Attempting to understand the criminal mind.

[dark+matters]

I have always been very interested in explaining bizarre, and/or criminal behavior. I read an extremely disturbing article this morning that has been haunting me all the way up until now:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...of-the-worlds-worst-serial-killers/ar-BBgZMS1

It's particularly disturbing to me personally, since one of my elderly, terminally ill parents died under the care of a hospital recently (and was on Morphine for pain), and I was also stalked at both of my jobs by a nurse in Long Beach who went bat shit crazy on me while she was drawing my blood, and didn't like that I mentioned it in a Yelp review (I didn't even mention her name or anything specific to her in the review...).

Why do you think things like this happen? What, if anything, do you think hospitals should change in order to prevent abuses like this from happening to future generations? Is this similar to the case of someone totally unsuited to customer service, who has to work a miserable job, who is stressed, disrespected, etc. by customers, bosses and coworkers, etc.? What do you think about why people commit very serious crimes like this? Is it similar to that impulse little kids have to pick the wings off of flies?

 

[Vrecknidj]

I assume the causes (and that's a loaded word) are neurological, given the relationship between brain states and physical behavior in humans. Given that, and given that such behaviors tend to be exceptionally outside the normal range of behavior, I would assume that some type of brain injury or other (which can include mental or emotional trauma) is implicated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder#Causes_and_pathophysiology

 

[dark+matters]

@Vrecknidj

Thanks for your response! Yes, surely crimes like these result from an intersection of at least two physical states: the brain and the environment.

I also wonder if we can apply the stereotypical causes today's society is prone to place on women who kill, to this case. Was she severely traumatized or abused? Maybe. But then again, this perpetuates the severe systematic discrimination against those who have been sexually or physically assaulted. This is a pretty serious offense our society is guilty of, since it's obviously a case of blaming the victim on a vast scale, and also because the vast majority of people in abusive relationships don't even go on to be abusive themselves.

Males with antisocial personality disorder do not necessarily report a background of abuse either according to one book I've read, although abuse is supposed to worsen it. Instead, I evesdrop on a whole lot of rich white assholes who use popular theories like these in order to maintain their power and control over their relationships. (I love that there is no censoring on this forum... LOL) This is a highly disturbing trend I see in Southern California. But not even popular memes about narcissism is enough to combat the deep cultural shallowness here- it actually just adds another tool to the kit of the wealthy, white, established bourgois. This has become their theory, used against anyone upset with the current power balance. Historically, it's been employed the most frequently and unethically against homosexuals.

But back to this lady- is she a psychopath with severe malignant narcissism? Sure. But one of my concerns in crimes like these is that we, as a society, do not bother to try and understand how psychopathy works and counter it in a way that is effective for everyone involved. For instance, we can detect and (perhaps occasionally) cure antisocial personality disorder if we catch it early enough, since we do know that conduct disorder is a precursor to antisocial personality disorder in adults. Empathy can be taught and perpetuated, and since the causes are physical, cures can be found in the physical realm too. I think the next big breakthrough in psychology needs to be the reintegration of the psychopath and severely malignant narcissist, into polite society, using medication, empathy training, changes in policies in institutions, etc. A focus on fundamental attribution error versus developing a vision for systematic treatment only delays the problems we are currently facing, and passes them on to another generation.

So I do think that we tend to be overly-attached to fundamental attribution errors, especially in an individualist culture and in an era of celebrity culture and talk show hosts and reality television. I think we don't look at our society as a system nearly often enough. What I don't see (as someone who knows and cares about nothing about the medical industry) is how to implement a system in which doctors and nurses are held accountable for nasty behavior, and also, how to understand the stressors which led up to the desire to behave this way, and manage them much more effectively on a regular, reliable, systematic level.

 

[computerhxr]

Survival of the fittest?

This angel of death is a product of the sum, and her personality is reflective of the collective abuse by everyone else. They are all victims of reality. If she could kill that many under the radar, then why wasn't someone there to stop it from happening? The hospital system is not "fit" and therefore needs to evolve to protect their patients and employees in the future. Or it should be sued out of existence.

Without having this soft of reality check, she could have killed a few at a time without getting caught. This is a checks-and-balance system that forces evolution of metaphysical beings (like corporations) that are operated by a blind metaphysical driver. Codependent-employees need to exercise free-will and make decisions to avoid this sort of tragedy in the future.