A good portion of the reasons why serial killers have the urge to kill is due to different mental illnesses. An example of this would be Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). Symptoms of this mental illness include “being abused, manipulation of others, disregarding right and wrong, often lying, a lot of times being violent, not learning from bad behavior”, and the list goes on and on (Mayo Clinic Staff). Most serial killers have these symptoms such as ted Bundy, Charles Manson, etc. so it makes it hard to find a reason why this wouldn’t be a piece of the puzzle in what makes them who they are. Charles Manson once said when asked who he was “Nobody. I'm nobody. I'm a tramp, a bum, a hobo, I’m a box car, and a jugger wang, and straight razor if you get to close to me” (Charles Manson). I think this shows a piece of his ASPD because at the end he …show more content…
Some killers often get drunk and end up killing (e.g. Jeffrey Dahmer). Another thing to note about serial killer’s home lives is abuse. If you look deep enough into a killers past you more often than not find that they were abused by their parents. Abuse can stay with a person forever and childhood can shape who we are as people. Abuse could also be a reason why killers lack empathy; because the killer feels they felt similar if not worse pain and took it. Lastly, killers have a form of brain damage. Adrien Raine, a criminology professor said “research found criminals with psychopathic tendencies often had a shrunken ventromedial cortex - the area of the brain that controls decision-making.” This would explain why they often continue their bad behaviors until caught and why they do it in the first