Dark Side: Can You Die Now?
When bad men do what good men dream, psychiatrists are called upon to explain why. Murder is the crime of crimes. Murder inspires the ultimate in feelings of repugnance, fear, and fascination. Given the horrible circumstances of many murders, the neophyte forensic psychiatrist’s first interview with a murderer is usually an astonishing experience. For the murderer is not a blood-dripping monster but is usually a quiet, reasonably cooperative, guy-next-door type of human being who is uncomfortably like any other person—including the psychiatrist. The comparison between the guy next door and the blood-dripping monster becomes even more unnerving when one realizes that even good men’s consciences are regularly roiled by murderous fantasies and dreams.
The FBI defines murder as the unlawful taking of life for the purpose of
achieving expressing power, brutality, personal gain, and, occasionally,
sexuality. In the criminal justice system, murder is considered to be a subset
of homicide that also includes other forms of taking life such as an
unpremeditated auto fatality (vehicular homicide), manslaughter, and criminal
and non criminal negligent homicide.
If a person is not having a psychotic episode or if psychotic symptoms
are not part of the psychiatric problems, then he or she is no more likely to
be involved in violent behavior than the average person. In particular, though,
mentally ill persons who become violent are more likely to kill family members
or acquaintances than to kill strangers. Most murders of mothers are committed
by schizophrenic sons who live with them alone. Of the people acquitted of murder
by reason of insanity, a study shows a significant fraction had paranoid
schizophrenia. These people are more likely to have killed a parent or a child
than a spouse or a stranger.
Homicide numbers make for difficult reading. Moreover, they lack human
detail. But also, homicide numbers are probably underreported. Every murder is
unique, defying classification because of the complexity of interwoven personal
factors, motivations, and circumstances. Because the combined numbers of family
and acquaintance murders are so high, it is also clear that many murders occur
within the context of an existing relationship between perpetrator and victim.
Serial killers are rare—50 to 200 killers among the population is not a
large number of people. We do not need to run out and buy serial killer
insurance. Still, their crimes frighten us because serial killers murder more
than their share of victims and because, for the most part, they kill people
who are total strangers. However, serial killers differ from those who commit
random or hate murders because serial killers act out an intense fantasized
relationship with their victims. In fact, serial sexual murderers require their
victims to be anonymous props on whom they can inflict their lethal fantasies
to achieve what they desire: the exhilaration of orgasm.
Serial murders, by the FBI’s classification and definition, are those
that involve more than three victims and a cooling-off period between murders—something
that indicates the premeditation of each one. But premeditation is not the real
difference between the mass murderer and the serial murderer. The common
perception is that it is the ordinary guy who becomes the mass murderer, the
guy who simply goes berserk one day and starts shooting. But contrary to
popular perception, most mass murders are planned.
Serial sexual murderers are a distinct subcategory of serial killers. Not
all serial murderers are serial sexual murderers. Some kill for reasons other
than sex, such as money, jealousy, revenge, power, or dominance.
Serial sexual killers torture their victims for one reason only: to
obtain a maximal orgasm that they are unable to achieve in any other way. That
is to say, they capture, torture, and kill for recreational purposes. Killing
is usually an integral part of the sexual turn-on. Sometimes, however, the
killing is done to obtain a body for necrophilic purposes. At other times, the
victim succumbs to the torture or the victim is killed to eliminate a witness.
The victims are or become mere objects or props on which the killers
play out their lethal sexually sadistic and, frequently, necrophilic fantasies.
Serial sexual killers do not want a partner; they crave a victim. The ultimate
sexual gratification is the total domination and humiliation of helpless prey.
Their victims are people who happen to be in the wrong place at the
wrong time. Often, there is very little resemblance among the victims of one
serial sexual killer—although Ted Bundy did frequently choose young women who
parted their long, dark hair down the middle of their heads.
The law presumes that criminals choose to commit crimes rationally and
of their own free will and therefore are deserving of punishment. Some offenders,
however, are so mentally disturbed in their thinking and behavior that they are
considered to be incapable of acting rationally. Under these circumstances, and
with an eye toward fundamental principles of fairness and morality, civilized
societies have deemed it unjust to punish a “crazy” person. Additionally, the
punishment of a person who cannot rationally appreciate the consequences
of his or her actions thwarts the two major aims of punishment:
retribution and deterrence.
Some psychotic killers may experience a remission in their mental illness
through medical treatment and thus escape the demons that pushed them to
murder. Serial sexual killer psychopaths cannot escape their own murderous
fantasies. While they are incarcerated, however, these psychopathic killers are
affable, eager to please, helpful—and always manipulative.
Neurobiological disorders are amazingly common among criminal defendants.
In one study, 15 death row inmates were chosen for examination. Evidence of
neuropathology was not a criterion for selection. In each inmate, the
researchers found evidence of severe head injury and neurological impairment.
Other research, however, shows that there is no necessary connection between
brain injury and violence, and no certain connection proven between other types
of brain disorders and violence.
Acknowledgements:
Bibliography:
1. Criminal Investigations – Crime Scene
Investigation.2000
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