This was seen when he received his last check-up before being permanently released from the Atascadero State Hospital (a maximum-security facility for mentally ill convicts) after he killed his grandparents. A shrinkage in this area, as the seat of emotions, is responsible for a lack of fear and could be an explanation as to why he was so comfortable with his own murderous actions. While in prison, a brain scan revealed that Kemper did in fact have some brain injury in his temporal cortex. That in effect gave Kemper a 56% chance of becoming a juvenile delinquent. Her addiction to alcohol through his birth was prevalent and provided the foetus with a neurotoxin, damaging his brain cells.
His mother in some ways abandoned him, locking him in the basement free from light or people. In Kempers situation, it can be said he had a difficult childhood. It doesn't remove the outcome nor punishment but it does help in the explanation for the reasons behind why they may have acted in such ways. We then look into brain trauma, did he suffer from brain injuries from either a fall, accident or physical abuse which may have damaged an area of the brain responsible for impulse control, fear, morality and emotions?įinally we look at their genetical makeup, does he carry the MAOA gene, the CDH13 gene, the low version of transporting serotonin gene or are they exposed to extremely large amounts of testosterone or even all.Īll the above is how criminologists and pathologists profile the hidden factors which may have led to the reasons behind the murders happening. Not only this, but does he have a significant resemblance to the early warning signs of a serial killer through his time as a young person? But was he destined to kill? Did he have a predisposition to murder? And could we have predicted his callous acts?įor this we firstly need to look closely at his childhood to see if there was any maternal abandonment, domestic violence, an unstable background or an alcoholic mother which would play a key factor in his development into adulthood.