CHAPTER THREE of four chapters


"Res Ipsa Loguitur"

By: Don Jacobs, Chair

Forensic Psychology & Forensic Science

Weatherford College, Weatherford,Texas USA


This chapter addresses:

Psychopathic Personality Disorder

Brakes on Criminality: The PFC

First Degree Psychopathy: Mild Spectrum Psychopathy

Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

Third Degree Psychopathy: Sexually Motivated Male Serial Killer



Clearing Up the Muck

“In 1930, G.E. Partridge proposed that the title of psychopath be changed to sociopath, for he viewed this illness as a social problem instead of a mental illness. In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) acted on this suggestion by officially replacing the term psychopath with the term sociopath. But to this day, the two terms are used interchangeably (Culwell, 1998).
In 1968, the APA again changed the title of this illness and merged the two previous terms—psychopath and sociopath—under the label of antisocial personality disorder (APD). According to the DSM III (1980), DSM III-R (1987), and DSM-IV (1994)—Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—diagnostic manuals, which have been used by psychologists and psychiatrists through the years, the antisocial personality disorder refers to an individual "in which there history of continuous and chronic antisocial behavior in which the rights of others are violated" (Culwell, 1998, p.2).
The World Health Organization (WHO) labeled this disorder in the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, 10 Ed.) as dyssocial personality disorder (Sabbatini, 1998). These terms group the psychopath and sociopath into a single personality disorder—the antisocial—that can be tested and measured.”
—Rebecca Horton (1999)

_________________________________________

Semantics Charade

Historically, it was predictable that two highly political organizations—The American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the World Health Organization (WHO)—would leave academics, clinicians, scientists, and educators confused over diagnostic criteria used to define, categorize, and diagnose potentially violent individuals by a charade of clinical taxonomies—
• psychopathy
• sociopathy
• antisocial
• dyssocial

Experimental neuropsychology (cutting-edge clinical research utilizing high-resolution brain imaging (neuroscans), and reliable psychometrics, such as Hare Psychopathy Checklist) were not so summarily confused. Hard evidence from research does not confound neuropsychologists who pay little attention to the inaccuracies evident in ongoing qualitative differences between psychopathy, antisocial, and dyssocial terminology in the DSM and in The International Classification of Diseases, 10 Edition (ICD-10).

Today, research literature supports the spectrum psychopathy pedigree while the terms “sociopathy” and “dyssocial” wholly reflective of social influences and pop culture zeitgeist, while welcome in discourse, are substantially unnecessary with what we know about psychopathy. So called “interchangeable” terms are confusing and unnecessary.

It’s beyond time for forensic scientists to wake up and smell the human species—a smart, heavy-brained species with survival criteria prewired in the brain that has been and continues to be subject to empirical study. Why would brains not come factory-wired with a neurochemical and cortical advantages for surviving?

Psychopathic Personality Disorder

Criteria for violent psychopathy (Jacobs, 2010) represent a 180-degree gradation away from nature’s strategy of thriving and surviving by committee of facile deception, lying, and manipulation of others. As a disorder and perversion of normal psychopathy, violent sexual predators display a lifelong rapacious mind characterized by violent predatory behavior. As indicated below, criminal minds “marked” with severe gradations of spectrum psychopathy are quantitatively different and far removed from representing the apparently intended brilliance of species Homo sapiens.

Here’s are the major qualitative differences between DSM criteria for “personality” disorders versus spectrum psychopathy from the neuro-adaptive variety across to moderate varieties and terminating with severe psychopathy as a personality disorder using the exact lexicon in the DSM’s personality disorders section on Personality Disorders: “Only when personality traits are inflexible and maladaptive and cause significant functional impairment or subjective distress do they constitute Personality Disorders” (DSM-IV-TR, pg. 686, 2000). This definition of DSM authenticity in diagnostic evaluation of personality disorders (such as Narcissistic, Borderline, or Antisocial personality disorders) entirely misses the mark in all gradations of spectrum psychopathy.

Here’s our argument: First, in mild gradations of psychopathy, the umbrella of deception, intended to manipulate outcomes, is entirely flexible and highly adaptable; this adaptability is characteristic of psychopathy across the spectrum accounting for advantages in survivability. For example, successful con artists thrive and often get monetarily rich with deceptive behavior, while “unsuccessful ones” get caught and pay for their crimes often with a “slap on the hand.”

In severe types, Ted Bundy presented a deceptively engaging persona (a law student on his way to a thriving career in politics). No one but his prey “saw” the real Ted. Months after his capture, former attorneys who knew Bundy said publically “You have the wrong guy!”

If psychopathy were inflexible and maladaptive, it would never serve the brain as an agent in evolution for thriving and surviving.

Psychopathy as a natural condition and as a disorder may never be detected or through use of cleaver ruses may dodge detection for years.

In another extreme example, John Wayne Gacy presented himself as an outstanding and involved citizen as chapter president of his town’s National Organization of Jaycees; he deceived others by seeming to be community involved by employing youthful workers, many of whom ended up dead and buried in the crawlspace of his modest home.

The list of violent psychopathic personalities (especially of the organized typology) contain similar deceptions of engaging and socially adapt individuals appearance-wise, yet all the while, deceiving others out of reputations and/or their lives due to their facile deception as a gift from evolutionary development.

Second, psychopaths across the spectrum are not functionally impaired, nor do they experience subjective emotional distress. Far from it, they feel a grandiose sense of entitlement—a “bullet-proof vest” for life doing whatever they chose feeling guiltless and remorseless in the process; they know “down deep” targeted prey “had it coming”. This psychopathic mindset amounts to the complete phenomenological opposite of the DSM’s definition of personality disorder, for example, antisocial personality disorder, where the antisocial is saturated by subjective distress knowing that capture means “hard time”. The antisocial may feel real regret for committing the crime knowing he faces incarceration yet again.

In contrast, psychopaths remain guiltless, free from the burden of conscience and free to kill again.

While the antisocial variety of criminals often have “careers” punctuated by long stints of incarceration, psychopaths often have long undetected careers, in some cases, spanning thirty years before apprehension as occurred in the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway and others.

Here’s one key to understanding our persistent paradigmatic shift away from accentuating sociologically-inspired etiologies: whatever bad treatment (or good treatment) may have occurred in social milieu including drug abuse, the same influences must still be expressed as chemical analogues of behavior in the brain as fuses to action. So at the end of the day, social factors alone must be merged with the brain’s nature within the construct of spectrum psychopathy.
Brakes on Criminality: The PFC

In normally wired prefrontal cortices (PFC), this region becomes the default setting for mitigating or restraining inappropriate behavior woven into action from emotional and reward centers of the midbrain limbic system—perhaps the prime activation center for evolutionary psychopathy.


Prefrontal Cortices: Orbitofrontal (OFPFC), Dorsolateral (DLPFC), &
Ventromedial (VMPFC)

The adult brain with strong PFC control trumps the dangerous impulsivity of the adolescent-oriented MLS. According to neuroscans of the brain, brainstorming—creating cognitive ideas and then mulling them over—occurs primarily in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) inside the frontal lobes. Adding an additional layer of feelings about possible options comprises the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC); deciding and choosing behavioral action by “doing it” is the function of the orbitofrontal prefrontal cortex (OFPFC).

If psychopathy across a spectrum is indeed wired by gradations into Homo sapient brains from birth, the only sure way to mitigate or lessen impulsivity, narcissism, entitlement, deception, and lying is by precocious development of the PFC and then by degrees, its full maturity with age. By age 25-30, adult responsibility emerges as the way our central nervous system learns from experience through maturation.

To be sure, when crime scene investigators and profilers don’t understand the brain, they really don’t understand the criminal. They fail to account for how powerful psychopathy can be in directing behavior into endless scenarios of lying and deception.

