Term paper

on

THE LINK BETWEEN VIOLENCE DURING CHILDHOOD PERIOD AND SERIAL

MURDERERS.

Submitted to

Amity University, Uttar Pradesh

In partial compliance with the criteria for awarding the degree

Of

Bachelor of arts

In

Applied Psychology (honours)

By

LAKSHMI JAIN

A1506920020

Under the guidance of

Dr. Usha Sharma

AMITY INSTITUTE OF PSYCHOLOGY AND APPLIED SCIENCES

AMITY UNIVERSITY, NOIDA

UTTAR PRADESH
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Usha Sharma, my faculty guide for her
guidance, support and encouraging critiques of this research work and my heart full gratitude
to Ms. Anika Magan, my research methodology professor, for guiding me with the review of
literature and the respective format. My grateful thanks are also extended to the University’s
digital resource library for complete access to various sources related to my topic.

Finally, I wish to extend my gratitude to my parents for their constant support and
motivation, which they provided to me throughout my research work in this study.
 AIM

To research the interaction between childhood abuse and serial killers, by reviewing sixteen
research papers on the topic. Key findings show that there is a considerable level of link
between victims of abuse during childhood period and serial murderers.
 INTRODUCTION

According to the FBI, a serial killer is defined as a person who commits at least three murders
over more than a month with an emotional cooling off period in between (Brogaard, 2017).
Serial killers are the most frightening psychopaths as they show absolutely no basic human
emotion, empathy, conscience or remorse for their victims (Schechter and Everitt, 1969).
They are usually a little above the average rate of intelligence. There can be different types of
serial killers. Some may kill just for the thrill of killing and are known as thrill seekers. Some
feel that they have to kill for a specific reason and they might have a mission, like taking
revenge from a group of people for personal reasons. Such killers are mission oriented killers.
Some believe to have a specific vision, for example, they might feel that transgenders need to
be eradicated, and by doing this, they are doing a service to god. Such killers are visionary
killers. Some kill just to attain a sense of power and control. Then there are lust killers who
have a sexual motive. But do killers become killers gradually over a period of time, or are
they born with it? This paper includes some reviews of literature of researches done
previously concerning the prevalence of childhood abuse in serial killers. Though mostly the
researches have been made according to what the serial killers have said about their
childhood, we cannot completely rely on those biographies. A lot of people face child abuse
in their early years of life, but not all of them turn out to be serial killers. So what is it that
makes them think that killing is an option to take it all out of them? Most studies have found
that these people in particular choose to kill. It is not a compulsion for them. Nor is it an
inborn tendency. There are a lot of same sex killers too. Female serial killers are lower in
comparison by number and are difficult to trace. According to Conroy (2018), women serial
murderers rarely leave the victims’ bodies at the crime scene. They are quiet killers, have
longer killing careers, have less sadistic tendency and are better at killing. They usually do
not torture their victims and are least interested in mutilation. But their motivation is similar
to that of men- a sense if power and control. According to Jack Rosewood’s ‘The Big Book
of Serial Killers: 150 Serial Killer Files of the World’s Worst Murderers’ (2018), there are 12
key traits common in serial killers, which are smooth talking, egocentric and grandiose, lack
of remorse or guilt, lack of empathy, deceitful and manipulative, shallow emotions,
impulsive, poor behaviour controls, need for excitement, lack of responsibility, early
behaviour problems and adult antisocial behaviour. One such killer who faced abuse during
his childhood period was John Wayne Gacy (1942-94). His father was a regular drinker and
was extremely physically violent. He used to beat him and his other family members with a
razor strap for reasons like misbehaviour and indiscipline. Gacy faced a lot of problems in his
life as he was homosexual. He used to bury the bodies of his victims under his house and was
also known as the ‘Killer Clown’ as he used to commit the crimes in clown costumes and
makeup. According to Vronsky (2004), infancy is the most critical period in a human’s
personality development. The series of events happening till the age of 2 can also affect a
person’s personality and may or may not turn him/her into a serial killer. Due to the lack of
affection in these crucial two years, it is no surprise that some of the killers were adopted
before the age of 2 and lost the much needed motherly touch. Some turn into serial killers
because of the events that took place after they entered the early years of their childhood,
where they might have been bullied or shamed or made fun of in front of a lot of people.
Some serial killers also showed a common characteristic which is that of an abusive or
dominant mother. They may be over controlling and overly concerned about their children’s
safety. These mothers were also found to be abusive both physically as well as mentally.
(Moesch, 1998). Males strive to gain liberty with their mother, according to a well- known
psychologist, Sigmund Freud. This would lead to anger if the child fails to succeed (Moesch,
1998). There are mainly two types of serial killers: organised and disorganised. An organised
serial killer has above average intelligence whereas an unorganised one has below average
intelligence, and they are usually clumsier and tend to leave behind trails, by either not
dumping off the body properly or by leaving careless clues such as fingerprints, hair strands
or the murder weapon. An organised serial killer usually keeps something of the victim as a
piece of memento or an achievement, and usually feel glorified looking at them and recalling
the events of the murder at a later stage. Some researchers have even linked the behaviour of
serial killers with Sigmund Freud’s psychodynamic theory. They also found that their killings
are due to impulsiveness and extreme lack of self- control, which is motivated by the
superiority of the ID over the other characteristics of ego and super ego in their personalities.
Though, in the upcoming sections of this paper, we will be looking deeply into the
relationship between serial killers and that abuse or trauma experienced during the childhood
period instead of their relationship with Freud’s psychodynamic theory.
 Review of literature

