Over the years, serial murderers have grown to become a topic of fascination for societies all over the world. The majority of people are disgusted by the actions that serial murderers commit, yet there is intrigue as well. The question of how a human being could inflict such horror on their fellow man is one that gets asked over and over. There is no single method of completely understanding how one becomes a serial murderer. However, there are factors that may help explain what drove these individuals to kill.
The purpose of this paper is to look into the life of a serial murderer, and identify key factors that may point to why that individual committed the acts he did. The serial murderer in question is Henry Lee Lucas. Henry Lee Lucas …show more content…
She blamed Henry Lee anytime something went wrong, and did everything in her power to make him miserable. An example of this occurred when Henry Lee grew fond of a mule that the Lucas’s owned. His mother asked him if he liked the mule. When he said that he did, she grabbed a nearby shotgun and killed the mule in front of Henry Lee. After killing the mule, she beat her son because she had to have the animal removed, which cost her money. The abuse continued for years, until in the year 1960, Henry Lee murdered Viola by cutting her throat (Philbin and Philbin, 2007). He was arrested for the murder of his mother, and sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison. There, he tried to kill himself on numerous occasions, and was transferred to a mental hospital. After 10 years at the mental hospital, he was released on parole. Within a few years after being released, he killed his girlfriend and another woman, who had been their landlady When he was later arrested, he suddenly started confessing to hundreds and hundreds of murders (From News Services, …show more content…
There is no evidence of teachers or friends ever making serious inquiries into why he showed up to school this way. Nor is there any evidence of action against the mother. That being said, back in the early to mid 1900s, schools were not as sensitive as they are now when it comes to identifying abuse. Harshly disciplining one’s child was a completely normal occurrence during that time. Resources such as mandatory reporting were not around at the time of Lucas’s childhood. Today, if someone came to school in the condition that Lucas did, the majority of teachers would contact the principle. Ultimately, police would most likely get involved to investigate whether child abuse has taken place (Rifkind,
The purpose of this paper is to look into the life of a serial murderer, and identify key factors that may point to why that individual committed the acts he did. The serial murderer in question is Henry Lee Lucas. Henry Lee Lucas …show more content…
She blamed Henry Lee anytime something went wrong, and did everything in her power to make him miserable. An example of this occurred when Henry Lee grew fond of a mule that the Lucas’s owned. His mother asked him if he liked the mule. When he said that he did, she grabbed a nearby shotgun and killed the mule in front of Henry Lee. After killing the mule, she beat her son because she had to have the animal removed, which cost her money. The abuse continued for years, until in the year 1960, Henry Lee murdered Viola by cutting her throat (Philbin and Philbin, 2007). He was arrested for the murder of his mother, and sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison. There, he tried to kill himself on numerous occasions, and was transferred to a mental hospital. After 10 years at the mental hospital, he was released on parole. Within a few years after being released, he killed his girlfriend and another woman, who had been their landlady When he was later arrested, he suddenly started confessing to hundreds and hundreds of murders (From News Services, …show more content…
There is no evidence of teachers or friends ever making serious inquiries into why he showed up to school this way. Nor is there any evidence of action against the mother. That being said, back in the early to mid 1900s, schools were not as sensitive as they are now when it comes to identifying abuse. Harshly disciplining one’s child was a completely normal occurrence during that time. Resources such as mandatory reporting were not around at the time of Lucas’s childhood. Today, if someone came to school in the condition that Lucas did, the majority of teachers would contact the principle. Ultimately, police would most likely get involved to investigate whether child abuse has taken place (Rifkind,