Deviant Sexual Fantasies

While it is true that both psychopathic and antisocial-personality prone individuals habitually perform acts that are deceitful, hurtful, conning, or manipulative for personal profit and pleasure, here’s the difference between severe psychopaths and antisocial criminals: In contrast to the antisocial criminal, the severe psychopath is characterized by possessing deviant sexual fantasies earmarked by obsession, and eroticism often associated with hypersexuality characterizing crimes as sexual homicides committed by serial killers. Interesting, these perverse fantasies have roots in the mildly psychopathic brain as evidenced by the rich imagination of children. Children are notorious for creating imaginary friends and “telling parents things that did not really happen,” further proof of the central importance of fantasies in spectrum psychopathy in early in development.

Neurological glitches suggested by blunt affect (an expressionless face), and/or histrionic affect (or inappropriate facial expressions such as smiling at sad news when an expression of sadness would be appropriate), signal the requisite lack of positive regard for anyone—a kind of misanthropic psychopathy—the hallmark of severe (violent) psychopathy.

Although psychopaths account for about 15 to 20% of the total prison population, they nonetheless, count for more than 50% of violent crimes. In violent crime, learning to see the true self beyond deception is the challenge of modern interdisciplinary forensic scientists.

According to Jose Sanmartin in (Violence and Psychopathy, Raine, Ed., 2001): “Psychopaths have a peculiar, striking affect disorder—superficial pleasantness, facile lying, and the capacity to kill in cold blood. In some cases, cold blood best captures what is most characteristic about the violent psychopath.”

First Degree Psychopathy: Mild Spectrum Psychopathy

Representing evolutionary mandated behavior geared toward survival of the fittest—what we call “First Degree Psychopathy”—absent other pathologies, individuals who present mild gradations of psychopathy possess the prototypical brain best suited to thrive and survive in competitive society. They, themselves would not recognize this powerful evolutionary dynamic inherent in their deceptive charms in social interactions; for sure their own glitter is self-evident—they anticipate getting whatever they want by just being themselves; but in the process they miss the glue, that is, the reason why they’re doing it—they just do what comes natural.

Hubristic Psychopathy

As researchers have consistently shown, psychopathy exists across a spectrum, ranging from the non-violent (or mild) garden-varieties to violent (or severe) types. My term for mild to moderate varieties of psychopathy is hubristic psychopathy. (Hubris is defined as an overbearing arrogance woven into the fabric of personality (and, of course, the brain) characterized by misuses of power—political, celebrity, or otherwise to victimize “prey” for sexual stimulation, or as easy “marks” for financial abuse or philandering escapades.) The recent philandering exploits of pro golfer, Tiger Woods, “living a lie” in his words, is a salient example of hubristic psychopathy. Besides Woods, poster boys for hubristic psychopathy can be visualized to have personality characteristics of Bill Clintonesque persona of lies and deceit characterized his relations with female acquaintances, notably publicized antics with Paula Jones, Jennifer Flowers, and Monica Lewinsky.

Hubristic psychopaths won’t kill you, but they will disgust you…when all the facts are disclosed. Hubristic psychopathy (Jacobs, 2004) shows that not all psychopaths are violent, not by a long shot, but they are deceptive.

In spectrum psychopathy as the gradation dial moves just beyond the moderate varieties, darker designs of personality emerge such as “an abusive nature” or cold-blooded violence without remorse or guilt. The “moderates” in the middle will seldom if ever display physical violence, but may display verbal abusive and become architects of toxic relationships. But seldom are they incarcerated as “unsuccessful psychopaths”. Paul Babiak refers to hubristic psychopaths as “psychopaths in suits” acknowledging deceptively “smooth operators” in corporate America who “smile in your face, then stab you in the back” all the while lying compulsively and stealing whatever they want as observed by “wealth manager” Bernard Madoff who swindled investors out of $65 billion never publically showing remorse.


Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

Professor Robert Hare, Ph.D. and colleagues are perhaps the researchers most responsible today for our current understanding of spectrum psychopathy. In this second presentation of psychopathic traits, we factor into the standard 20 measurable items Factor I traits (Interpersonal) and Factor II traits (Social Deviance).

Source: Hare psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

Factor I: Interpersonal/Affective Expression

Factor One Traits
1. Glibness/superficial charm
2. Grandiose sense of self-worth expressed as pompous
arrogance
3. Pathological (compulsive) lying
4. Conning & manipulative
5. Lack of remorse or guilt
6. Shallow affect (lack of emotional depth)
7. Callous & lack of empathy
8. Failure to accept self-responsibility

Additional Factors

9. Promiscuous sexual behavior
10. Criminal versatility

Factor II: Social Deviance

Factor Two Traits
11. Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
12. Parasitic lifestyle (living off others)
13. Poor behavioral controls (unpredictability; never learning
from mistakes)
14. Early behavioral problems
15. Lack of realistic, long-term goals
16. Impulsivity
17. Irresponsibility
18. Juvenile delinquency
19. Early exposure to criminal justice system
20. Many short-term marital relationships


Moral Depravity

English physician, J.C. Prichard (1835), viewed psychopathy as “a form of mental derangement in which intellectual faculties were unaffected, but moral principles of mind were depraved or perverted”. Furthermore, he viewed psychopathy as a personality disorder “consisting of a morbid perversion of natural feelings, affections, inclinations, temper, moral dispositions, and natural impulses without any remarkable disorder or defect of interest or knowing and reasoning faculties, and particularly without any insane illusions or hallucinations. Obviously, Prichard embraced the negative symptoms of extreme psychopathy.

Therefore, the violent sexual psychopath is impaired morally, affectively (emotionally), and sexually, but not intellectually. (The connotation of word “moral” in the 19th century denoted more of a psychological implication rather than an ethical one.)

Female Partners of Spectrum Non-Violent Psychopaths

Consensual sex partners to spectrum psychopaths (mild to moderate varieties) may or may not leave, even when sexual abuse or general spousal abuse become chronic. On occasion, psychopaths can show restraint. Even serial killer Ted Bundy’s girlfriend raised her young daughter around the apartment she shared with Bundy. While the girlfriend was often subjected to “kinky sex,” Bundy never harmed her daughter as far as anyone knows.

It took eight years for Mary Jo Buttafuoco to leave her husband Joey after his underage sexual paramour Amy Fisher shot her in the face on the stoop of Mary Jo and Joey’s home. In her book, Getting It Through My Thick Skull (2009) she “tells all”—why she stayed, what she learned, and why millions of people involved with sociopaths (her term) need to know. (A ‘sociopath’ from an earlier section is a similar term from sociology to the preferred term ‘psychopath’). On her website, Mary Jo describes the experiences of her husband, Joey Buttafuoco, an obvious spectrum psychopath, whose affair with Amy Fisher, “The Long Island Lolita”, eventually led to Amy’s attempted murder of Mary Jo:

“My ex-husband, Joey, denied the affair, admitted the affair, went to jail, got out of jail, got caught soliciting a prostitute, went back to jail, got out of jail, got divorced (from me) plead guilty to insurance fraud in California, went back to jail, got out of jail, got remarried (I won't even go there!) violated probation and went back to jail, got out and made a porno tape, so far.

Within the cocoon of violence mixed with sexuality, coercive males report a focus on casual sexual relationships with women. They report a strong sex drive without regard to partner intimacy that are often “short and stormy”; they display authoritativeness, show less empathy and more hostile masculinity, prefer sexual variety and uncommitted sex; they view dating as sexual opportunities (Lalumiere & Quinsey, 1996). All the while, they deceive female prey as committed lovers.

Women who stay with spectrum psychopaths are suspected of displaying characteristics of Dependent Personality Disorder much like co-dependent females who stay with abusive alcoholic husbands, and women who profess love for serial murderers often marrying incarcerated sexual predators (such as Ted Bundy and Richard Ramirez) who remain behind bars for life. The women must know deep down they will never be allowed to touch their romanticized husbands.

