Serial Murderers

Serial murderers or better known as a multiple murderer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of time that typically ranges between thirty days or more, leaving a cooling period between each murder. The motivation that these criminals had is based on psychological gratification that drives to the act. For years, psychologists have studied the minds of these criminals to know the reason for their actions and had come to some conclusions. There is a theory that explains differentiation between a serial murderer and a normal person: abuse, mental illness and dysfunctional mind, which mean neurological damage.

There are a huge variety of serial murderers, but one that caused great controversy was the serial killer clown, and no is not the clown from the movie “It”, but a man who disguised himself as a clown to catch and kill their victims violently. This began by killing two children and then when he got out of prison he kill eleven prostitutes by strangling them, although there were a lot of more victims. He confirm the theory all ready mentioned because he was found with neurological damage due to many falls that suffered when he was young. The abuses are clearly in his past because when he was a child his mother sexually abused him. Finally he was also diagnosed with mental illness.

Not all serial killers confirm this theory, since there have been cases where murderers do not experience any of those three factors but can be more dangerous and ruthless than the above. The murderers who do not follow this theory are considered psychopaths; they are more dangerous and ruthless. The difference is that the emotional response of a psychopath in less active, meaning they lack of feelings and what drives them to be even more dangerous is the lack of fear. The lack of emotion and fear is who leads them to commit more crimes and deaths.

There are a huge number of serial murderers cases, each with a different story and strategy. What makes this interesting is that the brain of a killer is different of the brain of a normal person, because of the prefrontal cortex, among other characteristics. There are a lot of studies and investigations that identify whether a person is a killed or not. It's a fascinating and important topic in psychology because with these new discoveries it becomes easier to identify these people and prevent them from causing more damage and harm, in order to live in a world with less violence and crime.