward the environment and important to build up the individual’s identity and influence the individual to behave in the lifetime (Morton, 2008).
References
Are murderers born or made? (2015, March 9). Retrieved from BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31714853
Beasley II, J. O., S, B., & A, M. P. (2004). Serial murder in America: Case studies of seven offenders. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 22, 395-414. doi:10.1002/bsl.595
Harrison, M. A., Murphy, E. A., Ho, L. Y., Bowers, T. G., & Flahertyb, C. V. (2015). Female serial killers in the United States: Means, motives, and. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 26(3), 383-406. doi:10.1080/14789949.2015.1007516
LaBrode, R. T. (2007). Etiology of the psychopathic serial killer: An analysis of antisocial personality disorder, psychopathy, and serial killer personality and crime scene characteristics. Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention, 7(2), 151-160. doi:10.1093/brief-treatment/mhm004
Mitchell, H., & Aamodt, M. G. (2005). The incidence of child abuse in serial killers. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 20(1), 40-47. doi:10.1007/BF02806705
Morton, R. J. (2008). Serial Murder: Multi-disciplinary perspectives for investigators. Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/serial-murder
National Offender Management Service. (2011). Working with personality disordered offenders: A practitioners guide. Retrieved from Ministry of Justice: https://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/offenders/mentally-disordered-offenders/working-with-personality-disordered-offenders.pdf