Could it be that females are capable of doing ANYTHING for love, while males are capable of doing ANYTHING for sex?

Third Degree Psychopathy: Sexually Motivated Male Serial Killer

An Interdisciplinary Monster

By: Ashleigh Portales Edited by: Don Jacobs

Introduction
In 1888, the gas lit fog of London’s Whitechapel district cloaked the identity of a monster who roamed shadowy alleyways in search of the perfect prey. Time and again, daylight cleared the fog to reveal the bodies of prostitutes, murdered and mutilated by an unseen hand. As the aptly named “Jack the Ripper” kept at his gruesome work, fear and fascination spread like wildfire through the city and around the globe. The modern serial killer was born. Ever since, this enigma has held lured the public into its deadly grip and refused to let go. A plethora of books and movies feed society’s hunger for entertainment with plots centered around fictional fiends with a thirst for blood and as many more books and websites exist, giving glimpses of the real thing, spouting information gleaned from trial transcripts and interviews given behind bars. But no matter how many Hollywood horrors are seen or read, the question always left echoing in the public mind is, “Why?”

What makes a man into a murderer who kills multiple victims without any obvious reason or remorse? Who are these men and what is their ultimate motivation? This question has confounded lawmen and laymen alike for more than a hundred years. The historic question between warring disciplines has been that of nature versus nurture; are serial killers born or made? Scholars from various disciplines have put forth explanations for a piece or two of this complex puzzle but have fallen short of interlocking the disjointed pieces into a unified ‘big picture.’ What many are lacking is the ability or desire to search for the answer beyond the confines of their own disciplinary boundaries. The interest and knowledge generated by multiple disciplines has failed to comprehensively address and explain this deadly problem looming within society (Repko, 2005). More than just a weekend blockbuster, serial killers are a genuine threat America, and the world, cannot afford to ignore. It is precisely this situation in which the interdisciplinarian flourishes.

Before the problem can be tackled it must be clearly defined. While a wealth of information exists on the topic of serial murder, the definition of such can vary greatly between studies. It would be dangerous to apply generalizations made about one type of killer to another, so the range of focus must be narrowed in order to deal appropriately with each individual type of killer. This paper will focus specifically on sexually motivated, male perpetrated serial homicide, which will be defined as the unlawful killing, by a male, of three or more victims with a ‘cooling-off’ period separating each offense. The length of the ‘cooling-off’ period varies from one offender to the next, and can be as short as a few days or weeks or as long as several months or years.

The sexual aspect of the murders can be seen, either overtly or symbolically, in the condition in which the offender leaves the crime scene. Positioning of the body, sexual assault of the victim, method of killing, and the taking of trophies are all examples which reveal the offender’s underlying motivations for the killings (Jacobs, 2003; Knight, 2006; Myers, Husted, Safarik, & O’Toole, 2006; Salfati & Bateman, 2005). While serial killers can certainly be female, both their methods and motivations tend to differ greatly from those of their male counterparts. As such, they should be dealt with separately so as to provide the most accurate analysis and to avoid inaccurate and irrelevant generalizations.

One area where the gender of the killer does not carry as much weight is in the emotional cores of the public. Whether the killer is male or female, ‘murder’ is a thing which literally stops us dead in our tracks. Perhaps one reason the word ‘murder’ resonates so deeply within people is that it takes one from a position of control to one of victimization in which the consequences are most dire: an abrupt, unplanned, and often untimely cessation of existence. For this reason, the most logical approach to sexualized serial murder would be from those disciplines dealing most directly with that same human life and existence in all its various facets, namely biology, sociology, and psychology. It is the general assumption of all these disciplines that these types of killers lie at the extreme end of the psychological diagnosis of psychopathy.

Psychopathy manifests in emotional detachment, a display of glib superficial charm, lack of guilt and/or remorse, and a callous attitude toward others. He is egocentric, manipulative, irresponsible, and lacks behavioral control (Blair, 2007; Dembo, Jainchill, Turner, Fong, Farkas, & Childs, 2007; Jacobs, 2003; Keeney & Heide, 1994; Knight, 2006; Muller 2003; Roberts & Coid, 2007). Psychopaths are cognizant of the legality their behaviors but fail to grasp moral and ethical acceptability within society. According to Raine and Yang (2006),
Regarding basic cognitive processes involved in moral decision-making, at a fundamental level there is little question that almost all criminal and psychopathic individuals know right from wrong…Psychopaths show excellent (not poor) moral reasoning ability when discussing hypothetical situations – their real failure comes in applying their excellent moral conceptual formulations to guiding their own behavior (p.209).

Therefore, the term sexual psychopath is synonymous with sexually motivated serial killer and sexually psychopathic serial killer and the terms will be used interchangeably throughout this text.

Biology is, by its very definition, a ‘life science.’ Concerned with the physiological mechanisms of living organisms, the biological discipline explains the inner workings of a killer at the neurological level. Beginning from the base of existence, biology begins with the neuron to address both proper functioning in brain regions as well as the ways in which dysfunction can interfere with normal behaviors. To the biologist, the efficiency of an organism’s structural foundations and chemical processes predetermine much of the potential for that life. Biology also attempts to find a genetic link for homicidal behavior. Information in this area is still highly experimental and sketchy, however, and so will not be covered here.

Sociology, a social science, adds the next layer of understanding by focusing on group dynamics and characteristics. Sociology ascertains the demographics of serial killers based on factors such as socioeconomic status, familial history of abuse and neglect, and the general state of one’s environment, to name just a few. To the sociologist, an individual is born as a ‘blank canvas,’ the purpose and identity of which is to be defined and influenced by factors largely beyond the individual’s control. People are, in a sense, slaves to their environment. Behaviors are geared toward to acquisition of social status. For serial killers, this can either be to attain a status he never had, whether within the killer’s own family group or a cult-like celebrity media status, or to regain that which he feels was taken from him.

Psychology, a behavioral science, deals with the inner thoughts and feelings, and behavior of individuals. As applied to serial murder, psychology deals with the killer from the inside out. Knowledge is gained by delving into the offenders’ deviant thought processes and deciphering how these cognitive deficits explain both predatory and crime scene behaviors. A psychologist sees the killer as an independent individual entity who considers and chooses his behaviors based on personal desires and motivations.

In the interdisciplinary arena, these disciplines will converge on the topic of sexualized serial murder to address the question of “Why?” To catch a killer you must become deeply aware of who he is and anticipate his next step before he even knows he is going to take it. This cannot be done without an adequate interdisciplinary comprehension of the male sexually motivated serial killer. This knowledge will be gained through an exploration of current disciplinary literature and expertise addressing serial murder and its perpetrators, resulting in an integration of the disciplinary insights to create a deeper and more holistic understanding of these killers and where they come from.

Background
Since Cain killed Abel in the book of Genesis, humans have known that murder existed. However, the sexualized serial form of this utmost transgression would be a crime hidden in myth and folklore for many centuries yet. Ancient ancestral legends tell of werewolves, hideous creatures and prowlers of the night who, armed with supernatural power and a thirst for blood, crouched ready to pounce on any unsuspecting victim. To find such a creature, one must simply follow the path of bloody crime scenes and mutilated corpses left in his wake. Documentation of these horrific tales dates back to at least sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe, where the apex of knowledge lay in religion and superstition. Such murders were attributed to shape shifting human-wolves, men by day and creatures by night, attacking victims one after the other while most of the town slept blissfully.

In 1573 in France, one such werewolf and hermit was hunted down by a mob of villagers after killing and cannibalizing a number of the town’s children. Gilles Garnier was ultimately burned at the stake for being a werewolf (Jacobs, 2003). The next century marked the twenty-five year murderous time of Peter Stubbe in Cologne, Germany. His shape shifting abilities were documented by local historians as being such that his “eyes [became] great and large, which in the night sparkled like brands of fire; mouth great and wide, with sharp and cruel teeth, a huge body and mighty claws” (Jacobs, 2003, p.4). Like Gilles before him, Stubbe was eventually executed as a werewolf, but not before it was learned that he used his daughter, with whom he had an incestuous relationship, to aid him in luring victims to their death.

