What are ticks serial killers?
Serial killers unlike mass killers kill randomly and always escape arrest. They do not want to be caught. The quest that drives serial killers has been of interest to psychologists and people in police departments. It still remains a mystery as to what makes them tick. Some of the killers who have confessed say it is an inners drive, a compelling need to see someone dead. Many a research has shown that these killers had a tormented background so that they at sometime faced parental abuse, physical or mental. Some were adopted and some lived in orphanages. However, it has been found that some grew up in pretty normal backgrounds but are listed to have had isolated childhoods so that they did not want to mingle with their fellow children. There have been other suggested ticks and they are carefully explained in the essay.
According to Scott, (2008), researched statistics show that most serial killers are between the ages of twenty to forty and are mostly white males brought up in lower or middle class family backgrounds (Scott, 2008). It has been discovered that most of these serial killers were tormented emotionally or physically by their parents and that some are not biological kids of the families they were brought up in (were adopted). Growing up, most of these children exhibit characteristics unique to normal kids such as, the love to torture pets and other small animals, pee in their beds and start fires, and these traits are known as the triad. The insistence is on most but others grew up in privileged homes enjoying the luxuries and the affection of their parents (Kerry, 2008).
They admire law enforcers and may at some point have attempted to join the police force but were denied the chances. They may have been detained even for posing as policemen and impersonating them (Scott, 2008). They choose victims that are not as strong as themselves and most of the time these victims have a stereotypic attachment to the killer. They most probably resemble a person who earlier disappointed the killer. These killers are also said to be sadists and very intelligent (Kerry, 2008).
What drives the serial killer has been widely debated even by the killers themselves. It varies with the common link being the triad. One such killer, Edmund Kemper says that the tick is usually a strong urge that grows stronger when there is an attempt to stop it (Scott, 2008). Some blame their upbringing and some say its pornography. Others say it was prison. There is no similarity in serial killers, and all are not male as says most scholars. There have been found to be younger killers even below the age of twelve and some even as old as fifty and over. Sexual needs are not the drive in all and not all are as bright. There are many drives though not all killers are driven by the same. The urge to kill may be aroused by the desire to revenge or are ticked by illusion. Some killers are driven by lust; the act of killing arouses them. This motive like most others is born during puberty. Criminologists call these killers thrill killers (Ramsland, 2006).
The family background has been said to play a big part in triggering the killer instincts. Harsh parenting has to the society been the answer with people pointing out that the upbringing of the killer would be the cause of his behavior (Scott, 2008). Often, most parents believe that being harsh will make a child tough but this puts gaps in the relationships between the child and parent. The child grows up hating the parents which leads to violent results. It leads to isolation and fantasies that are violent in nature. The kids exercise control and dominion over others upon growing up rather than being passionate. Breakups in the family also tick the killer instinct. The lack of both sets of parents when growing up creates disengagement in the minds and hearts of such children they grow up with an aloofness that triggers fantasies that lead to torture and killing (House, 2011).
The lack of a stable residence has also been found as a trigger with the art of frequent moving out creating disturbance in the minds of people. The movement may result to the killer to be living in environments that are socially ineffective. These people don’t have ample time to form close personal relationships making them lonely. The isolation creates a being that partly hates human beings and likes to see them suffering (House, 2011). Adoption may be one of the motivators of serial crimes. This is because a kid is left with an undermined sense of identity and the biological parents may have left genes that are deviant in the child. The genes may be that of a gangster or a prostitute. The thought that the child was given up for adoption due to rejection may trigger the killer instincts (Ramsland, 2006).
The other tick may be exposure to extreme violence so that such events ignite thirst for blood (Scott, 2008). If a child watched the killing of an animal such as the slaughtering of a cow, they grow up wanting to do that. If a child is tortured in their childhood, they may grow up wanting to torture others. They grow up with the sadistic attitude and they want to watch a victim enduring pain, being brave. Juvenile detention cannot be said to be the best place to reform behavior. It does anything but reform. Though sadistic behaviors in the detentions are now not tolerated, the guards triggered killer instincts through medieval forms of punishment. They beat, tortured and watched inmates being raped in the early 20th century (Ramsland, 2006). These stirred and increased the rage of inmates and when they were released, they tortured and killed. Peer rejection has also been pointed as a tick for serial crimes. Most serial killers were loners as kids, always belittled by their peers and this triggered fantasies which they could rely on.
Serial killers who first rape, torture and then kill their victims are motivated by power and aggression that is generated during puberty (Ramsland, 2006). These sexual fantasies influence the choice of the victim and the approach to use in the killing. The acts may be done in the form of rituals or may be committed out of impulse. The sexually motivated killers who kill out of impulse have no specific preferences and are most of the times not as creative and have less money. They rape and kill out of anger and power. Those who kill in ritual like manners indulge in abnormal sexual acts, have money and have specific sexual preferences (House, 2011).
Conclusion
The fascination that serial killers bring to us has no boundaries and causes us to have the quest to know what makes them tick. There is always the hope that the causes of their behaviors will be found, the factors that make them different from other humans. Unless their categories are set apart, there may never be a clear analysis about the killers. There are those that are sadists and others healthcare. They kill differently with the common behavior being the elusion of detention. They never want to turn themselves in serial killers are people as normal as any other but at one time get a trigger, may it be the memories of a torturous childhood, rage due to present torture, sexual illusions that got stirred from puberty and savage treatment in jail. There are as many causes as there are serial killers.
