Serial Killers And The Link To Child Abuse

Serial Killers and Child AbuseSouthern New Hampshire UniversityPSY 444: Senior Seminar in PsychologyDate: AbstractSerial killers are known to suffer from a wide range of psychological and emotional issues due to the traumatic experiences they face as part of their murder behaviors. A crucial part of this demographic's emotional and psychological burden is usually the negative childhood experiences, such as physical and sexual abuse they experienced while still young. Due to this connection, a growing number of studies have found that child abuse is a significant predictor of murder behavior among would-be serial killers. However, despite this connection, there is limited attention to the association between different types of child abuse, such as sexual, physical, or psychological abuse, and the murder behavior of serial killers. Therefore, this study's objective is to explore this association as it may help improve our understanding of serial killers and why some choose to act the way they do. To achieve this objective, a total of 10 serial killers with a life history of child abuse were selected from online criminal databases and analyzed using behavior sequence analysis. Findings showed that while all