Creating a Serial Killer

So I've been doing a lot of reading on this topic, especially
after the recent and tragic murder of Imette St. Guillen.
It is a morbid fascination I know. It's one that a lot of
people share with me though.

For a while profilers, pathologists and therapists
agreed that sociopathic behavior, commonly associated
with serial killer, was a biological and neurological disorder.
In other words it is more the result of nature as opposed to
nurture. Previously, the consensus had been the issue was
developmental upbringing. Making the behavior the product
of nurture rather then nature. The more I read, the more
I believe it's a combination.

Sociopath is defined as "Antisocial personality disorder
(APD) is a personality disorder which is often characterized
by antisocial and impulsive behavior. APD is generally
(if controversially) considered to be the same as, or similar
to, the disorder that was previously known as psychopathic or
sociopath personality disorder."

Being a disorder that could be classified as neurological,
there is some chemistry involved (at least I subscribe to
this as one of the catalysts in the make-up of a serial killer).
Neurology is pretty interesting stuff. Different parts of the brain
impact different behaviors. The parts of the brain I find most
fascinating (in reading about serial killers) are below

The limbic brain

More or less, the entire emotional wiring of an individual is
triggered in this part of the brain. This portion of the brain
controls Moods, feelings, and emotions such as: Hunger, thirst,
sleep, joy, happiness and sadness. It is located in the internal part
of the brain. It's other function is basically the middle man
(receiving and communicating sensory information) to and from
and the cerebral cortex. Another interesting fact is this part of
the brain that houses the the limbic system (the Hypothalamus)
is about the size of a dime and accounts for 1/3000 of the brains total weight.

The cerebral cortex, in short controls the bodies
physical actions and reactions.


The temporal lobe

This portion of the brain is responsible for processing and interpreting
auditory stimuli. It does play a strong role in emotional processing.
It is located close to the temple on either side of the head right above
the ears. Because it is not well protected, only a thin skin/skull protecting
it. Hence it is very vulnerable.

This all contributes to the genetic composition of a sociopath in
that in many cases as children these murders were abused as
children and or sustained some kind of head trauma. Abuse
contributes to the developmental composition of a
child on an emotional and physical level.

In doing some research the most logical equation seems to be one
I found in Court TV's Crime Library. Essentially there are the chemical
and developmental variables but additionally there are social
circumstances or situations which surly contribute. In other words
Chemistry (nature) + Development (nurture) + various
social factors = One scary person (with a higher threshold for pain).
I'll have to do more on this topic later, but
I thought it was pretty interesting.