Mini Killers, What Makes Children Kill?
by Why do children kill? What would turn a child into a killer? Is it a new age thing?
Why do children kill?
We may never fully understand why some children kill or indeed why some people kill.
Are violent images, music, video games and films to blame?
If this were to be totally the case then why did Jesse Pomery at the age of fourteen sadistically murder a four year old boy which led to his arrest in 1874. Over the three years previous to that he had sexually tortured seven boys, he was sent to a reform school but on his release he mutilated a girl that came to his mothers store then later snatched a four year old boy, slashed him so savagely that he was almost decapitated.
I wouldn’t have thought that he had been subjected to TV, video games and such like.
Or are some people just born with brains that are wired differently?
So does this mean evidence of a child killer in 1874 mean that some people are just born bad, are wired differently. They don’t have the same feelings that society as a whole does have, guilt, empathy and compassion. Is this theory just an excuse for social blunders? If they have evidence of differences between the brain scan of a non-killer and the brain scan of a killer, how and where are the results that prove this? It would be great to just say all, killers, rapists and paedophiles are just born bad, lock them up and throw away the key.
Should society take some of the blame?
Are we as a society letting our morels slip? Treating killers as some kind of hero or cult figure? Are the kids that kill the start of copycat killings?
Do children under 8years old understand the concept of killing?
An eight year old boy shot his father, reloaded the gun and shot his fathers friend then went round to a neighbours house and told them he thought his father was dead. The boy’s mother no longer lived with the boy and his father and police had been called out in the past to calls of domestic violence. So had the violent family back ground just made the boy think it was okay to kill, that it was quite normal?
What makes a child kill its parent?
In the United States between 1977 and 1986 more than 300 parents were killed by their own children. Homicide reports that in the majority of cases it was a white male that killed and it is normally teenagers that kill their parents. It’s hard enough to cope with the turbulence of adolescence but put that on top of an abusive home life and you could be heading for stormy waters. This is not to say that all the child killers are severely abused children, some are mentally ill, some are part of the antisocial brigade that are always in trouble for one thing or another.
We all want our children to grow and become a perfect fit for the society we live in but some just can’t do that. I’ve always thought that we are not born bad, that the way we turn out is through circumstance and experiences but I guess we can’t get into the head of every person around us to find out exactly what makes them tick.
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Post Commentken bultman
On October 20, 2009 at 4:48 am
It’s a poser. Violent video games cannot be blamed for all juvenile crime but neither can they be dismissed as a cause in my judgment. If there was a singular cause someone would have revealed it by now.
lillyrose
On October 20, 2009 at 5:09 am
good point Ken. I think it will remain one of life’s mysteries, maybe a gene that goes back to violent prehistorical times, kicks in on some life lines.
Christine Ramsay
On October 20, 2009 at 7:22 am
I don’t know what the answer is either. Some children from the best of home backgrounds can turn out like this. It is a bit of a mystery. I am just thankful only very few children turn out to be killers. A well written and thought provoking piece.
Christine
cardy
On October 20, 2009 at 8:05 am
A thought provoking piece, I am one for keeping my children away from violent games and moves maybe the media is to blame, but we will never truley understand why children kill. An exellant article, from you.
giftarist
On October 20, 2009 at 8:42 am
An interesting article..
Paul Griffiths
On October 20, 2009 at 1:57 pm
The subjects you write about are awesome. I’d never heard of Jesse Pomery before.
We definitely glorify violence. I was on Reddit the other day, and there is a section there called, ‘Ask me Anything’ (AMA). The most popular AMA was a guy who claimed he’d killed someone for hire in Romania. The man crushes that most of the posters had on him was unbelievable.
I don’t know if there’s ever going to be a stop to it as long as violence is rewarded. Even today, violent and aggressive people and societies tend to win and get whatever they want – and kids can see that. Hopefully there will be change for the better in our lifetime.
lillyrose
On October 20, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Paul, I don’t think it will ever end, even in our schools the disruptive children get all the attention and the quite well behaved ones are over looked.
STEVE666
On October 20, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Another interesting article, Lily.
TV, video games apart, the fact is simple—some people are just born sadistically evil.
Lostash
On October 20, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Remember the Bulger case in Liverpool! That was truly shocking. I think there has to be a genrtic link to this somewhere. Thought provoking piece!
jimbob1
On October 20, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Poverty, drugs, gangs, and a lax penal system are major contributing factors for Winnipeg proudly displaying the banner “Murder Capital of Canada”. Canada has a national gun registry that has cost millions and millions of dollars to implement, but the current weapon of choice seems to be the knife with three or four people being stabbed everyday here. Anyway “L” another thought provoking, unique article and subject…have you ever thought about writing about “wild strawberries”?
lillyrose
On October 21, 2009 at 4:49 am
Losty I remember the Jamie Bulger so well. It affected me very badly at the time and still does even after 16/17 years. I just don’t know how his parents dealt with that or the parents of the two boys, I believe they have been released now. My husband always knows I am suffering from depression when I start crying over Jamie, he would have reached his twenties by now. I could never read that case and although I thought about mentioning it in this article I just couldn’t do it. I think this may be the reason I have been feeling down, it always has that effect.
I need to snap out of it, so maybe I should write about wild strawberries Jim but my account would never be as great as yours!
Tanya Wallace
On October 22, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Excellent questioning write!Very thoought provoking work.Perhaps some children are abused so severely they no longer have te mental capacity that other children have while others simply maybe plainly evil.That is why this is so very thought provoking it is really hard to contemplate how a child could kill someone little alone why! Good stuff a very enjoyable read!
PhoenixRox
On November 7, 2009 at 9:41 am
I too believe that we are not born bad. There is goodness in all of us. But sometimes when we hear of such horrible tragedies, it makes us wonder, does it not?
Authoress Terry E. Lyle
On November 19, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Great subject matter, but who really knows?