Psychopathic Children: 5 Sad Cases Of Underage Murderers
Many psychologists and psychiatrists have questioned whether it is possible for children to be psychopaths. These can become naughty and, in some cases, very cruel to other children. But how can it be that they commit murder and show no repentance?
Since their brains are still developing and their personalities are still being forged, It is very difficult to detect the line between mischief and evil For this reason, and in the face of cases of murders of minor children, health professionals have tried to develop detection tools for psychopathic children.
The problem arises because the tests on the market are questionnaires that predict possible psychopathy in adult life, but not during childhood. An example is the detection scale in children, between 6-11 years old, of traits prone to psychopathy in adulthood, created by Paul Frick and Robert Hare, which is called “Scale for screening antisocial development”.
As with questionnaires, a large part of the studies carried out to learn more about psychopaths have focused on the adult population. But to understand this psychopathology, it is necessary to focus on children, since That age is key in the evolution of the disorder Nobody doubts that the origin of psychopathy is found in childhood and adolescence.
From psychology it is understood that the trait of emotional insensitivity is closely related to the presence of antisocial behavior and conduct disorders; Therefore, it may be a predictive factor for the development of psychopathy.
Neuroscience has also provided information to answer questions that help better understand the disorder, and from this field it is stated that There is a reduced response of the amygdala in young people with the presence of the trait of emotional insensitivity and high psychopathy scores. An unusual response has also been found in the area of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.
Forensic psychologist Alex Grandío, in an article in Psychology and Mind called “Psychopathy: what happens in the mind of the psychopath?”, explains: “Psychopaths have not developed an awareness or habits of respect for the laws and rules that prevent other people from perpetrating antisocial acts.”. This is important to understand, since the dysfunctions presented by children and adults with psychopathic characteristics they make their socialization very complicated
The idea that a child is not inherently empathetic and is instead manipulative and dangerous to society can be difficult for many individuals to understand. But until you have heard the true story of the lives of these murderers, in which there is usually abuse, mistreatment, broken families, etc., it seems impossible to visualize the brutality of the crimes of many of them. Therefore, the behavior of these little murderers is, at least in part, a product of their environment, which must be taken into account in order to understand the behavior of many of these child murderers.
Five chilling cases of psychopathic children
Below we reveal a list that contains some of the most terrible murders committed by minors
1. Amarjeet Sada (8 years old)
It is hard to assimilate that a child is capable of killing a person, but when he commits multiple crimes, it is almost impossible to digest. This is what happened in the case of the little one Amarjeet Seda But what was serious was not only the murder, but the parents of this little murderer, even knowing that his son had killed two people, covered up for him.
Amarjeet was only eight years old when he was arrested in India in June 2007. He was accused of having killed three babies, two of them from his family The first of his victims was a cousin of his who was six months old. His second victim, also his cousin, received a beating at less than a year old that cost him his life. Both crimes were covered up by his parents, and they surely would not have arrested him if he had not committed the murder of a six-month-old neighbor.
Eric Smith He used to ride his bicycle through his town every day. When four-year-old Derrick Robie was found dead, no one suspected him. The brutality of his murder makes it considered one of the most chilling cases.
Derrick’s body was found in a forest not far from his home and the park where he usually played. He was taken from there, where he was hanged and hit on the head with several rocks.
When Smith was questioned, Not only did the boy not care about the case, but he also enjoyed the attention of being interrogated He was charged with second-degree murder and is still serving time in prison.
3. Jordan Brown (11 years old)
Although the motive behind his murder is not known yet, jealousy seems to have been the cause of the crime he committed. Jordan Brown who killed his father’s partner in 2009, when she was pregnant.
The victim she was shot in the back while lying in bed When her four-year-old daughter saw the body, Jordan was at school acting as if nothing had happened. Kenzie Houk, the victim, did not get along with Jordan, who warned her that she would kill him before the event occurred.
4. Carl Newton Mahan (6 years old)
It seems impossible to imagine that a six-year-old child would be capable of killing. In May 1929 Carl Newton and his friend Cecil Van Hoose (8 years old) were looking for scrap metal to collect. Cecil stole the one from Carl that he had gotten by hitting him on the head with it. After what happened, Carl decided to take revenge. Instead of fighting, he went to his house to get his father’s gun. So, He returned for Cecil and shot him at point-blank range after telling him : “I’m going to shoot you.” Cecil died right there.
Carl is considered one of the youngest assassins in history. He was sentenced to 15 years in reform school, but another judge considered it inappropriate to try a boy of that age and he was acquitted.
5. Cayetano Santos “Petiso Orejudo” (9 years old)
Cayetano Santos (better known as Short-Eared Petiso), an Argentine boy, committed his first murder in 1906 when killed a three-year-old girl named Maria Rosa Face He kidnapped her at the door of a warehouse and, after a botched strangulation, buried her alive in a vacant lot.
In September 1908, just 8 days apart, he attempted to murder two 2-year-old children. The first, Severino González Caló, was saved from being drowned in a winery pool. The second, Julio Botte, was rescued by his mother after the little serial killer burned his eyelids with a cigarette. After these events, he was sent to the Marcos Paz Minor Colony to reform, but a few years later he left there with an even less rosy psychological picture.
At the time of his release, in 1912 began to carry out murders incessantly On January 25 he suffocates Arturo Laurara, 13 years old. On March 7, he burns three-year-old Reyna Bonita Vanicoff alive after burning her clothes. During the month of November, he tried in less than 2 weeks to hang Roberto Russo and beat Carmen Ghittone and Catalina Naulener to death, but he was unsuccessful. Within two weeks, he tied up, beat, choked, and drove a 4-inch nail into Gesualdo Giordano’s temple.
In November 1914 a judge ordered his internment in the Hospicio de las Mercedes. There he attacked two patients. One of them was disabled and the other ended up in a wheelchair. After these crimes, he was imprisoned until he died in the same prison.