Today, we know these “creatures” were not mythical human/animals and that this tale belief most likely rose out of a combination of a fear of wolves who lived in the woods surrounding the villages as well as a genuine psychiatric condition known in modern times as lycanthropy, in which patients actually believe themselves to wolves. As such, they howl at the moon, run on all fours, and generally engage in wolf-like behaviors (Jacobs, 2003). While the supernatural nature of these killers was only a myth, the killers themselves and their crimes were all too real, and unfortunately not just a historic occurrence.

The likes of Gilles and Stubbe have carried on from generation to generation. With the advent of modern mediums of information such as the telegraph, telephone, radio, television, and internet, knowledge of these modern serial killers spreads quickly around the world. Though Jack the Ripper was one of the first, he has certainly not been the last. From Ed Gein (the inspiration for Hitchcock’s Norman Bates and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre) to Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, modern serial killers are somewhat of a household name Popular culture even assigns them catchy monikers like “The Night Stalker,” “The Green River Killer,” and “BTK” (an acronym for this particular killer’s method: bind, torture, kill).

Thankfully, not every murder is a serial one and, in the grand scheme of all crimes committed, serial killers actually represent a very small fraction. Yet they are by far the most fascinating and, however rare, they have the ability to capture public attention and strike fear in the hearts of millions like no other criminal can. The fact is, they do exist. According to FBI estimates, at any given moment in the United States an average of fifty serial killers are operating in various stages of their careers (Jacobs, 2003).

While each killer may prefer his own specific type of victim, no one is initially excluded from the possibility of falling prey to one of these modern monsters. Who are these monsters and where do they come from? In search of an informed, intelligent answer void of the superstitious ignorance of the past, we must look to the current disciplinary literature.
Disciplinary Perspectives, Evidence, and Insights

Biology
To function intelligently, living organisms must possess a brain, the advance and complex functioning of which sets humans apart from all other creatures on the planet. Yet just as the power and capacity of the brain places humans at the top of the biological order of life, it may be this very same organ which likens some humans more to the predatory animals which they are supposed to rank above. Mounting biological evidence suggests that parts of the brain, especially the regions of the frontal cortices, located at the front of the brain behind the forehead and eyes, and the amygdala, a more ancient structure lying toward the center and back of the brain, play a significant role in the adaptation of a serial killer. The frontal cortices are divided into several smaller areas, all of which aid in the experience, integration, and expression of emotion (Blair, 2007; Hoaken, Allaby, & Earle, 2007; Vollm, Richardson, McKie, Elliott, Dolan, & Deakin, 2007).

The amygdala helps to associate, through experience and learning, which actions and objects have positive social connotations and which are to be avoided (Blair, 2007). Such roles suggest these areas, relative to normal control subjects, will be significantly dysfunctional in the psychopathic brain. Neuroscientists are testing this theory in two ways: structural and functional MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging). Structural MRIs depict the actual anatomy of the brain while functional MRIs (fMRIs) are able to display activation of specific brain regions in response to stimuli by color-coding blood oxygenation levels and glucose consumption (Vollm et al., 2007). These MRIs create tangible evidence of the psychopathic killer’s characteristic deficiency in emotional interpretation and moral reasoning, propensity toward illegal and impulsive actions, and the amount of overkill left behind at their crime scenes.

Biological dysfunction in moral reasoning and emotional interpretation. In a study by Kiehl et al.(2004), normal and criminal psychopathic subjects were presented with words of both concrete (e.g. legal, illegal, etc.) and abstract (e.g. morality, fault, justice, compassion, etc.) content while undergoing fMRI analysis. Criminal psychopaths “fail[ed] to show the appropriate neural differentiation between abstract and concrete stimuli” in the frontal cortices (p. 297). These alarming results explain serial killers’ lack of remorse, believing their actions were not wrong (an abstract concept) even though the killer knew at the time that such actions were illegal (a concrete concept). If the processing areas for abstraction are dysfunctional, psychopaths’ conceptions of morality are abnormal, and therefore killing for pleasure is not deemed ‘wrong’ in their minds.

According to Blair (2007), “healthy individuals distinguish conventional and moral transgressions in their judgments from the age of 39 months” (p. 387). However, psychopathic brains are dysfunctional in regions concerned with moral reasoning and measuring others’ emotions and distress. This dysfunctionality “disrupts the avoidance of actions leading to emotionally aversive consequences (e.g. actively killing another person) shown by healthy individuals in moral reasoning paradigms” (p. 391). This dulled response to what is normally considered right or wrong and to the pain inflicted on victims allows the sexual psychopath to murder purely for his pleasure.
In another study, participants were asked to identify the emotion being displayed in a photograph of a facial expression. The group of violent offenders tested showed significantly more errors in identifying such emotions than did the normal controls (Hoaken et al., 2007). A serial killer’s blunted sense of emotional perception finds victims’ emotions irrelevant, allowing him to use victims to satisfy his own sadistic desires. The psychopath’s dulled responses to the anxiety and suffering his action cause is precisely why he can murder and enjoy it; his brain never lets him feel bad about it because it fails to register any emotion but his own perverted elation. Additionally, in faces displaying a neutral expression, violent offenders were more likely to incorrectly identify the emotion as disgust (Hoaken et al., 2007).

In retrospect, sexually motivated serial killers will often say that, before killing them, they felt their victims looked down on them or were disgusted by them, furthering the killer’s anger. Hoaken’s (2007) results suggest these killers may have a neurological basis for the misinterpretation of such facial expressions.

Interestingly, biological evidence exists to suggest that this extreme type of psychopathy begins in infancy rather than later in the developmental process. According to Raine and Yang (2006), acquired psychopathy arises from accidental brain damage suffered in adulthood and produces some psychopathic behaviors without the loss of moral judgment. However, in infants with brain damage/lesions occurring within the first 16 months of life, the subsequent psychopathy includes a lack of moral reasoning. Both children with a psychological diagnosis of early-onset conduct disorder and incarcerated psychopaths have shown structural deficits in temporal lobe volume. The precursors for psychopathy and serial killing can often be seen in childhood, if anyone is paying enough attention to notice. These findings lend credit to the idea that serial sexual homicidal psychopathy is a disorder which begins to rear its ugly head earlier in life, continuing on a track of gradual progression to adulthood, where full fruition is realized in the form of literal human monsters.

Biological propensity toward illegal and impulsive actions. A 2005 study by Yang et al. (2005) used a structural MRI to image the brains of unsuccessful psychopaths (those who had been caught), successful psychopaths (those who had evaded capture), and normal individuals, focusing on the amount of gray matter in the prefrontal cortex. The results indicated that unsuccessful psychopaths had significantly less prefrontal gray matter than did their successful counterparts. This lack of prefrontal matter, when combined with “poor decision making [and] reduced autonomic reactivity to cues predictive of punishment [could] render unsuccessful psychopaths less sensitive to environmental cues signaling danger and capture and hence be more prone to conviction” (p.1106-1107). Moreover, the prefrontal gray volume of the successful psychopaths did not differ greatly from that of the normal subjects. This could account for a successful psychopath’s “cognitive resources to manipulate and con others successfully, as well as sufficiently good decision-making skills in risky situations to avoid legal detection and capture”(p.1107).