Singer & Hensley (2004) studied about the topic, ‘Applying social learning theory to
childhood and adolescent fire setting: Can it lead to serial murder?’ Serial killers have been
living among us since decades but still there is not much information available about them.
Fire setting is a behaviour wherein the child sets fire knowingly for various reasons. This
complexity in behaviour occurs due to already built-in rage that has accumulated due to
various forms of abuse or neglect. The childhood history and background of serial killers is
difficult to attain, and thus, three serial killers were studied with respect to their background
and it was found by applying social learning theory that there is a possible link between
children who showcase fire setting and their future as serial killers.

Mitchell & Aamodt (2005) studied the incidence of child abuse in serial killers. This study
has been done to make out the commonality of abuse in the early childhood years of serial
killers who killed for sexual gratification, also known as lust killers. The study was done on
the basis of different types of abuses such as sexual, psychological, physical and neglect.
Fifty such lust killers were identified and studied. The information about their history of
childhood abuse was extracted from various printed sources such as biographical books,
newspaper clippings and some online sites. It was found that there was high prevalence of all
types of childhood abuses in the killers except neglect. There was 36%, 26% and 50%
prevalence of physical, sexual and psychological abuse respectively. This study shows that
there is direct proportion between childhood abuse and serial killers.

Peterson & Farrington (2007) researched on cruelty to animals and violence to people. People
who are significantly violent in their adulthood are usually found to have shown excessive
animal cruelty in their childhood. On conducting a thorough research on various other articles
and papers on the same topic, it was found that although not all, but many serial killers and
mass murderers used to portray cruelty towards animals in their childhood, and children
usually take their anger out on animals when they are abused physically or sexually. Thus, in
households, where there is domestic violence inflicted upon children, those children portray
animal cruelty and hence, a link can be established between domestic abuse and serial killers.
But, it cannot be said that these two variables are correlated.
Adams (2009) studied the predisposing childhood factors for men who kill their intimate
partners. There is a relation between childhood abuse and domestic violence between males
who assault their intimate female partners. The study was undertaken by collecting data about
31 males who murdered their wives and 20 males who attempted to murder their wives. It
was found that there was high prevalence of child abuse by the fathers in most of these men,
proving that violence is learnt from parents or from the ones around us. Childhood abuse and
trauma is thus one of the major factors that can turn a person into a killer, be it a one-time
killer or a serial killer.

Henson & Olson (2010) studied how male serial killers discursively manage their stigmatized
identities: the monster within. There have been done very few researches on identity
management with respect to serial killers. This study was undertaken by taking into account
interviews with three serial killers so that identity management among them could be
explored further. It was found that the male serial killers usually did not accept their
stigmatized identities and they often tend to justify their abnormal behaviour (Henson, 2010).
They also found that previous traumatic experiences or abuses also affected their ability to
manage their identities and that is one of the reasons they start developing killing ideas and
tactics within themselves.

