Those who feel bound to rid the world of people they regard as immoral or undesirable—such as drug addicts, immigrants, or promiscuous women—are called missionaries.

Serial killers are not usually particularly bright, having an average I.Q. of 94.5, according to the database.

By a process of data aggregating, the algorithm gathers killings that are related by method, place, and time, and by the victim’s sex. It also considers whether the rate of unsolved murders in a city is notable, since an uncaught serial killer upends a police department’s percentages.

751,785 murders carried out since 1976, which is roughly twenty-seven thousand more than appear in F.B.I. files.

From Godwins investigation he found that nearly ninety percent of victims were complete strangers to the killer and that only three percent were friends and one percent were that of family members (Fox 105). This explains why serial killers are able to get away with the massacres for so incredibly long.

"A psychokiller, I should make clear, is not a regular murderer. A murderer has a vendetta, a nice specific personal thing against his victim" (Corin 188). Unlike that of a normal homicide, serial killers are only driven by instinct and a desire to kill. Due to these sexual desires and the need to fulfill their arousing fantasies it often drives these individual to murder those who are complete strangers.

are serial killers born with predetermined genes that play an integral part in creating their homicidal tendencies or do psychokillers become murderous through their surroundings as children?

why serial killers commit these mass killings and how they became such violent humans.

he murdered not in anger, revenge, or financial enrichment but on impulse and desire

severely restricted by legislation

Clinical trials on disorders other than schizophrenia have found ECT to be effective in depression, mania, delusional states and catatonia—in the elderly and in adolescents as well as adults—and it can be safely applied to patients with severe physical illnesses.

the method now involves the use of electrical currents to induce grand mal seizures as a treatment for mental illness.

Except for his slow and regular breathing, he appeared lifeless. He had hardly spoken or cared for himself in more than four years. His mental condition of catatonic schizophrenia was considered hopeless.

patients benefited

n addition, the use of psychotropic drugs developed in the 1950s and 1960s began to displace electroshock because they were much less expensive and had fewer immediate risks.

Studies have shown electroshock treatment, now known as electroconvulsive therapy, to be an effective treatment for depression, mania, delusional states, and catatonia in adolescents and adults, including the elderly.

neurolaw" — in which neuroscience is used as evidence in the courtroom.

He once believed that genes and brain function could determine everything about us. But now he thinks his childhood may have made all the difference.

They believe that brain patterns and genetic makeup are not enough to make anyone a psychopath. You need a third ingredient: abuse or violence in one's childhood.

He looked at 12 genes related to aggression and violence and zeroed in on the MAO-A gene (monoamine oxidase A). This gene, which has been the target of considerable research, is also known as the "warrior gene" because it regulates serotonin in the brain. Serotonin affects your mood — think Prozac — and many scientists believe that if you have a certain version of the warrior gene, your brain won't respond to the calming effects of serotonin.

evidence is accumulating that some people's brains predispose them toward violence and that psychopathic tendencies may be passed down from one generation to another

The area of the brain that drives your id-type behaviors, which is rage, violence, eating, sex, drinking.

brain injury or was born that way

orbital cortex puts a brake on another part of the brain called the amygdala, which is involved with aggression and appetites.

People with low activity [in the orbital cortex] are either free-wheeling types or sociopaths

This is the orbital cortex, the area that Fallon and other scientists believe is involved with ethical behavior, moral decision-making and impulse control.

There are patches of yellow and red.

precisely what to look for.

"There's a whole lineage of very violent people — killers," he says

He studies the biological basis for behavior, and one of his specialties is to try to figure out how a killer's brain differs from yours and mine.