It is noteworthy that this study was structural and not functional. While a lack of prefrontal gray matter may explain unsuccessful behaviors, a successful psychopath’s gray volume does not imply proper functioning. Instead, the successful sexual psychopath uses this volume to perfect the art of murder and evasion. Frighteningly, such monsters have the neural capacity to be highly intelligent and cunning, sometimes evading capture for decades. Examples of this can be seen in the cases of Dennis Rader, “BTK,” and Gary Leon Ridgeway, “The Green River Killer,” both of whom managed to evade police and continue killing victims for multiple decades. Though such serial killers know their actions are illegal, faulty frontal cortices intended to be the ‘brakes’ of social inhibition allow murderous impulses originating in more primitive brain regions to pass into action.

Impulsivity, a hallmark of psychopathy, causes “individuals [to] focus on the prospect of reward even if environmental cues indicate possible later punishment”(Vollm et al., 2007, p.152). FMRIs showed no significant response to reward stimuli in the prefrontal cortices of criminally psychopathic individuals. Additionally, a negative correlation existed between one’s level of impulsivity and the strength of prefrontal response (Vollm et al., 2007). Dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter in the brain, produces pleasure when released. Sexual activity, either normal or deviant, is one of the means by which humans experience a flood of dopamine (Kalat, 2004). Unable to experience pleasure and reward by normal means, the sexually motivated serial killer finds his dopamine rush in sexualized serial murder.

Biological underpinnings for aggression and overkill. As with anything, sensations reach a saturation point at which pleasurable highs are no longer produced without an increase in the level of the stimulus. In the case of sexually psychopathic serial killers, this creates an ever increasing need for higher intensity stimuli to produce the desired feelings, resulting in a progression of violence as the killer continues his career. This level of violence is often described as overkill, meaning that much more was done to the victim than was required to end his or her life. In an fMRI study subjecting such psychopathic individuals to positive images(e.g. happy couples, puppies) and negative images (e.g. heavily wounded people, threatening animals and faces), results indicated “deficient function of the emotion-related brain circuit” (Muller et al., 2003, p.157). Specifically, negative images activated areas of hyper arousal, suggesting intense focus, and a potential correlation between the psychopathic killer’s deviant obsession with creating grotesque and sadistic crime scenes.

Furthermore, positive images evoked responses in areas associated with antagonism, possibly reflecting the intense anger felt toward victims representative of the positive existence the killer cannot attain for himself. This hatred then manifests in overkill.

Another reason for overkill is the release of pent-up frustration felt by the killer, which has also been shown to have neurological roots. In an experiment where rewards for correct responses were delayed and unpredictable, psychopaths showed increased activity in the amygdala, an area linked to feelings of frustration. The same study also revealed a greater overall sensitivity to, and frustration with, loss of an expected reward (Vollm et al., 2007). A key element in serial crime is the offender’s frustration in his own life. He seeks the control he has never had by dominating over another in death, a behavior which could be fostered by the amygdala’s reaction to his frustrations.

Summary. Overwhelmingly, the evidence suggests that brain regions, especially the frontal cortices and amygdala, are dysfunctional in sexually psychopathic serial killers. “Taken together, the best replicated brain imaging abnormality found to date across a wide variety of antisocial groups, across structure and function and across different imaging methodologies is the PFC” (Raine et al., 2006, p. 205-206). Mounting scientific evidence also suggests widespread structural and functional impairments in the amygdala, hippocampus, temporal cortex, anterior cingulated, and angular gyrus (Raine et al., 2006).Yet no one brain region stands alone. Rather, the brain develops in a ‘bottom-up’ fashion, beginning with the most primitive, reptilian regions and continuing upward to the newer, more sophisticated areas of functioning. Such development creates interdependence among brain regions. For this reason, it is not surprising that multiple areas function abnormally in a killer’s brain. In the opinion of Raine et al (2006), the likely culprit for the serial killer’s development of psychopathy is not one single brain region, but rather in the factor that “the greater the number of neural impairments across different cognitive and affective domains related to an antisocial lifestyle, the higher the likelihood of an antisocial outcome” (p.206).

The whole brain is engaged in psychopathy.

This makes perfect sense, as we know that each brain region is interdependent on others. Once introduced, sexual psychopathy spreads like a disease, finally overtaking its host. By adulthood, psychopathy has infected every part of the dysfunctional brain; it grew there and was perpetuated upward.

Sociology
In stark contrast to biologists, who find roots for psychopathy and eventual serial killing in the basic structures and functions of the human body, “sociologists reject any emphasis on the genetic roots of crime and deviance” (Schaefer, 2008, p.194). According to Schaefer (2008), sociology defines deviance as behavior that is not necessarily criminal but “that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society” (p.190). Every human is born into a society. It is this society, in all its facets, which shapes who that person will become, how he will think, feel, behave, and perceive himself and others. This shaping is done primarily through the process of socialization, in which members of a particular culture learn what is normal and acceptable in the way of attitudes, values, and behaviors (Schaefer, 2008). Socialization can come in many forms, the most prominent of which is family, followed by school, peer groups, mass media, the workplace, religion, and the government. For any given individual, a list can be developed of the specific influences that made him who he eventually turned out to be.

Sociologists have developed just such a list of environmental factors which perpetuate a breeding ground ripe for male sexualized serial killers. According to sociologists, these unique criminals are often illegitimate children from broken, adopted, or dysfunctional families in which alcoholic and/or drug addicted parents subject their children to a life of abuse and/or neglect. Fathers are often absent, either from a literal or physical standpoint, with the physically present ones generally characterized as harsh and controlling. Mothers tend to swing in one of two directions: either they smother and overpower the child or reject him completely, treating him with hatred and contempt. Many of these killers begin to abuse alcohol and/or drugs themselves at an early age and ease into a criminal career with early petty crimes. They are commonly of low to average intelligence levels and exhibit behaviors consistent with the MacDonald Homicidal Triad (enuresis at an inappropriate age, fire starting, and cruelty to animals) which will be discussed in further detail later (Knight, 2006; Singer, 2004). Current disciplinary literature focuses on two components of the childhood and adolescent years as principal indicators of later serial killing behavior: a history of childhood abuse and/or neglect and the early display of criminally deviant behavior.

History of childhood abuse and/or neglect. There is no debate that murdering innocent victims in a serial fashion is an antisocial behavior. But the answer to where that behavior originates has multiple possibilities. According to a study by Beaver and Wright (2007), “the origins of antisocial behavior are found very early in life – well before adolescence” (p.656). From the earliest point of life, a child is with his family, an entity which many sociologists contend is a prime factor in the development of sexually motivated serial killers. According to the functionalist view of the family, six integral functions are to be played by this small group: reproduction, protection, socialization, regulation of sexual behavior, affection and companionship, and provision of social status (Schaefer, 2008). In fact, the family is considered the primary agent of socialization and the most important influence in the development of the self. When this primary support system and source of personal identity fails, the results can be long-lasting and devastating.

For a child to develop normally and healthily, the primary caretakers must do two crucial things: take and express joy in the child, which develops self-esteem, and support the child when negative experiences occur, which lays the foundation for healthy coping strategies (Knight, 2006). Knight (2006) further states that:
As a child the serial killer would not have discovered his or her ‘capacity to light up the mother’s face’ and thus there would have been no sense of visibility and ‘recognition in the eyes of the other.’ These children would have experienced a profound sense of rejection and low self-esteem (p.1197).

It would not necessarily take harsh physical abuse to retard normality in these key developmental areas. All that is required is an emotional vacancy on the part of the parent. Physical presence without the companion of love and attentiveness are just as, if not more, devastating to a child than a slap or a punch. This says to the child that he is not important to the parent and therefore has no worth as a person. In the role of the serial killer, this feeling of invisibility and inadequacy remains from childhood. The killer is saying to his victim, “Notice me. Be aware of who I am and what I can do.” In essence, the victim is paying for the crimes of all those who failed to give the killer the recognition he feels he deserves (this may be either real or fantastic). The kill is his moment to stand up and be counted, pacification for all the times he was overlooked and unappreciated.

