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Erica Cline
J Carty
UWRT 1102
23 November 2014
Killer Identities

If I asked you to picture a violent criminal, what image would come to your
mind? Perhaps it would be a figure cloaked in all black, faceless, lurking in the
shadows. Or maybe it would be something familiar from a horror moviea masked
villain wielding a bloody chainsaw, or a sophisticated mob boss in the back of a
black Mercedes. But would you ever imagine a little girl? The truth is that killer
instincts can be residing in anyone of any age, race, gender, or socio-economic
status. But what makes a person violent? My research attempts to understand what
factors lead to violent criminal behavior and what we can do to predict and prevent
the actions of such troubled minds.
Many of us dont think of children as being capable of violent crimes. I always
thought this type of behavior came later in life after people had enough time to get
jilted and jaded. Then I came across a story of a little girl named Beth Thomas. Beth
and her younger brother had been adopted at a young age by a loving pastor and
his wife. While under the age of six, Beth had molested and physically abused her
brother. She would speak of wanting to kill her family without showing any sign of
remorse. She had tried, on several occasions, to murder her brother by stabbing
him with pins or bashing his head on the basement floor. Early on in the adoption,
Beths parents had picked up on signs of early abuse in their children. As it turns

out, Beth was sexually assaulted as a baby by her birthfather and both she and her
brother had been disturbingly neglected by both birth parents (Child of Rage).
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Another case I found of a child that exuded extremely violent behavior was
that of Mary Flora Bell. When Mary was eleven years old, she strangled two little
boys to death, carving her initial M into one of their chests. Mary had been the
daughter of a teenage prostitute who reportedly tried to kill her daughter in the first
few years of her life. Her mother later forced Mary to perform sex acts for her clients
when she was as young as four years old (Sereny). After Marys conviction, she was
diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). RAD is a condition in which
babies dont develop healthy attachments with parents or caregivers. This leads to
a child with no conscience or sense of right and wrong. Both Mary Bell and Beth
Thomas are examples of what a child is capable of when they suffer from RAD.
But what about those criminals that grew up in loving, nurturing homes?
Instead of developing this behavior, can one be born with it? More than 100 studies
of twins and adopted children have confirmed that about half of the variance in
aggressive and antisocial behavior can be attributed to genetics (Raine). A 1984
study by Sarnoff Mednick found that children who had been adopted from parents
with a criminal record were more likely to become criminals as adults than were
other adopted kids (Raine). This suggests that one can be born predisposed to
violence and crime.
The gene they have linked to this is called monoamine oxidase A, or MAOA for
short (Raine). This gene is carried on the X chromosome, so it can only be inherited
from the maternal parent (Fallon). A female inherits one X chromosome from her

mother and one from her father. She can carry the MAOA gene on her maternal X
chromosome, but the genes on her paternal X chromosome can be dominant and
mask the genes expression. Males, on the other hand, only have one X
chromosome and a Y chromosome. The chance of the MAOA gene expressing itself
is higher without another X chromosome to overpower it. This explains why mainly
men become violent offenders (Fallon).
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So say you were the child of a criminal. Does that necessarily mean you are
definitely going to become one yourself? Certainly this cant be true. In his TED Talk,
neuroscientist Jim Fallon suggests that timing is the key. He says that when carrying
the MAOA gene, having biological brain damage, and being in a traumatic
environment all come together at precise developmental stages, they form a recipe
that yields a violent criminal. Fallon reveals that he himself is a carrier of the
violence gene, yet he is a very calm and gentle person. This is due to the fact that
he didnt experience any early abuse or trauma to trigger the gene into expressing
itself (Fallon).
Now that we know what factors contribute to the forming of a criminal mind,
how do we use this knowledge to our advantage? Criminal psychologists have taken
what we know about criminal behavior to form criminal profiles. The profiling
process is defined by the FBI as an investigative technique by which to identify the
major personality and behavioral characteristics of the offender based upon an
analysis of the crime(s) he or she has committed (Douglas). Profiling is used in
solving criminal cases by indicating the type of person most likely to have
committed a crime having certain unique characteristics (Douglas). These profiles

can be helpful when trying to solve a cold murder case, hunting down a rapist, or
even negotiating with a kidnapper in a hostage situation. In a hostage situation,
police would gather information about the suspect through verbal contact with him,
with the hostage, and even the hostage takers family and friends. They must be
able to assess the subject in terms of his probable course of action and his reactions
to various stimuli in order to diffuse the situation (Douglas).
There is no single factor we can pinpoint when explaining what drives a
person to commit violent crimes. Understanding these factors, however, not only
lends us methods of solving past crimes, but could also aid in stopping a future
crime before its committed. In a perfect world, this knowledge
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would be widespread and people would use it to better understand how their
actions can have long term effects on those around them. If more people
understood the impact of their actions, maybe we would have fewer bullies in our
schools and fewer children who live in fear of their parents. Maybe the crime rate
could drastically be reduced. Science will continue to uncover the secrets of our
minds and I look forward to keeping up with it. I hope Ive motivated anyone who
read this to do the same.

Works Cited
Child of Rage:The Beth Thomas Story.HBO documentary, 1990.Film
Douglas, John, Alan Burgess.Criminal Profiling: A Viable Investigative Tool Against
Violent Crime. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Dec. 1986
Fallon, Jim.Exploring the Mind of a Killer TED. July 2009.Lecture
Raine, Adrian.The Criminal Mind.The Wall Street Journal. 26 Apr 2013.Online
Sereny, Gitta.The Case of Mary Bell.London.Methuen Publishing Ltd, 1972. Print.