When faced with the gruesome evidence of a serial killer's work, you have to ask your self, " What makes a person do something like this?" "How and why are some people motivated to commit repetitive and brutal homicide?" Psychologist believe this type of behaviour is the result of an internal behaviour disorder context as well as an external context which includes the social and cultural background.
Reviews of serial killers in the United States implicate two basic sociocultural sources in the origins of serial killer behavior. The first source says "as society-individual relations change, along with it is an ever-increasing, persistent culture of violence. "The second source says that violence begins at home in early childhood development. Of course it's difficult to pinpoint original or specific factors from the general culture that could be claimed to "cause" serial killing but psychologist do acknowledge that environmental factors must be taken into account and it appears that various features of contemporary American culture and social practice may contribute to the development of individual propensity for repetitive killings. Some selected features of American cultural context that seem to be associated with criminal violence are:
* normalization of interpersonal violence
* strong emphasis of creature comforts
* emphasis on "thrills and highs"
* magical thinking
* unmotivated resentment and blaming of "others"
* normalization of impulsiveness
* excess of violent role models
* emphasis on speed and immediate need-gratification
************************************************************
Q: Would you describe what sort of feeling you have when you rape someone?
A: I don't know. Uh, nervous feeling, uh, I get excited. Uh, just start speeding.
Q: Pardon?
A: I just start speeding. I get, get a high feeling
I get to talking real fast, uh, I get real nervous
Q: Could you describe it as something very exciting to you?
A: Yeah
Q: Are you able to control what you're doing once you get started in this type of behavior?
A: Once that gets started, there, there could be an army standing around and I don't think I'd stop.
Q: Have you feel the same way with other girls you raped?
A: Yes
Interrogation of Steven Judy
************************************************************
As I mentioned before, no conclusions have been drawn as the direct causes of serial killer behaviour but data and literature strongly implicate alcohol, drugs and pornography as major contributing factors. Ted Bundy declared that his early exposure to pornography led to his career as a serial killer and this caused a huge debate regarding the degree of influence such material has on people who become murderers. Many people believe that pornography and alcohol cause people to kill but on the other hand, many Americans frequently indulge in these and never physically harm anyone.