As previously mentioned, sexually motivated serial killers lie at the extreme end of the psychopathological spectrum. Such a continuum also exists for parenting styles and abilities. At the extremely negative end of this spectrum lies antisocial parenting, defined by Jacobs (2003) as:
The most damaging and destructive type of loveless and hateful parenting most often observed in the development of sexual psychopathy. Antisocial parenting is characterized by a combination of physical, sexual, and/or verbal abuse, alcoholism, poly-drug abuse, where compulsive viewing of pornography, prostitution, and spousal abuse occur routinely (p.234).

Knight (2006) states that “ adults who had been physically, sexually and emotionally abused as children were three times more likely than were non-abused adults to act violently as adults” (p.1199). In the lives of serial killers, violence is a learned behavior which becomes a reaction of distress over what has been unjustly done to them. The killer accomplishes two things through violence: he displays the behavior that has been modeled for him and he attempts to alleviate some of his distress by acting out and displacing some of his pain onto a victim. Further research is emerging to suggest that, of all the horrific factors possibly suffered at the hands of antisocial parents, neglect may be the most detrimental to a child’s future and the most likely to gear him toward a future of antisocial behavior and serial killing. This could possibly be because neglect directly affects cognition, with these effects being generally both more pronounced and more permanent than with other types of abuse (Grogan-Kaylor et al., 2003).

Deviant behaviors and MacDonald’s Homicidal Triad. The results of a childhood of violence and neglect emerge as deviant behaviors, a subset of which is MacDonald’s Homicidal Triad. Developed by MacDonald in 1961, the Homicidal Triad represents three key adolescent behaviors considered to be highly predictive of future criminality, especially in the area of sexual psychopathy and serial murder. The Triad consists of enuresis (bedwetting) beyond the age of five, pyromania and fire-setting, and cruelty to animals (Jacobs, 2003; Singer & Hensley, 2004; Wright & Hensley, 2003). Jacobs (2003) further extrapolates that “a cavalier disdain for structure and responsibility is inherent in the triad” (p. 62).

While the presence of one of these behaviors alone may not necessarily indicate a future as a serial killer, it seems to be the culmination of two or more of the behaviors that drastically increases the propensity that a child will develop into sexualized serial murderer. Contemporary researchers are beginning to delve deeper into the individual components of the triad to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of these deviant behaviors, mainly focusing on the behaviors of fire-setting and animal cruelty.

Following in the footsteps of sociologists before them, Singer and Hensley (2004), argue that Social Learning Theory can be applied to the behavior of fire-setting and ultimately to serial murder. In the context of Social Learning Theory, situations in an individual’s life translate into either reward or non-reward experiences, the latter of which bring humiliation and frustration and is thus avoided as much as possible. However, the childhood experiences of serial killers consist mainly of non-reward situations, primarily at the hands of the parents, such that the child learns to anticipate humiliation and frustration in all circumstances and lose the ability to accurately differentiate between the positive and negative.

The problem for serial killers further arises in the fact that, as children, they are under the control of the source of their humiliation and frustration: either one or both of their parents. Therefore, they feel helpless to retaliate in their aggression, an act which would serve to permanently alleviate their frustration anxiety. The fledgling killer is forced to find alternative means for relief, and he finds it in fire-setting, an act which “may be a stepping-stone from which an offender may graduate to more serious forms of aggression and perhaps eventually escalate to murder” (Singer et al., 2004, p.466). This is why the offender must choose alternate victims as representational figures. They cannot retaliate against the primary aggressor in their situation, so they must substitute the next best thing. However, because they are not eliminating the ultimate, original source of their humiliation, the stress always returns, provoking the need for an endless cycle of victims which ends only with the offender’s capture or death.

The next member of the triad behind fire-setting is cruelty to animals. Scholars also believe the Social Learning Theory to be applicable to this behavior for much the same reason, with the release of frustration anxieties being accomplished through the torture and murder of animals the child is able to overpower. Wright & Hensley (2003) further this explanation by applying the Graduation Hypothesis, which states that “animal abusers later progress, or graduate, to more serious forms of violence against humans” (p.75).

In their 2003 study to investigate this hypothesis, Wright and Hensley found not only that violent offenders were considerably more likely to have committed adolescent acts of animal cruelty, but that the specific ways in which they abused the animals mirrored the methods they later used against their human victims. These behaviors, learned in childhood, simultaneously caused the killers to become desensitized to such violence while familiarizing them with the experience of pleasure associated with another being’s pain and suffering.

A supporting study by Hensley and Tallichet (2009) found that the younger the inmate was when he began to commit acts of animal cruelty, the more likely he was to commit multiple acts throughout his childhood, and to have choked the animals he was torturing. Death by asphyxia, or strangulation, is a major factor in sexualized serial murders. This could be a behavioral basis for a later choice of causing deaths in human victims. Other methods examined in this study, such as shooting, hitting, or kicking animals are much less ‘close-up’ and personal than asphyxiation, which involves literally holding the power over another’s life and death in one’s own hands. This is exactly what the serial killer is ultimately searching for—power over that which they have always been subject to. This adolescent behavior could be highly predictive of what is to come later in life for this offender, with the type of victim changing as the offender tries greater and greater things in futile efforts to overcome the frustration with life he has felt since childhood. The Hensley study (2009) also found that “drowning and having sex with an animal were significantly predictive of later repeated aggression toward humans” (p.156).These early behaviors tie sexual pleasure with pain and murder. This experience is then carried into adulthood, the aftermath of which is seen at the crime scene.
Summary. Sociology contends that serial murder is a learned behavior, predicated or caused by factors beyond the control of the individual during the formative years of life. Devastating failures within the familial unit to properly socialize and orient children to themselves and the world around them plant the seed of deviance and psychopathy. That seed is then watered by neglectful, antisocial parenting, which causes the behaviors seen in MacDonald’s Homicidal Triad. In the development of a sexually motivated serial killer, red flags are raised. Warning signs exist. Whether or not they are recognized and properly dealt with is the key to the future of this potential offender and his many victims. Unfortunately, the killer in his infancy is already at a disadvantage where this is concerned because, were he in a situation where abnormal behaviors were noticed and properly treated, then he would not be in the type of environment for the development of those behaviors in the first place.

Psychology
Today, psychology as a neuroscience is the science of mind via analysis of brain. To professionals in this field, behavior is the result of thought processes and patterns, conditioned by the individual over a period of time, perhaps even years, which converge in an instant to produce action. In psychology, all human behaviors fall on a continuum, a spectrum in which normal lies at the approximate middle. Extremes at both ends are considered abnormal and indicative of various disorders and diagnoses. At the extremely severe end of the spectrum of psychopathy and violent crime lies the sexually psychopathic serial murderer. His crimes are especially callous and committed solely for the purpose of reaching personal highs and goals firmly established within his deviant neurocognitive mapping system. As previously described, psychopathy is the condition in which an individual acts without conscience or remorse such that others exist solely for the purpose of pleasing the individual. Others are viewed, used, and abused as simply a means to a pleasurable end for the psychopath. (Blair, 2007; Dembo et al., 2007; Jacobs, 2003; Keeney et al.,1994; Knight, 2006; Muller 2003; Roberts et al., 2007). It is the contention of the field of psychology that sexually psychopathic killers are not insane, but rather perfectly cognizant of the legality of their actions; they simply to murder because it brings them pleasure (Jacobs, 2003; Raine et al., 2006). The ‘gold standard’ for assessing psychopathy is the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) devised by disciplinary pioneer Robert Hare (Roberts et al., 2007).

