On a nature standpoint, the average serial killer is a white man from a lower class background and typically in their twenties or thirties (Scott, 2008). When serial killers kill they typically follow a pattern and have motives for killing, according to Scott (2008) killers feel the need to dominate their victims and they often are strangers in relation to their victims. Regarding nature vs nurture if someone will become a serial killer is in part two when it goes into more of the developmental factors of serial killers. Their research does not have a conclusion to the question whether it is nature or nurture that creates a serial killer, but it does address the important issue of finding commonality among serial killers to better identify them. As well as the article by Johnson and Becker (1997), Miller (2013) narrows down types of serial killers and goes into the characteristics of each category. Miller (2013) states the combination of killing, dismembering, having sex with, and eating their victims goes with the need of survival like the ancestral humans. This article goes with the nature perspective by supporting the idea of evolution being the source of serial killers wanting to hurt others. The article does not go into detail about the beginnings of a serial, but it observes how some of serial killer treat the bodies of their victims and how it is like the behaviors of early societies (Miller, 2013).
Additionally, known serial killers when they have been caught have had no prior criminal history but start to commit crimes and exhibit antisocial behavior (Miller, 2013). From a demographic perspective, and looking at the nature side of serial killers, the demographic is primarily white males in their 20s or 40s (Miller, 2013). Johnson and Becker (1997) concluded in their research the urge to kill often develops while people are infants and think there needs to be more research to determine what causes those to kill and some to not.Īnother article states there is a whole history behind the concept of serial killers stemming from the time of Ancient Roman emperors (Miller, 2013). For example, based on the first case in Johnson and Becker (1997) L had a fantasy of killing his mother and it was shown later in the article research has shown sexually sadistic killers have mixed relationships with their mothers, commanding fathers, and having very little social skills. The categories of killers are backed up with reasons behind them. In this article, most of the research done in this article is based on nature. The way this study explained nature versus nurture was looking at each of the case studies compared to various types of serial killers. Additionally, he had told the researchers he had several fantasy ideations of killing his mother.
When asked about how he felt that he was going crazy he told the researchers other thoughts he was experiencing like killing other people and wanting to be a serial killer and admitted to killing several animals with a BB gun.
Johnson and Becker looked in a total of 9 cases, the first one was a fourteen-year-old white male referred to as L. The article looks further into if it can predict if young people will end up being homicidal, the way the researchers go about it is by looking into case studies.
The nature versus nurture issue regarding serial killers needs to be discussed because society needs to educate themselves, so that people can look out for the signs of a potential serial killer to prevent any future violence.Īn article by Johnson and Becker (1997) start their work off by explaining the basis of the movie Natural Born Killers and how it implies that the main characters were bound to end up the way they did. What makes them kill? Were they born with that desire? The issue regarding whether serial killers are born or made needs to be addressed because there is not much information known about them since infamous killers such as Ted Bundy and Richard Ramirez are either no longer alive to tell their side of the story refuse to tell their story. There’s something about serial killers that makes most people fascinated. Pssst… we can write an original essay just for you.Īny subject. NurtureĬrime Prevention & Criminal Justice, Behavioral psychology, CrimeĬriminal Behavior, Nature Versus Nurture, Serial Killer The Making of a Serial Killer: Nature Vs.