Ever since I’ve watched the Dahmer series on Netflix, I can’t wrap my head around the fact that how it is even possible for someone to think and behave like this. When I’m watching serial killer documentaries, I obviously can’t expect anything less gruesome than this. Yet, it poses the most important question of all time, which is: are criminals made or born?
This question itself contradicts the notion that “nobody is a born criminal” because, apparently, we can’t assert that fact with absolute certainty, or maybe we’ve not reached that point yet where we can put across a conclusive statement. We’re still hanging in between these two alternatives: Is it nature or nurture that makes one criminal?
What Are The Studies Saying?
Several studies and surveys have been conducted, but still, we’re “so close, yet so far”. While these discussions try to throw light upon the ghastly crimes and to remember the innocent lives that these killers took, we can’t brush the importance of mental health under the carpet as mental health is the root of all the causes, especially untreated and undiagnosed mental illnesses which give birth to these criminals.
The neuro-criminologists and psychologists have found in their studies that the brains of these serial killers or, rather of these murderous people are different in so many aspects from the brains of non-murderous human beings. On SPECT imaging of brains, the brains of murderers show abnormal activity in a variety of brain regions, especially the prefrontal cortex involved with empathy, judgment, and forethought. It’s seen that there’s poor functioning in the amygdala of their brains as well. Their brain structures still don’t help us to conclude because there are people who have the same brain structures as these killers, yet they’ve not shown any criminality or any signs of a criminal mindset. Instead, they’ve excelled in different fields and have achieved things that they wanted to.
These dubious statements once again bring us to the question, “Are criminals born or made?”
Now, let’s consider the latter part of this question. We must talk about how broken homes, lack of trust and care, and emotionally unavailable and non-affectionate parents severely affect the mental health of the children and turn them into criminals later.
From Ted Bundy to Dahmer, everyone had an abusive childhood, and they grew up in a broken home where they didn’t have anyone to take care of them or to listen to them. They were mainly isolated, even in school. They showed some early signs of mental illness as well, but those were unheeded.
Does that mean criminals are made? Does that mean it’s the family that turns one into a criminal? If so, then how come their siblings living in the same home and growing up in the same abusive environment don’t turn into criminals? How do they manage to walk out of it and become good human beings? It’s indeed a question that has no answer.
Two parts of this question have been dealt with, but we’ve got nothing to ascertain yet. What we can perceive is that it’s mainly the undiagnosed mental health that triggers these offences, and an abusive family is no doubt the insult to the injury.
What This Series Reminds Us
In the series Dahmer, there’s a scene where Jeffrey Dahmer tries to initiate a conversation with his father about the fantasies he has. Still, his father diverts the topic and refuses to pay attention to it. Maybe things would have been different if he had paid attention. It once again reminds us how vicious a turn our mental health can take if it’s neglected.
I’ve seen parents refusing to take heed of their kids’ mental health and not seeking professional help even when it’s needed. A preconceived notion is popular among most parents that people who are insane and lunatics need the help of psychologists/psychiatrists only. Little do they realize how important it’s to address the abandonment issues their kids are undergoing.
To address mental health issues, we need to talk more about how people with untreated mental illness failed to cope and got into immoral activities to maintain their self-image. It pains me as a writer to choose a topic to talk about serial killers when I remember how hurtful it’s to their victims’ families’ but if we don’t talk about it, we’ll never be able to put an end to it either. We’ve to make people aware of it, especially the parents, so that next time their kids show signs of depression or anxiety, they seek professional help right away, not giving it a second thought because we never know what it might lead to.