ANATOMY OF EVIL

Abstract

What does it mean to be “sane”? Many people tend to avoid this abstract question because of the conjoined belief that sanity is an innate characteristic of every regular human being. Despite reading daily news, watching crime shows on TV screens , and hearing daily reports on skyrocketing crime rates around the country, we still tend to feel shocked that a human being is capable of such vicious crimes. It raises an obvious question about the nature of their particular psyche and possible biological causes to their vile behavior. I gathered insight into understanding the emergence of modern violent crime from the book “The New Evil” written by Michael H. Stone, MD, and Gary Brucato, PhD. The information for this research was obtained from multiple taped psychological interviews of Ted Bundy including the one done by Barbara Grossman and Lucky Severson at Glenwood Springs Jail on March 17th 1977 in addition to peer reviewed research paper “Aberrant brain gray matter in murderers” published in Brain Imagining Behavior Manuscript. Homicide performed by serial offenders takes a very significant emotional toll primarily on the family of the victims but also on the morale of the society as a whole. Despite this incalculable impact, we are only scratching the surface to understand the neuroanatomical differences between violent and nonviolent offenders in comparison to behavioral control. Gaining an effective understanding of this particular topic includes studying physical brain alterations using brain imaging techniques as well as collecting qualitative data from the psychological behavior presented by the serial offender. This demonstrates that no singular factor plays a vital role in particular behavior but tangled biological and environmental cues may explain the culmination of events. Gaining this knowledge will have a great impact on the society as whole as we get closer to understanding the basis of human behavior and possible ways to prevent more violence in the future.