Crime
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Mind of a Murderer: Why people kill?
We have all followed in the press the acts of murders from Jack The Ripper to Dr Harold Shipman, but are we all capable of murder? Many don't believe themselves able to wilfully take another life, yet if their situation alters dramatically, this conviction is often challenged and overthrown; no matter how you slice it, are not acts of war institutionalised murder?
Psychopath or psychotic?
These two words to describe someone's state of mind are often used in the same breath, yet they refer to different mental conditions and it is vital to recognise the fundamental difference between these two distinct terms. If someone is described as having a psychotic episode then that person, who normally functions within society's laws and moral code, has momentarily lost these mental capabilities and commits a terrible crime; however they can often be helped and may not offend again. More chillingly, a psychopath has a chemical mis-wiring in their brain and is perfectly able to function within society, yet at the same time sees nothing wrong with killing, sometimes taking pleasure from it. The serial killer regards taking a life like we regard crossing the street.
Learnt Behaviour
One of the first ideas to be dismissed when studying the mind of a murderer is that there exists some abstract concept of evil. Biblical interpretation has given way to the notion that monsters are not born; they are made. Even for those with psychopathic tendencies, violent and murderous outbursts are often triggered by events and circumstances in the past. Child molesters have often been molested themselves and in a similar fashion childhood physical abuse can result in certain types of brain damage that may increase the likelihood of committing murder later in life. If you're shown at a young age that life has no value, you won't value life, sometimes with terrifying consequences.
The Milwaukee Cannibal
One of the most notorious serial killers ever caught was Jeffery Dahmer, known as the Milwaukee Cannibal on account of his taste for murdering young gay or bisexual men, dismembering their corpses and even eating parts of them. Dahmer was the typical everyman, quiet, intelligent and inconspicuous. When he was finally captured, a detailed study of his psyche revealed a man who was so deeply ashamed of his homosexual tendencies that he could only be intimate with someone if they were completely passive. He used to get blind drunk, pick up men in a bar, then kill them to prevent them from rejecting his advances. The chilling study showed that hate and malice did not make Dahmer kill; it was profound self-loathing and fear of rejection.
Angel of Death
One particular figure who played a key role in the events of the Holocaust during WWII was Dr. Josef Mengele, known as 'The Angel of Death; for many, Mengele was the epitome of the horrific acts that took place behind the barb-wire of Auschwitz concentration camp. He conducted unspeakable and murderous experiments on the children prisoners, all supposedly in the name of furthering science. Was Mengele a psychopath? Possibly. What is more frightening is that the Nazi propaganda had dehumanised Jews to the extent that they were seen as animals that could be treated as mere lab rats. There is no justification for what he did, but behind his horrific acts lay a deep-seated ambition to achieve greatness and in the new order of The Third Reich, he was able to kill because in his mind, they were not children, only specimens.
Split personality
Mengele's behaviour was particularly chilling because he used to befriend those children before murdering them. But how can a killer be kind and gentle to others on minute then brutally and violently end their lives the next? Many psychologists have attributed the actions of cold-blooded killers like Mengele to the process of 'doubling', literally the division of the self into two functioning wholes, so that a 'part-self' acts as an entire self in its own right. As each 'part-self' operated within such drastically contrasting moral codes murderer needs two sides of their psyche to function independently from eachother. Part of understanding the fractured mind of a killer is understanding that Dahmer and Mengele were capable of these unspeakable, gruesome acts but never once laid a finger on their family and loved ones.
Find out more
Directory of British serial killers
Info on personality disorders and psychopathy
Understanding psychosis
The war crimes of Josef Mengele
The case of Jeffery Dahmer
These two words to describe someone's state of mind are often used in the same breath, yet they refer to different mental conditions and it is vital to recognise the fundamental difference between these two distinct terms. If someone is described as having a psychotic episode then that person, who normally functions within society's laws and moral code, has momentarily lost these mental capabilities and commits a terrible crime; however they can often be helped and may not offend again. More chillingly, a psychopath has a chemical mis-wiring in their brain and is perfectly able to function within society, yet at the same time sees nothing wrong with killing, sometimes taking pleasure from it. The serial killer regards taking a life like we regard crossing the street.
Learnt Behaviour
One of the first ideas to be dismissed when studying the mind of a murderer is that there exists some abstract concept of evil. Biblical interpretation has given way to the notion that monsters are not born; they are made. Even for those with psychopathic tendencies, violent and murderous outbursts are often triggered by events and circumstances in the past. Child molesters have often been molested themselves and in a similar fashion childhood physical abuse can result in certain types of brain damage that may increase the likelihood of committing murder later in life. If you're shown at a young age that life has no value, you won't value life, sometimes with terrifying consequences.
The Milwaukee Cannibal
One of the most notorious serial killers ever caught was Jeffery Dahmer, known as the Milwaukee Cannibal on account of his taste for murdering young gay or bisexual men, dismembering their corpses and even eating parts of them. Dahmer was the typical everyman, quiet, intelligent and inconspicuous. When he was finally captured, a detailed study of his psyche revealed a man who was so deeply ashamed of his homosexual tendencies that he could only be intimate with someone if they were completely passive. He used to get blind drunk, pick up men in a bar, then kill them to prevent them from rejecting his advances. The chilling study showed that hate and malice did not make Dahmer kill; it was profound self-loathing and fear of rejection.
Angel of Death
One particular figure who played a key role in the events of the Holocaust during WWII was Dr. Josef Mengele, known as 'The Angel of Death; for many, Mengele was the epitome of the horrific acts that took place behind the barb-wire of Auschwitz concentration camp. He conducted unspeakable and murderous experiments on the children prisoners, all supposedly in the name of furthering science. Was Mengele a psychopath? Possibly. What is more frightening is that the Nazi propaganda had dehumanised Jews to the extent that they were seen as animals that could be treated as mere lab rats. There is no justification for what he did, but behind his horrific acts lay a deep-seated ambition to achieve greatness and in the new order of The Third Reich, he was able to kill because in his mind, they were not children, only specimens.
Split personality
Mengele's behaviour was particularly chilling because he used to befriend those children before murdering them. But how can a killer be kind and gentle to others on minute then brutally and violently end their lives the next? Many psychologists have attributed the actions of cold-blooded killers like Mengele to the process of 'doubling', literally the division of the self into two functioning wholes, so that a 'part-self' acts as an entire self in its own right. As each 'part-self' operated within such drastically contrasting moral codes murderer needs two sides of their psyche to function independently from eachother. Part of understanding the fractured mind of a killer is understanding that Dahmer and Mengele were capable of these unspeakable, gruesome acts but never once laid a finger on their family and loved ones.
Find out more
Directory of British serial killers
Info on personality disorders and psychopathy
Understanding psychosis
The war crimes of Josef Mengele
The case of Jeffery Dahmer
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