Dennis Rader Is A Serial Killer

Dennis Rader

Dennis Lynn Rader was born back in March 1995. Later in his life, he has given the name “the BTK killer,” with the short form “BTK” standing for “bind torture and kill” (---). Rader committed some murder in Wichita and Kansas from the year 1947 to 1991 and later in 2004; he was arrested and imprisoned for life (---). His serial killer behavior started when he was still a youth. When he was young, he had the behavior of hanging cats and other small creatures. He also dropped out of the school before joining the Air Force and later married a woman by the name Paula (---). It was back in 1974 when he committed his first murder by killing Otero’s. In his first murder, he killed four people at a go- he killed children Josephine and Joseph Jr. together with their parents Julie and Joseph (---). After killing, he left a note in a book in one of the public libraries and requested to be called BTK. The next murder case that he committed was killing Nancy Fox and Shirley Vian and called the police to inform them about his acts.

As stated above, Rader committed his first murder case in 1974, where he killed the Otero’s in Wichita. He later murdered Nancy Fox and Shirley Vian which seemed that he was taking attention of the public as he called the police to inform them about his deeds. Later on, he killed Dolores Davis, Marine Hedge, and Vicki Wegerle. Back in 1991, his behavior stopped for no understandable reasons. From this, it is simple to explain some of the traits that made Rader a serial killer.To start with, he was a male, and most of the serial killers are male, when he was young, he was involved in tormenting small creatures such as cats, he also used to hang other stray animals (---). He was also brought up in a typical family. After attempting to kill his brother, his brother described him to have psychotic eyes (---). He also dropped out of the college and joined the U.S army in the mid-1960s. Rader also had a traumatic experience in his childhood. Rader performed poorly in high school, as he used to score mediocre grades (---). Even after trying to go back to college, he never scored anything better than a grade C.

Trait theory of personality can best be used in describing Rader’s behavior. This theory is important in psychology in that it helps in identifying the personality of a given individual. Traits are the stable characteristics that make an individual give back a response to any situation that they come across. This theory is therefore applicable in this case in describing the character of this serial killer. Rader was honest as he took responsibility of everyone that he killed. He can also be described by this theory as a psychopath; this is a person who doesn’t feel any emotions and most of the times kill others for excitement, lust and other forms of excitement (---). Trait theory could also describe Rader to be a sociopath, a defect that is associated with thalamus being defected making emotional stimuli to be poorly distributed within the brain. Social structure theories can also be used in explaining the behavior of this serial killer. These serious are applicable in this case in describing what could have caused Rader to be involved in criminal activities. According to social structure theories, human beings are involved in criminal activities due to poor education, the absence of marketable skills, poverty, and subcultural values. The theory would thus predict poor class performance as the main cause of Rader being involved in criminal activities.

Most serial killers are just made depending on the environment that they are brought up in. When a child is brought up in an environment which causes their brain damage, and then there is a high likelihood that they may end up becoming criminals in the future. A child, whose mother used to smoke and take alcohol while pregnant of the child is likely to become a serial killer at the age of 28 years due to the brain damage that such a person, goes through at a such a young age. In addition to this, the traits of criminality start showing up when one is at the teenage stage. Depending on how those around such a person handle the case, there is a possibility that such a person may end up becoming a criminal if not well handled.