Psychologists seek to understand the thoughts and feelings inside the mind of the serial killer by such techniques as personal interviews after incarceration and/or by a technique known as “criminal” or “psychological profiling.” Defined by criminal profiler B. Turvey (2006), the term refers to the “process of inferring distinctive personality characteristics of individuals responsible for committing criminal acts from physical and/or behavioral evidence” (p. 681). In the view of a psychological profiler, the offense of murder is not as important as the way in which the crime is committed (Turvey, 2006; Salfati & Bateman, 2005). In the words of Turvey (2006), “the act of homicide is not a motive. It is a behavior that expresses an offender need…The act of rape is not a motive. It is a behavior that expresses other offender needs beyond those of pure sexual gratification” (p. 514). These motivations can often be determined through an evaluation of a specific killer’ “signature,” offender behaviors not necessary for the mechanical completion of the crime but necessary to the offender for the fulfillment of his emotional and/or psychological needs (Jacobs, 2003; Turvey, 2006, Salfati et al., 2005). A unique signature, though it will most likely continue to develop as the offender grows into his killings, will continue to be left at each of the homicides in a series, if the offender is not hindered in leaving it for some reason. If he does not complete this specific behavior, the killing will not be ultimately fulfilling to him. In these behaviors the psychology of the sexually psychopathic serial killer are revealed: his motivations and the ways in which he ‘signs’ these motivations on each crime scene he leaves in his wake.

Offender motivations for sexualized serial murder. Central to the psychological view of serial murder is the idea that sex by itself, just as in rape, is not the major motivation. Rather, sexual gratification have become intertwined in the mind of the killer with power, control, and domination as a result of layer upon layer of deviant cognitive mapping (Jacobs, 2003). A decade ago, Holmes and Holmes (1998) developed a classification system for serial killers that centered on motivation as determined by clues left behind at the crime scenes. These typologies, while insightful, may create so much overlap as to be indistinguishable at times. Further analysis has revealed a central theme of power and control running throughout. “Power and control...are not typical of any one type of serial killing but of serial killings in general” (Canter & Wentink, 2007, p.508). In the killing of another individual, the serial killer is able to claim the power and status he has never been able to grasp in his own life. By becoming the harbinger of life he has elevated himself to god-like status, a position of ultimate power. The sexually psychopathic serial killer derives sexual gratification from the domination of another individual in life and death (Jacobs, 2003). Aside from the visionary killer, who is clinically insane, a serial killer is a sexually psychopathic monster by his very nature. The differences in murder styles, techniques, and behaviors displayed at crime scenes do not necessarily denote a different type of killer but rather a killer whose sexual arousal requires different stimuli than another. The killer does not have to have sex with a victim for the kill to be sexually satisfying to him.

It appears that the specifics of a serial killer’s deviant motivation arise early in life. According to Whitman and Akutagawa (2004), “formative events and experience within the backgrounds of the killers culminated in a cognitive structure necessary to commit murder” (p. 694). Like the discipline of sociology, psychology buys into the idea that neglectful antisocial parenting is critical to the emergence of a serial killer. However, psychology focuses on the inner thoughts and feelings produced by this atrocious upbringing. In general, serial killers have failed to experience essential emotional bonding with the mother since the moment of their birth. According to Whitman et al. (2004):
Extreme deprivation not only causes anxiety, which is countered by destructive urges, but also is a dehumanizing experience in which the child perceives himself as unacceptable, unwanted, and without value. The extent to which a child has been thus dehumanized – as well as through deprivation and physical or sexual abuse – shapes the child’s own capacity to value others as individuals of worth” (p. 697).

Thus begins the development of a “deviant egocentric mindset” (Jacobs, 2003, p.173). Aggression and violence are evident in these killers very early on, even in childhood play (Whitman et al., 2004). MacDonald’s Homicidal Triad is also observed. As the child moves into adolescence and early adulthood, larger sensations than those offered by setting fires and torturing small animals is needed to produce an effect. The answer is often found in pornography, which quickly progress to the hard core variety (Jacobs, 2003).


Since the sexual psychopath has never been truly loved or taught how to properly reciprocate love, he is incapable of having a normal romantic relationship with a partner. This relegates him to more solitary means, which are often initiated by the viewing of such pornography. Masturbation and paraphilias are essentially self-fulfilling satisfactions. Indulging in these practices does not require the participation or enjoyment of another party for the event to produce the desired result. The offender and his fantasies grow and develop in unison, with each deviant thought further establishing the homicidal cognitive map. He can never get enough. Like any other addiction, his brain cries out for more and he is too far gone to resist. The commission of murder is not a sudden ‘snap’ in behavior but rather a final destination in the journey from vivid deviant fantasy into reality. Once this bridge has been crossed there is no return. Murder is forever eroticized in his mind and he is irreversibly changed by this (Myers et al., 2006).

Many people do things for emotional reasons, for example, overeating, over-exercising, and obsessively cleaning. These behaviors are all attempts to fill an emotional void in the life of the person demonstrating the behaviors. In essence, serial killing is a means to the same end, a futile attempt to fill an emotional hole. Just as no amount of food ever creates emotional fulfillment for the obese overeater, no amount of torture, degradation, and murder can do the same for the serial killer. This explains why the violence and overkill often increase with subsequent murders. The fantasy is never made completely real, so the offender tries harder every time to attain perfection and in the kill. This would both increase his status and help to attain the ultimate orgasm he seeks. Yet he can never quite make fantasy and reality meet, so he continues the search for perfection.

Anger has often been postulated as a motivation of serial murder. However, Myers et al. (2006) believe that anger may not be a physically possible motivation for these killings as the biological pathways and neurotransmitters, specifically norepinephrine, enacted by feelings of anger are the same ones that are directly antagonistic to the rigid erection response required for sexual arousal and orgasm at a crime scene. Serial sexual murderers may indeed appear angry at interview. However, this may not be the initial motivation for their crimes but rather a reaction to the normal societal restrictions to their preferred behaviors which are being forced upon the offenders by way of incarceration. The anger may be derived from the very fact that they are not being allowed to hunt and kill freely. When sexually frustrated, even ‘normal,’ non-homicidal men exhibit anger and aggression in their interactions with people. Once again, the issue of an extreme on a behavioral continuum must be considered. Rather than anger as the primary motivation for serial homicide, the cruelty and aggression may be more of a means to an end in that sexual arousal and emotion cannot be attained through any other behaviors. For these killers, anger fuels the fantasy and further perverts the pleasure.

Signature. The signature of a sexually motivated serial killer is just that: a unique behavioral mark left at the crime scene that fulfills some aspect of a specific killer’s psychological fantasy and is essential for his emotional gratification (Jacobs, 2003; Salfati et al., 2005; Turvey, 2006). According to Turvey (2006), an Australian criminal profiler, four basic criteria exist for determining whether or not a behavior is signature in nature:

Takes extra time to complete, beyond more functional MO behavior [modus operandi; the general operating behaviors necessary to the commission of the crime].

Unnecessary for the completion of the crime.

Involves an expression of emotion.

May involve an expression of fantasy (p. 285).

Some example signature behaviors are positioning of the body, the taking of trophies or mementos of the murder including victim possessions or body parts, or pre- or postmortem acts committed against the victim (Jacobs, 2003). Analysis of a killer’s signature provides insight into who the killer is and what he is thinking. “Signature behaviors, therefore, are best understood as a reflection of the underlying personality, lifestyle, and developmental experiences of an offender” (Turvey, 2006, p. 283). It is the ‘why’ behind the ‘what,’ the reason sexually psychopathic serial killers feel compelled to commit horrendous acts of murderous violence against unsuspecting innocent victims. The special care taken with the victim, the specific manners in which the killer binds, tortures, mutilates, or assaults, mean more emotionally to the offender than the death itself. Simply killing without the ‘foreplay’ holds little to no value or satisfaction for him. It is the specific process, scripted out by his individualized deviant cognitive maps, that must be followed if he is to attain the most possible satisfaction from his killings.

The inner hunger to display signature behaviors and bring deviant fantasy to life drives the killer on to murder after murder.