Simons (2010) studied antisocial personality disorder in serial killers: the thrill of the kill.
Serial killers have different methods of killing their victims. Some even start off by brutally
torturing, raping, cutting or chopping their victims before entirely killing them off. Research
was done by profiling various serial killers and it was found out that childhood abuse often
inculcates in the killer, a feeling of sadistic sense of power and control, which they could not
inflict upon anybody else during their childhood years, and thus, they bring out that
accumulated rage in their later years, and turn out to become vicious serial killers.

Higgs (2012) studied Jeffrey Dahmer: psychopathy and neglect. Jeffrey Dahmer faced a lot of
neglect and abuse in his childhood. He later turned out to be a vicious sexual serial killer. The
information was collected from interviews taken with Jeffrey when he was alive, and from
other theories including childhood abuse and neglect. He did not experience any form of
sexual or physical abuse in his childhood, but he faced a lot of neglect and had an
emotionally drained childhood. It was found that neglect and emotional abuse have adverse
long term impacts on a person’s development and can also turn a person into a serial killer,
and not just sexual and physical abuse.
Lester and White (2014) studied African American serial killers. A lot of people usually think
that serial killers are only white males, and the media has also kept on adding to this myth.
researches have been conducted showing that there were at least ninety black serial killers
since 1945. 57 African American serial killers were studied and were compared to 205 Euro-
American serial killers. It was found that African American killers did not kill as much as the
others and were comparatively less violent at the time of killing. They were also found to
have an ordinary childhood without much abuse. Thus, childhood abuse was not a major
factor in African-American serial killers.

Harrison (2015) studied female serial killers in the United States and their means, motives
and makings. Female serial killers are limited, as compared to male serial killers. There is a
lot of detailed information available on the history and background of female serial killers.
Demographic, background and childhood details were collected on 64 female serial killers of
the USA from various mass media reports. It was found that most of the female serial killers
suffered from some mental illnesses, were educated and married, and were mostly mothers or
health care workers. They targeted victims who were easier to fight with, like children or the
elderly. Not much abuse was found in their childhood.

Haynes (2017) explored trauma markers in the artwork of serial killers through a research.
The aim was to find out any trauma faced by the killers through art therapy. Looking at the
way people talk and their artworks, it was easy to identify their personality and development.
A sample of some artworks by serial killers were taken and analysed by art therapists. It was
found that most of the artworks were made in a combination of red and black, and depicted
decomposition and death, which implies that the artist, that is, the serial killer had gone
through some type of trauma in his childhood. The extent of trauma undergone adversely
affects the method of killing, but it can be identified through art therapy beforehand, and help
can be provided to those individuals who showcase such serial killer characteristics.

Sharma (2018) studied the development of serial killers: A grounded theory study. Different
serial killers are driven by different factors based on their history, childhood or experiences,
all of which affect the way the killings take place. Data was collected of three most famous
killers, and for whom there was rich data available, and was analysed in detail using the
grounded theory method. It was found that stress and trauma were one two of the major
factors that affect serial killers. Abuse, loneliness, abandonment and rejection were highly
common traits in serial killers’ childhood, and often triggered in them the ability to kill
without any empathy or remorse for the victim.

Marono et al (2020) researched about the behaviour analysis of serial killers’ lives, from
childhood abuse to methods of murder. The behaviour of serial killers and how childhood
abuse plays one of the major roles in their behaviour was analysed using Behaviour Sequence
Analysis. Behaviour sequence analysis (BSA), also referred to as lag sequence analysis
(LSA), is a significant technique to understand the complex link between progressions of
behaviours and social interactions occurring over time (Beune et al, 2010). A sample of 233
male serial killers was collected who had a background in childhood abuse in various aspects
such as sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse, and various combinations of these
three. There were a number of findings. It was found that killers with a history of sexual
abuse tend to kill to attain a sense of power and the ones with physical abuse tend to get over
with the murder quickly. These are just two of the many findings that were concluded in the
paper.

Herrero et al (2020) studied the relation between serial killers’ childhood maltreatment and
sexual relations with the victims. Most of the serial killers usually have dominating and cold
mothers, or in fact, no parents at all at times. Abuse by such people or absence of such
significant personalities in peoples’ lives usually tends to make such people dangerously
antisocial. The relation between the extent of mistreatment during the serial killers’ childhood
and the prevalence of sexual abuse before killing was studied. Data of 100 such serial killers
from different countries was collected and analysed. It was found that there was a direct
relationship between the childhood maltreatment and the sexual assault before killing the
victim. Thus, it would be right to say that killers who were abused in their childhood usually
tend to sexually abuse the victims before killing them.

