Why Do Serial Killers Kill

The following example essay focuses on the reasons why serial killers kill.

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Causes of Serial Killers “A girl was found dead in the woods,” “A serial killer strikes again! ” We constantly hear in the media out citizens getting murdered in our surroundings. Sometimes a quick death and sometimes a tragic slow death like Kelly Marry on Friday, November 9, 1888. Kelly was killed by having her throat slashed and her head almost separated from her body.

The police written in “Asesinos Seriales las Cronicas del Horror” (Serial Killers the Chronics of Horror) by Andrea B. Pesce states, “El higado y los intestinos…estaban colgados entre los pies de la victima. (Her liver and her intestines were hanging from the victims legs. ) (Pg. 74). Kelly Marry is just one of the victims from many serial killers that have existed for many centuries. Franze Joseph Gall is one of the first scientists to bring up a theory to why serial killers kill. His theory has evolved over time and scientists have come up with many causes to why serial killers kill. Three main causes of the reasons are killing for pleasure, killing for psychological and for monetary benefits.

Killing for pleasure means killing for sexual pleasure while psychological killers have a mental problem for example schizophrenia and killers who kill for benefits kill for the money. Serial killers have many causes to why they kill but the three main reasons are for pleasure, psychological problems and benefits.

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Pleasure is an essential part in human life. We eat our favorite food, socialize with others, participate in sports, etc. to achieve pleasure. Among humans there are people that get pleasure in a bizarre way and hurtful to our society.

Looking for lust pleasure is one of the causes that serial killers kill. Serial killers kill to gain pleasure of some sort. This pleasure can be separated in two kinds: sexual pleasure and plain pleasure of having control over a person’s life. Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo is an example of a killer who got sexual pleasure in killing his victims. Andrei had a rough childhood, he wet his bed until the age of twelve and he was constantly bullied. He grew up with fears toward women because he had sexual problems. Pesce writes, “No era capas de…eyecular inmediatamente. ” (He wasn’t able to ejaculate immediately) (Pg. 96).

Serial Killer Essay

In December of the year 1978 he realized how blood made him ejaculate immediately. His first victim was a 9 year old little girl. Andrei stabbed the little girl many times so he could get sexual pleasure. He continued his killings to get sexual pleasure until he turned himself in to the police. Certain killers kill not to obtain sexual pleasure but because killing itself gives them pleasure. Those serial killers are known as “hedonists” (Pg. 35). Gilles de Rasis is an example of a hedonist killer. In the 1400’s he enjoyed strangling young men. Pesce says how Gilles would sit down with his men and watch his men kill for fun.

Rasis had no reason for killing but he got pleasure in having control over his victims. “Los abria en canal para observar las entranas. ” (He would open them up to see their insides) (Pg. 48). Pleasure is not the only cause for serial killers. Psychological and mental problems are another cause for a person to be a serial killer. Annabella Rutigliano wrote in Predestined Serial Killers that “A recent study has demonstrated that 20 out of 31 confessed killers are diagnosed as mentally ill. ” The mental illness of 64% of the 20 was said to be from head injuries to the frontal lobe.

Deputy Chevon wrote in the book In the mind of a Serial Killer, “If there is frontal lobe damage or abnormal activity in this region of the brain, there is an inability to make rational decisions. ” With these two facts we can see how brain damage especially in the frontal lobe is a cause for people to act violently and become serial killers. Albert Fish is one of the serial killers that had brain damage. Anabella Rutiglino talks about how he had a “severe fall from a cherry tree” after that fall he started to act violently. He grew up to kill his victims violently and drink their blood.

Another psychological problem serial killers have is schizophrenia. These serial killers say that they killed because the voices told them to kill their victims. David Berkwitz is one of these serial killers. He accused a demon inside his neighbor’s dog telling him to kill people. Lucrative serial killers are the ones that kill for money. These are more common right now and we hear about them all over the media. Drug dealers, robbers and alcoholics are lucrative serial killers. Desire Landru married rich widows or rich single women and he would kill them so he could stay with their money(Pesce57).

Another example of this type of serial killer is Herman Webster Mudget. He created a hotel with many traps and he would get victims and kill them for their money(Pesce54). Lucrative serial killers are the most known in the world. The cause for serial killers varies from many aspects. Gaining pleasure, psychological problems and lucrative are the main causes of why serial killers kill. Now that we hear about serial killers we will know they don’t kill because there born monsters but because they want something or are not in a normal mental condition