An Inside into a Killer’s Mind
Psychopathy is defined as a personality disorder characterized by a lack of remorse, empathy, anxiety, and other social emotions; the use of deceit and manipulation; and impulsive thrill seeking. (Wade 383) According to the article “What ‘Psychopath’ Means”, it is stated that 25% of inmates in prison meet the criteria to be diagnosed as a psychopath. With so many criminals diagnosed as psychopaths can serial killers be classified as psychopaths and therefore “excused” for the crimes they commit? Many researchers agree that serial killers tend to lack empathy, compassion, and crave power.
Serial killers have been an interesting topic throughout history. There are the infamous serial killers like Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper, etc. (Encyclopedia) According to Richard Whittington’s journal “The Serial Killer Phenomenon,” “A large number of serial killers have such characteristics in common, as being essentially a loner, experiencing difficulty with relationships, and showing, psychopathically, neither empathy, conscience, nor remorse, only arrogance.” Whittington believes that most serial killers are outsiders or “rejects”, but many serial killers display normal characteristics which is why it may come as a surprise to friends and family that their loved one is indeed a killer. If serial killers come in all shapes and sizes, than what are the common characteristics that they all seem to share? Whittington states, “the power to dominate… is the driving force behind the practice of torture common to so many serial killers.” (Whittington 328) In many cases, serial killers tend to revisit crime scenes; try to sexually dominate a victim, and usually kill a certain type of victim. Whittington states that “it is not an uncommon behavioral feature”, for serial killers to revisit the scene of the crime. Often, to remind themselves about the crime, like a “trophy” or a reminder of the power they had during the killing. Because of all this, serial killers seem to want control and power, possibly because they lack it outside of their killings.
In hand with the want for power, serial killers tend to be narcissistic as well. According to Zelda Knight’s journal “Some Thoughts on the Psychological Roots of the Behavior of Serial Killers as Narcissists…”, “Feelings of inadequacy and shame are hidden by a facade of grandiosity and exhibitionism, hollow emptiness, envy and rage.” (Knight 1195) Along with what Whittington stated, because serial killers tend to feel inadequate in society, they may cover it up with “puffed-up” self-esteem that is not necessarily genuine. With their narcissistic behaviors, serial killers may feel like they are invincible to the law and police force, which can explain why they continue to kill until they are caught.
Another characteristic that serial killers tend to lack is empathy. Empathy is defined as “the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.” (Dictionary.com) Sean Spence, a journalist for New Scientist, argues that empathy is something that is programmed within all humans. Spence states, “When we feel a wave of emotion at someone’s suffering…we are communing with them, whether we like or not.”(Spence 2) As Spence states, empathy is, in a way, inevitable. For a person to not feel empathy at someone else’s pain or suffering, in society today, seems abnormal. According to his article “Bad or Mad” Spence discusses studies that prove that empathy is scientifically beyond a person’s control and that people have emotional responses and only realize it once “the brain’s cortical regions are engaged” (Spence 2) So what about serial killers and murderers in general? Because empathy is considered a common trait amongst most humans, does someone who lacks it, for the most part, considered mentally ill because they are not part of “the norm”? Spence also notes on evil being something that is “within all of us.” What differs is who does act upon it and who does not. Spence further argues in his article if serial killers should be fully responsible for their actions. For example, in cases such as the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, the shooter was considered mentally ill and therefore relieved of his charges. Most people may find it difficult to “excuse” murderers for killing people because they may have a mental illness. But if murderers are diagnosed with a mental illness, it could prevent other people who may have similar symptoms from doing the same thing, which can save lives.
If a killer has physical damage to their brain, which can possibly cause the killings, does that excuse them of what they’ve done? According to the textbook “Invitation to Psychology”, “frontal lobe damage can be inherited or result from disease, accident, or physical abuse.” If the frontal lobes are damaged, a person’s emotions and personality can be greatly affected. Spence notes on research done by the British psychologist, Adrian Raine, which concluded that killers have “reduced activity in frontal regions of the brains.” In “Invitation to Psychology”, a study was done where “cold-blooded” killers had a PET-scan and were shown to have less brain activity in the frontal lobe compared to killers who killed in the “heat of the moment” or other criminals in general.