Aside from a killer’s perpetual emotional need, psychologists believe there to be another logical basis for the behavioral repetition of signature: the “cognitive-affective processing system (CAPSP that guide how one processes the features of a situation to produce the resulting behaviors (Salfati et al., 2005, p. 136). Research has revealed that an individual’s CAPS are reliably stable in guiding behaviors such that a person will react in a similar fashion each time he is presented with an analogous set of circumstances (Salfati et al, 2006). CAPS dictate how a person acts in a given situation. If these CAPS have developed on a deviant scheme, an individual will display inappropriate behaviors. Furthermore, if the individual relishes the resulting feelings produced by such behaviors, he will seek to create that situation over and over again in order to re-attain the previous emotional high. Thus, when considering serial murder, what is created is a predator who repeatedly seeks to satisfy himself by forcibly recreating situations from the past where his behaviors have produced sufficient, if ultimately fleeting, satisfaction.

There are some important variations to signature, one being that different offenders may display the same core behavior for completely different emotional and psychological reasons (Turvey, 2006). Each killer is unique in his upbringing and experiences and the crime scenes he creates are likewise. Some behaviors may also arise dependent on the situation and the reactions of the victim. For example, were a victim to scream the killer may introduce the use of a gag whereas he might choose to bind the hands and feet of a victim who attempted escape. However, the underlying theme of each of these behaviors suggests the overall need for control both of the situation and of the victim. Additionally, the goal of the offender may change from one crime scene to the next. Having attained one goal or realizing one part of his fantasy at a previous scene, he may want to attain another, a perverse sort of ‘To-Do List.’ Psychologists must also take into account the mental state of the killer during the commission of the crime. Drug and/or alcohol use may decrease his ability to behave as competently and efficiently as he has in the past. Furthermore, over-confidence and cockiness may cause him to be careless or more risky in his behaviors, ultimately leading to his capture (Salfati & Bateman, 2005). It is the daunting task of the psychologist to sift through the behavioral evidence left at a crime scene to determine motivations specific to a certain killer.

Summary. Rather than rest with the boundaries of quantifiable, tangible physical evidence found at the crime scene, within the anatomic makeup of the killer, or in his past history, psychology attempts to step into the unseen realm of the mind and what takes place in the thoughts of a sexually motivated serial killer. Power and control become abnormally intertwined with sex and eroticism in the deviant minds of these killers such that one cannot be sufficiently attained and enjoyed without the other. The individual emotional and psychological motivations of the killers are left behind at their crime scenes in the form of signatures. Each offender of this type has one, and it can be found if the psychologist is willing to step inside the minds of such monsters in order to seek it out.

Integration and Conclusion
Is it nature or nurture? This great question has plagued mankind since the first ‘werewolf’ struck in the villages of Europe (Jacobs, 2003). Today we are confidently able to say that the answer is ‘both.’ The evolution of sexually motivated serial killer is a complex process begun at birth and spread out over a lifetime. The greatest argument for this reasoning may best be postulated by Knight (2006), who states that “many individuals have negative experiences in childhood and do not become addicts or angry and revengeful serial killers” (p.1201). This is because sociological milieu alone is simply not enough to create a psychopathic serial killer. Indeed, humans do not enter the world as a blank slate, as champions of this discipline would have us believe. Any mother with more than one child will tell you each of her babies was completely and totally his or her own individual personality from the moment that child entered the world. Personality is dually influenced by the internal makeup of temperament and by the external experiences of the environment (Whitman & Akutagawa, 2004).

Without a doubt, there must exist additional biological precursors which are either suppressed or fostered into activity by environmental stimuli. Much like automatic headlights on an automobile turn on when the darkness outside reaches a certain level predetermined by the manufacturer, so the sexual psychopath comes into the world with preset personality traits that lend themselves to the business of serial killing. Were these individuals to be raised in atmospheres of complete sunshine and harmony it is highly unlikely that such tendencies would ever be triggered to the ‘on’ position. While mild traits of generic, garden variety psychopathy might develop, the chances are very slim that individual would ever cross over the one-way threshold into homicide. However, when met with the right atmosphere of toxic circumstances, the darkness around the individual becomes just thick enough to flip the switch and release what has always been stored away in the recesses of the mind. Dysfunctional brain regions are rendered additionally dysfunctional by antisocial, neglectful conditions. This spurs the focus of the individual to sexually deviant fantasies which in turn add to the dysfunctionality of his already bereft brain. Consequently, the vicious cycle continues revolution after depraved revolution until satisfaction lies only in the transport from fantasy into reality.

That these killers display every imaginable criterion for psychopathy is without question. In stark contrast to the crazed killer who has lost his grip on reality, psychopaths are quite sane, a fact which makes them exponentially more frightening. These cold and calculating monsters choose sexualized serial murder because of the emotional reward they feel when their neural pathways are satisfactorily activated through torturing, mutilating, and taking lives. They simply do not operate by the sociological credo which suggests that drastic illegal behavior will be avoided because the risk involved outweighs the possibility of reward (Hoffman, Wolf, & Addad, 1997). They know killing is illegal and are well aware of the stigma capture and conviction bring. However, they kill because they want to. Sometimes the promise of public infamy even sweetens the pot. For the sexual psychopath the reward outweighs the cost. Coupled with the grandiose sense of self from the psychological perspective, society is left with a monster who kills for the joy of it and believes his is so superiorly intelligent that he will be able to continue to do so indefinitely without being detected.

This fact is essential when considering incarceration of these criminals. Someone who enjoys murder can never be allowed to return to mainstream society, as he will return to his favorite pastime as quickly as possible. For a criminal to be rehabilitated, they must have initially been normally habilitated. This has never occurred in the life of the sexually motivated serial killer. Therefore, all rehabilitative efforts will be rendered completely futile. False, and very dangerous, appearances of success arise only from the fact that the psychopath is clever enough to manipulate the system. He learns what to say to please who he must so that he can be released back into the wild to stalk, hunt, and savagely devour his prey like the predatory beast that he is. Only incapacitation or death can stop him, just as only these two factors can remove a wolf from the hunt. Lifelong incarceration or execution is the only options.

The answer to the mystery of sexually motivated serial crime does not lie in a neatly packaged box. There are many facets, reflecting a myriad of influences in the development of these predators without consciences. Unfortunately, this extreme version of psychopathy is an iceberg whose tip we are only beginning to uncover. There exists an undeniable need for further research in this area. Studies similar to the ones referenced here should be replicated, with appropriate updates as needed, to include larger sample sizes and/or longer serials of homicides. Additionally, personal interviews with incarcerated killers are potentially vast resources of information, if conducted by professionals trained to differentiate between truth and the toying and manipulations of such psychopaths.

While the idea of spending large amounts of time with these killers may be repulsive at first, these circumstances are prime opportunities to increase our knowledge of serial killers and as such should be tapped for every amount of resource possible. The idea is to arm law enforcement with every weapon available to capture these criminals as early in their careers as possible and save the greatest amount of lives. For this reason, as much background information about these killers should be obtained to further develop our knowledge of the ‘red flags’ of behavior and circumstances which can serve as early warning signs which, when recognized and properly handled, could avert a serial string of killings before it begins.

The ultimate goal is saving lives, and we must never allow the victims in our studies to become so depersonalized that we forget the tragic loss that has occurred with their murder. The victim, not the killer, is the most important reason for studies of this kind. Victims past and future deserve the best efforts of the professional world to combat their killers, ideally before they ever have the chance to victimize. “Human behavior is complex …Our scientific knowledge of serial sexual murderers remains limited and the need for ongoing research in this area is crucial in light of the grave societal consequences produced by their crimes” (Myers et al., 2006, p. 906).

References

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Additional Sources
Buss, D.M. (2005). The murderer next door: Why the mind is designed to kill. New York, NY: Penguin Press.
Jacobs, D. (2003). Sexual predators: Serial killers in the age of neuroscience. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.