The behaviors of killers in childhood

(I am in no way an expert on this topic. I am only compiling what I have discovered and giving you my opinion)

When I set out to do write this article, I thought I KNEW what I was going to find. Do you ever do that? Are you ever 100% sure of what you are going to find, only to be surprised?

I’m not talking about finding that you were completely 100% wrong, just surprised at what you find out. That’s what happened with me. I thought that I was going to find out that a child who is cruel to animals would turn into a serial killer. What I WANTED to find out was if there was any help for these children.

So, what did I find out? We’ll get into the details. However, I will foreshadow everything by giving you the basics. (This is for those of you, like me, just want the quick answer) The details and theories and reasoning behind it all will follow. (this is for those of you, like me, want to know how it all works)

So, what I found, and really should have figured out on my own, was that children who are cruel to animals don’t just have a tendency to grow into serial killers, but to grow into people who are, for lack of a better term, criminal towards other people. They grow to become rapists, murderers, and killers; not just serial killers. I was really fascinated by all the information I discovered in this research:

First, the three most common traits in childhood that serial killers have are day dreaming, compulsive masturbation, and isolation. (FYI, most serial killers are white males in their twenties and thirties). As children, they had been left alone or forced to live in isolation. Little attention was given to them. This sort of abandonment forced them to become their own source of company. This leads them to day dreaming and creating a fantasy world.

Don’t most children day dream? Don’t most children create their own fantasy world? The answer is yes. The difference is that most children grow out of these fantasy worlds whereas serial killers get pulled into their fantasy worlds.

So what about those children who have been cruel to animals? What happens to them? Well, they are showing that they don’t have a respect for life. It is an INDICATOR to “violent psychopathology”. They believe life to be worthless and it crosses to all life, not just that of animals.

Children who have tormented, tortured, or killed animals as a child have grown to kill and murder many people: family members, strangers, men, women, children, etc… They tend to continue this torment and torture into their human victims.

So, what do you do if you have a child in your classroom who begin to show signs of cruelty to animals? GET THEM HELP!

I’m not talking about the child who pet’s the class bunny too hard. They need to learn about being gentle. I’m talking about the child who does mean things to the animals: intentionally hurting them or possibly killing them. When they consciously know that they are causing harm to the animal.

These children also tend to come from homes where there is abuse or neglect. They will also, most likely, be victims of drug or alcohol abuse (not necessarily their own, but that of a family member). Though this is not ALWAYS the case, it is more true than not. This, again, came as a lesson to me. I went in to this research process expecting to find that this was truly a physical or chemical problem in the brain. Something that someone is born with; not something that is based on their life.

What I did find, is that sometimes that abuse and neglect from a parent happened behind closed doors. This could be abuse that no one saw from the outside; in public, they would be a “happy little family” while at home, it was a cruel and torturous place. No one would have expected it.

Last things I learned? They have an inability to be social or are socially unacceptable. Do you have a child that has problems socializing? NOT AT ALL SAYING THEY ARE IN LINE FOR THIS. What I AM saying is that, like we do with ALL children, is that we have to teach them how to socialize.

While there were some traits that could to be defined as “something in the brain” (disorganized thinking, bipolar mode disorder), nurture seems to have more to do with it rather than nature.

Let me continue to say that this is a RARE behavior to see. I have seen the beginning signs in one child and, unfortunately, have since lost track of him and his progress.

What I have discovered through this project is that, although there are comparative traits in all serial killers, the most we can do is take the children and nurture them, care for them, and help them become socially competent beings who are have people to turn to; rather than having to turn to those fantasy worlds.

Some of the sites I got information from:
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