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Serial Killer Characteristic Over-generalization - Page 2

© Michael Decaire

"I've discussed the "homicidal triad": fire-setting, cruelty to animals and bed-wetting -- childhood behavior that is often a precursor to adult violence."

Often. This is a word I would not of used. Let me break down that entire statement. Fire-setting. I've worked with a lot of fire starters this last year. What have I learned from it? A certain portion of childhood fire setters become adult fire setters. Not a very big jump there. Some do not set fires as adults. So I would not even be comfortable in saying that Fire setting as a child is a huge predictor of adult fire setting. Prediction of it towards adult serial offense and violence particularly "homicide"? I would never dare make that statement.

Cruelty to animals. Out of the three I would think that this is the highest correlated part of the triad to adult homicidal behavior. But the truth is. While it is 'sometimes' a precursor its is neither often or always one. If it was, criminal psychopathology assessment tools would be not only easy to create they would most definitely include a high proportion of animal cruelty related criteria.

Bed wetting. Now this statement just right made me mad. Saying bed wetting is a good predictor of homicidal behavior is like saying being male is a good predictor. I would guess that any relationship between bed wetting and homicidal serial offense is an illusionary correlation. I work with a psychiatric population. No one I am working with at this exact moment has killed anyone. A significant proportion of them are bed-wetters. Bed-wetting happens. It happens for many reasons. Some times is it psychological. Often however, when it is psychological, you end up with a submissive person not an aggressive anti-social person who is at extreme risk of serial offense. "acting out against Barbie wouldn't satisfy him for long, and that his cruel fantasies would eventually require a living victim"

While this may sometimes be the case the author is again making assumptions. If we were so good at predicting future behavior we would have a flawless risk assessment system in place. We are note even close to being able to make such statements.

"It sounds crazy, but over the years I've seen many Barbie-obsessed violent criminals"

And in there is the problem. How often has he seen offenders who are not Barbie- obsessed?

" [those who do not] receive proper psychiatric treatment move on to rape, mutilate and kill. What begins as legal, victimless, symbolic behavior becomes a stepping stone to some of the most violent acts a person can carry out against others."

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