Have you ever wondered why criminals lash out? Why did Ted Bundy kill all of those women? Why did Richard Ramirez stalk and attack people in the night? The answer is not as simple as the questions themselves. From altered brain functioning to traumatic events, there are many factors that led to the crimes. While some of these elements may not apply to notorious killers such as Bundy and Ramirez, today we will be talking briefly about all of them.
Over 60% of incarcerated criminals have had a history with forms of addiction whether it’s alcohol or drugs. There are around 1.3 million incarcerated people in the United States, a majority of which are in there for drug-related offenses. Why is this? Drugs chemically alter the brain, mimicking neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, therefore changing the individual’s perception of the world around them and their actions. On average, heroin is the drug-related to most crimes. Heroin mimics the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical messenger that influences mood and motivation. When abusing heroin, the participant experiences feelings of sedation and well-being. Chasing this high, many individuals commit crimes in order to gain access to these drugs. This sedation may also cause an emotional detachment from their crimes, making it more probable for the illegal acts to happen again. These crimes could be theft, burglary, drug dealing, and more. Depending on the types of drugs they are ingesting, subjects may become more aggressive and irritable, leading them to lash out and resort to violence. Some of these may be cocaine or methamphetamines.
During their childhood years, some future serial killers were put in therapy when their parents became worried about their actions. Many of them would be diagnosed with personality disorders such as Major Depressive Disorder, Dependent Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, and Borderline Personality Disorder, the most common mental illnesses involved in crime. However, most criminals did not discover that they had these disorders until after being arrested and seeing court-ordered psychiatrists. If they had known earlier, would they have been able to get help and change their actions? During a random sampling study in a prison, it was discovered that 87.3% of the women and 83.3% of the men had personality disorders at the time they committed their crimes. Unfortunately, more often than not, people in the lives of future serial killers ignore the concerning signs that these children may be exhibiting and don’t get them help. It has been speculated that if only someone had seen what was happening and tried to get these individuals to some kind of psychologist, they wouldn’t have grown up to commit such heinous crimes.
Mental disorders such as these don’t have an exact cause, however, they are typically related to environmental and genetic factors. In the sense of environmental factors, traumatic events such as neglect, physical abuse, and the death of a loved one have an increased mental impact contributing to these disorders. This trauma can cause hostility and paranoid ideation, which are traits that make a criminal more likely to re-offend. In other words, if a criminal has suffered trauma throughout their life, especially as a child, they are more likely to re-offend after being released from prison. This is the same case for prolonged trauma causing emotional detachment, which means that the criminal has no emotions in regard to their trauma and crimes, making them more likely to not only re-offend but to commit crimes in the first place. Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, and Dennis Rader (BTK) are only a few of the serial killers who experienced severe emotional detachment, making it much easier for them to commit their murders.
As for the genetic motivation behind crimes, these can be a multitude of things. Individuals may have a lower amygdala volume. The amygdala is a part of the Limbic System and is located in the temporal lobe of the brain, above the ear, and near the bottom of the skull. The amygdala processes emotions, especially fear and aggression. A study discovered that young men with a lower amygdala volume were three times more likely to be aggressive, and violent, and display psychopathic traits. It has even been confirmed by fMRI studies that those who display psychopathic tendencies have lower amygdala functioning. This has nothing to do with social background or having a history of violence, the amygdala is completely independent of that. It has been theorized, but not confirmed due to the lack of brain scans of these individuals, that infamous serial killers Ted Bundy and Ed Gein likely experienced reduced amygdala functioning, contributing to their psychopathic tendencies and aggressive behavior. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is also a part of the Limbic System, working together with the amygdala to process emotions. The ACC also has a large part in controlling impulsivity. A study at the University of New Mexico discovered that adult males with lower ACC activity were twice as likely to re-offend in the years after being released from prison. Lower ACC activity means there is less regulation of the subject’s impulsivity, making their actions more impulsive which makes them more likely to commit crimes.
While all of the factors we talked about today are huge contributors to criminal activity, they are not the only reasons. The criminal psyche is extremely complex and far from just being black and white. With that being said, some criminals may not even have anything mentally “wrong” with them such as having trauma, altered brain functioning, or substance abuse. Not everything is as it seems.
Works used
https://www.oxfordscholastica.com/blog/criminal-psychology-the-mind-of-a-murderer/
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/02/criminal-mind
https://hms.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/publications%20archive/OnTheBrain/OnTheBrainFall11.pdf
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/24/what-the-data-says-about-crime-in-the-us/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/why-bad-looks-good/202107/which-drugs-make-people-aggressive