There have been a large number of cases throughout criminal history that relate to criminals being mentally unstable. In this essay I explore how mental health increases the risk of committing violence with a particular focus on serial killers. However, I also take a look at one of sports biggest names and how illness troubled his career.
It will be argued that there is an increased risk of a mentally ill person committing violence, but this paper will show the troubled childhoods leading to the terrifying antics of these people.Finally mental health is analyzed in light of where it all begins and how having a healthy household can prevent a disaster occurring. Mental health can be defined as something that affects ones everyday living and weakens their ability to relish life. This tends to be affected by a certain part of your brain that has been damaged by an external factor, for example, drug use or domestic violence. Mental illness is associated with the functioning of the brain that makes it more difficult to complete everyday tasks.The most common of such disorders include depression, anxiety, and more serious ones, bi-polar and schizophrenia.
The last two mentioned are the clear outliers when talking about violence related to poor mental health. The most notorious serial killers and criminals in history suffered from various mental disorders. The vast majority of these cases begin with poor treatment by their parents during childhood and the lack of discipline being out of line. Most of these criminals’ antics start before they’re even a teenager, with a minute amount beginning their law breaking as an adult.Examples of this are shown in infamous killers Peter Dupas, Richard Kuklinski and heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, all of which suffered from at least one type of mental illness.
Peter Dupas was a convicted rapist and murderer, his crimes spanned for over 30 years of his life. His sickening acts included cutting off one of his victims’ breasts and placing it in her mouth (Main, 2009). Dupas was born into a healthy household with loving parents who showed great affection towards him. His mother was an over-protective parent and his father was a perfectionist who made him feel inferior (Main, 2009, p17).It wasn’t until school started where he began to change. Dupas was bullied severely during school and had limited friends.
The intelligence of Dupas was very low and by the age of 14 he stabbed his neighbor several times in an unprovoked attack. After many meetings with psychologists throughout his criminal years, none were ever able to conclude what was wrong with Peter Dupas. It isn’t clear what was going on in Dupas’ head as there was no conclusion with his psychiatric problems, but with a man as troubled as this, our criminal justice system should have been able to keep him in a psychiatric ward instead of letting him free so many times.Richard ‘The Iceman’ Kuklinski was responsible for over 200 murders during his criminal years, although was only ever charged with the murders 6 people (Scott, 2009, p. 207). He was a hit man for the Gambino Mafia family and was brought into this career at a very young age.
The Iceman had a tough upbringing, his mother was raped by a priest when she was ten and his father used to beat him, sometimes knocking him out cold. When Kuklinski was just five, his father bashed his older brother and best friend Florian to death.As Kuklinski grew older he began to develop serious personality disorders. He viewed the world as a brutal, violent place filled with pain and turmoil” (Carlo, 2006, p. 18).
By the age of 13 he took his first victims life by beating him to death with a pole. After this, he showed no remorse for any of the 200 plus victims he killed and exclaimed that he only cared about his family and nothing else (Dietz, 2001). If Kuklinski had a more civilized upbringing, in a more stable, loving environment, there would be a greater chance that none of these murders would have happened and these disorders and insecurities would be almost extinct. Mike Tyson was one of the greatest boxers to ever enter the ring.He was a controversial champion who never shied away from the news headlines.
Tysons’ erratic behavior included biting part of an opponent’s ear off and being charged and convicted of rape. It was clear that Tyson wasn’t mentally sane and that he had various problems, which were brought on through excessive drug use. His actions led to his wife divorcing him on grounds of physical and mental cruelty. Tyson grew up on the streets and as a result was brought into street gangs where by the age of 13 he was arrested more than thirty times and ended up in Tryon School for Boys (Heller, 1995).
He essentially grew up without parents due to his father being absent and his mother dying when he was just 16 years old (Heller, 1995). Once again we have another criminal who had a rough childhood and because of this, developed many mental illnesses. Tyson had various meetings with different psychiatrists but was cleared of any major mental illnesses, which was then unexplained due to his constant extraordinary behavior. It is evident in the last few paragraphs that most serial killers and serial offenders have come from traumatic childhoods, which involve serious cases of physical abuse.Mental illness is both hereditary and something that can be developed over time.
Factors involving the development of such disorders can be excessive drug use, domestic violence or sexual abuse. A study by the New South Wales Law Reform Commission (1996:25) showed that 12 to 13 percent of the prison population has an intellectual disability, which is a rate around six times higher than that of the general population. A survey also found that 23. 7 per cent of young people in New South Wales detention centres had attempted suicide.A final statistic showed that 88 per cent were consistent with a clinical disorder/mental health issue (Cunnen & White, 2011, p75 & 76). These statistics show that mental illnesses are evident in a great amount of juvenile offenders.
The way in which a person offends and the reasoning behind it tends to run in their family. If a parent has a criminal history or sets a bad example for the child, the child will then grow up thinking this is the right way to do it. Whereas if the parents set a good example for the child there is less risk of growing up being a delinquent (Cunnen & White, 2011).In saying this all a parent has to do is show less attention toward their child for them to feel neglected and unloved.
A dysfunctional child in a dysfunctional family has an extremely high risk of being a wrongdoer and becoming a criminal. These criminals with mental health issues often have a bleak outlook on life that the potential consequences of getting caught stealing or engaging in criminal behavior is insignificant to the broader issues they face on a daily basis, i. e. suicidal thoughts, depression etc.People with mental illnesses may come from a lower socio-economic background therefore meaning they may feel the need to steal for “essentials” such as medication or shoplifting.
This would be because they can't afford to pay for it and they may have addictions to medications or drugs. The same would apply for alcoholics. When addicts don’t get what they want the anger builds up inside of them and then they resort to violence. This could start as beating someone up to get what he or she wants, to murdering someone in order to gain some sort of personal benefit.
After all this we can’t just generalize mental health and violence toward serial offenders. We see on the news daily about celebrities’ drink driving, assaulting someone, or being caught with drugs. These minor incidents from celebrities such as swimmer Nick D’Arcy and actor Charlie Sheen came from very basic childhoods but not abusive ones. The pressure that was put on them when they rose to stardom is what drove them to commit their wild antics.
Factors such as the media, fans, and expectations are what put these people in their depressive states and is what drives them from innocence to mad people in such a short period of time. Nick D’Arcy was charged with assault after bashing a former teammate and breaking his jaw. Since the incident D’Arcy has been dropped from the Australian swim team and declared bankruptcy. Charlie Sheen was a cocaine addict that had been admitted to rehab on various occasions. Sheen was also arrested for assaulting his wife and was charged over the incident then sentenced to rehab.
This is a great example of someone who developed an addiction and disorder of excessive use of illicit substances. It overpowered him so much that he probably didn’t even know the violent aggressive state it had over him. Mental health problems such as schizophrenia, depression, and bi-polar, are key contributors to a persons sudden violent nature. They are evident in my discussions of Peter Dupas, Richard Kuklinski and Mike Tyson, all of which came from troubled childhoods. In the case of Kuklinski and Tyson, their parents are to blame for the mental disorders developed in the both of them.
The use of drugs damages the human body, especially the brain, and damages parts of the brain that affect day-to-day functioning. This is shown strongly in Charlie Sheen’s case. Youths with good childhoods that involved minimal physical abuse and bullying, ultimately grow up without any or minimal mental difficulties. Most criminals start low by stealing and beating up people to obtain a personal satisfaction. This paper has argued that people with mental health problems ARE in fact at an increased risk of committing violence.