A somewhat opposing theory is the idea that serial killers and murderers are just evil. According to Robert Simon in “Serial Killers, Evil, and Us”, he argues that psychiatrists are quick to diagnose any little thing as a mental illness rather than admit that people can just be pure evil. As in the Spence article, Simon states that all humans have empathy but rather than lacking empathy, serial killers lack compassion, which can drive someone to use their empathy for good. Compassion is defined as “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.” (Dictionary.com) Compassion differs from empathy, because as stated before, empathy is a way someone can identify with another person whether it be for good or bad. Simon states that serial killers can use their empathy for bad by trying to see how their victims feel and using that against them by manipulating them. If serial killers had compassion, they would feel bad about hurting people, according to Simon. Without compassion, empathy can be used in either way. And for serial killers, rather than lacking empathy, lacking compassion can lead to using empathy as a tool to manipulate their victims into trusting them as people, before killing them. With compassion, as defined, empathy would be used to “alleviate the suffering” of a person, not cause it. Another point that is brought up is the idea of “compartmentalization”. Compartmentalization, according to “Normalcy in Behavioral Characteristics of the Sadistic Serial Killer” by Jack Levin and James Alan Fox, is almost like being two people. People can show kindness and actually feel genuine empathy and emotions with people in their “inner circle”, but may lose all emotions when it comes to killing strangers. Levin and Fox state, “A sexual sadist who may be unmercifully cruel in his treatment of a stranger he meets in a bar might not dream of harming his family members, friends, or neighbors.” Because of this, do serial killers truly lack empathy and compassion? If serial killers are not determined as psychopathic, because they can “feel”, then is there another way psychiatrists can diagnose their urges to kill? Serial killers prove to have many characteristics such as lacking empathy, compassion, the want for power and dominance, and narcissism. But with opposing viewpoints, some of these characteristics can be questioned. Serial killers can lack empathy or compassion when it comes to their victims. Because of this, many serial killers can be classified as psychopaths and therefore, mentally ill. So should they be excused from their crime because of it? Researchers have also stated that serial killers want for power, roots back to their personalities as loners and outsiders. Because they lack power in their identity, many try to cover it up by being narcissistic or by having an overly high self-esteem. Overall, serial killers can be a difficult question as to whether they should be considered mentally ill because they lack or have characteristics that tend to be abnormal.

Works Cited
"Serial Killers." U*X*L Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Sonia Benson, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. Ed. Lawrence W. Baker and Sarah Hermsen. Vol. 7. Detroit: UXL, 2009. 1395-1397. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Feb. 2012
Knight, Zelda. SOME THOUGHTS ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ROOTS OF THE BEHAVIOR OF SERIAL KILLERS AS NARCISSISTS: AN OBJECT RELATIONS PERSPECTIVE. MA thesis. privately published, 2006. Print.
Levin, Jack, and James Alan Fox. "Normalcy in Behavioral Characteristics of the Sadistic Serial Killer." Psychology of Serial Violent Crimes. (2007): 5-7. Print.
Lilienfeld, Scott O., and Hal Arkowitz. "What "Psychopath" Means." Scientific American . 28 Nov 2007: n. page. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.
Simon, Robert. "Serial Killers, Evil, and Us." Phi Kappa Phi Journal. (2000): n. page. Print.
Spence, Sean. "Bad or mad? If child killers and serial killers know they are doing wrong does that make them culpable? It's not nearly as simple as that, say psychiatrist." New Scientist 181.2439 (2004): 38+. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.
Whittington-Egan, Richard. "The serial killer phenomenon." Contemporary Review 290.1690 (2008): 323+. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Feb. 2012

Bibliography
"Serial Killers." U*X*L Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Sonia Benson, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. Ed. Lawrence W. Baker and Sarah Hermsen. Vol. 7. Detroit: UXL, 2009. 1395-1397. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Feb. 2012
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Levin, Jack, and James Alan Fox. "Normalcy in Behavioral Characteristics of the Sadistic Serial Killer." Psychology of Serial Violent Crimes. (2007): 5-7. Print.
Lilienfeld, Scott O., and Hal Arkowitz. "What "Psychopath" Means." Scientific American . 28 Nov 2007: n. page. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.
Pakhomou, Serge- Moses. "Serial killers: offender’s relationship to the victim and selected demographics." 6.4 (2004): n. page. Print.
Simon, Robert. "Serial Killers, Evil, and Us." Phi Kappa Phi Journal. (2000): n. page. Print.
Spence, Sean. "Bad or mad? If child killers and serial killers know they are doing wrong does that make them culpable? It's not nearly as simple as that, say psychiatrist." New Scientist 181.2439 (2004): 38+. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.
Whittington-Egan, Richard. "The serial killer phenomenon." Contemporary Review 290.1690 (2008): 323+. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Feb. 2012