Relationship Between Body and Mind of Serial Killers

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The same is true about Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy. While the details and some things are different, they are also the same. Ted Bundy was a charming law student that killed twenty women while at the same time working as a suicide prevention counselor, and John Wayne Gacy at one time escorted the first lady and then went home and went to bed over thirty-three of his victims that were buried under his home (Vronsky 2004). Just like Jeffery Dahmer they may have suffered from mental disorders and abuse, but they had no traumatic brain injuries altering their frontal lobe. Meaning they could have control their impulses with either medication and, or therapy. Knowing this neither of them deserved special consideration or treatment during their trails nor sentencing.

Like the above mentioned serial killers Hamilton Howard “Albert” Fish “The Brooklyn Vampire”, also suffered abuse and had mental disorders. Unlike those mentioned he also had brain damage, and came from a family with a wide range of mental illness and brain damage. Fish was born on May 19, 1870, and was the youngest of four children. He had many family members that were institutionalized and even died in mental institutions. One of his brothers was feebleminded and died of hydrocephalus, a sister that was mentally ill but not hospitalized, a half-brother that also died in a mental institution, and another brother that suffered from chronic alcoholism.

After the death of his father in 1875 his mother was forced to fend for herself and the family. As she could not provide for herself or children she left Hamilton at St. John’s Orphanage. It is at St. John where the abuse first started when he was five years old. While at St. John he was repeatedly stripped naked and beaten in front of the other boys by the staff. This happened so often at to such a degree he began to enjoy the physical pain, and would often become aroused. This caused him to get the nickname “Ham and Eggs”. The nickname dissociated him from the abuse he suffered at St Johns, and later he would change his name to that of his deceased brother, Albert. While at the orphanage at the age of seven he had a severe fall from a cherry tree which caused a head injury he would have permeant problems with, such as headaches and dizziness (Rutigliano 2008). After the fall he began displaying violent tendencies, especially the interest in sadomasochistic activities.

After a few years in 1880 his mother had gotten herself together and was able to take him out of St John Orphanage. At the age of twelve he started his first sexual relationship with a boy much older than he was. This boy introduced him to phagia (drinking urine) and coprophagia (consuming of feces).Fish started frequenting public baths so he could watch other boys undress. In 1890 he moved to New York City and became a male prostitute, and began raping young boys. Fish began frequenting brothels where he could be whipped and beaten, and also began self-harm, where he would stick needles in his groin and hit himself over the head with a nail studded paddle. It was also around this time that he started hearing voices that he believed to be John the Apostle, and would carry out the voices instructions. Fish’s first victim was Thomas Bedden in 1910. Fish continued his reign of terror until 1934 when he was arrested. During his trial he continued to claim he heard the voice of God that was telling him to kill children. The jury did not believe this defense, and he was convicted. On the January 16, 1936 he was lead into the electrocution chamber, and upon entering he stated, “Electrocution will be the supreme thrill of my life” and just before the switch was thrown he was recorded as saying, “I do not know why I am here” (Berry-Dee 2011).

Serial Killers are as much the same as they are different, but they all have certain things in common, such as mental disorders and a variety of abuse in their background. Some though also have brain damage that affects them the rest of their lives and helps to trigger the violence that may be lying within them. Dr. Pinkesis believes he has discovered the recipe of wat makes a serial killer, and that is if you take a person with a mental disorder, abuse them repeatedly, and if there is neurological damage you have the recipe for a very dangerous person that can easily turn into a serial killer (crimetraveler.org 2015). This theory can help us understand and explain a serial killer like Hamilton “Albert” Fish, and others, but what about serial killers like Ted Bundy, H.H. Holmes, or John Wayne Gacy? It is very likely with the research that is being done and the more we learn about frontal lobe damage the more we may be able to identify and possibly treat these people that may become violent leading to something worse, like serial killing. These examples and research also show that there are serial killers that deserve exactly what the judicial system hands down, but it also shows that the ones that have brain damage should be given the special consideration of being sentenced to a maximum security psychiatric hospital that is equipped to deal with and treat them. Sentencing those with the inability to control their impulses because of brain damage to a penal institution would just cause further damage, and more than likely more killings while they are incarcerated.

Work Cited

Licht, Hull, and Ballantyne, comps. Psychology. New York City: Worth, 2014. Print.

Berry-Dee, Christopher. Cannibal Serial Killers. Berkeley: Ulysses, 2011. Print.

Vronsky, Peter. Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters. New York: Berkley Group, 2004. Print.

Mitchell, Heather, and Michael G. Aamodt. "The Incidence of Child Abuse in Serial Killers."

Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology 20.1 (2005): n. pag. Print.

Rivas, Anthony. "Serial Killers More Likely To Have Autism, Head Traum, or Psychological Issues." www.medicaldaily.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014

Rutigliano, Annabella. "Predestined Serial Killers." Serendip Studio. N.p., 3 Jan. 2008. Web. 20

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"Most Evil Serial Brain Serial Killers and Psychopaths." Crime Traveler. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016. .