A new study looking at the psychology of infamous killers aims to define a new medical condition - but could there really be a "killer disease"? But what could actually turn somebody into a killer? Or a killers born and they're just given the opportunity to perform their sub/consious wishes?
The study reports that a killer is a biological product in that their brains are less emotionaly connected or they have damaged frontal lobes fo the brain - either by accident or inheretance.
"There's a genetic predisposition in some people to psychopathy and perhaps even to sadism," said forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone.
The study's author states that there are 22 grades of evil. The first is "justifiable homocide" Stone comments, this is an evil act committed by an otherwise good person. The scale grades Charles Manson as a sixteen, which was the same grading as Adolf Hitler. Hitler gets the same as Manson despite the fact that he killed millions, he did so at a distance. I've not seen eveidence that he killed anyone personally.
Saddam Hussein gets a seventeen because of his “Incredible sadism, reveling in the pain of others is something extraordinary about Saddam Hussein that surpassed even the actual activities of Hitler.”
At the top was Dennis Rader - the B.T.K. Killer.
What do you think about these "killer scores"? Do you think they may encourage people to try to become the top killer? Or do you think that some sort of scoring system could help juries and the media to gain a more accurate understanding of the individual?
More information: The Depravity Scale.
The study reports that a killer is a biological product in that their brains are less emotionaly connected or they have damaged frontal lobes fo the brain - either by accident or inheretance.
"There's a genetic predisposition in some people to psychopathy and perhaps even to sadism," said forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone.
The study's author states that there are 22 grades of evil. The first is "justifiable homocide" Stone comments, this is an evil act committed by an otherwise good person. The scale grades Charles Manson as a sixteen, which was the same grading as Adolf Hitler. Hitler gets the same as Manson despite the fact that he killed millions, he did so at a distance. I've not seen eveidence that he killed anyone personally.
Saddam Hussein gets a seventeen because of his “Incredible sadism, reveling in the pain of others is something extraordinary about Saddam Hussein that surpassed even the actual activities of Hitler.”
At the top was Dennis Rader - the B.T.K. Killer.
What do you think about these "killer scores"? Do you think they may encourage people to try to become the top killer? Or do you think that some sort of scoring system could help juries and the media to gain a more accurate understanding of the individual?
More information: The Depravity Scale.
