Essay Thesis: Most serial killers have a history of abuse.
A young, joyful little child has lived a happy life, until one day his parents started abusing him. The child gets beaten every time he does something wrong, but he doesn’t tell anyone for years. He finally gets the courage to tell someone when he’s a teenager and his parents are taken to jail, but he is still scarred from the beatings he received. He grows up resenting his parents, so much so, that he begins to take out all of his repressed anger on other people. He starts killing people that remind him of his parents. He beats them until they’re barely recognizable. His life has taken a turn for the worse all because his parents abused him as a child. Most serial killers have a history of abuse. There is an abundance of evidence of serial killers getting abused at home. It is such a common experience among serial killers; it cannot be ignored. Whether it is their parents, their siblings, or just someone that lives with them. The website entitled “What Creates Serial Killers and Psychopaths: Genetics or Environment?” confirms “Most serial killers tend to come from highly unstable or dysfunctional, usually abandoned by their parents. Almost every serial killer is abused as a child, whether it is sexually, emotionally, physically, or psychologically.” (“What Creates”). One form of abuse that serial killers receive at home is physical abuse. One example of this is John Wayne Gacy, who was beaten by his alcoholic father (Taylor). An extreme example of abuse is Carroll Edward Cole. Cole’s mother would force him to go with her when she had sex with other men. She beat him to make sure he wouldn’t tell his father about her cheating. When he started killing, he killed women that reminded him of his abusive mother (Gardner). Physical abuse can have a serious impact on someone's life, so much so, that they would go as far to kill someone that reminded them of