THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AVENUES OF EXPLAINING MURDER

     When looking at the events that cause a murder to occur, one must stop to think about the mindset of the individual. Murders can be taken on from different stages. The questions often rose, what triggered this event, was it instantaneous, biological or did the persons battle with society cause this horrible act. This study will show that the criminal root problem may be escalated by outside variables that can enhance probability of dangerous acts.

     When looking at the various psychological effects that may assist in a crime, we must be willing to pursue every available angle. Oftentimes within a person, there may be events that have lead up to a crime, events that sometime go unnoticed. A little non-pleasant situation can often trigger, a long unwanted consequence. Simply being jumped in line can be enough to surface deep rooted emotional problems. One can be reminded of a bad past experience or even the familiarity of their upbringing. In trying to determine what caused something, we must know how to find the problems origin.

LITERATURE REVIEW

       The connection between murder and the murderer has been viewed closely, even thou various studies have showed different aspects; the outcome still encounters some similarities. It can be said that psychiatrically most mental disorders are characterized by bad behaviors. Psychiatric deals with the entire human makeup, thus encompassing the body, mind and spirit. Some psychiatrist has termed bad behavior as wickedness. Some reports state that behaviors of wicked individuals maybe antisocial. It was reported that wickedness goes back to ones childhood. Many have become fascinated by the idea of wickedness in children. Psychologist has traced the development or origin back to environmental stimuli often presented by way of television. Creatively children are introduced at a young age to images such as monsters, witches, demons, vampires etc.

     Question continue to arise as to whether or not children understand fully what they are looking at on television or reading in papers and books. Psychologist feel that criminal acts committed by children often go without neither rational nor intelligent thought of consequences. It is felt that such process of thought are not evident due to lack of maturity, lack of the ability to reason and weigh the odds constructively. The child’s mind goes through various stages of development. Children under twelve years old are said not to use reason. At adolescence, reasoning becomes more pronounced, however due to changing bodies and hormones, they react with aggressive impulsiveness.

     Brutalization or values inculcation is the accepting of violence and viewing it as a normal and acceptable means of survival. Socially society thru media has in composed such views. Such is a given and is easily obtained due to television. Crimes committed on television are viewed frequently; they have become an acceptable survival method.  The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that the television has caused crimes such as homicides, rape and assault to double. They also report that if the television did not include such screen play that the crime rate would be today considerably lower.

     Scarpa PhD reports that biological differences are also factors to crimes. Studies indicate that there is a biochemical relationship to violence. Violence is divided into two groups, neurotransmitters and hormones. Both work together as one creating a criminal act. Neurotransmitters substances transmitted are serotonine, norepenephrine, and dopamine. The transmitting substance to the brain causes antisocial behaviors. These substances, coupled with alcohol, enhanced behaviors.

     In studying sex hormones and aggression, it was found the testosterone in males increased and progesterone in females decreased prior to menstruation. Testosterone study in controlled males sited weak aggressive finding. In males who were imprisoned, findings of aggressiveness were moderate to having large strength. Studies have shown that there is a correlation of male’s aggression to testosterone. It is felt that aggression may change as a person matures. Studies suggest that women are more likely to commit crime during their menstruation period due to cyclical changes in hormone levels.

      Cortisol is a stress hormone. It is reported that (Scarpa, Raine, 1997) cortisol levels are reduce in habitually violent offenders, in aggressive school children, and in children and adolescents with conduct problems (p.625).  When alcohol and other environmental experiences are present, cortisol effects can be significantly increased.

     Geographic location also plays a vital part in murder. Geographic profiling is a method used to connect the crime to the most probable area of the offender residence. This also can help link serial killers to a target location and victim type. It should be both noted and understood that geographic location does not solve crimes, but are clues that can be used to help point out the direction of the offender.

RESEARCH METHODS

With murder occurring in different forms, it must be noted that the rate of murder has increased drastically in the past half-century .In 1957 the murder rate for which human being were attempting to kill one another was 60 per 100,000. In 1997 it was 440 per 100,000. This problem the virus, has not just been limited the US. In Canada, per capital assaults increased almost fivefold from the mid 60’s to the mid 90;s.

 Norway and Greece have seen a similar increase within the same time frame. Countries like Australia and Sweden have seen there rate triple, while Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Scotland have seen double the amount once noted. In Japan alone, the crime rates have increased tremendously in the juvenile area, the violent crime rate increased by 30% in 1997. Mexico and Brazil is noticing its murder rate skyrocketing, and India murder rate has surprisingly doubled.

With the murder virus occurring worldwide, the blame for this heinous crime can go several ways. A large portion of murder mania can be attributed to the role the media plays. With violence being a major part of advertisement, companies feel a desire to market the latest trend of violence. Video games, one time a safe and enjoyable form of entertainment, now has gone to deepest end of the murder spectrum. Major sales are based on the rating at the big screen. Local movies now have achieves of violent films, not just the films that show occasional fatal accidents, but now the entire premise is based on the art of killing. The music industry has witness there share of brutal deaths. So have blame such things as suicide and rage and passion murder on the manner in which one expresses their talents.

     The ability to see relevant and meaningful relationship in the development of evil is a key factor to understanding the psychological avenues of the evil works of murder. Many disciplines have found evil acts and actions to be a big area of study. There are speculations made regularly that are only opinionated and without sufficient evidence for proof. There are arguments for and against the speculations presented, thus creating a continuous cycle of studies. The following table will give and overview of the concepts of evil from different perspectives and disciplines. 

DISCUSSION

     Regardless of how it is committed or what circumstances lead up to it, it must be recognized that murder is still murder. One must understand that past experiences cannot always be the standing ground for present wrongness. Many studies have been conducted by various disciplines to bring an end to murder and evilness. Many disciplines have varying reasons for the underling causes for such actions, however most agree it is important to understand the works of the human mind, body, soul, and spirit. Disciplines have also found that media, television, video games, books, and magazines have all played a vital role in the increasing murder rate. Some murderous and evil acts are found to be deep rooted and may go back to ones child hood experiences, environment, education, and location. As times and expectations change, an increase in evil actions have been constantly document. With a lot of focus being put into the study of criminal behavior and murder, total exoneration is the desired ending point.

REFERENCES

Cartwright,D. (2001). The Role Of Psychopathology And Personality In Rage-Type Homicide: South African Journal of Psychology, Vol.31, Issue 3

Heller L. (1988). Biological Unhappiness {Book available} Retrieved September 08,2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.biologicalunhappiness.com/review.htm

Haroun, A MD.(1997 Sept/Oct). Psychiatric Annals. Volume 27,Number 9, 615-616

Psychiatric Aspects of Wickedness:

Levine, S. MD. (1997 Sept/Oct). Psychiartic Annals. Volume 27,Number 9,617-623

The Development of Wickedness-From Whence Does Evil Stem?

Scarpa, A. Phd. And Raine, A. Dphil Psychiatric Annals. Volume 27,Number9, 624-628 Biology of Wickedness

www.killology.com/art teach methods. Htm. “Teaching Kids To Kill” The Methods in this Madness: Brutalization.

www.killology. Com/art teach virus.htm “Teaching Kids To Kill”  A Virus of Violence.