Serial Killers and their Psychological Make-up

Serial Killers and their Psychological Make-up Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Serial Killers and their Psychological Make-up Crime is and has always been a sensitive issue where law enforcement agencies all over the world spend massive amounts of capital and resources in a bid to control and prevent crime. Even more demanding for law enforcement officers is the need to stop serial killers. Multiple controversies and debates have emerged regarding the psychological composition of serial killers as well as the reasons some people become serial killers. Many experts, including scientists, criminologists, and psychologists, have attempted to investigate and ascertain the reasons that push people into becoming serial killers, as well as establishing the psychological make-up of serial killers. There are a number of reasons provided by experts to explain why people become serial killers, including childhood experiences and individual genetic composition that can predispose some people into becoming serial killers. The latter claim bases the attributes to an individual’s nature while the former bases the attributes to an individual’s nurture. The complexity of these expert claims makes the matter impossible to ignore, and more importantly, crucial to understand. There is a myriad of both psychosocial and neurodevelopmental factors, including childhood traumatic experiences, mental disorders, and brain injuries, that best illuminate the possible reasons why some people become serial killers. It is paramount that an in-depth analysis is conducted to establish the predisposition of some people becoming serial killers. Establishing the existence and eventually stopping the operations of serial killers requires a collaborative effort of law enforcement agencies. Additionally, police officers and other investigative agencies are charged with ascertaining the number of serial murderers in operation at any one point. For instance, a total of 4,743 serial killers had been recorded by September 2016 against a total of 13,105 murder victims (Aamodt, 2016). Notably, the United States accounts for nearly 68 percent of the total recorded serial killers, with white citizens dominate the list at an average of 51.7%. Additionally, African Americans and Hispanics come second and third on the list at 39.8 percent and 6.7 percent respectively. Native Americans and Asian Americans are also featured in the list at 1 percent and 0.9 percent respectively (Aamodt, 2016). Also notable is that men serial killers have accounted for nearly 89 percent of all murders in the past century, as compared to 11 percent attributable to women internationally over the same period (Aamodt, 2016). Understanding these details will be critical for the law enforcement agencies to track down possible serial killers and prevent them from committing their heinous acts. The term ‘serial killers’ has only been in existence for a few decades, despite the existence of serial murderers throughout history. Robert Rissler, an FBI profiler, created this term during the 1970s while investigating multiple cases of killers and the reasons they kill (Whittington-Egan, 2008). Nonetheless, there have been cases of serial murderers throughout history, with some, extensively reco...