Karapetyan (2020) studied the causality of serial killers’ crime in early childhood. A serial
killer cannot be identified by looks as he/she looks just as ordinary as any other person. He/
she might be living just across the road, might be your colleague at workplace, or maybe even
the guy who comes to collect old newspapers. Some prolific serial killers were studied,
whose data was collected from various printed and online sources. The information of their
childhood was compared and it was found that most of the killers were subject to either
physical abuse, sexual abuse or neglect in their childhood. Thus, we can say that most of the
serial killers have faced childhood abuse, and as someone said, violence leads to violence.
Guy (2020) investigated on serial killers and childhood abuse, and if there was a link between
them. Childhood abuse is one of the major factors that contribute to serial killing. Jack the
ripper, John Wayne Gacy and Ed Gein are three of the most high profile killers who were
subjected to physical and verbal abuse in their childhoods. A number of research papers were
studied and statistics were collected on the prevalence of childhood abuse in serial killers,
and were compared to the prevalence of childhood abuse in the general population. It was
found that serial killers face six times more childhood abuse than the common people. They
also found that people who face psychological abuse tend to turn out to be organised killers.
Childhood abuse is a factor in serial killing, but it is not the only factor.

Adelstein et al (2020) studied serial killers and childhood trauma. They explored how a serial
killer’s victimology is affected by any childhood trauma they previously experienced or any
diagnosed mental orders. It was predicted that the childhood abuse would be reflected in the
way the victims were killed by the serial killers. The extent of abuse in childhood of USA’s
ten most dangerous killers, who had the killed the most number of victims, was studied and
the violence inflicted on the victims was then connected to the childhood abuse. It was found
that in those serial killers, 10% physical abuse and 20% sexual abuse, emotional abuse and
neglect, each. The primary and secondary trauma inflicted upon the victim was also found
out, and it was proved by the results that the ways the killers were abused were highly
reflected in their ways of victim killings.
 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Upon reviewing various researches done over the past 20 years, we can see that around eighty
per cent of the researches show that trauma experienced in childhood is a big contributing
factor in the brutality of serial killers. This abuse can take many forms including physical,
sexual, psychological, or even neglect.. People who face psychological abuse in their
childhood tend to turn out to be organised killers. Those who face sexual abuse tend to inflict
brutal violence on their victims before killing them. Those who face neglect enjoy the sense
of control and power which they were never able to experience as a child. Some serial killers
also have a habit of taking back something of the victim with themselves. This gives them a
sense of accomplishment, looking at which they might recall the horrors of the killing with
pleasure in later years. We can see in the African-American serial killers’ case study serial
killers are not always from a white background. We also saw that African-American serial
killers are not as violent as the Euro-American ones and did not face much abuse in their
childhood years. Thus, the factors which drive serial killers to kill also depend on socio-
cultural differences, especially the environment in which they grew up. Some of the most
prolific serial killers either had abusive or cold parents, or they were adopted in the crucial
first two years of their lives, where they did not receive the much needed attention and love,
which adversely affected their personality and development. There is not much information
available on serial killers, but from what we can gather, serial killers are usually driven by
past traumatic experiences, abuse, neglect and many other factors. Then there are female
killers also, who usually tend to kill using poison and are not as violent and brutal as male
serial killers in their killing methods. Childhood abuse is not as likely in female serial killers,
as it is in male serial killers. They are usually well-educated and married to nice families.
Also, they tend to target physically weak people who cannot fight back, such as children or
the elderly people. We can identify serial killers before they even start killing through many
methods, one of them being art therapy. People who tend to kill usually portray evil, satanic,
demonic, dark or chilling features in their artworks, and tend to use more of red and black
colours. But identifying serial killers is not as easy as it sounds. They look just as simple as
any ordinary people and might be living just across the street. They can be very vicious and
might have a fetish for body parts such as ears or fingers, which they might cut off later and
keep with themselves as an accomplishment. Childhood abuse is not the only factor, but a
major factor that influences personality and development, and leads to the formation of large
scale murderers. All one can do regarding serial killers, is be safe from suspicious people, and
avoid unnecessary talks with strangers. Also, the parents must take special care of their
children since day one, and must not abuse them in any imaginable way. This way, there are
chances that serial killers stop forming someday.